bed and massaged my temples. I was a coward, apparently. I wanted to tell him, but I was afraid to tell him. I also did not want to go live at Eastmeadow with its servants and fancy crap and restrictions. That wasn’t who I was.
I groaned.
Bo crouched in front of me. “What’s wrong?”
“So much,” I murmured. “I want to tell him, I’m afraid to tell him. I don’t want to go to Eastmeadow, but I don’t want to leave Vihn alone in the city with his cunt of a mother. Dexx is not going to leave me here, not when he finds out my secret. And he’s not going to want me after I deceived him. He doesn’t want a Drimuti. He will be so angry at us, Bo.”
He patted my hand. “Stop worrying, have your bath, and get some sleep. It’ll be all right.”
I nodded. “Whatever happens, I won’t forget your kindness.”
He stiffened suddenly and narrowed his eyes.
“Bo?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
He stood smoothly and grasped the handle of the blade sheathed at his side, then after a few seconds, he relaxed. “Thought I heard something,” he told me. He grinned, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“Oh.” I gestured at the door. “Goodnight, then.”
Still, he hesitated. “You’ll be all right,” he said, but he sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
And finally, he left me to my bath. I latched the door, knowing if Dexx returned to camp, Bo would inform him I was bathing. Dexx had been avoiding me less, but he wasn’t going to want to burst into the room while I was naked. I smiled at the thought.
The firelight was the only illumination in the room, and though it pushed the shadows back, I felt almost spotlighted as I began to undress. As I took my familiar brown cap off and placed it on a chair beside the deep metal basin, I couldn’t help but imagine a time when Dexx would be getting into bed with me. A time when I could run my hands over his naked body and slide my lips over his.
I shivered as my skin erupted into gooseflesh. I pulled off my coat, then my huge, heavy button up, and lastly, the thin pullover shirt I wore over the wide strip of cloth I used to bind my breasts.
I hated the thing, but at the same time, it made me feel secure. I unwrapped it from my body, then placed it on top of the cap. Next came my pants. I’d already kicked off my boots. I reached up to let my hair out of its twisted knot, sighing when the silky strands slipped down my bare back.
I fluffed out my hair, then stretched, enjoying the freedom to be a girl as well as the warmth of the fire on my pale skin. And finally, I walked to the fireplace and the deep basin of warm water. It wasn’t a tub or—thank the gods—an icy outdoor body of water—but it would get the job done.
I wanted to get clean and sweet-smelling because unless I changed my mind, I was going to share my secret with Dexx tonight and attempt to seduce him. It’d be difficult, because of the Drimuti thing, but I would give it my best try.
Also, I wanted him. And more by the day.
I washed thoroughly, thinking about Dexx and my change in circumstances. I was nearly finished when suddenly, I shuddered as ice slid down my spine and the fine hairs stood up on my body.
The cabin was dark but for the fire. Danger was in the room with me, in the dark shadows, and I was exposed and helpless and alone. My instincts screamed at me to run, and naked and wet or not, I had to listen.
I whirled and kicked off, then started to scream—but before anything more than a squeak could escape, I was yanked off balance and had a hand clamped over my mouth.
Dexx.
I felt him, now that he held me. I moaned and then darted out my tongue to taste his warm palm. He jerked and took his hand from over my mouth, then wrapped his arm around my ribs instead. He squeezed me hard, a little too hard, and then carried me across the floor to dump me on the bed.
“No,” he said, when I started to sit up. “Do not move.”
I froze, my stare glued to his face. His eyes held something dark and fierce, like the sharp edge of rage