Three days!
Had she told him she did not want to be his mate but was willing to be his queen as she vowed to herself she would?
No.
Had she stopped him from making love to her as she vowed to herself she would?
No.
Had she become enchanted by his castle, the people in it, the village at the base of the rise and the people in that?
Yes!
After her first quiet day of Callum ordered rest, she woke up in his bed, in his arms, the urge nearly upon her because his hands were roaming and his lips were trailing across her shoulder.
“Callum –”
His mouth went to her ear and his arm wrapped tight around her, pulling her into his big, warm body.
“Morning, baby doll.”
Good goodness.
If her world was real, she would live for the morning when he said those words to her in his deep, rumbling voice.
“Morning,” she replied, trying to blot the thought from her mind.
“How are you feeling this morning?”
As her body betrayed her and snuggled closer to him, her mind latched on a way out of her first thing in the morning predicament.
“Still a little bit achy,” she told him (and it wasn’t a total lie).
“Poor baby,” he whispered in her ear and, even though he sounded vaguely arrogant, she couldn’t stop the tremble his being close and whispering in her ear caused. “I’ll get Mara to draw you a hot bath.” He bent and kissed her neck. “Have a lie in, little one.”
Then he was gone, out of bed, into the shower, out of the shower, into his clothes and, with a final trip to the bed to lean down and kiss her temple, he was out of the room.
Well, she’d dodged that bullet and she was pretty proud of herself because the whole time he was in the shower she kept thinking of his tall, muscled, na**d body with water sliding down it and she’d had the nearly overwhelming impulse to join him there.
She lay in bed practicing her words for when she would confront him.
However, she lay in bed too long for a knock came at the door.
She pulled in breath.
Then she sighed.
Maraleena (she’d learned the woman’s scent).
She called a good morning, Maraleena stuck her head around the door and smiled huge. “Hi there, Queen Sonia, you sleep okay?”
Then she was bustling in, pulling back the curtains, fussing with the throws on the couch before she headed toward the bathroom while Sonia replied, “Yes, Maraleena, I slept great.”
And she had.
She’d slept like a baby in Callum’s strong arms in his big bed with his heavy, warm hides covering them.
“Cal says I should draw you a hot bath and Drogan says I can call him Cal in front of you,” she called half this statement from the bathroom before Sonia heard the taps turn on.