Aidam was struck still as a stick. With no warning, she pulled the cord at her waist, and her dress fell to the ground, pooling at her feet. She stood, naked and free to the air, right there in the middle of the forest.
Has any man ever seen such a sight?
Aidam was no stranger to women, butthiswoman was breathtaking. He could not turn away, even though he knew he should. He’d known the beauty of her face, but the soft curve of her bare breasts with their little pink tips turned up toward the dawn drew his eye like a bee drawn to a flower. Her flat stomach was lined with surprising tone—not excessive muscle, but it was clear that she rode often and kept fit—her skin, freckled and pale, shining in the pinkish morning light. Aidam sucked in a sharp breath as she reached up and removed the tie from her hair. The chestnut locks tumbled down her back like falling dark autumn leaves. Aidam was half-convinced he might be spying on a wood nymph sent to taunt him with raw desire.
Has she always looked this way? Did I always want her this much?
Aidam clenched one hand into a fist, the other gripping the tree on which he was leaning. God above, help him, but hediddesire her. It was not the passing fancy of a man who saw an attractive woman, but something far deeper—and far more troubling. He’d never experienced it quite like this before, but his whole body sang urging him to go to her, to beg she allow him to touch her, to surrender himself in worship to her. His trews tightened as he pictured how it could be between them. They’d sink together under that water, her rose-tinted lips on his skin, his hands—
A suddenthudinterrupted his thoughts, followed by a sharp pain in his head. He raised his hand to the spot with a belated, “Ow!”
It came away with no blood, thankfully, but the weapon—a keenly-thrown stone—lay at his feet. It would definitely leave a bruise.
Aidam stared at it for a moment and then looked up in confusion. Ellie was marching toward him with an angry glare, pulling on a clean shift from the bundle she’d brought with her.
“Ye hit me,” he accused.
“Nae hard enough! I meant to knock ye out. Do ye make a habit of spying on young women as they go for their morning bath?”
Aidam rubbed his injured head again. “I wasnaespying,”he told her, though his conscience shifted a little uneasily. He was doing exactly that, but in his own defense, the woman was entrancing. Not that he would tell her that. Nay, he was not that daft. “I’m meant to be guarding ye, remember? What would yer soon-to-be husband think if he kent ye were running off into the forest by yourself? If I’d let ye?”
She put her hands on her hips. “And what would me soon-to-be husband say if he kent his own nephew was sneaking around attempting to catch a glance of his betrothed in her all together? What would he say if he kent ye skulk in bushes, watching innocent maidens in a state of undress?”
“First of all,” Aidam said. “This is a tree, nae a bush.”
“Ye—”
“Second,” he held up a finger to keep her from interrupting him.“I just told ye that isnae what happened. I was actually trying to give ye someprivacyby…” he trailed off. Ellie was pulling on her overdress now, almost back to fully dressed, and he realized something. “How,” he asked, “Did ye ken to throw the stone? How did ye ken where I was?”
She instantly flushed. “I…heard ye rustling against the tree. Ye’re bad at sneaking.”
It wasn’t just a lie—it was abadlie. Aidam frowned, stepping forward, closing the distance between them to that of a thin hair. “I’m one of the stealthiest men in the Sinclair army,” he said, lowering his voice as he folded his arms. “Try again. How did ye ken I was there?”
Ellie chewed on her lip. As adorable as it was, he knew he had her rights now. “All right, all right,” she admitted, looking away from him. “I may have glimpsed ye when ye got up to follow me from camp.”
Aidam blinked. “So…ye kent I was here the whole time?”
“Aye,” Ellie replied reluctantly. “Though I didnae think ye’d stay and watch me disrobe. Ye, Aidam Sinclair, are even more of a villain than the rumors the maids tell would have one believe.”
“Hang on,” Aidam said, smirking a little. He knew the maids told stories about him. They told stories about every lad in the keep. What he didn’t realize was that Ellie listened to the rumors. “If ye kent I was here, then ye kent that I could see ye. And if ye kent that I could see ye, then ye stripped off like that even though ye kent I was watching.”
Ellie’s cheeks went as pink as the other more delectable parts of her he had recently seen. “I…nay, that isnae…what I mean is…”
“Ye did!” he said with delight at catching her out. Aidam found he liked the feeling of getting one ahead on her. “Ye’re naught but a tease, lass!”
“I amnaea tease,” she insisted. “Ye’rea dirty old man.”
Ellie rolled her eyes, causing Aidam to laugh outright. She picked up her bundle of old clothes and started to walk away. Aidam followed, teasing her as they went.
This lass. She’s gonnae be the death of me.
