Once Upon a Romance 02 - As The Last Petal Falls (19 page)

“I am not poisoning
anything
. My head was under the water. I’m trying to get my hair clean.”

“That’s going to be difficult, lass. You have a plentiful bounty of hair, and only one good arm.”

“I am
aware
of that,
thank you
. Would you care to ride to the next hamlet and ask one of the local village wives if she’d like to take a cold winter’s trip on the back of your horse, for the express purpose of helping me wash my hair?”

“I shudder at the thought.”

“Precisely. So, unless
you
want to lend a hand—” the door opened and Vivi squawked. “I was
not
serious! Take yourself out of here at once, you… you…” She trailed off. Fain was carefully holding one hand clamped firmly across his eyes. “If I was really an assassin it would be terribly easy to attack you now.”

“If you can get out of that tub with a broken arm and without making any noise, you’re not an assassin, you’re a fairy. Where’s your towel?”

“I haven’t got one. I was planning on drying in front of the fire.”

“Well, that won’t do.” He was dryly amused. “I’ll get your bedsheet.” Vivienne giggled as he stumbled across her room, finally fetching up against the bed and pulling the rough sheet free. Then he made his way to the side of the tub.

“Stop! You’re going to trail it through the water.” She carefully reached out her good hand for the cloth. “I’ve got it. Now turn around.”

“I can’t see anything.”

“You might be peeking.”

He laughed and put his second hand over his eyes as well. “Better?”

“Not really.” She scrambled out of the bath, making, indeed, a great deal of noise, and wrapped the sheet around herself with as much speed as she could manage. “There. I suppose I’m covered, if not precisely decent.”

Fain first cracked his fingers, peering out cautiously, and then shut them again. “Best dry yourself with that one, and then try wrapping up in the other sheet.”

“Why?”

“
That
one is wet.”

“So?”

“Look down, Belle; I’m sure my point will be made clear.”

Down she looked. Ah. Several things were, in fact, exceedingly clear. Namely, every curve she had. The sheet was plastered to her, and didn’t conceal much, wet as it was.

“Perhaps you’re right. Give me another moment.”

Fain shifted restlessly while Belle dried herself and bundled up again. He’d been startled to find her bathing, but that was all; the tub concealed most of her body. His last glimpse of her, though, draped in the damp, clinging sheet, had jolted him. He didn’t seem to have any resistance to her at all. First he kissed her in the stables, now he was standing around waiting to help her groom her hair. If this kept up he’d be spilling all his secrets, regardless of who she was. He needed to get a handle on himself.

“All right, you can open your eyes, now.”

She was seated in front of the fire, swathed in the second sheet from her ankles up to her arm pits. Her damp hair was streaming rivulets of bathwater down her back, and she was trying unsuccessfully to gather it up in one hand without letting the sheet fall to her waist.

“Here, let me.” He twisted the heavy strands together and held them up. “Go back over to the bath and lean over.”

She stood, looking at him dubiously. “You’re not really going to wash my hair, are you?”

“Are you going to wait five weeks until those bandages come off?”

“On second thought, I think you make a lovely body servant. Let’s go.” She knelt gingerly next to the tub and leaned forward. “Proceed.”

“Actually, I’m not sure how to proceed.”

“What?”

“Well, I haven’t exactly ever washed a lady’s hair, now, have I?”

She sighed. “There’s a mug on the mantel. You can use it to pour water over my head.”

In short order he was cautiously wetting her hair, while trying to keep her neck and shoulders as dry as possible. “And how do you recommend soaping this excessive mass of hair?”

“Don’t you wash your
own
hair?” Her voice was acidic. “It isn’t as though mine is so vastly different. Except, of course, for being longer, prettier, and superior in every way.”

“So, you want me to pour vinegar all over your head?”

“What?!” She started to sit up, and water streamed down her back. Hastily she bent back over. “You pour vinegar on your head?”

“It’s easy to come by and does the job. You smell odd until it dries, though.”

“You aren’t joking, are you?”

“Not at all. I seem to recall they have some lovely liquid soaps they use in the city, but out here we make do with what we have.”

“You people are barbarians.”

Together they came up with a solution. Fain put some of the soap in the mug with a small amount of warm water, and frothed it until the soap dissolved. Then he poured it carefully into the black locks.

“Hold still, I’m going to rub it in.”

