Free Of Noble Birth by Brenda Novak Page A

keep me tied up all
day.”
    “I’m holding you for
ransom. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”
    He was teasing her.
Alexandra ignored him, savoring her last bite of a delicious
pudding she had never tasted before and could not now identify. The
hotel room wasn’t large, but it was clean. Decorated in ivory and
green and furnished with a tester bed, an elaborate washstand with
a tiled back, a large wardrobe, and a thick pile rug to cover the
wood floor, it lacked only a fireplace. Had Alexandra been staying
at the inn for any other reason, she might have found it quite
comfortable.
    “If you consume so much
when you’re hurt and upset, I’d hate to see what you require when
you’re not. I pray you don’t forgive me,” he chuckled, intruding
upon her thoughts.
    “There’s not much danger
in that.” Alexandra tried to put some fire into her words, but it
was difficult to sound angry when she was so full and sleepy.
Besides, she had been right about Nathaniel. He was exceptionally
handsome when he smiled. She let her gaze slide over his face,
feeling a blush rise to her cheeks as she remembered the feel of
his tongue parting her lips.
    “I’m glad to see that
you’re at least as tired as I am,” he commented, oblivious to the
course of her thoughts. “Otherwise, it would be difficult to sleep
on the floor.”
    She grimaced, wondering
how she could have thought him appealing only a moment before. He
was a black-hearted scoundrel, nothing more. “I expected as much.
You’d think you’d treat your sister with at least a little kindness
and respect.” Alexandra knew she was foolish to play on Nathaniel’s
belief that she was Lady Anne, but his haughtiness goaded her. “Do
I at least get a blanket or a pillow?”
    “You’ll get what you
earn.”
    Alexandra set her fork on
the table with a thunk. “What does that mean?”
    “I could use a good
massage.”
    “Hire a maid.”
    “Why should I, when I’ve
got you? Besides, I can’t exactly bind and gag you and sit you in
the corner. And I can’t invite anyone to my room with you on the
loose.”
    Alexandra picked her fork
back up and twirled it thoughtfully. “Only if I can earn the bed,”
she said at last. “An hour’s massage for one night of sound
sleep.”
    “A massage from a woman
unused to giving that sort of thing—of giving anything—isn’t worth
the bed. My best offer is a pillow and a blanket.”
    “I have strong hands.”
Alexandra stood, rounded the table, and began to knead his
shoulders.
    He moaned. “Very well. You
can earn the bed.”
    Alexandra smiled to
herself. Mayhap she could cause Nathaniel to lower his guard after
all.
    When Nathaniel had set
their dishes outside the door, he removed his shirt, exposing broad
shoulders that tapered to a lean waist. A matting of dark hair
covered his chest, trailing down his flat stomach to a mysterious
end somewhere below his belt.
    Alexandra had to fight the
impulse to stare. This man was a criminal. He had abducted her. Yet
she could not explain the tremor that went through her at the sight
of his naked torso.
    With effort, she pulled
her gaze away and had him lie across the bed. She was not
experienced with massage to any great extent, though sometimes her
fellow needlewomen relieved the aches and pains caused from long
hours of sitting by rubbing one another’s backs. Alexandra felt
somewhat confident she could improvise from there. Of course,
Nathaniel expected her to have received many massages over her
lifetime. Such luxury was a favorite pastime of the
aristocracy.
    Nathaniel’s back was
smooth and tanned to a honey brown. Though Alexandra couldn’t help
noticing his narrow hips, firm buttocks and long legs, it was his
deformed arm that held her interest the longest. It was misshapen,
to be sure, but it wasn’t a hideous appendage. The same golden skin
covered it as the other.
    “What’s wrong?”
Nathaniel’s eyes seemed to measure Alexandra carefully. “Are you
going