Page 74 of Of Steel and Scale

“Then why not disown you and simply make Tayte his heir?”

One shoulder rose fractionally. “As we’ve both noted, his decisions sometimes make no sense.”

An answer that really wasn’t. He knew the reason. He just wasn’t willing to tell me yet.

I ignored the sliver of disappointment and continued washing him, sweeping the netted soapweed across every inch of his washboard perfection, leaving no part of his torso untouched. But when I finally followed the sharply defined V that led down to his groin, he caught my hand and tugged me around the side of the bath.

“Time for you to join me, I believe.”

“But I’ve already had a bath.”

“So the divine scent emanating from your skin would suggest.” He opened his eyes and pinned me in a sea of blue. Just for a moment, it felt like I was falling, drowning, and there was definitely a part of me that wanted to do nothing more than lose myself in promises so visible within that glorious sea.

But shadows haunted the deeper depths, and until I knew their source, I could not risk falling. I would not set myself up for heartbreak. Not again.

Then devilment flicked through the blue, and his grip on my hand tightened. Before I knew what was happening, he’d dragged me into the bath with him. I came up spluttering and coughing, shifted position so that I straddled his lower thighs, then whacked his chest with the soapweed.

“That wasnotpolite.”

“No, but you’re now in the bath with me, so I don’t really care.”

His fingers trailed up my waist and circled my left areola, then the right, both of which were now very visible through the robe’s wet material. His touch was so light and yet so heated, and my nipples hardened as desire curled through me. It was all I could do not to press into that teasingly delicious caress.

I swallowed heavily, dunked the soapweed back into the water, and continued my ministrations. This time, when I swept down the V to his hips and on to his groin, he didn’t object. I gently washed around the base of his cock but ignored his magnificent length, instead sliding back on his legs to wash his thighs. His fingers caught the robe’s ties, stopping me from retreating any further.

“My calves and feet do not need your tender ministrations,” he murmured, tugging at the ties until they came undone.

My breath caught as he parted the robe and his fingers brushed my skin, making me shiver in delight. “You don’t like you calves or feet being touched?”

“Oh, I do,” he said, voice seeming to come from somewhere deep in his chest. “But right now there are other parts of my body needing your attention more.”

I smiled as he slipped a hand around my waist and slid me back up his legs.

“And what would they be?” I whispered, leaning forward and brushing my lips across his mouth. “This?”

“No.”

I moved my mouth down to his chin. “This?”

“Definitely not.”

“What about this, then?” I shifted and caught his right ear between my teeth, lightly nipping as I pressed my mound against the hard heat of his erection and gently rubbed up and down.

He sucked in a quivering breath and then said, “No.”

“Ah.” I trailed kisses down his neck and shoulders, then continued on with my hands, sliding down his torso, gently caressing every glorious inch before once again following the deeply cut V to his groin.

He caught my hands before I could touch. “That way lays danger.”

I grinned. “And this is bad because?”

“Because I suspect I am more primed than you.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that, husband.”

“I’m not one for betting. Iamone for ensuring.” Wickedness gleamed in his eyes as he raised my hands to the top of my head and held them there. “My turn to touch and tease, wife.”

“Oh, please, feel free.”

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