Page 40 of Almost a Bride
“Roselyn?” he whispered.
She looked up at him, and he could see the lantern reflected in her eyes. His arms were around her shoulders, and his hands itched to trace her back lower and feel the swell of her backside.
She looked at his mouth, and his body was no longer his to control. As his erection strained between their hips, she gave another gasp.
“I suggest,” he said dryly, “that you close your eyes while I conquer this towel.”
Her eyes snapped shut so quickly that he chuckled again. As he grasped the sagging towel, he wondered why she so amused him, why he enjoyed upsetting this little world she’d created for herself.
Spencer turned away and pulled the towel tight, his humor fleeing. Was it because his own world might be gone, that he’d be returning to imprisonment—and maybe death—if Shaw convinced the queen he was a traitor?
Behind him, he could hear Roselyn letting the water out of the barrel.
“Are you ready to go back inside?” she asked.
He looked over his shoulder into her shadowed face. He couldn’t see her well, but knew the calm, collected Roselyn had once again returned. She had enough mastery over her expressions to make a good spy.
He allowed her to slide beneath his arm. “I’m sorry to get you wet.”
“You weren’t sorry moments ago.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
She helped him into the cottage, then brought him clean breeches, looking at him with a speculation he found the slightest bit unnerving.
“Why did you do that?” she asked.
“Wash?” he answered, smiling.
She wasn’t distracted. “Why did you touch me? We both know how you feel—how I feel. What purpose does it serve to annoy me?”
Spencer rested back against the door for balance and considered her. “You didn’t seem annoyed.”
“I don’t like to be trifled with—to be teased,” she said in a stern voice. “Is this a game of revenge to you?”
“No.” He said the lie easily. “Roselyn, you don’t know me well, so don’t pretend you understand the motives for everything I do.”
“But I know thingsaboutyou,” she said.
Keeping the tension from his face took all the deception he’d learned to master.
A cool gleam lingered in her eyes. “You enjoy scandal and the attention it brings you.”
He let out his breath, feeling suddenly weak and tired as his tension drained away. “So what if I do?”
“I played a part in your scandals once, and I won’t do it again. My life is devoid of scandal, and I intend to keep it that way.”
“You ‘played a part’?” he echoed, surprised at how close to the surface his anger was. “Youcausedthe biggest scandal of my life, and I have yet to live down the humiliation. You don’t think your life is still full of scandal? If your parents knew what you’ve been doing—”
“Are you threatening to tell them?” she asked coldly, stepping toward him.
“No, I only seek to show you that you’re deceiving yourself; you like scandal every bit as much as I do.”
She drew herself up. “Obviously you know nothing about me. Good night.”
She climbed up her ladder, leaving him to dress alone.
~oOo~
