Wolfe turned aside, picked up the sponge, and began soaping it. He washed her back, shoulders, and arms, rinsed her, and began soaping the sponge once more.
«Don’t panic, little nun.»
«What?»
The breath stopped in Jessica’s throat as she felt the sponge gliding over her collar bones, her breasts, her ribs, her belly.
«Lift one leg,» he said as he soaped the sponge once more.
«Wolfe,» she said faintly.
«Just brace your foot against the lip of the tub the way I did. Don’t worry. I won’t let you drown.»
Slowly, Jessica lifted her right leg. As though it was something he did every day, Wolfe washed the delicate, high-arched foot, slender ankle, and calf. She watched him with a sense of stunned disbelief as the sponge slid beneath the water and on up the length of her leg.
«Now the other.»
Dazed, Jessica obeyed, lowering one leg and raising the other. The sponge began moving over her once more. When it went from foot to calf to thigh, she shivered. But the sponge didn’t stop there. It swept over the triangle of hair and then down to the soft flesh below. An odd sound squeezed from Jessica’s throat. Instantly, the sponge stopped moving, remaining tucked between her thighs.
«Is something wrong?» Wolfe asked blandly, looking up.
Jessica made another small sound.
«Yes?» he asked.
She blushed brightly enough to put dawn to shame. «Wolfe, please.»
«Please what?»
Putting her hands against his wrist, she tugged, but her arms didn’t exert any force. His hand stayed where it was.
«Do you want me to move my hand?» he asked.
«Yes,» she said, shivering.
«Then unclamp your legs.»
Belatedly, Jessica realized that she had pressed her thighs together in an instinctive effort to shield herself from Wolfe’s touch. The sponge, and his fingers, were caught between her legs.
«S-sorry,» she whispered.
Wolfe wasn’t. He had loved being pressed into the secret, silky warmth of her.
Hurriedly, she shifted, releasing him. The slow withdrawal of the sponge and the hint of a sleek, intimate caress made her feel faint. She flushed from her breasts to her forehead.
«There’s no need to be embarrassed,» Wolfe said in a matter-of-fact tone. «Even if a husband and wife never share a bed, a certain amount of intimacy is inevitable between them.»
Jessica swallowed and watched with huge eyes as Wolfe stood and shook out the soft cotton flannel blanket.
«Can you stand up?»
Her eyes became even bigger. «No.»
«Then I’ll help.»
«But I’m not wearing anything!» she said frantically.
Wolfe sighed and said in a very patient tone, «I know. It’s the usual practice to be naked when in the bath. Can you stand or do you need help?»
«But —»
«Jessica,» he interrupted, «quit dithering and get out of the bath before you take a chill.»
«Close your eyes.»
«This is foolish,» he muttered, but he closed his eyes.
Despite her largely useless arms, Jessica thrashed around until she managed to get to her knees. She was almost to her feet when she slipped.
«Wolfe!»
He caught her, lifted her out of the tub, and stood her on the bricks. With as much disinterest as he could manage, he began drying her briskly.
«Close your eyes!» she wailed.
«I can’t see what I’m doing with my eyes closed. Why don’t you close yours, instead?»
Jessica blinked. «What good would that do?»
«Just a thought.»
Wolfe stifled a smile and closed his eyes. Almost immediately his hands slipped, fumbled, and ended up sliding over her hip without the towel between.
«This isn’t working,» she said breathlessly.
He thought it was working quite well, but said only, «Do you have a better idea?»
«Hold out the blanket tightly and I’ll dry myself on it.»
Within seconds, Wolfe knew it was a bad idea…and a good one. The feel of Jessica’s small, utterly female body rubbing against the cotton in his hands inflamed him as much as bathing her had. When the blanket slipped and he felt the unmistakable texture of a nipple dragging against his palm, he had to fight to draw air into his lungs.
«There, that should do it,» Jessica said finally.
Wolfe didn’t know whether to be glad or sad that the lovely torment was ending. He turned his back and went to the bed. A sweeping motion of his arm opened the fur cover so that it lay flat over the bed.
«Come here and lie down,» he said, carefully not looking at the naked, intensely female nun who stood trembling next to the tub. «I’ll see if I can rub the knots out of your arms and back.»
Uncertainly, Jessica looked at the tall man who stood by the bed. Naked but for the strip of white linen he wore wrapped carelessly around his loins, caressed by light and brushed by shadows, Wolfe’s body was both beautiful and rather frightening in its obvious strength.
«Your ladyship, if I had intended to attack you like Lord Gore, it would have happened ten times over by now.»
The cold anger in Wolfe’s voice made Jessica flinch.
«Yes,» she said faintly. «I know. It’s just…new to me.»
«It’s new to me, too.»
Jessica gave him a startled look. «It is?»
«I’ve never bathed a woman before. But then, you aren’t a woman. You’re a nun.»
Without a word, Jessica went to the bed and lay face down. The silkiness of the fur against her nude body made her gasp.
«Now what?» Wolfe asked impatiently as he threw the cotton blanket over her.
Jessica shivered. «It feels strange to have nothing against my skin but fur.»
«You’ll warm to it.»
She let out her breath and shifted experimentally. The fur warmed and stroked her in return. A shivering little sigh went through her.
«You’re right. The fur feels quite…extraordinary.»
Without realizing it, she moved again, stroking her body against the luxurious coverlet. The sensuality implicit in the movement went into Wolfe like a knife. It occurred to him that Lady Victoria had a point worthconsidering: Teachthe little nun not to fear a man’s touch.
Wolfe had been trying to ignore the passion in Jessica. At that moment, he decided it would be more intelligent of him to awaken that passion. Then the thought of a man’s bed and body wouldn’t be so horrifying to her. Then she would agree to end this sham marriage and find a union more suitable to her station.
Then Wolfe could find a marriage and a woman more suitable to his own desires — a strong, resilient mate who could match his passion, work by his side in the wild land, and give him children. Next to those vital things, an amusing elf was simply that.
An amusement.
And if the thought of another man taking Jessica’s untouched body made Wolfe angry at some primitive level