Claire Delacroix (13 page)

But before Baird could show her, Aurelia reached forward again. She certainly wasn’t shy, once she had the hang of things. Baird smiled to himself, liking the way this woman seemed to grab life with both hands. Aurelia adjusted the temperature with dawning confidence and grinned like a child with a new toy.

Baird put the lid down on the toilet and sat there, bracing his elbows on his knees as he watched her play.

“So, you see, you can draw your bath alone.”

Aurelia turned a bright gaze on Baird and an enchanting flush rose over her cheeks. “I am sorry,” she admitted. “I did not know such marvels existed.”

Her heartfelt apology made a part of Baird melt like butter in the sun. He cleared his throat, unaccustomed to such a feeling, and arched a brow that he hoped looked skeptical. “Perhaps the next time, you might give me the benefit of the doubt.”

She said nothing, but again Baird had the impression that she was thinking furiously. What was in her mind? And why was she so determined to distrust him? He wasn’t that bad of a guy!

Hoping to encourage Aurelia’s trust, Baird dared to smile at her.

She flushed scarlet and dropped her gaze in obvious discomfort.

So much for his charm. Baird cleared his throat. “Could you tell me where we’ve met before?”

Aurelia frowned. “We have never met before.”

“But we must have! I feel as though I know you, as though I recognize you...” Baird’s voice faded before her steady gaze.

She looked as though she thought he was crazy.

Now there was irony.

“Never,” she repeated with quiet determination.

Then, how had Baird recognized her? It made no sense!

But Aurelia stared steadily back at him, her wide blue eyes all innocence. The rushing water made the bathroom humid and unexpectedly intimate.

Baird’s errant mind supplied the feel of Aurelia’s breast in his hand at this most inopportune time.

Powerless to stop himself, Baird glanced to Aurelia’s perfect feet. She was wriggling her toes against the bathmat. His mouth went dry as desire roared to life once more.

A hot flush passed over him, heating his flesh from heat to toe. Baird wanted to kiss Aurelia again, taste her, caress her, savor the weight of that breast in his hand. He wanted to peel off his clothes, tear off that bathrobe with his teeth.

Baird wanted to climb into the tub with Aurelia - or better yet, the shower - massage her, lather her with soap, tease her until she moaned with pleasure. He wanted to bury himself to the hilt in her softness and never come back. His need for her was primal and so overwhelming in its intensity that he felt dizzy.

It was the steam from the bath. Baird was too hot, in more ways than one.

He had to get out of here.

“Well! That’s settled, then.” Baird pushed to his feet, not believing that for a minute. “So, now you know how the bath works. I guess I’ll see you at dinner, say about six?”

Aurelia frowned in childish confusion. “Six?”

“Six o’clock, in the west hall where the restaurant will be.” Baird cocked a finger at the rising bathwater and ducked toward the door. “You’d better get that before it runs over.”

“Oh. Oh!” Aurelia pivoted and dove for the tap. The steaming water had nearly crested the overflow valve, and she scrabbled at the knobs in her haste to turn off the water.

The pose showed her legs to distinct advantage, making Baird suddenly very glad that he had ordered the short bathrobes for the resort.

Even if it meant special torment for him in this moment.

“Enjoy your bath, princess.” Baird ducked for the door and problems multiplying faster than even he could solve them.

It wasn’t any help that one particular issue on that list had claimed his attention wholesale. That just meant, Baird resolved grimly, that it had to be solved first.

He had to find Hekod and he had to find him soon.

* * *

Chapter Eight

Aurelia sank up to her chin in the scented bathwater and considered her predicament. Bard, son of Erc, was a man full of enough surprises to keep any woman on her toes. Never would Aurelia have imagined that he would take a pledge to her - though what his word was worth remained to be seen.

The gesture alone was astonishing and hinted at a man of vastly different character than she expected.

But perhaps he only toyed with her. Aurelia chewed her lip and hated that she could not be certain of his intent. Clearly, Bard’s priest believed that Bard should wed Aurelia, though his whore, not unexpectedly, did not share that view.

But what did Bard think?

