Christoph smiled, having won the argument, and told his mother, “Go ahead and show her the way. I’m not ready to retire yet.”
Alana was asleep before he came upstairs. She’d left a lamp burning for Christoph even though the fireplace glowed brightly. After yet another eventful day, she drifted off quickly, staring at the cot on the far side of the room. But when she woke, it wasn’t morning yet, and what woke her was Christoph’s warm body against hers.
She opened her eyes to see him grinning down at her. “You lied to my mother, telling her we wouldn’t share a bed.”
If he really wanted to make love to her, he wouldn’t tease her with a remark guaranteed to raise her moral defenses, would he? To stop him before she was tempted, she warned, “Touch me and I will scream. Your family will come to investigate. You won’t like talking your way out of that one.”
“That I made you scream with pleasure?”
“You wouldn’t!” she gasped.
“Of course I would. I’m a barbarian, remember? But you’ve doused the flames. Get some sleep.”
But he didn’t move! And he was searching her eyes. Was he hoping to see an invitation to stay that she couldn’t voice? Was it there? Is that why he was suddenly kissing her? And it was no simple kiss! His tongue thrust past her lips, luring her straight into his passion.
She tried to fight the feelings that rose up so quickly in response, that fluttering, nearly swooning feeling that she didn’t quite understand, the flush that raced over her skin and brought the heat with it. But it was too difficult to resist any of that, because she didn’t really want to when all her senses were being stirred in such an exciting manner.
He would have to stop this for her, she realized, but she was clinging too tightly to his neck when she said, “We shouldn’t.” So it was no wonder his mouth was hot on her neck now, shivers spreading rapidly through her body.
He had one leg on top of her, and now he slipped that leg between hers. Wearing only her chemise and drawers, she felt the friction all too strongly when he began to slowly rub his leg against her. She started, several times, and held more tightly to him.
“You wear only your underclothes.” She heard the smile in his voice. “Admit you were waiting for me.”
Her eyes flew open. Thank heavens he’d given her the catalyst she desperately needed to kick him out of the bed!
“No,” she gasped, then said more strongly, “I merely forgot to bring a nightgown. And you’re in the wrong bed.”
He leaned back. “Alana, you can’t possibly—”
“Really. You’re in the wrong bed.”
He still hesitated a moment, to gauge again if she was serious. He couldn’t doubt it this time. With a tsk and a sigh, he left the bed and went to the cot. He was naked! She clamped her eyes shut and turned over to face away from him.
“Get some sleep,” he mumbled. “At least one of us should.” Implying he wouldn’t now? She resisted saying she wouldn’t either. Somehow she did.
They got an early start in the morning despite his whole family’s coming outside to say good-bye. The weather obliged with blue skies for a while. The storm had left a white blanket behind, but the sleigh cut steadily through it.
Christoph didn’t say a single word about the previous night. He didn’t seem to be annoyed about it either. But her mother took her mind off Christoph during that ride farther up the mountain, especially when the nervousness seized her again.
He noticed and put an arm around her shoulder to draw her closer. “You’re anxious again? Why? You should be excited.”
“Easy for you to say. You aren’t meeting one of your parents eighteen years late.”
“I can help you to relax.”
She didn’t doubt what he meant. “That’s quite all right.”
She fell silent again, chewing at her lower lip. She should probably have let him get her mind off the reunion because her nervousness grew apace, the closer they got to their destination.
It took a little over two hours to finish the journey. It would have been a much quicker ride if the snow on the road weren’t so thick. Alana even caught a glimpse of the chalet before the snow arrived again. It had looked like a little castle, sitting on a rocky ledge more than halfway up the mountain.
“You might have mentioned ‘grand splendor,’ but, really, I wasn’t expecting something that big up here,” she said right before the view was lost. “Chalets are more the size of a farmhouse, aren’t they?”
“It used to be small. Over the years, it’s been added to again and again. The name merely stuck, despite the size.”
“The king comes up here often?”
“He hasn’t been here since his first wife died. I’ve heard she loved it up here, which is understandable, since the views are magnificent—when it isn’t snowing. But he avoids anything that reminds him of her. That’s why there are no portraits of Queen Avelina in the palace. That’s why I don’t know what she looked like.”
