Page 21 of Vindicated

I hesitated, my eyes narrowing in suspicion. Did I need to remind him that I was not okay with being undressed by him?

He sighed. “I have no intention of disrobing you, Athena.”

I debated for a moment, but then decided to trust him. He had saved my life, after all. I released my grasp and extended my arms on both sides.

Lorken unwrapped the fabric until it was only wrapped around my body once. His fingers brushed my skin, and I tried to ignore the tingle that his touch provoked, and the scorch marks he was leaving across the swell of my breasts.

He should not have this much of an effect on you, Athena. He’s just a guy, and you’ve been around plenty of guys. He’s not even the first guy who’s dressed you.

Of course, almost all the guys who’d dressed me had been completely uninterested in me. Maybe that was it. Maybe I’d gotten so used to working with men who weren’t attracted to women that I’d forgotten what it felt like to have one devour you with his eyes. And there was no mistake about it, Lorken’s gaze was feasting on me.

Even if his hands didn’t drift anywhere they shouldn’t, I could feel the heat of his breath and see the quick pulse tremble in his neck. As if eager to be done, he made quick work of rollingup the fabric so that it only reached my knees. Then he made accordion folds with the extra fabric until he tucked that into the front again. The result was a much shorter tube that flared open in the front and allowed me to move my legs.

“Thanks,” I said when he’d finished and dropped his hands as if he’d burned them on me. “You’re better with fabric than I would have imagined.”

“The Vandar wear many kilts and not all of them are leather.” He didn’t meet my eyes as he swept an arm wide toward the table. “Now you can join me without toppling over.”

If I can only do it without combusting, I thought, as I made my way to the table and picked an ottoman across from him, tucking my legs to the side as I sat so I wouldn’t inadvertently flash him. He sank back onto his seat and met my eyes.

My breath lodged in my throat as his gaze bored into me. Then I managed to clear my throat and find my voice. “This isn’t what I thought your quarters would look like.”

Crap. That wasn’t what I’d planned to say. Actually, I hadn’t had anything planned, but I should have thought of something less aggressive than that.

Instead of being offended, he merely lifted one brow. “What did you think they would look like?”

I reached for my goblet and almost cried with relief that it was full. I took a sip to buy myself some time, grateful that the liquid inside the glass was cold and tart. “I guess I expected a bed, for one. The other rooms I saw all had regular beds.”

He brought his own goblet to his lips and eyed me over it. “I am not a regular Vandar.”

That statement felt charged, although I already knew that he wasn’t regular in at least one metric. My face flooded with heat as I flashed back to the dark marks etched over the veins of his cock. There was nothing regular about that.

“My quarters are, as you say, not like the quarters of other Vandar or any other Raas. That is because I prefer to model the way our ancestors lived when our hordes rode beasts, not ships, and we slept in tents.” His gaze shifted to my cheeks and then he glanced at the sleeping area. “Have you never slept on furs before?”

I shook my head, biting back the urge to tell him that I’d embraced the advancement of modern beds and bedding.

He took a drink and his lips curved up ever so slightly. “There is nothing quite so soft as bare skin on fur.”

My grip on my goblet tightened. Bare skin?

Chapter 14

Lorken

Teasing her was almost too enjoyable. Her cheeks flushed and her pupils widened and her chest heaved. Even with hair flattened wet and all traces of artificial color wiped from her face, she was stunning. Maybe even more so than when she’d been dressed in the ruffled green dress with her hair artfully curled around her shoulders.

I lowered my head to keep from smiling at her shock, although I said nothing that was not true. There was nothing like the sensation of my furs on bare skin, and I did sleep unclothed, like all Vandar.

“There is much you will learn about the Vandar,” I told her, placing my goblet on the table and reaching for a round of warm bread.

“Not if I’m just a guest passing through.” Her lips flattened to a hard line as she wrenched her gaze away from the furs, and I recognized the same defiance I’d witnessed in the theatre on Kashara. She believed she had leverage, when in fact, she was at my mercy. Not that I planned to tell her that.

Let her believe that she was in control, and that she had negotiated a fair deal. In fairness, shehadconvinced me to bring aboard her colleagues, which was far beyond the realmof Vandar policy. I suspected my own crew had doubts about my actions, but I regretted nothing. I would have accepted even more of the troupe if it meant getting Athena to leave the planet with me. Convincing her that being my war bride was part and parcel of the bargain had been a surprise, and a part of me could barely believe that she was in my quarters and at my table. My pulse quickened at the thought that she would also be in my furs.

Then something uncomfortable prickled at the back of my brain. It was still a bargain, a deal, an exchange she agreed to only because I gave her little choice. She would not have come willingly.

A rumble vibrated in the deepest part of my chest. I should not care why she was with me. I should only care that she was. A Raas of the Vandar did not trifle with such distinctions. It was my right to take what I wished as the spoils of war. Hadn’t other warlords claimed brides as their due before? Hadn’t those females become devoted mates?

I thought of the notorious Raas brothers and the human mates they had taken. No one questioned those unions. Then I thought of my own parents and their arranged marriage, and the wine churned sour in my stomach. I’d seen for myself that love and happiness could not be forced, and I’d sworn never to take a mate because of it.