Page 46 of The Heart of an Earl

She laughed, her fingers grabbing his wrist before he could dive further. The water was already cold and she didn’t want to have to rinse again in a half hour with even colder water after she was done being distracted.

She flipped her head to the side, dragging the wet strands of her hair across her head so she could look at him. “Wait—I need you to pour the rest of the water over my shoulders to rinse the soap—but fast, because it’s so cold. I’m not accustomed to these temperatures.”

An exaggerated frown crossed his face. “Clean is overrated.”

“Not when one has not had a proper bath in years.”

His gaze flickered across the tin bath. “This is not at all proper.”

“No?”

“No. Proper would be a big copper tub with enough room for the two of us. Warm water—so hot you would stay in there with me for hours.” His frown vanished, replaced with a lascivious smile. “Maybe at the next inn.”

She stood straight up in the bath, her hands curling into fists as she cringed. “I’m ready. Do it now. Quick.”

He trickled a stream of cold water onto her shoulders and her muscles tensed.

Dripping the water slowly for his own amusement, the bugger.

Her teeth chattering, she glared at him.

He shrugged, his mischievous grin still in place. “It’s worse for me.”

“How so?”

“The water slipping down the crevices of your body is driving me quite mad.”

“Good.”

He dripped the last drops from the pitcher onto her body and then grabbed the towel on the chair by the fire and wrapped it about her body. Tucking it fully around her, his hands moved across the towel, drying off the nooks and crannies. Something she could very well do for herself, but she rather enjoyed his attentions.

Des was like that. Looking for the smallest comfort for her when he could. The man didn’t miss a detail. Which was probably why he was such a worrier.

Her look went intent on him. “You didn’t think I was with them this morning at the docks—theRed Dragoncrew.”

His eyebrows drew together with a slight shake of his head as he took a corner of the towel and wiped it along her neck. “I told you, Jules—not for a moment.”

An exhale sent a quiver through her entire body. “How? How was your first thought not that I was with them—that I went with them willingly? Not that I had only used you to save my life and I was deserting you to get back to the sea the first chance I got?”

His hands paused and he met her gaze. “Are you asking me how I manage to trust you?”

She nodded. “After all you’ve been through—your life on the sea. The injustice of it—so many that have harmed you. It’s why you worry, I know. So how do you manage to trust?”

“That’s an easy answer.” He slid the edge of the towel along her clavicle, dipping it into the hollow at the base of her neck, his stare on her skin. “My body knows yours, Jules. Knows your soul. Knows how you react when you are most vulnerable. You’ve given me that. Given me you. So yes, I trust you.”

“But, I—I could have been lying this whole time.”

His hazel eyes met hers. “Aye, you could have. Were you?”

“No.”

Without a word, he walked around the bath, stopping behind her. His hands slid around to her belly and he leaned forward, his mouth along the wet strands of hair next to her ear. “It never even occurred to me to think you were.”

He lifted her out of the bath, spinning and setting her feet down in front of the fire between two chairs.

“I don’t understand that.”

“Because I shouldn’t trust you?”

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