The Reluctant Vampire Page 0,89

or - ?"

"Neither," he interrupted, managing to tear his gaze from her derriere and back to the sheet. "It says to wash first with just soap and water, that sometimes if you only got a light spray, it's enough."

"My spraying wasn't light," she said dryly. It had been a nice hard steady stream. The li le beast had probably been saving up all winter to douse someone. Lucky her for being the recipient. "And Teddy said a bath wouldn't help by itself, or I would have done it last night."

"I'm just reading the instructions," he said with an apologetic shrug.

"Right," Drina mu ered. The tub was only half-full, but she stepped into it and sat down anyway. While the water con nued to run, she picked up the bar of soap on the side of the tub, dunked it in the water, and began to lather it up and apply it to herself.

Harper said something she couldn't hear over the sound of the rushing water. Busy lathering her chest and neck, Drina simply lifted one foot out of the water and used her toes to turn off the tap before turning to him to ask, "What was that?"

He was staring rather blankly at the taps.

"Harper?" she asked with a frown.

"You turned it off with your toes," he muttered.

"Yes," Drina said, and lted her head uncertainly. She'd done it automa cally and hadn't realized it was odd, but his expression was . . . well, she wasn't sure what his expression was. His eyes were wide though, and he was now staring at her feet at the end of the tub with a sort of fascination.

"What talented li le feet you have," he murmured finally, his gaze shi ing back to her face. "What else can you do with them?"

Drina opened her mouth, closed it, and then narrowed her eyes. "Are you having another one of your perverted little fantasies like the maid apron and boots?"

"Uh-huh." Harper nodded, his eyes sliding over her naked breasts above the water. Drina chuckled and turned to begin soaping herself again, saying nonchalantly, "I can do all sorts of things with my toes and feet."

Harper released a li le sigh and set the instruc on sheet on the side of the sink, then slid to his knees beside the tub and reached for the soap. "Let me help soap you up."

"No way." She laughed, holding the soap out of his reach. "Back on the toilet, mister. You can help later, when I smell better."

He sighed but did as instructed and simply watched silently as she soaped every inch of her skin, and then rinsed it away.

"I haven't been able to smell for hours now," Drina said on a sigh as she sniffed at her arm. "But I don't think it worked."

Harper caught her hand and pulled it to his nose for a sniff, then bit his lip and shook his head.

"Right," she mu ered, pulling the plug on the water and standing up as the tub began to drain. "So what's the next step?"

"Wash with carbolic soap," he read, and stood to search the bags on the counter for the item in question. Drina glanced impa ently down at the half-drained water, and reached to turn on the shower. It didn't make sense to wash the smell away and then sit in the smelly water full of stuff you just soaped off. She would shower this time.

"No fair," Harper complained when she pulled the tub's shower curtain closed a er taking the soap he handed her.

Drina chuckled but simply con nued with her plan, standing outside the spray of water to thoroughly soap herself up, and then moving under it to rinse herself.

"Now?" she asked a few moments later, jerking the curtain open enough to s ck her hand out for inspection.

He sniffed and then shook his head apologetically. "Better, but . . ."

Drina sighed and turned off the shower. "Next?"

"Fill a bucket with equal parts water and vinegar and use a rag to wash yourself with the mixture. Scrub hard, but not to the point of pain," Harper read, and then glanced around with a frown. "We don't have a bucket."

"Look under the sink," she suggested.

He opened one of the cupboard doors and made a sound of triumph. "A cleaning bucket."

"Good enough," Drina decided, stepping out of the tub and using the ruined sheet to dry herself while Harper quickly rinsed the bucket, dumped a large bo le of vinegar in, then refilled the