Her eyes strayed to the connecting door. Take a chance. Her vow not to become involved shattered. She didn’t want to be alone any more. He was here, ripe for her taking, and she needed him.
Cari dumped the contents of her gift bag on to the bed.
She couldn’t just show up in his room. She lit the candle with matches she found near the fireplace and grabbed the bar of soap.
Cami approached the door and listened, not hearing any sounds. She wondered if he was asleep, but decided to push ahead before she lost her nerve.
She knocked lightly. “Seth, are you awake?”
There was no answer. She tried the knob and found it unlocked. The door opened with just the slightest creak. Soft light from the candle spilled through the dark opening.
“Seth?”
A movement on the other side caught her eyes. Then she saw him, outlined by the light at the window. He turned towards her.
“Cami. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I . . . I just wanted to talk to you.” It sounded lameeven to her ears. She held up the soap, as if it explained everything. “I have some . . .”
He was in front of her before she realized he’d moved. His skin smelled clean, yet musky and very, very male. He was bare-chested and had changed into clean trousers. Light from the candle turned his skin a golden brown and flickered off his toned muscles.
Cami glanced beyond him and saw a wet floor surrounding the tub.
“Oh, you’ve already washed. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
Cami turned away, but his warm hand on her arm stilled her.
“I said all you had to do was ask. Walking through that door is asking.”
What could she say? She was asking for more than words.
“I . . . ah . . . yes.”
Seth lifted Cami in his arms and carried her into her room, elated she’d come to him. He’d been standing at the window watching the moonbeams flickering on the water, thinking of her.
Seth looked across the room and discovered her tub full of clean water. “You’ve not bathed.”
“No.”
He placed her on the bed and tested the water. It was still warm. “We shall remedy that.”
He took the soap from her hands and placed the candle on the bedside table. He wanted this night to be perfect. He didn’t think there’d be another.
Coming to stand before her, he drew her to her feet. He pulled the pins from her hair and spiked his fingers though the silky tangle of waves. “I’ve been longing to do this since the dress shop.”
“Seth?”
He nipped lightly at her earlobe and she shuddered. “Umm?” He placed feather-light kisses on her neck and then drew her chemise over her head.
“I am a little . . . lost.”
Seth stroked the curve of her back, down to the first hint of her buttocks. “I know, my sweet. I’ll help you find your way.”
“No, I mean really lost. Like as in from another time, another place.”
He planted a searing kiss on her mouth, gently sucking her lower lip, and then pulled the string on her pantaloons. They fell to the floor.
“I know so little of you, my mysterious traveller. Yet I know you’ve changed my life.”
