Page 166 of Forbidden

Amber heard Duncan draw in his breath. As she had hoped, he was watching her through the space where the screens didn’t completely meet. She wished she could see him as well as he was seeing her.

And as naked.

“You don’t usually bathe at this time of day,” Duncan said.

Like Amber’s voice, Duncan’s said more than his words.

She shrugged, sending intriguing patterns of light, shadow, and moisture over her breasts.

“I’m not usually held prisoner,” Amber said.

She lifted her arms and reached behind her head to tuck up stray strands of her hair. Her breasts swayed gently. The nipples gathered into even higher crowns. Silhouetted against the fire, she appeared to be licked by amorous flames.

With a throttled sound, Duncan forced himself to look away. The first thing he saw was the dinner that had been brought hours before to Amber’s room. Little had been touched. Less had been eaten.

“Is something wrong with your food?” he asked roughly.

“No.”

“You must eat more,” he said.

“Why? It takes little strength to be a prisoner.”

The calm question infuriated Duncan. He had no answer save that the thought of her fasting when there was no religious need disturbed him.

Abruptly Duncan turned and headed for the door. This time he made no attempt to be silent. The clink and rub of chain-mail hauberk and hood, chausses, gauntlets, and sword announced that the lord of the keep was prepared for battle.

But he hadn’t been prepared to find his enemy naked.

“Finish your bath,” Duncan said in a harsh voice. “Be quick about it. If you aren’t in the great hall before I become impatient, I’ll send a scullery wench in to dress you and drag you forth.”

The door to the room shut with emphasis, announcing that Duncan had left.

Anger and disappointment swept through Amber, but she wasn’t foolish enough to test her husband’s temper by dragging her feet. Whether Duncan knew it or not, she would rather have been whipped than forced to endure being touched by all but three people in the world.

Cassandra was one of them. Erik was another. The third had just left in a fury.

It was a very short time before Amber appeared in the solar, wearing a gown the color of highland pines. Against the dark green of her gown, the ancient amber pendant glowed as though on fire. Her hair was a loose, flowing cloud held back from her face by a silver circlet set with amber gems the precise color of her eyes.

Duncan looked at Amber as though she were a stranger. A glance, no more, before he turned again to watch the Learned woman whose gray eyes had never looked more like a winter sky.

“As you see,” Duncan said curtly, gesturing toward the doorway, “Amber is unharmed.”

Cassandra turned and looked at the girl she had raised as her own daughter.

“How goes it with you?” Cassandra asked.

“It is as you foresaw.”

Pain passed like a shadow over the Learned woman’s face at Amber’s soft words. Cassandra bowed her head for a moment. When she looked up again, there was no expression on her face at all. She turned toward Duncan.

“Thank you, lord,” Cassandra said quietly. “I will trouble you no more.”

“Hold,” Duncan said when Cassandra would have turned away.

“Yes?” she asked calmly.

“What did you foresee for Amber?”