Page 65 of Captured By the Highland Devil
“There are chances ye might have broken her beyond reason, or ye might have forced her to break through the barrier she had bolted between herself and her memories.” Ruben said.
“I daenae, we daenae ken how it will end until she wakes and tells us herself,” he said. “I daenae ken about ye, but I am hopin’ for the latter. Maybe for once, she can give me the direction to get her the justice she deserves.”
Paige plucked at her bodice and winced at how wet it was. “I am goin' to need a bath.”
“Ye did well today,” Ruben told her. “Much better than I thought ye would. In the next couple of days, despite what I have to do with me men or in the village, we’re going to make time to practice. I need to be confident that ye can handle yerself if I am nae there.”
“I’d love that.”
Ruben was not one to languish in hot baths, but his sore muscle needed it that night. He’d overdone it with training that morning and his muscles needed a rest.
His head fell back in the bath, letting the steam from the hot water overwhelm him. As the water lapped around him, he contemplated the last few days.
Who had tried to abduct Paige, and even more troubling, would they try again? No word had come from the guards holding the unconscious would-be abductor and until then, he had no idea who had sent them.
The door opened and Paige entered, dressed only in her thin chemise. He assumed she had already taken her bath as her hair was damp around her shoulder.
“Do ye want me to wash yer hair?” she asked.
Ruben nodded. “Thank ye.”
She filled a jug and pulled the stool over to his side, poured water over his hair, and lathered it with a bar of handmade olive oil soap. A groan left his mouth as her fingers dug into his scalp. He had always had a weakness for having his scalp rubbed.
Sometimes it took him to sleep but this time, arousal spread through his veins like the long, slow but of a smoldering peat fir. Paige rinsed his hair but did not pull her hands from his scalp. Her fingers made small circular rotations at the back of his scalp.
“Now I ken ye are tryin’ to seduce me,” he groaned.
“That was nae me intention,” Paige said. “But I have nay regrets. Ye are always so attentive when ye pleasure me. Do ye—” she marshalled her courage. “—want me to do the same to ye?”
“Later tonight,” he said while leaning into her caress. “Get back to me hair.”
“Out of gratitude for earlier today I’ve arranged for us to have supper here, in yer chambers,” she said. “I think ye and I need to talk as well.”
He stilled. “Talk? About what?”
“About what we have nae discussed at all,” she said. “I ken we talked about me duties and yers, but we have nae stated what we want from each other.”
He shifted and from the corner of his eyes saw how her eyes widened at seeing him, fully aroused, thick and long and rising proudly. A flicker of heated amusement went through his chest but he tempered his smile.
Bracing his hands on the edge of the tub, he pushed up and stood, letting the water drip from his body. Paige pinked and averted her eyes but he saw when she took a second look. “Hand me that towel.”
She did and as he stepped out and dried off, she hurried from the bathroom and went to his room. Holding in the smirk, he wrapped the towel around his waist then headed to the room to dress. After donning a loose léine and worn breeches, he padded barefoot to the front of the room.
Paige was now wearing a thick knit wrap over her smock while she arranged their supper on their smaller table. She arranged everything from the slivers of roasted meats and vegetables to the bowls of strawberries and blackberries, and the few sweet tarts.
He paused to stroke the fire before joining her at the table as she poured out the wine. “When I went to ask the kitchens to send up this meal, I saw me maither and yer faither talkin’ in a roomby themselves. I think they’ve found companionship with each other.”
Ruben bit into a berry and cocked a brow. “Ye daenae think they are?—”
“Nay,” Paige shuddered. “God nay.”
Snorting, he took a seat and finished his fruit. Reaching over, he plucked a rich, purple berry off the stem and held it to her lips, wordlessly daring her to eat it from his fingers.
Blushing at the atypical romantic gesture from him, she did as he wanted, smiling as the tart sweetness filled her mouth. Spearing a sliver of roast chicken, he asked, “What do ye mean when ye say ye want us to talk about what we want? I assume ye mean how I expect ye to be in this marriage?”
“Aye,” she nibbled on fragrant rosemary basted chicken. “Especially since we started on a bad footin’. I thought ye were the worst of the worst. But now, I realize what I believed about ye was only a mishmash of rumors and unsupported fear.
“I now ken ye are a noble warrior, willin’ to defend yer people at any cost, even if that means being…” she swallowed “…ruthless.”
