Free Summoned and Bound (Summoned Series Romances Book 3) by Susan Hayes

least bit sorry, either. After all, you’ve already watched me bathe.”
    “You have a point, guardian, but as I recall, I didn’t stand and stare. I went to find you something to wear.” She glanced over her shoulder to find him watching her, a smug smile on his lips. His eyes gleamed with admiration and a blatant desire that made her clit throb.
    “That you did. Would you like me to return the favor? I could fetch you something to dry yourself with, or better yet, I’ll dry you off myself, make sure you got every drop,” he offered.
    “Who said anything about me needing help drying off?” she asked, stepping out of the tub. With a twitch of her fingers, the air around her began to stir, moving faster and faster until she stood in a gentle whirlwind. It wasn’t long before she was relatively dry. Though her hair was still damp by the time the spell ended.
    “I still liked my idea better.”
    “Then I’d have to dry the towels when I was done. This way is faster.” Gwyn considered for a moment, then crooked her finger at him. “Come here.”
    Vamir hadn’t intended to move, but before he knew it, he was on his feet and walking toward Gwyneth. He tugged at his collar with a disgruntled snarl before shooting her an irate look. “Will you quit doing that, woman? I feel like a pet on a leash.”
    Her lips twitched into a ghost of a smile that vanished a second later. “Sorry, force of habit. I’ll try not to make everything into a command. If you wish, I can bathe you next.”
    “I’d like that,” he said. Despite her smile, Vamir could tell she felt badly for ordering him to move, her discord made dark ripples in the energy that flowed between them. It amazed him how much their bond had strengthened already.
    For his people, all male twins were born connected to each other from birth until death, and once they were bound to their mate, she would share in that unique bond. For him, it was different. He could sense the energy of every Garda he’d ever spent time with. It was a weak bond, but it had helped him become the most formidable commander his people had ever known. He knew the location of all his men during a battle and could get a vague sense of how things were progressing for them. Instead of one powerful bond, he had many weaker ones. Until Gwyneth, he’d never considered the possibility he could have more than that, and now he couldn’t imagine letting her go.
    “I’ll conjure up some fresh water.”
    She gestured with her fingers, and the water simply vanished. A few seconds later fresh water appeared, and this time the scent was different, like a forest after a rainstorm. Gwyneth wielded her magic with an ease that astounded him, but more than that, she used her abilities in ways that he’d never seen before. Her people wouldn’t have bothered conjuring water at all, they would have simply willed themselves clean, and the magic would have seen it done.
    Elementals created what they needed at the moment, only to dismiss it once the need had passed. Homes and furnishings were solid constructs, but even they were remade time and again according to the whim of their creators. Gwyneth used her power very differently than the rest of her people, no doubt because she’d grown up mimicking the ways of her master instead of being tutored by her parents. When she returned home, she would be as unique among her people as he was among his.
    It was yet another reason they should be together.
    “Are you going to stand there staring at the water or are you going to take off your clothes and get cleaned up?” she asked, interrupting his musings.
    “Ah, now I see what you’re planning. This is all a ploy to get me naked again.” He stripped off the tattered remains of his pants, pleased to note that his injuries were already healing and the pain of last night had dulled to a general ache.
    She spluttered and blushed as he stripped. “I didn’t. I mean, that wasn’t…”
    “I know, little one. I