Lord of the Abyss - By Nalini Singh Page 0,24

back. "Two minutes."

"You don't think I'll actually start disrob - "

"A quarter less than two minutes."

"It has been but a second!" Realizing he was going to cheat, she ripped off her clothing - including the underwear she'd laundered yesterday - with such furious speed that she heard something tear, and scrambled into the bath. Water sloshed over the side just as he turned.

His disappointment was open. "The steam hides you very well."

"Yes," she said, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. "It does."

"Next time, I won't make the water as hot." Walking over, he picked up her clothes. Then he proceeded to stare at them, paying particular attention to her underthings.

"What," she managed to get out through her mortification, "are you doing?"

"Looking." A scowl. "I don't like these." To her shock, he proceeded to tear the tunic and tights, her underthings, into small strips. "You may keep the boots."

"Stop!" She reached out over the edge of the bath, but he continued on in his methodical destruction even when her fingers brushed the black stone of his armor. All too soon, her clothes were reduced to a pile of rags that he pushed into a corner with his own boot.

Wanting to cry, she glared at him instead. "What am I supposed to wear?" She'd soaked her dress in an effort to remove the bloodstains, and it was still wet.

"Tell me a tale and I'll steal you a dress."

She didn't know whether he was serious - about either part of his statement - but she knew he had her exactly where he wanted her. That would teach her to fence with the Guardian of the Abyss. Blowing out a breath, she drew deeper into the bath and ducked her head under the water to clear her mind, wet her hair. When she rose back out, she made a startled, undignified sound.

He was crouching with his arms on the edge of the bath, so close that she could've leaned over and caressed his face with her lips - Oh, dear. Swallowing the insane urges that told her to react to him as a woman reacted to a man who looked at her as if she were some particularly delicious treat, she pushed herself through the water until her back hit the wall.

It still left them far too close, no matter that the bath was huge. "Where's the soap?"

He held up a hand, brought the square bar to his nose. "Smells pretty."

She was being taunted again. "Give it to me."

"No."

Frustrated beyond bearing, she splashed water at him, remembering too late that he was a man of power, of strength that could hurt. He drew back in startlement, but when the water hit him, there was no anger. Instead, he wiped the droplets off his face and...smiled.

Her mind simply stopped.

He was beyond anything she had ever imagined as a child when she'd dreamed of being saved by the lost heirs of Elden.

And he was inhaling her soap again, as if it was the best thing he had ever smelled. Would he do the same with her if she bathed with that soap? Biting her lower lip, she pressed them together in an effort to find control. Liquid with shocking desire or not, she didn't want the Guardian of the Abyss sniffing at her. He would only hate her all the more when he discovered whose blood ran in her veins.

That thought should've chilled her, but then he held out the soap...only to snatch it back when she went to reach for it. She froze. He held it out again...a little farther away. Though she knew his game, she kept playing - until she was back where she'd started, face-to-face with him at the very edge. "Give me my soap," she whispered, "and I'll tell you a tale of three princes and a princess." She deliberately left out the name of the kingdom of Elden. That struck too deep, and might make him refuse to hear what she had to say.

He hesitated. "Come closer."

"This is close enough." So close that she could see each separate golden lash that shaded eyes of such vibrant green she could lose herself in the clarity of them.

No.

The word was snapped out by the blood sorcery inside of her, a whiplash reminder that she didn't have the luxury of losing herself in his eyes, of forgetting that she was here to break him out of his prison of ensorcellment, take him home to Elden.

Afterward...

Her heart gave a bittersweet