But in my hurry, I hadn’t made sure it shut behind me.
Forcing a swallow, I crept toward the door and peered into the bedchamber. Everything was as I’d left it. I started to step back when I saw the window by the bed.
The shutters.
I’d forgotten they were cracked open, which explained the cool breeze.
A low, shaky laugh left me. The nightmare had clearly messed with my head, causing my imagination to run wild. I still sensed no one.
After turning off the faucet, I climbed into the steaming water. Sinking deep enough for the popping bubbles to tickle my chin, I kept my eyes open wide, unable to shake the skin-crawling sensation of being watched.
CHAPTER 23
POPPY
I’d just finished washing my hair when I felt the faint throb of thenotamin my chest.
“Poppy?” Kieran called out.
I looked at the stool, realizing I’d forgotten to grab a towel. My gaze swung toward the wall as the footsteps drew closer.
Damn it.
Strands of hair floated around me, and my knees broke the surface as I sank until the frothy water reached my chin.
Whoever it was halted, and then the half-open door creaked.
“Poppy?”
Briefly closing my eyes, I exhaled slowly. “I’m in here.”
As his steps drew closer, I glanced down and immediately wished I hadn’t. While bubbles still swirled on the water’s surface, they had thinned out, leaving vast swaths between the foam clusters.
Kieran stepped around the privacy screen, and in the silence that followed, I peeked up at him.
He must have bathed because he was clean-shaven and had changed into a black, short-sleeve tunic made of soft leather and fitted at the waist. The sunlight caught the golden threads of the embroidery along the shoulders and on the two front panels. My gaze lifted.
The hue of his eyes was a bright, glacial blue as his gaze swept up from the foot of the tub to mine. A muscle spasmed in his jaw, and it was only then that I realized my arms had remained nestled against my sides, and there werea lotof gaps in the bubbles near my half-submerged chin.
His jaw loosened as his gaze met mine. “Did you fall asleep in the tub again?”
My mind immediately flashed back to New Haven when I woke to find Kieran kneeling beside the tub. To say I’d been surprised to find him there would’ve been an understatement. I’d been convinced that he held no fondness for me then, and I was pretty sure I’d been right.
“No,” I said. “I heard you come in. I just forgot to grab a towel.”
Amusement flickered across his features as he looked down at me, but there was something else to his stare and in his eyes—an edginess that brought a flush to my cheeks.
“You’re uncomfortable.”
The frankness of his statement caused my brow to furrow.
“There’s no reason to be.” He paused. “It’s not like I haven’t seen it all before.”
My lips pursed. “I haven’t forgotten. And I didn’t say I was uncomfortable.”
Kieran arched a brow. “So, you’re not?”
Was I? I wasn’t. At least, not in the way I was in New Haven. And I really didn’t know what that meant or why I was even thinking about it while naked in a tub.
