He bolted upright to a sitting position the moment her bosom landed on his chest and firmly pressed against it. “This is why I knew it wouldn’t work. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
She grabbed his arm, requiring both hands to properly wrap them around the rock hard muscle. “Don’t you dare. We are smart adults. We shall figure this out. Just lie back and do not utter another word of complaint.”
To her surprise, he did no more than growl softly. “Now what?”
They had been given four pillows in all, no doubt because this was the inn’s finest and most expensive room. She now propped two of those pillows alongside his body to serve as a barrier between him and her. “See, easily solved.”
She lay back down and promptly rolled against the pillows, but she did not see this as a problem since she was not directly against his big body. “Perfect,” she mumbled and closed her eyes. Only then did she realize that she should have braided her hair because left unbound, it now spilled over onto his side of the bed.
Well, no matter.
Octavian had just snuffed out the candle and turned away from her. He was not happy with their sleeping arrangements and would do his best to distance himself from her.
Drat.
She was so brave about everything, so why not this? She wanted him to look at her.
She wanted to stare into his silver eyes.
It did not matter that it was too dark to see anything with the candle blown out.
Well, she would just have to content herself with having a giant oak in bed beside her whose skin held the subtly pleasant scent of bergamot and who was taking up most of the mattress.
She liked that he was a big man with big shoulders.
Would he be angry if she told him this was nice?
This was one of her last thoughts before she fell asleep.
Was he thinking of her, too?
CHAPTER 5
THE NIGHT HADturned cool, but Syd slept comfortably and felt quite cozy come morning. The sky had now lightened from black to bleak gray. She knew it would not be long before one of the inn’s staff knocked at their door to deliver their breakfast.
She started to slip out of bed and then suddenly stopped.
Octavian had turned toward her sometime in the night and now had his big, muscled arm around her waist despite the two pillows still between them.
Drat.
Even in sleep, he maintained their barrier.
She placed her hand on the first pillow and ever so slowly tried to ease it out from between them. After all, was it not sensible to remove them before anyone on the inn’s staff came in and noticed?
They might grow suspicious and alert the innkeeper something was not right.
Who would ever believe Octavian’s wife wanted a barricade between her and that gorgeous ox of a man, especially after she had made such a fuss about theirs being a love match?
But no sooner had she started to move the pillow aside than Octavian emitted a seductive growl. “Don’t.”
She inhaled lightly. “Ah, you are awake. Why should I not set them aside? We are about to get up anyway. Where is the harm?”
His arm was still wrapped around her waist. Wordlessly, he drew her up against the length of his warm body. “Ooof! Octavian?”
His eyes were closed, but he now opened one.
Despite its silver glint of menace, she smiled at him. “Good morning.”
