Free Love Me Forever by Donna Fletcher Page B

feel it was so right?
    “The water will chill fast. It is best we
wash before it grows too cold. Let me start with your hair.”
    “You will wash my hair?”
    “I will wash all of you.”
    She looked at him with disbelief. “The
heavens surely smiled down on me when they sent you to my rescue.
And when I am well, I will tend you.”
    He grinned. “You will wash me then?”
    She liked his teasing manner. She had never
imagined being playful with a man, but she felt like a carefree
young woman with him. “I give a good scrubbing; you may think
otherwise afterward.”
    “I will take my chances. Now let us get you
finished and back in bed.” He reached over the tub and retrieved a
wooden bowl that he used to scoop up water and pour over her hair.
He then lathered it with soap and scrubbed her head until she
sighed with pleasure.
    “Your hair?” she questioned when he had
rinsed her hair clean.
    “I will dunk my head after our bath and have
done with it.”
    “The water is cooling—we need to hurry.”
    He grabbed the soap and it slipped out of
his hand down onto Brianna. She grabbed it and lathered her hands.
He thought she would wash herself and deny him the pleasure, but to
his amazement she began to scrub his arm where it rested across
her.
    He took the soap from her, lathered his own
hands and proceeded to scrub her shoulders.
    They worked well together, each scrubbing
the other. With his support Brianna could reach his legs and her
own. He did her back and down her arms, then gently scrubbed her
breasts, lingering just a bit longer than he should have but
keeping his touch as respectful as possible.
    She shivered, and while the water had
chilled, it was not the temperature that caused the shiver. Her
nipples had turned sensitive when he ran his hand across them
several times. She had not expected to respond, had not expected
her nipples to harden—had not expected to want more.
    “Enough! I am getting you out now before you
catch a chill. Can you brace yourself for a moment?”
    She nodded, her focus on her throbbing
nipples.
    He stood in haste, the water splashing over
the sides, grabbed for a towel, reached down, and scooped her up
with one arm. Bracing her against his wet body, he draped the towel
around her and began to rub her dry.
    He saw to both of them as he worked, being
methodical in his strokes and making certain to cover every inch of
her. She warmed and relaxed with every soothing stroke. He snatched
up two more towels before scooping her up into his arms and
carrying her to the bed.
    “Hold on to me,” he ordered after resting
her on the bed.
    She did and he wrapped her wet hair in the
clean towel before laying her back against the pillows. To her
relief the other towel he quickly wrapped around his waist. She did
not wish to think that her glance purposely drifted where it had no
place going, but then she had done many things of late she had
never expected to do.
    She lay still and allowed him to tuck her
safe and warm beneath the blankets. She had not realized until she
was comfortably tucked in that he had not helped her into her night
shift. She thought to mention it, but he wore a stern expression,
and she wondered over the change in him.
    Without a word to her he walked over to the
tub, kneeled beside it, and dunked his head in the water. She
panicked when he did not raise his head after several minutes, and
then in a flash he drew his head up and out, water flying out
around him.
    He took a great breath of air and released
it with a force almost as if he were releasing a demon within. He
then proceeded to scrub his hair quite vigorously. Another dunk of
his head, this one not as long as the first, and then a forceful
rub with a towel over his wet hair, and he was finished.
    He approached the bed, his stern expression
gone, and she felt more relaxed in asking him, “Did that not hurt
your wounds?”
    He shook his head. “Nay, they sting but a
moment, and the cleansing is good for