Page 25 of My Warrior
A sparrow trilled enthusiastically from outside the window. Cambria frowned, snuggling more deeply into the furs in protest of the encroaching morn. She sighed at the wonderful enveloping warmth of the big bed. It was almost like being a little girl again, held in her mother’s cozy embrace.
The thought brought her fully awake in an instant. She sat up abruptly, pulling free of the arms enclosing her.
The Wolf!
Her motions roused him. Disoriented with panic, she scuffled backwards on the pallet and promptly fell off the bed, landing with a thump on her hindquarters.
Holden lifted himself up on his elbows, his hair askew, and peered down with one sleepy eye, looking completely baffled.
“You…” Her voice was scratchy. She felt her cheeks grow hot. “What are you doing here?”
He sighed groggily. “Sleeping. At least Iwas.”
“Inmybed?” she gasped.
He took a quick survey of his surroundings. “This ismybed.”
“I’ve been… I’ve been sleeping inyourbed?” she sputtered.
He shrugged and gave her a sleepy smile. “That’s all right. I forgive you.” He settled back onto the bolster and closed his eyes. “It’s not the first time I’ve awakened to find a woman has crawled into my bed.”
Her jaw dropped. The man was insufferable.
“God’s truth, I was going to have you spend the night on the floor,” he continued, yawning, “but you’d fallen asleep. I didn’t have the heart to push you out of bed. I see you’ve done that yourself.”
“How dare you sleep with me!” she hissed.
“How dare I indeed?” he said with a twisted grin. “It shall be the ruin of my reputation. I assure you it’s not my usual habit to sleep when there’s a woman in my bed.”
She gasped.
“Are you disappointed? I could make amends,” he offered, rubbing his sleep-filled eyes.
She shot him a scathing glare. “I’m only disappointed I didn’t find out earlier. I would have tormented you as you slept.”
His eyes slowly coursed down her body as if they were melting her garments. “Ah, little wildcat, youdidtorment me.”
She felt her mouth go lax. No one had looked at her like that before. No one had said such things to her, and his compelling voice combined with his unashamed countenance completely rattled her.
“Don’t call me that,” she muttered uncomfortably.
“What am I to call you? You’ve never told me your name,” he reminded her, pushing himself up to a sitting position.
Her glance rested overlong on the strong contours of his wide chest, raised boldly above the fur coverlet. It was only curiosity, she told herself, about the faint scar that ran across his ribs that made it difficult to tear her eyes away. A few curling dark hairs accented the curve of muscle beside the scar and made a line down his ridged stomach, a line that disappeared thankfully below the coverlet. She raised her eyes again.
He was smiling at her, the knave—an infuriating, all too perceptive smile that made her disgusted with herself.
Damn it, she wasn’t some rutting maid. She was here on a mission. He wanted to know who she was. She would tell him.
“I am the Gavin, Cambria, daughter of Angus. I am a noblewoman, and I insist upon my own pallet. I will not share a bed with you. I am not some serving wench who would ease your lusts—“
“Ease my…” he said, chuckling. “With you? I have no need of an unwilling mistress, Cambria, I assure you.”
His half-naked presence seemed to fill the room as he rose from the bed, wrapping the coverlet about his waist. He began to pace, and the sensual flex of his torso made things even worse. Her eyes felt as overtaxed as a butterfly with a field of daisies all to itself, flitting about madly.
“Let’s understand each other, Cambria. You’re my prisoner. You may ‘insist’ on nothing. You will sleep where I command. You will eat what I provide. You will wear what I allow you to wear.” He lowered his voice to a soft murmur. “And should it ever be my will that you spread yourself so that I may indeed ‘ease my lusts’ betwixt your thighs, my dear Cambria, you will do even that.”
His words brought her around faster than a hard slap. Her jaw dropped in shock, and her startled head shot up. But before she could deliver a scathing retort, he continued.
