that you're all the way up here anyway. Go ahead, relax. I'll get the aspirin." She nudged him toward the bed and pushed on his shoulders until he sat on the edge.
An idea tickled the back of her brain. She could try it, if she could trap him long enough. She hurried to the bathroom, turned on the faucet in the tub, and sprinkled in some spicy bath beads that May had given her for helping with the musicale decorations. "I'll be right out," she said cheerily, peeking at him through the crack of the door. She got the bottle of aspirin and a glass of water. He took the medicine from her gratefully and as he drank, she sat down beside him and bent over to tug at his shoestrings.
"What are you doing?"
"Well, you're not going to take a nap with your shoes on, are you?"
"I'm not going to take a nap in this bed at all."
"Good, because I really think the soak in the tub is a better idea. More relaxing. But you won't need your shoes for that, either." She managed to remove one shoe and sock by lifting his foot off the ground, throwing him off balance as he tried to keep the glass of water from spilling all over the bed.
"Okay, now the other." She yanked on his pants leg until he was forced to comply. This was the foot with the poor, missing toes. Cole shifted it to its side to hide the damage in the very same self-conscious movement that Nicholas had always used. Seeing that gave her a sudden surge of hope. She removed her own shoes and wriggled her toes, then collected the two pairs to place them side by side in the closet as Nicholas always did.
"Now your jacket, sir." When he stood stiffly to accommodate her demand, he groaned a bit. "You see, you really do need some tender, loving care." She pulled the suit coat off of him, then untied his tie, undid his cuff links, and took them all to the closet.
When she returned, he was still standing, looking somewhat bewildered. She shooed him toward the bathroom. "Go on, you're perfectly capable of undressing yourself. I'm not your maid, you know," she scolded. "What did you think? That I had ulterior motives for disrobing you? Relax. Get in that tub and soak. I have to get some towels."
She was pleased to see that he had obeyed her when she came back, so loaded with towels that she had to nest her chin in them to keep the pile from toppling and to elbow the bathroom door open. "Towels!" she announced blithely as she invaded his privacy.
He hunched quickly forward in the steaming tub and had a washcloth placed strategically for the sake of modesty. She hoped her rehearsed smile of maidenly shyness hid the hint of mischief she had planned. She plunked the pile of towels on the closed toilet lid and began shaking them out and ringing the floor around the edge of the tub with them. "For splashes," she answered before he had a chance to ask.
"Splashes?"
The steam had turned the hair that fringed his neck and brow to dark, damp ringlets, making the lighter curls on top seem to shine like gold. She tweaked a curl and let it spring back. "Yeah. Scoot forward, I'll rub your back."
"I don't think--"
She stuck her lower lip out in an exaggerated pout. "I bet you let that big, blond nurse who was always hanging around your room give you a back rub."
"Which big, blond nurse?"
"Ah hah! Just as I thought, there was more than one!" She feigned a snatch for the washcloth he was using as a breechcloth, and he was forced to draw his knees up to avoid her maneuver. The action moved him forward in the tub just as she wanted.
"I thought the idea was to allow me a long, relaxing soak."
"Oh? Am I disturbing you?" A just audible moan escaped him as he covered his face with his hands and shook his head. Swiftly, while his eyes were still covered, she discarded her own clothes and stepped into the tub behind him, one foot along each side of his hips.
"Trissa! What the...!"
"Shhh," she hissed as she settled herself in the hot water. "This is a Japanese style back rub. We saw it in that movie, remember? Oh, no, I guess that was Nicholas. It's an extremely ancient, quite reputable tradition. Very therapeutic. Just relax."