A Summer Smile

grasped her shoulders and hauled her unceremoniously to her feet.

“I just wanted to take a shower,” she said defensively. “And brush my teeth.”

“And then see the horses,” he added grimly. “I wish I had never mentioned them to you.”

“I planned that for later,” she said with dignity. “I just wanted to be really clean again. I’m a total mess. Just look at me.”

“I am,” he said huskily. He had been trying to keep from doing just that since the moment he’d walked into the room. She was beautifully, lushly naked beneath the sheer dark brown of the negligee. He could see the dark pink thrust of the nipples that crowned her full breasts, the slim silkiness of her waist and abdomen beneath the material that veiled instead of covered. His gaze was drawn irresistibly to the shadowy triangle at the apex of her thighs, and he felt an aching thrust of desire in his loins. Her sun-burnished hair was falling in shining clouds around her shoulders, and he wanted to reach out and tangle his hand in her locks. To press her close to him so that he could feel that dark, shadowy softness against his hardness.

God, he could almost feel her rubbing against him, her nipples tautening for him as they had in the cave that night. They were peaking now as he looked at her, and he felt a jolt of need so intense it was painful. The bed was so damned close and she would want it. She might be frightened at first, but she had been responsive before. Hell, she was responsive now. He could see the pulse pounding wildly in the hollow of her throat and he reached out a hand to half encircle it, pressing his thumb gently to that revealing pulsing. He bent forward, his lips only a breath from hers. He could see the faint cut where Hassan had struck her and he felt a surge of primitive rage rush through him that somehow only intensified the desire he was experiencing. “Is your lip still sore?”

“What?” She had forgotten about it. It was a moment before she could pull her attention from the spell Daniel was weaving about her with only the light touch of his hand and the smoky hotness of his eyes. “Oh, no.” She nervously moistened her lips with her tongue. She felt his hand on her throat tighten compulsively. “It doesn’t hurt at all anymore.”

“That’s good,” he said hoarsely. He could feel her warmth reaching out to him through the film of material separating them. It would take only a motion of his hand to brush aside the robe and close his fingers on her breast. To lift that rosy nipple to his lips and nibble and suck until she gave that little breathless moan that excited him so. She would dig her fingers into his shoulders as she had in the darkness of the cave. He had noticed in the shower this morning that he still had the marks of her nails on his body. Such a little thing, but it had caused an instant arousal that had forced him to change the flow of water in the shower from warm to ice cold. Then he would run his hands slowly down her smooth warm back. He would cup her buttocks in his palms and lift her, press her against his aching arousal, make her take him into-

Make her take him! The shock of that subconscious thought sent an electrifying jolt through him. He had been within an inch of plunging into her like a rutting stag, not caring whether she wanted it or not. His only concern had been the need for release from the painful aching in his loins. He felt sick with disgust. Only yesterday he had told Clancy that he wasn’t going to touch her, that he was going to teach her to trust him. He had been the one who was going to show her that all men weren’t animals. His predicament would have been funny if it hadn’t possessed the elements of tragedy. Even realizing how close he had come, he was still trembling like a hound who had just scented a bitch in heat. And the most maddening aspect of this entire situation was that he could tell Zilah didn’t even realize it existed. It was all there in the clear wonder of the eyes gazing up at him. In spite of her experiences as a child, she still possessed an innocence that amazed him. She knew about violation but she obviously wasn’t aware of the more subtle nuances of sexual arousal. The time she had spent in the House of the Yellow Door was a thing apart for her, not connected with their relationship. She was even accepting their lovemaking in the cave as a temporary aberration on his part. Perhaps he should be grateful she was looking at it like that.

His hand fell from her throat to her shoulder and pushed her gently away. What had they been talking about? He could only remember dark pink crests crowning full golden breasts and…“You wanted to take a shower?”

A shower? Yes, she definitely needed a shower. She was trembling all over and her knees were weak again, but not from any physical disability. “Yes, I was going to take a shower,” she said vaguely.

“We’ll see what we can do.” He released her shoulders and stepped back. She swayed. He quickly braced her again. “Damn, you can scarcely stand up. How do you expect to take a shower? Hell, you’d probably faint and drown before I could get in to pull you out.”

He was angry again. She tried to clear her mind of the sensual mist that was clouding it. Why was he so angry with her when a moment ago he had been so gentle? Now there was no hint of anything but harshness in his face, and she felt a throb of pain tighten her chest. She lifted her chin. “I’ll manage. I won’t need your help.”

“The devil you won’t.” He cradled her in his left arm and she found herself being half pushed, half carried toward the bathroom door. “Unless you want Philip’s valet, Raoul, to help you, I’m the only game in town. Believe me, I don’t like the idea any more than you do.”

He threw open the door to reveal a bathroom that was the ultimate in sybaritic luxury. A long, mirrored vanity flanked one wall. In a corner, immediately to the left of the door, was a shower stall with frosted glass doors. The center of the room was occupied by a sunken tub that was as large as some swimming pools Zilah had seen. It was tiled in a mosaic rose and ivory floral design, and at the opposite end of the tub were two wide steps leading down into its gleaming depths.

Daniel slammed the door behind them and lifted Zilah onto the vanity before turning to kneel by the gold faucets at the head of the tub. He swiftly turned them on full blast. Clouds of steam swirled around him as he sat back on his haunches, keeping his eyes carefully averted from her and fixed on the gushing water. “This will take only a minute to fill.”

“I thought I was going to take a shower.”

“A bath is better. I’d have to get into the shower stall with you. It would be a little crowded.”

The thought of that intimacy made her throat tighten. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll be able to manage on my own in the tub.”

“The hell you will.” He was pouring pink liquid from a small cut crystal flagon that he had snatched from a tray on the side of the tub, and the water exploded into millions of bubbles. “I’ll bathe you myself and then I’ll know you’re all right.”

“You’re pouring in too much bubble bath.”

He continued to tilt the liquid into the already soapy water. “You’re wrong there,” he said grimly. “There can’t be too many bubbles in the world at the moment.” He set the empty container on the side of the tub, tested the water to make sure it wasn’t too hot, turned off the faucets, and rose lithely to his feet. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

He swung her off the vanity, his fingers unbuttoning the top button of her negligee with total impersonality.

Zilah felt a shiver run through her that had nothing to do with her nudity as he stripped the filmy negligee off her and then picked her up. He was so remote, so cold. She had never imagined Daniel could be so cold. “You don’t have to bother. Once I’m in the tub I’ll be able-”

“Zilah,” Daniel said between his teeth. “Shut up!”

Then she was being lowered carefully into the mountains and mountains of soap bubbles. She sneezed. “I knew you were using too much bubble bath. I’m practically drowning in bubbles.”

He released her and stood up. He kicked his sandals off as he regarded her appraisingly. It was true. There wasn’t an inch of that lovely body visible. She was up to her chin in foam. He felt some of the tension drain out of him. “You look fine to me,” he said with a grin. “Kinda cute.”

She sneezed again. “Let some of the water out.”

“Nope, you’ll be in there for only a few minutes.” He was settling himself on the first step leading down into the sunken tub. He tossed her a sponge and a bar of soap. “Come here and sit between my knees. You take care of the bath while I wash your hair. Deal?”

“Deal,” she said happily as she moved to sit between his naked thighs on the first step. It had to have been her imagination. There was nothing cold or stern about Daniel now. “I don’t have much choice if I’m to get out of this tub before I’m smothered by bubbles.”

“Lean back. Your hair needs to be wetter.” He was leisurely pouring shampoo into her hair, playing with the fragrant foam, making elaborate peaks and twirls. “You would have made a terrific eighteenth-century court lady.