“There, that’s better,” I said.
He lay back on his pillows.
“Would you like me to wash your hands?” I asked him. Ismay always reminded me to wash patients’ hands; she insisted it was a necessary step to prevent infection.
“If it would please you,” he said, his blue eyes smoldering with heat and teasing encouragement. When I hesitated, he added, “It would very much pleaseme.”
I squeezed the excess of soapy water from the cloth and gently washed his hands. The look in his eyes as I carefully cleaned his hands—that, along with my own unabashed desire—led me then to wash his sculpted arms, his bare chest and his stomach, where he was ticklish.I love that he’s ticklish,I thought.
“I am allowed to be here with you, like this?” I said. “Where are your sisters?”
“I assured them I am capable of chaperoning you myself, and asked them to take their leave.”
“Is that what you are?” I couldn’t help but smile. “My chaperone?”
“Aye. My first task was to ensure that you were warm in the night.” His crooked grin tugged at my heart.
“Well, you succeeded very well in that task. I can assure you of that. I may never have passed a warmer, more comfortable night.”
“And to keep you safe from would-be intruders. Well-protected.”
I let the wet cloth slide over his shoulder and down the hard surface of his brawny arm. “Also a task verywell executed. I commend you for that. I felt very safe indeed.”
“Next, ’tis my duty to make sure you have been well fed.”
“I have not had such a feast since...well, for a very long time,” I told him, quite truthfully.
“As your chaperone,” he said, “I take my duties very seriously, you must understand. I’ll not have a single need of yours overlooked.”
“You are very thorough,” I agreed, enjoying his game. “All of my needs have been admirably attended to.” I had washed all of him above the waist. I laid my cloth down by the basin. I fitted a new dressing into place, and he sat up as I wound the bandage around his torso, allowing my fingers to graze across his skin. Once his bandage was secured in place, I pushed him gently back to lie against his pillows.
“I thank you, m’lady, for your healing touch,” he said, bowing his head to me in a gesture of playful formality. “But there is one more detail I believe needs addressing.”
“I wish Icouldheal you with my touch,” I murmured, drawing my fingers around the edges of his new dressing, registering only then his last statement. “What is this detail you speak of? There is nothing else I need.”
“I’m just getting to that,” he said. A hint of amusement played across his lips. “Keep touching me. I feel better already.”
I let my fingers wander past the confines of his bandage to caress his chest once again with my bare hands, exploring with some fascination the roughness of him, the broadness of his shoulders, the intricate play of muscle and sinew beneath his bronzed skin. Such amasculine creature he was, hard and angular and battle-scarred, so different from my own pale curves.
He continued to watch me with lazy interest as I carried out my investigation. I felt the long strands of his damp hair, which I smoothed back from his neck and his face.
“Your sisters are very kind,” I said.
“My sisters shouldn’t have kept you away from me for so long. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have had a need to at least attempt to charge into your chambers and carry you back to me.”
“You only need to call me and I’ll come to you, warrior.”
“Come to me now.”
I smiled. “I’m already here with you.”
“Come closer to me.”
I leaned up against the side of him that wasn’t injured. I kissed his bristly cheek, reveling in the soft-rough texture against my lips. I kissed along his jawline and up to the corner of his mouth. He turned his face just slightly, so his lips barely brushed against mine. We sat there like that for several moments, playing this lightest of kisses. My fingers continued to trail over his skin.
“You kill me with your sweetness,” he whispered.
He licked my lips open, parting them, and his kisses grew in urgency, his tongue becoming more demanding, probing and expressive, as though tasting the nuanced flavors of an exotic fruit he wanted more of. Catching his tongue, I gently sucked it into my mouth. Wilkie made a deep, primal sound, then he pulled back, and his eyes were dark and lit with his fierceness.
