Curtis nodded patiently. “I told them,” he said. “At least, I did last night, but Douglas and Westley are still in bed, sleeping off the massive amounts of wine they consumed last night. So are many of the others. I’m not entirely sure we’ll have an adequate amount of competitors for any of the games after that drunken orgy last night.”
Roi rolled his eyes. “I am not surprised,” he said. “Give me a few moments to get dressed and I shall meet you in the hall.”
With that, he turned away from the window with the full intention of getting dressed and rushing down to see Daniel. But his eyes fell on the bed where Diara was sitting up, the coverlet clutched to her naked breast, and it took him a moment to realize that she was looking at him with a rather startled expression.
“I am sorry, angel,” he said. “I’ve not seen my cousin, Daniel, in quite some time. May I go down and see him?”
Diara nodded, but she quickly averted her gaze. “Of course,” she said. “You should go, right away.”
He smiled gratefully and went on the hunt for his clothing. His tunic was on one spot, his breeches in another, and he had to walk to both sides of the bed in order to find everything. He went over to the big wardrobe against the wall to hang up the silk tunic he’d worn for his wedding and collect a more durable one that could handle the events planned for the day. But the entire time he was prancing around naked, he noticed one thing.
Diara wouldn’t look at him.
He walked to one side of the bed and she’d turn her attention to the other. Then he’d walk back only for the same thing to happen in reverse. When he realized that, he could see that her cheeks were a dull red. It occurred to him that she wasembarrassed to have a naked man parading in front of her, being that the lass hadn’t even been kissed until a few days ago, and he thought it was rather sweet that she should be so prim. With his clothing in his hands, he sauntered over to the bed.
“Shall I send Iris up to help you dress?” he asked.
She had her head lowered. “I would appreciate that, thank you.”
“My pleasure.” He was standing right next to her, his flaccid manhood at the level of her head. “Which tunic do you think I should wear today?”
She only glanced up, sort of, to see what he had in his hand. “I… I like the blue one,” she said.
He was fighting off a grin. “You did not even look.”
“I did.”
“Don’t you like what you see?”
Diara began to catch on to the fact that he was teasing her, and she knew why. It embarrassed her to realize that he knew why she wouldn’t look at him. From the moment he left the bed and crossed over to the window, she’d been confronted with perfect buttocks, a tight waist, impossibly broad shoulders attached to big arms, and legs that were rippling with muscles. Everything about him sang of perfection, and as she stared at his backside, becoming accustomed to his nude form, he’d suddenly turned around and she was confronted by his flaccid manhood.
That had sent the flames into her cheeks.
And he knew it.
“I like what I see,” she said, still unable to look at him. “I like it very much.”
“Then why don’t you look at me?”
She sighed sharply. “Can I simply not take the time to get used to the idea?” she said irritably. “I have to lust over you like a dog over fresh meat right from the onset?”
He began to laugh. “I have lusted over you from the onset.”
“But you have seen a woman without her clothing on before,” she pointed out. “I’ve never seen a man lacking… attire.”
His laugh deepened, and he took pity on her, pulling his breeches on and tying them off. “There, you coward,” he said. “I am modestly covered. Will you at least look at me now?”
Diara lifted her eyes, fighting off a grin. “There may be a time when I demand you keep your clothing off, and then you’ll be sorry.”
“I doubt it.”
The man gave her a cheeky wink and turned around, heading back over to the wardrobe, but Diara grabbed a pillow and threw it at him, hitting him in the back of the head. Chuckling, he picked it up and tossed it back onto the mattress before he finished dressing.
“Now,” he said as he went back to the bed, “I will have food and a bath sent up to you along with Iris. Is there anything else you require?”
Diara shook her head. “Not that I can think of,” she said. “But these games… What will you be playing?”
He shook his head. “I do not know,” he said. “But send a servant to the hall to fetch me when you are ready to come downstairs. I will escort you to the field.”