He had been uncommonly gracious in showing her this water marvel that they all took for granted. And he had not pressed any advantage he might have seen by being alone with Aurelia in the chambers she had been given for her own.

That made twice he had not raped her.

It was most unlike a savage barbarian - which she knew Bard to be - to show such restraint.

Oh, he was handsome, that was for certain, and his charm was undiminished with further acquaintance. That little smile that tugged at his firm lips, the warm gleam in his eyes when he looked upon her, the way he arched a dark brow as though they two shared a jest. Aurelia’s breath caught at the mere recollection.

And the way he kissed.

Aurelia sat up hastily and felt around for the soap, determined not to let her mind dwell on such inappropriate thoughts. She took a soapy cloth and scrubbed the taste of his kisses from her lips with a vengeance. Her breast earned an extra savage cleansing.

Here was a man who knew his asset and played it masterfully. And, just to make matters worse, Aurelia could not keep herself from responding to his touch.

She had to find her father, before it was too late.

And what of the others? There had been hundreds on the walls this morning to counter Bard’s attack, yet Aurelia had not seen one familiar face.

Had Bard slaughtered them all?

There were the dungeons. Perhaps they survived there.

One way or the other, the truth of Bard’s deeds would be discernable. No one could hide the fate of hundreds. At first opportunity, Aurelia would check the dungeons - just one warrior left alive might have news of her sire.

* * *

Marissa was not amused to have a tempting package like Aurelia materialize out of the blue. And just to add insult to injury, she had to outfit the invader or risk looking petty in Baird’s eyes.

As if looks like that needed any help at all. Every man in the place was watching Aurelia like a dog in heat, and her skin - well! - you didn’t get skin like that living out in the wilds of Scotland. Marissa knew the work of a good spa when she saw it.

Which meant that Aurelia was far from the wacko innocent Julian thought she was.

More like an opportunist on the hunt. Marissa easily recognized her own kind and didn’t appreciate the competition. The entire point of Marissa being in this godforsaken place was to have Baird to herself.

Period.

This was supposed to have been her moment in the sun, her chance to persuade Baird for once and for all that they two were made for each other.

Not that Marissa really believed any such romantic nonsense. The math alone said that Baird Beauforte was the man for her, and said it loud and clear.

But Baird just didn’t seem to get it. Oh, Marissa had tried to get him to notice her feminine charms, but Baird seemed so oblivious that she wondered whether he was made of stone.

Marissa dug savagely through one of her Louis Vuitton trunks. Baird had never come to meet her with a rise in his Levis before. For a breathtaking moment, Marissa had dared to hope that she was making real progress.

Marissa didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to notice the way Baird’s gaze followed Aurelia and know what it meant.

And when they had gone upstairs? Well. Baird hadn’t come back to look at her travertine marble samples, that was for sure! Imagine - luring Baird upstairs with some nonsense about not being able to work the bath! And Baird hadn’t seen through the ploy - almost as if he wanted some excuse to go to Aurelia’s room.

Marissa ground her teeth in frustration. Having to lend clothes to a woman who had already claimed Baird’s attention wholesale made her want to spit.

Her only hope was to come up with something hideous.

It was no help at all that Marissa’s trunks were carefully packed with clothes that showed her figure to particular advantage - sensuous silks and delicate lingerie that would contrast wonderfully with rugged outdoor wear. It was clothing she had planned to wear herself to capture Baird’s attention and she didn’t want to part with the advantage of a single item.

Marissa came up with her favorite silk dress and nearly shoved it aside before she froze mid-gesture. She stared at the soft shimmer of the silk pouring over her hand for a long moment. Its creamy hue highlighted her dark coloring spectacularly well.

But blond Aurelia would look like dirty dishwater in such a pale shade.

Marissa fanned out the dress’s fullness across the top of the open trunk and a hint of a smile curved her lips. The dress brushed her own ankles with dramatic flair - but she was a good six inches taller than the blonde.

All these yards of silk would dwarf the little unfortunate. With luck, despite the luster of the fabric, she’d look like a lost child dressing up to be a woman.

