mouth falling open. Dear God! Yet she could form no reply.
A splash sounded. “My good man, my back needs scrubbing.”
She pushed off the bed, grabbing her clothes from the valet stand, and hurriedly rearranged her neckcloth and put on her jacket. “I will be right with you, my lord.”
Stooping, Juliana donned her shoes, her mind churning. The earl had never asked her to attend him with his bath before. Why was he doing so now? Of course, she knew it was usually the duty of a valet, but he hadn't done so for the last several days.
Did he suspect her?
Do not be silly, she chided herself, if he had suspected me, the earl would have booted me from his home on my arse, not ordered me to bathe his naked body.
She hurried to his private bath chamber to find he was immersed in a large and most luxurious tub. The walls and floor were of blue and white marble, and a had a sunken bath with spigots for hot and cold running water. The modernization of his manor’s bath chamber plumbing saves the maids from the arduous task of lugging pails of hot water up flights of stairs.
His hair was wet and curled at his nape. She kept her eyes glued there, overwhelmingly conscious of how alone they were, of how hazardous this situation had become.
He was naked.
“My lord,” she began. “The maids who brought up the water did they—”
“Your figure in my bed was just a lump under the covers, Julian.”
“Where did you sleep, my lord?” she closed her eyes, wanting the ground to part and swallow her. Why did she ask that?
He was silent, and it was as if she could feel his amusement.
“My back,” he murmured.
She took the soap and lowered to her knees behind him. Without looking down, she dipped it into the water and then brought it to his shoulders. Juliana rubbed the bar against his skin, creating a gentle lather. Her motions were slow as she carefully soaped the expanse of his shoulders and upper back, which were surprisingly muscular.
He shifted, leaned forward for her to reach his lower back. Her gaze landed on his hands, which gripped each edge of the bath as if they were lifelines.
Did she affect him?
Her heart started to pound, and she rubbed his back as quickly as possible. She took a washrag and repeated her motions, closing her eyes so as not to ogle the golden and muscular expanse of his skin.
“I slept beside you,” he unexpectedly murmured. “You are a fascinating sleeper.”
She felt her breath catch at his outrageous remark, and she dropped the soap into the water. Juliana scrambled to her feet, utterly at a loss as what to say. Then the earl gripped the edges of the tub and hauled himself to his feet.
Juliana almost fainted.
His thighs and calves were thick, his buttocks lean, and his back and shoulders delineated with muscle. Water sluiced off his powerful frame as he stepped from the tub and turned around. The earl seemed oblivious to his nudity, while she experienced an acute awareness of it, of him.
Juliana had never seen a naked body before. She wanted desperately to look away but could not. The earl…he was a fine specimen. His body was muscled in wonderful proportions, his skin tone even and implied he swam outdoors in the nude. The very idea was naughty and decadent.
At her mute regard, his sensual mouth curled at one corner. It was a smile…one that was almost a dare, one she wouldn’t have associated with the scholarly earl. Juliana belatedly realized the man before her did not resemble a scholar in any way…but more of a libertine bent on seduction.
Suddenly, the air in the room felt too thick, too tension-filled.
Oh, God, does he know I am a girl, or did he fancy the opposite sex?
She wanted to pretend indifference to his charms but couldn’t manage it. There was a slight trembling of her body, and her heart pounded so hard. The pit of Juliana’s stomach fluttered, and there was a hot, startling ache between her thighs. The response felt strange, primitive, but also right.
“Bring the towel and come here.”
That command had her taking a step back, but her damnable curiosity continually betrayed her, and she swept her gaze slowly over his perfectly formed chest and down…a strangled gasp escaped her, and she froze.
His manhood, a thing she had only ever seen in museums, was not so small as those paintings and sculptures implied!