He started at the base of her neck, gliding his fingers up to the hairline. Belle pillowed her forehead on her one good hand and leaned against the tub, relaxing under his hands. With the tip of each finger he made tiny circles all over her head, working the soap into a heavy lather. When a large dollop of suds rolled down her face he gently wiped it off with the back of one finger. As he went back to massaging her head, Belle gave a little sigh of contentment.

One of the tiny yellow flowers had lodged itself in her tresses, and he plucked it out and offered it to her. Her eyes locked on the tiny flower and she spoke quietly.

“He’s really all right?”

“He’s fine, Belle. A little full of himself, after his adventure, if you must know.”

“I never meant anything to happen to him.”

“I believe you.” He felt her go utterly still beneath his hands.

“You do?”

“In this, at least.” She waited. “I don’t think you’d ever hurt Billy. Not by design, at any rate.” He let his voice take on a teasing note. “What you’d do through sheer stupidity is another thing altogether.”

“Well, I suppose that’s something.” Her voice was dry, but he sensed the relief beneath it.

“Time to rinse.”

Mug after mug of water went down over the glistening strands. When he thought the soap must all be gone, Fain wrung as much water as he could from her hair, and then grabbed the discarded, wet sheet.

“All right, sit up, slowly.” He wrapped her head, and then helped her to her feet and over to the fire. Once she sat down she smiled at him, and then closed her eyes with a look of bliss.

“I am perfectly content, right at this moment. Perhaps I’ll just sleep here in front of the fire.”

“I doubt you’d be as happy when you woke in the night with the fire out and a wet, cold sheet on your head.”

“You have a point. Of course, now you’re going to have to escort me to get dry sheets.”

“Hmmm…”

“Also more firewood, since you’ve pointed out that I don’t have enough for the rest of the night.”

“Anything else?”

“I think it would be lovely if you could manage to find me a hairbrush, somewhere.”

“A hairbrush…”

“No wait, don’t tell me. You use a curry comb from the stables, don’t you?”

Fain didn’t stop to think. He moved on impulse instead, grabbing the woolen blanket from the bed and wrapping Belle up in it before carrying her out the door.

“What are you doing? Why do you have this obsession with carrying me places? Where are we
going?
”

“You said you wanted a hairbrush.”

“So?”

“We’re going to find one.”

“While I’m wrapped in a sheet?”

“If you got dressed now you’d just soak your shirt.”

“Still, this seems highly indecorous.”

“You wanted a hairbrush, Belle, now stop complaining.”

“Fine. But this better not be another impromptu trip to the stables, MacTíre.”

It turned out that Fain was taking her to his bedroom.

At first Vivienne gaped at him, hardly believing his gall, but when he’d deposited her on his bed and begun rummaging among his personal belongings she found her tongue.

“Of all the… I thought I made myself clear, earlier!”

“How so?”

“You seem to be under the impression that I am just here for the taking, and I assure you, that is
not
the case! I am not to be kissed in the stables, or oggled in my tub, or taken to your bed, without my express consent! Your nerve is unbelieva—”

“I didn’t bring you here for any nefarious purpose, Belle.”

“What?” Vivienne deflated. Of course, she didn’t want him presuming on her. But he didn’t have any nefarious purposes? At all? Was the man made of stone ? Here she was, practically naked, back in his bed, and he wasn’t… Of all the nerve!

“I’m your guard for the evening, and while I was planning on sleeping on a pallet in front of
your
fire, now that you have no sheets, it seemed expedient to just bring you here, instead.”

“Oh.” Her voice sounded oddly flat in her ears. How very practical he sounded. Totally logical. Completely unconcerned. How
irritating
.

“Besides, I may be one of the few men in this castle to actually have a comb. I mean, besides the ones we use on our horses.” He smiled at her, a broad, infectious grin that made her stomach flutter. Drat the man! Why did he make her feel this way?

She sniffed. “You could have told me where we were going, and why.”

“But then I would have missed out on one of the adorable fits you like to throw.” He smiled again, and her stomach didn’t just flutter, it took wing and soared away. What was going on? She eyed him suspiciously.

“You’re being very nice to me.”

“What can I say? I have taken a temporary leave of my senses. Now, come sit in the chair and let me comb out your hair so it can dry. I don’t want you making my pillows wet.”

Vivienne did as she was bid, but she refused to hurry. First she rose gracefully to her feet, and took a moment to straighten the folds of the sheet as if it were a ball gown. Then she tucked it securely in on itself, so she could use her good arm to gather up the heavy wool blanket off the bed. Finally she minced across the floor, lowering herself with regal elegance into the waiting chair and draping the blanket across her lap like a throw of the finest cashmere.