Wouldn’t that be sad.

And Marissa, by lending a silk dress Baird knew she favored, would appear to be sweet and generous.

Perfect. Marissa tossed the dress over her arm and smiled. This could work all to her advantage in the end.

* * *

Marissa rapped on the door of the room Julian said he had given to Aurelia. The door swung immediately open.

“Oh! Hello.” Aurelia was obviously both surprised to see Marissa and fresh from the bath. Her hair hung damp and gleaming past her hips, the towel she had wrapped about herself covered her only from underarm to mid-thigh.

And there was not a dot of cellulite on what Marissa could see of those slender but muscled thighs. Aurelia was the very image of dewy innocence. Thank God Baird wasn’t here to witness this!

Anger surged through Marissa at the thought. She gritted her teeth and managed a smile that she hoped appeared friendly. “Didn’t you look through the peephole before you opened the door, darling?” she asked sweetly. “You never know who could be knocking at your door otherwise and you certainly wouldn’t want to just let them in!”

Aurelia blinked, obviously not understanding.

“The peephole, darling.”

Aurelia’s blank expression didn’t change.

“In the door. The peephole in the door. Surely, you’ve noticed it?” Marissa tapped impatiently on the brass insert in question, amazed that the ditzy blonde didn’t seem to know what it was. “You look through it, darling, to see who is outside before you open the door.”

Aurelia frowned. “There is no hole in this door,” she said carefully, looking at Marissa as though she was the dense one.

Marissa barely controlled her exasperation. “You know, you can’t just open the door, especially dressed like that! What if there had been a workman here?”

Or Baird. He’d likely blow a seam in his jeans!

Marissa refused to think any further along such lines. “Go inside and look through the peephole, darling,” she instructed, incredulous that she had to explain something so simple. “You’ll see exactly what I mean.”

Was it true that blondes were as dumb as bricks?

Aurelia shut the door obediently. Marissa waited a second, then waved and smiled. There was an audible gasp from inside the room and Aurelia tore open the door, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“How did you get in there?” she demanded.

Marissa barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Dumber than dumb. But then, hadn’t Aurelia insisted that she was a princess? Obviously, reality was a distant concept for this one.

“I’m not in there, darling, I’m out here,” Marissa explained patiently. “You looked through the peephole in the door and saw me out here in the hall. That’s how it works, very simple really.”

Aurelia appeared unconvinced. She glanced to the peephole, then back to Marissa, her doubts clearly unabated.

Did she think Marissa was lying about something so painfully pedestrian?

“You were only this big,” Aurelia insisted, holding her finger and thumb an inch apart. “How did you make yourself so small?”

Marissa blinked, but Aurelia held her gaze stubbornly. Incredibly, the woman was not putting her on. She might be drop-dead gorgeous, but Baird’s attraction wouldn’t last long if he had to explain every little thing.

Maybe she really had been incapable of drawing her own bath.

Maybe there was hope, after all. Marissa’s spirits soared and she felt uncharacteristically generous.

“It wasn’t me, darling. There’s a lens or something in there, a special kind of glass that makes things look smaller when you look through it. It lets you see whatever - or whoever - is out here before you open the door. It’s perfectly marvelous, of course.”

Aurelia went back and looked through the peephole again, swinging the door and staying right behind it to stare through the peephole as the door moved.

Pathetic. When Aurelia reluctantly abandoned the game, she looked impressed. Marissa’s bored tolerance must have shown.

“You are used to this magic,” Aurelia commented.

“Oh yes, I wouldn’t have a door without it.” Marissa shrugged. “You never know who is going to come knocking these days, darling, do you, and one can only be prepared for every eventuality.”

Aurelia nodded understanding, her gaze trailing back to the marvel in the door once more. Marissa, though, had no intention of wasting any more time watching Aurelia gawk.

“Look, darling, I’ve brought you some clothes, nothing too terribly swish but something to get you by. Here’s a dress for dinner and some undies - don’t worry, of course they’re clean! - some pantyhose. I’m not sure whether any of my shoes would fit you, darling, but here’s a pair just in case they do.”