"What are you talking . . ." She trailed off. "You're not my lord!" She gave another shove that he didn't even seem to register.
"A boon says I am tonight."
"This was a-a carefully orchestrated trap! You planned all this, manipulating me!"
"Yes."
When he simply admitted to things like that, it seriously undermined her outrage. "You're insane."
"Perhaps all these unredeemed favors have gone to my head."
"You're not even in need of a bath."
"A bath can have other purposes. Here are your choices: you tend to my bath-or I'll tend to yours."
The look in his eyes told her that he was leaning toward the latter.
To have this male running soap all over her na**d body . . . ? What would that be like?
Gaze dropping to her neck, he said, "I could demand far worse than this."
Such as a drink? Was that what he'd meant when he'd said, "possess you in every way"?
"Bettina, you didn't have to agree to our bargain."
"Of course I did. I would have done anything to save Caspion."
Some dark, primal emotion flashed over his face, and his arms tightened around her. "Have care, sorceress. You tread upon perilous ground."
She swallowed with fear. Strangely, not for herself, only for Caspion. "You still want him dead. So why save him earlier? It only increases the likelihood that you will have to kill him."
"If we're pitted against each other, I won't have a choice but to defeat him, so you'll be more likely to forgive me. If I hadn't saved him today, that would have been a choice you might not have forgiven. Besides, these favors will help me win your affections of my own accord-not simply because my competitor no longer exists."
"So that's what motivates you? Competition with Cas?"
He gave a humorless laugh. "Soon you'll find there is no competition with that demon. What motivates me is the lovely prize I'll possess." He set her away to begin unbuttoning his shirt. "And you'll stall no more." His gaze raked along her body as he began to bare his. Again, she fought the need to fan herself.
When Daciano removed his shirt, she turned away, but not before she got a look at his muscular chest in the firelight.
His skin was smooth-and completely unmarked from the melee. In the ring, he'd been saturated with blood. But only from others?
She also glimpsed that crystal around his neck. His clothing style was simple and unembellished; she wondered why he wore that lead.
Is he removing his boots?
Keeping her back to him as he undressed was more difficult than she would have supposed. What woman wouldn't crave seeing the vampire's body, especially after touching it in the dark the night before?
But for Bettina, it was even worse. She had an artist's eye, and right now that sensibility was clamoring to see this male na**d. As a subject. Nothing more.
His pants landed over a chair to her right. She swallowed. He's na**d in this tent with me.
When he descended into the water, she snapped, "I'm not doing this," even as she mused, I should have peeked.
"Then prepare for worse."
Her thoughts ran riot. Scrubbing his back was preferable to a thousand other things he could have demanded. "But I've never bathed anyone before."
"I'm confident you'll stumble your way through this."