Instead he gave her a stern frown.“Ye won’t peek, will ye?”
She raised her brows.“Didye?”
“O’ course not.”He snorted, indignant.“I’m a man of honor.”
Then he got up, shooed her inside the canopy, and made a point of closing the curtains securely.
“Wait,” she said.After a moment, she handed her cloak to him through the curtains.
Dear God, she was wearing just her leine now, wasn’t she?Her thin, flimsy, sheer leine.
With a shuddering sigh, he plodded toward the dais, draping her cloak over the chair, next to her gown.He shrugged out of his clothes and sank into the water.It was—against his wiser hopes—deliciously hot.
Only later did he realize the wicked lass had never actually promised she wouldn’t peek.
Eve was absolutely going to spy on Adam.It was rare she had an opportunity to glimpse a naked man.
As a nun, she’d stumbled a few times across elderly priests taking advantage of the convent tub.They’d looked plump, pale, and lumpy, like uncooked apple coffyns.
And sometimes the beardless lads of the village swam naked in the nearby loch.
But she’d seen few grown men.So she was naturally curious.
Would God have approved?
Certainly.
After all, hadn’t man been made in His image?And given that this man’s name was Adam…at least, shethoughthis name was Adam…what could be more fitting?
Standing up carefully on the pallet, she stepped toward the split in the curtain.Taking a hem in each hand, she opened the gap the tiniest bit, just enough to peer through the crack.
He must have been in a hurry.He’d already shed his clothing.The unexpected sight of his naked body made her bite her lip to stifle a gasp.
If this was what God’s Adam looked like, it was no wonder Eve had been tempted into sin.
His body was perfectly proportioned, exactly like the drawings she’d once glimpsed of the statues in Rome.His shoulders were wide, with arms that were well-muscled, but not bulky.His legs were sturdy and covered with a light dusting of hair.His buttocks were firm and smooth.And when he turned to enter the bath, she bit harder into her lip, for none of the priests or young lads or drawings of Roman statues had exhibited an appendage in such a state.
She gulped.
Of course, she wasn’t naive.She’d seen enough animals to know that the members of males swelled to a larger size when they were preparing to mate.
Why it hadn’t occurred to her that it would be much the same with humans, she didn’t know.But even so, it made no sense, because Adam wasn’t preparing…
He sank into the water before she could steal another glance.
She would have closed the curtains then, but he was facing her.The movement would have drawn his attention.So she clamped her lips together and continued to watch.
He laid his head back against the edge of the tub.His face immediately dissolved into pleasure as he sank lower into the water until just his face was showing between the knobs of his knees.He sank lower still, letting the waves close over his head for an instant.
When he emerged, he slicked back his drenched hair and used a cloth to wash his face and neck.His movements were brusque as he scrubbed his shoulders, arms, and chest.Eve knew if she were performing the task, she’d be far gentler.
The idea made her cheeks grow warm.She closed her eyes, censoring her view, but not her errant thoughts as she listened to every gurgle of water and grazing of wet linen upon his flesh.
When she dared to peek again, he was finished washing.Now he rested his neck and arms upon the rim of the tub and closed his eyes, letting the soothing water lull him into tranquility.
In a shadowy, wayward part of her mind, she wished she could join him.She imagined being snuggled against him, cradled in the crook of his arm.Leaning against his powerful shoulder.Resting her cheek on his chest.Tracing the muscles below the level of the water with curious fingers.
An erotic longing began inside her, filling her nether parts with a kind of hunger.The place between her thighs tingled as if lightning hovered in the air.With her every breath, the friction of linen against her striving nipples filled her with a keen need.Her eyelids grew heavy until she watched him through a haze of yearning.
