Free Come Back to Me by Josie Litton Page B

small hill not far from the lodge.
    She had heard of saunas but they belonged to the Danes, therefore were not a thing honest Englishmen indulged in. Why was there one here? She was just starting toward the sauna when the low door in the side of the hill opened and a man stepped outside. A naked man.
    Oh…
    Oh, my…
    Heaven…
    Rycca's cheeks flamed. They felt hot enough to light tinder but she scarcely noticed. Without allowing herself to think, she slipped behind a tree and stared. Although, to be honest, "stared" really didn't get close to it. She gaped… she gawked… she practically ogled. She was enthralled, fascinated, deeply impressed, and positively tingling.
    He was glorious. Far and away, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. Her palms itched. She wanted to run them over every inch of his magnificent body, over broad shoulders that rounded into chest and arms taut with muscle, over thighs and calves that looked corded with steel, and back up again to…
    She'd forgotten to breathe. Inhaling painfully, she watched him turn toward the river. Even his back was beautiful, and his buttocks…
    When had the day turned so horribly hot? Indeed, it was a marvel the grass wasn't igniting before her eyes. Perhaps the sun had suddenly moved closer. Yes, that must be it.
    No, it wasn't, it was she, feeling as hot for a man as any of the wanton women of whom she had heard drunken tales when eavesdropping on her father and his louts. Women she had always assumed did not exist, for surely no woman could desire a man like that. But yes, she could. And did. Moreover, he was a man who had no reason to suspect he was being looked upon in such an untoward fashion. If their positions were reversed, and she found him invading her privacy like that, she would be furious. Also excited. Oh, no, that wasn't true. Well, yes, it was, but she absolutely wasn't going to think about it.
    She ought to be ashamed of herself. And as soon as she was breathing regularly again, she probably would be.
    He was going to the river, to swim no doubt after the heat of the sauna. That was how it worked, wasn't it? First stifling heat, then a dip in water, the colder the better. Crystal droplets of water running over that big, hard body, trailing where she wished her fingers to trail…
    She could have used a good, cold dunking right about then but she wasn't going anywhere near that river. That much sense she still had. Or had again now that he was safely out of sight. Ah, but the memory lingered, turning over in her mind in lovely, exquisite detail.
    Breathe… in
…
out
…
    He was just a man just a man just a man. If she could only remember that, she would be all right.
    Except he wasn't and, try though she did to convince herself otherwise, she was too intrinsically honest to manage it.
    Which left her with a problem. He was going to come back; she was going to have to face him. She would die first, absolutely curl up into a little ball of embarrassment and go
poof
away. No, she would not. She had far too much pride for any such thing. She would… manage… somehow.
    Dragon returned from the river a short time later. He wore a fresh tunic of finely spun brown wool that left his arms comfortably bare and came a little more than halfway down his thighs. It was his customary garb in warm weather. Around his waist was a thick leather belt from which dangled a sword and scabbard. The path to the river was strewn with soft pine needles, thus he had not bothered with sandals. His hair was still wet and tied back at his nape. He had shaved earlier and felt much refreshed for being clean. Hawk could be a treacherous, manipulative bastard, but he was enlightened enough to have a decent sauna. He was also, Dragon reminded himself, a good friend who was going to have a damn difficult time understanding how Dragon had gotten himself sidetracked in the direction of a fiery-haired enchantress he had no business looking at twice.
    Much less