Free Two Passionate Proposals by Serenity Woods Page B

as
she’d touched his scar. She desired him. And she’d just watched him, and knew
he desired her too. She hadn’t been dismayed or disgusted by what she’d seen—if
she had been, she wouldn’t have stayed; she would have either stormed in and
confronted him, or walked off much sooner than she had. But she hadn’t done
either of those things.
    She’d been aroused.
    He looked down at his body, which was
beginning to respond again to the thought of her observing him, and glared at
his erection. “You have got to be jesting with me.” He heaved himself out of
the water, exasperated with himself, and towelled himself dry. Gradually, his
lips curved with a smile. His sweet, innocent Ella wasn’t quite as sweet and
innocent as she’d once been. Well, his stay at Woodford Castle was going to be
more interesting than he’d thought.
    *
    The Great Hall soon grew busy as the
Yorkist men flooded in for the evening meal. Luckily, Eleanor kept active,
ensuring the tables remained filled with dishes.
    She had little time to think about what she’d
witnessed up in the bedchamber. The army had brought food with them, which
pleased her, because the men were ravenous, and the loaves of bread, wheels of
cheese, and meat and fish dishes vanished within moments of servants placing
them on the tables.
    At some point, Henry rejoined his men. She
looked up to see him tucking into half a chicken, talking to Richard, as one of
the castle’s serving girls leaned over to pour some wine. Her cheeks grew hot.
Thank goodness, he had no clue she’d watched him. If he’d been aware of her
secret observation, she would have died.
    As she watched, she noticed the serving
girl accidentally brush her breast against his arm . Eleanor
smiled. She supposed that happened to him often.
    Even without his armour, he was an
impressive man, broad shouldered and handsome, commanding and yet honest, and
clearly, his men admired him. Any woman would consider herself blessed to have
such a husband. Her mind lingered on the image of him with head tipped back,
now imprinted behind her eyes, like the flash of sunlight on armour. And at
that moment, he chose to look over at her. Eleanor blinked, well aware of the
train of her thoughts, flustered, and surprised when he held up a hand and
beckoned her toward him.
    Raising her chin, trying to imagine she
wasn’t his prisoner and didn’t have to do as she was told, she approached the
dais.
    He surveyed her, his face unreadable. “Have
you eaten yet?”
    “No, I have been busy.”
    “Come up here and have something. You look
flushed, and I do not want to be responsible for you fainting and knocking
yourself out on one of the benches.”
    She hesitated, then sighed and ascended the
steps, wondering what he would have thought if he’d realised in what way he was
responsible for her current flustered state. At Henry’s urging, the men all
moved down a chair, leaving the one next to him vacant. She slid into it,
murmuring her thanks as he passed her a plate and offered her a bowl of fruit.
    She took an apple and a knife and began to
slice it. Certain she wouldn’t be able to eat a thing, she shook her head when
he offered some fish pie and vegetables.
    He relaxed in his seat, sipping his wine,
watching her. She risked a quick glance at him. He looked younger now, in his
clean blue tunic and breeches, his dark hair damp, curling around his neck. The
breadth of his shoulders and the way his sleeves stretched tight on the muscles
of his arms reminded her that this man was not the youth of her dreams. She
wasn’t going to think about what she’d just seen him doing.
    She wasn’t .
    She bit into a slice of apple. “You have
grown up.”
    “So have you.”
    She followed his gaze, seeing the green
gown she’d changed into for dinner stretched tight across her generous bosom.
She shot him a sarcastic look. “And yet in some ways you have changed very
little.”
    He grinned, and she raised her eyebrows and
gave him a