Chapter45
Two Lovers in Luxor
Two hours later
Tom closed the hotel room door behind him and let out a sigh of relief.“I thought I was never going to be rid of them,” he whispered, driving home the bolt.He turned to face Helen, his eyes rounding at seeing her framed by the window.Dressed as she was with the afternoon light surrounding her, Helen appeared almost ethereal.“Hello, my beautiful bride.”
Helen giggled.“Hello, husband.”Standing at the window, she had been watching Diana and Randy as they headed back in the direction of the temple.She was dressed in the nightrail and blue silk wrapper she had been wearing the night before.“Rid of whom, darling?”she asked, stepping closer to face him.She began unbuttoning his top coat.
“Randy and David and my uncle and your father,” he replied, his head dropping to watch what she was doing.“Everything is all set for the rest of the trip, but we have two more nights here at the hotel,” he explained.
“Then I do hope we are going to enjoy traveling together,” she teased.“We’ll share a cabin, will we not?”
Tom swallowed, not having thought that far ahead.“Well, I’d much prefer to spend my nights with you than with David,” he replied.“He snores.”
She giggled.“How will we travel?”
“OnThe Dendera.Mahmood has agreed to take us.He is provisioning the ship now, and his daughter will continue seeing to Bradley,” he explained, noting how her fingers had moved to his waistcoat buttons.
“You mean your new little brother?”she teased.
Tom chuckled.“He is, isn’t he?”
“Will we be interrupted?”she asked, grinning when he placed a kiss on her forehead.
“They don’t know which room we’re in,” he said in a whisper.
“You’ve been drinking,” she murmured, although there wasn’t any censure in her voice.
“Your father insisted.A glass of brandy.”He watched as she finished unbuttoning his waistcoat.“I...I could help.”
She pushed the garments from his shoulders and pulled up on the sides of his shirt until the hem was free of his pantaloons.“You could,” she said softly.She lifted her fingers to his cravat, deftly undoing the knot.
He removed his coats and helped with unwrapping the length of silk from around his neck.When her warm hands slid up the sides of his torso to lift his shirt, he inhaled sharply.
She paused.“What’s wrong?”
His stunned look turned to one of amusement.“Uh, I guess I’m a bit ticklish,” he murmured.
Grinning, she arched a brow and continued to help rid him of the shirt.“Good to know,” she whispered.
“You’re going to use that against me, aren’t you?”he asked.He sat down on the edge of the bed and removed his Hobys and stockings.
“Maybe,” she replied.
He reached out and pulled her so she was standing directly in front of him, her knees between his.With his hands at her waist, he pressed his face into her belly.
Spearing his hair with her fingers, her nails scraping his scalp, she felt him shiver.When he inhaled deeply, Helen giggled.“That tickles,” she said, squirming in his hold.
When he pulled away, he glanced up at her and grinned.
“You’re going to use that against me, aren’t you?”she asked.
“Maybe,” he replied.He stared at her a moment before lifting his hands to push her wrapper from her shoulders.The garment fell to the floor, forming a puddle at her feet.“I adore your hair like that,” he said.“I was going to tell you last night, but...”
“I slapped you before you could?”she guessed.
He nodded.“I didn’t realize how golden it is,” he whispered.“And curly,” he added, twirling a finger through the wavy ends, his knuckles barely grazing the fabric covering her breast.
