“Thank you.”
Making her way farther into the brush, she found the ground less soaked. The branches overhead were thicker, more tangled with each other. She dropped to her knees and then edged into the small shelter.
It would be cozier if he were sitting beside her. They could share one another’s warmth.
He remained standing, however, a few yards away from the shelter he’d built. He would not attempt to join her, she knew.
A flash of lightning and then more thunder.
Niles cursed. She didn’t think she’d heard him curse before. So contained. Throughout their acquaintance, until today that was, he’d always held himself removed, respectfully aloof, professional.
Was that why she’d not noticed him, as a man before?
Well, of course she’d known he was a man, but was that why she’d not noticed the solid width of his chest, the chiseled line of his jaw? The sensuality in his smoky gaze?
Not that any of it made any difference.
Her fingers fluttered to her chest. Try as she might, she most certainly was noticing him now.
“Niles.”
He paced away from her, toward the clearing.
“Niles.” She said his name louder this time. “Won’t you please come out of the rain? You’re no good to me if you fall ill.”
He glanced over his shoulder, meeting her eyes. “Damnit, but I ought to have insisted we delay travel. I ought to have considered—”
“Niles,” she cajoled with a gentle smile. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. Please, won’t you come and warm up? Then I will argue with you over who gets to take the blame for this debacle.”
He jammed his hands into his pockets and then reluctantly turned and did as she asked.
He was careful, she noted, to touch her as little as possible. As soon as he settled, she edged herself closer to him.
Strictly for warmth.
He stiffened at first, but then dropped an arm around her shoulder and relaxed slightly. She’d made matters awkward by pulling away from him earlier.
One question swarmed through her mind as she soaked up his heat.
What should she do now?
Strictly For Warmth
Niles berated himself twice over for allowing this situation to deteriorate to its present conditions. The temperature had dropped, and their damp clothing clung to their bodies.
Furthermore, he could not deny he’d made her uncomfortable by talking to her, and touching her, in an overly familiar manner. Calling her Eve, even at her request, complicated the boundaries of what had been a circumspect relationship.
She’d revealed a great deal of herself to him today. He wouldn’t read anything into it. He’d simply been there when she needed to cry, and later as they hiked, to pass the time.
“I refuse to allow you to blame yourself for all of this.” She broke the silence between the two of them. “I absolutely demand my half of it, Niles, if not sixty percent.”
She was calling him Niles again.
“I thought the inn was closer,” he admitted. “And if you insist, I’ll allow you thirty-five percent, but no more than that.”
She chuckled and nuzzled closer.
He would not take advantage of their physical proximity. She must feel vulnerable, lost. As much as he’d like to run his hands along the length of her body, to steal a taste of her lips, he wouldn’t.
