Page 67 of Laird of Smoke
He must have been in a hurry.He’d already shed his clothing.The unexpected sight of his naked body made her bite her lip to stifle a gasp.
If this was what God’s Adam looked like, it was no wonder Eve had been tempted into sin.
His body was perfectly proportioned, exactly like the drawings she’d once glimpsed of the statues in Rome.His shoulders were wide, with arms that were well-muscled, but not bulky.His legs were sturdy and covered with a light dusting of hair.His buttocks were firm and smooth.And when he turned to enter the bath, she bit harder into her lip, for none of the priests or young lads or drawings of Roman statues had exhibited an appendage in such a state.
She gulped.
Of course, she wasn’t naive.She’d seen enough animals to know that the members of males swelled to a larger size when they were preparing to mate.
Why it hadn’t occurred to her that it would be much the same with humans, she didn’t know.But even so, it made no sense, because Adam wasn’t preparing…
He sank into the water before she could steal another glance.
She would have closed the curtains then, but he was facing her.The movement would have drawn his attention.So she clamped her lips together and continued to watch.
He laid his head back against the edge of the tub.His face immediately dissolved into pleasure as he sank lower into the water until just his face was showing between the knobs of his knees.He sank lower still, letting the waves close over his head for an instant.
When he emerged, he slicked back his drenched hair and used a cloth to wash his face and neck.His movements were brusque as he scrubbed his shoulders, arms, and chest.Eve knew if she were performing the task, she’d be far gentler.
The idea made her cheeks grow warm.She closed her eyes, censoring her view, but not her errant thoughts as she listened to every gurgle of water and grazing of wet linen upon his flesh.
When she dared to peek again, he was finished washing.Now he rested his neck and arms upon the rim of the tub and closed his eyes, letting the soothing water lull him into tranquility.
In a shadowy, wayward part of her mind, she wished she could join him.She imagined being snuggled against him, cradled in the crook of his arm.Leaning against his powerful shoulder.Resting her cheek on his chest.Tracing the muscles below the level of the water with curious fingers.
An erotic longing began inside her, filling her nether parts with a kind of hunger.The place between her thighs tingled as if lightning hovered in the air.With her every breath, the friction of linen against her striving nipples filled her with a keen need.Her eyelids grew heavy until she watched him through a haze of yearning.
“I know ye’re peekin’,” he suddenly intoned.
Startled, she lurched, losing her precarious balance on the bed.She made a grab for the curtain, but it only opened wider.Losing her footing completely, she clung to the fabric with a death grip to keep from falling.But her weight was too much for the frail velvet, and the curtain began to rip with agonizing slowness.
In the time it took her to gasp in a mortified breath, he’d leaped from the tub to come to her rescue.
What exactly happened, she wasn’t sure.There was a flash of flesh and then a tangle of slippery limbs and shredded velvet, terrified yelps and determined grunting.They touched each other in a dozen improper ways.But in the end, after a confusion of grasping and twisting, clinging and holding, he managed to keep her from crashing onto the hard planks.
“Are ye all right?”he asked.
She nodded.But it was absolutely not true.Her heart was pounding like a fuller’s hammer against her ribs.And it wasn’t only from nearly falling off the bed.
He was holding her upright against him, but her feet didn’t touch the floor.Tendrils of his hair dripped water onto her bosom as he tipped his head down to hers.His dark eyes looked like boundless pools as he gazed at her in concern.His nostrils flared, and his stubbled jaw clenched as he held her safe in his powerful arms.Her thinly veiled breasts were crushed against his wet chest.And lower, she could feel the bulge of his naked loins pressing against that part of her that had burned with yearning.
He exhaled in relief, and she felt his sigh all the way down her body.
With a half-smile, he murmured, “I wish I could say the same for the cur—”
She didn’t take time to think.
She acted on instinct.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she surged forward to press her lips to his in a kiss of relief and gratitude.At least shetoldherself it was only relief and gratitude.
Chapter 11
So astounded was Adam by Aillenn’s kiss, at first he didn’t respond.
He felt wretched for frightening the poor lass into losing her balance.For causing the destruction of Pitcairn’s bedcurtains.For shocking the woman with his nakedness.For manhandling her in his efforts to keep her from falling.
The fact that she was kissing him was at odds with his guilt.
