His beard had come in even more this morning, so that his smile flashed with a special brilliance.
“What a fool you must think me,” she muttered.
His smile vanished, and his mist-gray eyes grew serious. “Never that.”
They regarded each other for a long moment, and his gaze flicked over her. Heat pulsed through Jessica—in his wolfish incarnation, he’d lapped at her breasts and her cunt. He’d fucked all caution from her with his strange and remarkable cock. Its size…the knot…lodged inside of her, locking them together.
“I don’t suppose there are any women’s garments in that stash of yours.” She clutched at the remains of her bodice.
“Just this.” He brandished a caraco jacket made of olive silk embroidered with twining vines.
“Do you often have women out here with you?” She arched a brow at him.
“We took this from a carriage we robbed. Hadn’t gotten around to selling it yet.”
She struggled to get to her feet, then started when both Tej and Rhys flanked her, gently helping her to stand. Despite their solicitousness, she pulled away from them. Both men edged back, yet their focus remained on her as she snatched the long jacket from Ezra.
“I still want to bathe.” Her voice came out distant, strained.
“This way.” Ezra gestured to the creek behind him.
“Privacy would be welcome,” she said tightly, when the trio of men continued to regard her.
“I’ll trap us some breakfast,” Rhys murmured.
“It should be safe to start a fire,” Tej added.
Both of them moved off to their different tasks. Yet Ezra remained.
“As I said, we need to keep you safe. Especially if the Guardians are still about.”
“Wouldn’t you be able to…I don’t know…smell them?”
Ezra’s lips twisted. “They wear leather to disguise their scent, and train their horses to keep us from hearing their approach. Thus, the need for caution.” He gestured again toward the creek tumbling several dozen yards away. “My Lady Vixen.”
“Don’t call me that,” she clipped.
“You seemed to enjoy it before.”
More heat raced through her. Not shame, exactly. Awareness, mixed with a disbelief of who she’d become in the past twenty-four hours.
“‘Jessica’ will do for now.”
“Very well…Jessica.” Yet even the way he said her name was like a caress across her bare skin.
She started toward the creek, clutching the caraco to her chest. He was immediately at her side, shortening his long strides to keep pace with her.
“I’ve never done anything like that before,” she muttered.
“Nor I.”
An inelegant snort burst from her. “Surely you’ve swived many other women.”
“Indeed, I have. But I never…not when I was in my other form.”
Her steps stuttered to a stop. “Never?”
Though his cheeks darkened, his gaze held hers. “Not once. Nor, I think, have Tej and Ezra done so.”
