What kind of woman was she that she had an almost irresistible urge to lick that smooth skin?
To lick him? Oh, but wait, she’d already done that when she’d thrown herself at him earlier this afternoon.
“Did you need something, Naomi?” A smirk hovered on his lips. Lips that she’d tasted and that she knew could be both soft and firm.
It was almost as though he was reading her thoughts. He really was far too skilled at doing that. Not only did he seem to know what she was thinking, but what she was feeling as well. Or perhaps she was just abysmal at hiding anything from him.
“Um.” What had she needed him for? Aside from… “I can’t unfasten my gown.”
Blurting out the request sounded far more suggestive then when she’d practiced it in her mind.
Judging by the flare in those periwinkle eyes gazing back at her, her request sounded equally inappropriate to him.
“Ester usually…”
“Of course.” But his throat pulsed as he swallowed hard.
Perhaps having him stay here overnight wasn’t such a good idea after all.
She dropped her lashes and stared at his bare feet. Slim, elegant, masculine. Noticing the smattering of almost imperceptible hairs on his toes seemed oddly more intimate than staring at his chest.
She turned to present her back to him and lifted her hands to the nape of her neck in so she could first unpin the low knot, allowing him access to the top of her garment. As her hair came free, she lifted the heavy strands, assuring herself that she’d had no choice in this matter. Furthermore, this wasn’t nearly as inappropriate as if she’d asked him to assist her with this in her bedchamber.
She held herself steady, holding the hair higher on her head as the floorboards creaked behind her. Even if she hadn’t been able to hear him, she no doubt would havefelthis approach. Whenever the distance closed between the two of them, her body came alive in a uniquely unnerving manner.
His fingers whispered at the back of her neck as he unfastened the top and she shivered. “Are you cold?” His hand settled onto her shoulder and the urge to curl herself into him nearly overpowered her.
“A little,” she answered. The weather had turned colder outside; in fact, at night now, the window in her chamber often rattled at night. Autumn would soon become winter, Christmas would be here, and before she realized, she’d be counting the twelve nights.
A new year.
She lowered one hand to the top of her swollen abdomen. A new life. Less than two months remained by her estimations.
Luke went back to work on her gown and the fabric loosened. She wore short stays over her chemise but her petticoats no longer fit over her belly. Still, Luke wouldn’t have even a glimpse of her skin.
What would he do if she dropped the gown? She chastised herself for considering it.
Which she wasn’t, really.
“Do you need help with this?” His fingertips grazed just above the thick fabric of the stays.
“It ties in the front.”
What there was of it. She’d refrained from wearing her normal stays right after Arthur disappeared. As in literally, the moment he was out of sight, she’d found Ester and declared that she couldn’t wear them one minute longer.
But she’d wanted to look her best to bid her husband farewell.
The thought that he’d spent his last night in England with another woman… Was that true as well? She would likely never know.
It didn’t matter. He was gone.
“Do you want me to build a fire for you?” He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. As she was coming to appreciate all too fondly, his touch felt heavenly. Naomi released the hair she’d been holding up and relaxed into him. Oh, but if she allowed him into her bedchamber, she doubted she’d let him out.
“I’ll be warm enough.” More than warm enough if the flush coursing through her lasted even a portion of the night.
Something had changed between them; barriers had broken after that kiss on the side of the road—and of course, the matter of her climbing on top of him in her bedchamber.
But it was more than that. She blushed and dismissed the embarrassing scene from earlier.
