Page 72 of The Orc Warrioress and the Elf Lord

“I am only out of sorts about my mother,” she said to him. “I do know that you offered to die for me today.”

“Well, I didn’t come close to dying,” he said with a faint smile. “Nothing like that happened at all.”

“We did not know,” she said. “The dragon could have killed you.” A pause. “Thank you.”

He shook his head. “Nothing to thank me for. I believe you told me before, warrioress. I am not useful to you in any way.”

She cringed. “Did I say that? Because of course you are useful, Iahir.”

“You just said that women did not need men at all.”

“That was a question I was asking the night sky or something,” she said. “It wasn’t a statement of something I am assured of.” She drew in a breath and looked around. “Well, my mother and her dragon are on some other side of the lair, out of earshot, as she made sure to tell me, so it means you and I are…” She met his gaze. “You said you wanted somewhere better than under some horse blankets on the cold ground. Are you interested now, or will you make some other excuse?”

He only blinked at her. He was entirely surprised. He had not been expecting…

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, fine, then. Good night, my lord.” She walked past him towards her room.

And he turned and walked directly behind her.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Changed your mind?”

“I don’t want you to hate me after this,” he said.

“I already hate you,” she said.

“No, you don’t,” he said.

“Are you very terrible at it, my lord?”

“Probably. I do pay people.”

She let out a laugh, shaking her head.

He reached out and rested his palm against her back, and she let out a breath, a small noise, soft, feminine. She looked up at him and he looked down at her.

They went into her room without saying anything.

Once there, she shut the door and nodded at the pallet of cushions in the corner. Her room had only one cavern wall. The other three were made of bricks. There was some furniture in here, some paintings on the wall, and there were rugs all over the stone floors. The bed was not exactly a bed, but it was big enough for two. “Go and make yourself comfortable, then.”

He looked at her and looked at the bed. “So, it’s going to be like that,” he breathed.

“Like what?” She was perturbed.

“You’re going to take charge and tell me what to do?”

“I…” She licked her lips. “No. I don’t—”

“I mean, I think I would quite like that,” he cut in, reassuring, and he loped over to the bed and hurled himself down on top of it. He propped himself up on one arm and gazed at her, smiling.

She yanked her tunic over her head.

All right, then. This was… He let out a huff of air. He was suddenly very, very hard.

She gave him a look, sort of a challenge, as she reached to untuck the long strip of fabric that she wound around her body to bind her breasts.

He remembered that little reverie of his, saying she needed assistance. He would not dare to even suggest she needed assistance at this point. He swallowed as she began to slowly unwind it from the top.

She revealed herself to him an inch at a time, and he sat up straight on the bed, gazing intently at her as she peeled the band away until she had bared herself to him.