Page 187 of The Discount Damsel

“Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “It’s fine.” He cleared his throat. “Dirk?”

“Still can’t see anything.”

“I mean, did you want to come here? Are you cold?” Having a third person in the bed would certainly deter his mind from spinning fantasies that his body could not fulfill.

“Are you kidding? This is my element.” Dirk relaxed on his perch, lifting a smiling face to get pelted by the rain that managed to slip in through the louvered slats in the shutters.

But the rain, which had once felt like a pleasurable massage against his scales, no matter its ferocity, now stung and stabbed and pricked. Dirk scuttled back on the nightstand out of range, disturbed but determined not to give up his post. You just need some rest, he reminded himself.

The wind kicked up, a spiteful tendril sneaking inside. It snuffed out the candle flame, shrouding them in darkness.

CHAPTER 77

ONE BED AND PROPRIETY FAINTS

The tempest raged through the night like a spoiled birthday boy who hadn’t received every present on his wish list with howling, temper tantrums, and many, many tears. Lightning cracked across the black sky, rattling the warped shutters and making the bones of the inn shiver. The Dreary Pelican moaned and creaked and at one point pitched precariously to the left like a drunkard who’d fallen off his pub stool only to catch his balance shortly thereafter.

In the morning, the storm relaxed into a deluge. Circadian rhythm woke Millie, rousing her despite the lack of sun, and she found herself curled into the apprentice’s body with the same boneless trust of a kitten. His arm was warm draped around her, his thumb idly sweeping up and down along a small section of her biceps. Bradley was awake, eyes faraway as he gazed out the open windows.

The shutters had blown open during the night, but the rain fell flat and refused uninvited entry. The beach town had been diminished to a wall of gray so thick that not even the salt tossed up by the sea could penetrate it.

She must’ve tensed, for Bradley’s gaze swept down towards hers and his thumb stopped stroking. “Hi.” His voice was gravelly with morning.

“Hi,” Millie whispered back. She wet her lips, wondering for how much longer she could stay snuggled against him without propriety giving her an earful. The room was dreadfully chilly outside the confines of the tiny bed, so surely an exception could be made as a matter of survival.

Survival doesn’t need your nethers hugging his hipbone nor your nipples seeking refuge in his ribs! Propriety shrilled.

And you’ve clearly forgotten that one of the warmest external areas of the human body is the groin, Millie replied snootily. If anything, I’m being exceptionally generous sharing my body heat in such a fashion.

And your nipples?

They’re facing the existential crisis of frostbite. Better his ribs than his mouth, wouldn’t you say?

Propriety fainted, and Millie’s thoughts were left in peace. For only a heartbeat, because the image conjured by her winning argument flooded her with a whole host of emotions she had no right to feel. She was to be the One in Ten, a lady pirate captain with standards, not a slut who’d lose her dignity to a moment of carnal lust.

And as such, she should kick him out of her bed this very instant. Instead, she found herself asking, “Did you, um, sleep okay?”

Bradley’s gaze wrenched back to the window. Had he slept okay? The mattress was as thin as a cracker, the springs like corkscrews digging into him. The princess had tula’d him again, her arm encircling his ribs and her leg thrown high over his thighs . . . and he fallen into the deepest and most satisfying sleep of his entire life. Only one part of his anatomy had woken painful and aching this morning. “Better than I expected.”

Her cheek brushed against his chest as she angled her head, making that part of him that he had worked so hard to calm down with thoughts of gutting fish and dirty dishes in the sink rouse once more.

“Mr. Donmarin, the hollows under your eyes, they’re gone!”

“I told you.” He cleared his throat. “Better than I expected.”

The two of them lay in bed, hardly daring to breathe or move. Now that they were fully awake, they should’ve parted, or at least one of them should’ve readjusted themselves on top of the bedsheets. Chivalry commanded Bradley be the one to give up the warmth of the blankets, but then there would be no hiding the effect the princess was having on him.

“Should I—?” She shifted to put some space between them.

Bradley’s arm tightened around her immediately. “Don’t go. Your, um, robe is really warm.”

“It’s lambswool.”

He nodded, seizing the excuse. “That would explain it.”

The tension between them eased, and Millie readjusted her head against his chest to watch the rain. How was hard muscle and tan skin far superior in comfort to goose down and silk?

Warm and contented, her gaze turned from the rain to the little luck dragon snoozing in a coil on the nightstand by the window. “Mr. Donmarin?”