Even if that woman was Tanon Risande.
Odd, he hadn’t thought about one of those things since she smiled at him. He couldn’t think of anything but the alluring flash of her dimple, those lush black curls falling over her eyes. The sweet mixture of honey and huskiness of her voice. She was as delicate a beauty as she was when she was six. He remembered when she shouted at him that day on his way to the barn. “a rude mute,” she’d called him. He’d turned to look at her and every thought escaped him, save one. He would never forget her. Like her, he hadn’t understood why they were supposed to be enemies. Up until then, he’d only fought his brothers. He wanted to promise her that day that he would make things right.
But that was long ago. A month after he left her, he also left his childhood and innocence and faced his first enemy on the battlefield. He hadn’t stopped fighting since.
Hubert paused at an oak door to his left and stared at it. “Peut-être celui-ci est vide.”
“This one?” Gareth asked, pointing to the door.
Hubert bobbed his head up and down, and then stepped around him and fled the way he had come.
The first thing to hit Gareth when he opened the door was the soft scent of lavender. His eyes assessed the chamber and stopped at the pearl white screen nestled between an enormous canopied bed and a slightly smaller wardrobe of polished mahogany. The silhouette of a delicately formed female moved behind the thin partition.
“Rebecca?”
Gareth smiled recognizing Tanon’s dulcet voice. He should leave before she saw him and her screams brought the entire castle running to her rescue. He should, but he wasn’t about to. He leaned against the bedpost and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Have you heard the terrible news? I’m to marry aWelshman!” The way she said the word was akin to saying a savage.
Gareth’s smile faded. He thought about flinging the screen aside and showing her just what a savage he could be, but he was determined to prove to her that what she’d been told about him and his people was untrue. Did savages give up their freedom and bind themselves forever to their enemy for peace?
“I’ve already undressed,” she called out, and as if to drive that torturous fact home, tossed a pair of gossamer hose over the top of the screen. “My gown was so heavy, I couldn’t wait to tear it off.”
Gareth clenched his jaw willing himself not to move toward the screen as a wickedly hot jolt scalded his spine and went directly between his legs.
“I’ll be done in a moment. If you’re not too tired, I just need you to brush my hair. I’m afraid I’ve tangled it trying to remove all the pins Lorette and Eloise used to tie it up.” She stepped out from behind the flimsy barrier, the gauzy nightdress she’d slipped over her head falling over her bare, creamy hips to her ankles. The crown of her head slipped through the top of the nightdress, followed by a nimbus cloud of wild blue-black curls. “I really prefer to wear it loose. I…” Her mouth opened as wide as her eyes. Her stunned gaze fell to his hand cupped against the fullness of his groin. The embodiment of pure male insolence, he adjusted himself, leaned his shoulder against her bedpost, and smiled.
Tanon stepped back into the screen, knocking it to the floor. “What—what are you doing in my room?”
Her room? He would have to remember to thank Hubert in the morn for his mindless error. He took his time letting his gaze traverse over every delectable contour defined against her thin nightdress. “Allowing the view to convince me that I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life by marrying you.”
“Marryingme? Why…Oh, I never—” Tanon bit down on her bottom lip as if to stop herself from saying something unladylike. She grabbed the edge of the sheet and pulled it to cover herself.
“Please leave.”
He dragged his gaze to her face. “In a moment.”
His boldness coaxed a little sound from her lips. “Knave,” she flung at him, then backed away when he took a step toward her.
“If I was a knave”—his deep voice simmered with checked desire as he came closer, and his eyes seared beneath his tawny brows—“you’d be flat on your back in this bed,my lady.”He spoke her courtly title with mocking sweetness.
Tanon thought aboutbolting for the door. But she’d have to get around him first. The problem was, he seemed to take up every inch of the room. Every movement that brought him nearer to her snatched more air from her body. His eyes were scalding blue flames, devouring her. No man had ever gazed at her so boldly. “If you come any closer, I will be forced to strike you.”
His smile softened as if he considered her threat nothing short of adorable. When he stood close enough to her to feel her short gasps of breath on his chin, he lifted his fingers to her face and caressed her cheek with the back of his knuckles, then smoothed her heavy, coal black waves off her shoulder. “It will be worth it.”
She should scream, or kick him, or push him away. Anything would be better than simply standing there gaping up into his eyes. Tanon had been afraid that he was going to try to force himself on her. But the intimacy of his tender touch nearly buckled her knees. His nearness, and the dark, exhilarating hint of forest mingled with the scent of leather, bathed her in warmth. It was a scent that had clung to her memory even after she had forgotten him. Looking at him now, she had the odd sensation of waking from sleep. Every nerve ending blazed, every sense was shockingly aware of his virility. She’d grown up surrounded by men, but not one of them ever made her so aware of her femininity. She wrenched her gaze away from his, though a traitorous part of her wanted to examine him thoroughly. He was the most rugged, magnificent man she’d ever seen. If that wasn’t bad enough, the memory of Gareth, her and Petunia’s protector rattled her heart. The promise of passion in his eyes excited her.
“You must leave now,” she said, needing to convince herself that she hadn’t gone completely mad. “You shouldn’t be here. It’s indecent.”
He moved away from her and picked up the robe draped over a small chair beside the bed. He turned and handed it to her. “Indecent? Were my intentions that obvious then? I thought I demonstrated incredible control.”
The sensual catch in his voice made her hurry with her robe.
“My, but you’ve certainly become crude since you’ve…” Against her will her eyes scanned his broad shoulders. “…grown up. If my father finds you in here, he’ll kill you.”
A cool smirk curled his pagan mouth. “Your concern for my well-being is most touching.”
She considered telling him that she didn’t care one wit about his well-being, when the door to her chambers opened.