Mantheria nodded; her throat felt as if it were closing.She found it difficult to draw air.
The proprietress folded back the coverlet and plumped both pillows.The maids returned with another round of buckets full of hot water.They poured them into the copper basin, which was now two-thirds full, before they bowed and left the room.
The lady innkeeper stood by the door.“Will you require anything else this evening, Your Graces?”
Sunny again looked to Mantheria for direction before he answered.She could not meet his eyes and turned away.He cleared his throat.“That will be all.Thank you, ma’am.”
The proprietress closed the door behind her, and Mantheria jumped.She felt cold all over, and her stomach hardened.She tried to focus her tired gaze on the rain hitting the dark pane of the window.She was too embarrassed to look at Sunny and too tired to move either to take off her wet things or to climb into bed.
Sunny swallowed.“Why don’t you take a bath first, Mantheria?While the water is hot.”
Shaking her head, Mantheria managed to whisper, “I can’t.”
She heard Sunny’s footsteps as he walked closer toward her and the window.“You can’t what, Mantheria?”
Her face had to be the same red shade as Eris’s apple when she admitted, “Take off my own clothes.My muscles are stiff, and I am too tired.My garments are wet and clingy.I am afraid that I am not used to riding for such long periods of time.My family would be terribly disappointed in me.”
She felt his gentle hand on her shoulder, and she was even too tired to flinch.“They would be impressed by all that you did today.And if you’d like, I can call for one of the maids to help you undress and get into the tub.”
Mantheria stiffened.The proprietress had assumed that they were married, and Mantheria had let her.It was easier that way.Nor did two bedraggled travelers, with only bandboxes for luggage, typically demand the services of a maid for dressing.But more than that, she felt vulnerable and did not wish to be so in front of a stranger, even another woman.“You bathe.Perhaps I will have enough strength by the time you are finished.”
“Come to the tub, and I will help you.”
Not even her husband had seen her completely naked.Mantheria had kept her chemise on in bed.It had been a small layer of protection from the unknown.And the marriage act had occurred in the darkness underneath blankets.Mantheria had been nearly as stiff and frigid then as she was now, despite her late husband’s loving words and warm kisses.Perhaps she was not made for intimate human affections.
Sunny’s arm came around her shoulders, and he helped Mantheria walk to the tub.She stood still as he slowly began to take off her wet layers.First, the soaked through pelisse, and then her dress.Mantheria stood in the firelight in only her wet chemise that was like a second skin.She folded her arms to cover her chest, but Sunny was not looking at her lasciviously.He was hanging her gown next to her pelisse near the fire.When he turned back to her, he held her waist as he took off each of her shoes and stockings so that she wouldn’t topple over.Then he lifted her into the basin with her chemise still on.It was a small layer of privacy, and Mantheria was grateful for it.The heat from the water seeped into her cold and sore body.She felt Sunny’s large and capable hands move through her hair, and she realized that he was washing it with a bar of soap that the proprietress must have brought with the towels.His touch was gentle, almost a caress.Mantheria closed her eyes as he bathed her.
She kept them shut as he lifted her out of the tub and dried her off with the towel.It wasn’t until he pulled over her chemise that the shock of cold air caused Mantheria to open them.Before she could say anything, Sunny dried her with a towel the second time and pulled the new nightgown over her head, easing it over her body.Mantheria managed to stick her arms through the sleeves.The nightgown felt warm, although it barely covered her knees, for she was a great deal taller than the owner of the inn.
Once again, Sunny placed his arm around her shoulders and ushered her to the bed.He lifted the covers and helped her into it before tucking Mantheria in tightly.He dropped a light kiss on the forehead.“Go to sleep, sweetheart.”
Her eyelids fluttered.Mantheria allowed herself to fall asleep.She was safe with Sunny.
14
The water was still hot when Sunny climbed into the copper tub.It had been plenty large enough for Mantheria, but it was a little small for his bigger body.Dipping his head back into the water, Sunny washed his hair and then scrubbed his skin.He needed to get out and dry before the water became cold.Stepping out of the tub, he glanced over at the bed.Mantheria’s eyes were closed, and the blanket that covered her chest was rising up and down steadily.She was asleep, which was for the best.Mantheria was not ready for his courtship, let alone his kisses.And if Odysseus could wait twenty years for the woman he loved, so could Sunny.
He dried himself off quickly and then wrapped the towel around his waist as he opened the bandboxes.The extra clothes were slightly damp, though not soaked through like the ones they had worn.Sunny hung the rest of their clothes and the wet towels up before slipping into bed in only his underclothes.He preferred to sleep this way, but on this trip, he’d worn Glastonbury’s old nightshirt for modesty.However, it was damp, and as long as he woke up in the morning before Mantheria, she need never know he’d slept in his smalls.
Pulling the coverlet up to his chin, Sunny tried to close his eyes but couldn’t.He was too mesmerized by Mantheria’s face and how her wet curls clung to her cheeks.
At least he’d finally kissed her again after all these years—if only on the forehead.
* * *
Mantheria woke up with a gasp.Blinking and her heart fluttering wildly, she tried to recognize her surroundings.Her body temperature rose.She was most definitely not in the mistress’s room of Avalon Palace, nor her stylish London town house.This room was small and dark.And the bed was most uncomfortable.
She heard a low moan.Mantheria wasn’t alone in her bed.Frowning, she scratched the side of her cheek to make sure that this wasn’t a dream.She felt her sharp nails scraping against her skin.This was no nightmare.Her hands moved to her hair, running through it.She discovered that it was still damp.A shiver ran through her body, and she grasped the coverlet and brought it to her chin.
There was another groan.Someone was in bed with her—a man.
Her mind racing, Mantheria glanced at the person sleeping beside her.As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she recognized the shadow of a crooked nose.It was Sunny!
As she bit her lips, the last few days came back to her mind, and she remembered that she was wearing a borrowed nightgown and that they were staying in the backroom of a small inn found in the village of Timsbury.Judging from the lack of light, it must have been sometime in the early morning before the sun had risen.
Exhaling, Mantheria was able to calm her racing heart and jittery nerves.This was Sunny by her side.Her friend, who had stood by her through thick and thin over the last dozen years.He had never criticized or judged her.Nor had he attempted any liberties with her body like so many men had tried since her separation from her late husband eight years previous.She never knew if it was because she wasn’t living with her husband or if it was because her mother had been common before her marriage.Still, Mantheria had to be careful to always walk in company.
Why would any lady wish to be pawed like a Haymarket prostitute?