SOFIA HAD BEEN DRESSING herself for the entire trip, but that didn’t make the task any less tedious. After all, she was a princess. There was a certain protocol for the way she dressed each day, whether she was in hiding or not.
She was able to pull the dress from her body and moved on to her corset. It was her least favorite part about being a princess, the inability to take a deep breath. Upon her father’s marriage to her stepmother, Sofia had found all of the corsets she’d normally worn thrown out; in return, she’d been provided with whalebone corsets that bruised her sensitive skin.
Her stepmother was convinced that Sofia was not thin enough. She also had the ridiculous notion that whalebone corsets corrected poor posture — another ailment Sofia apparently suffered from.
With a grunt, Sofia reached behind her to untangle the strings.
Her fingers fumbled with the knots for several minutes. Arms aching, she rested for a minute then began anew.
“Blast.” She sat on the bed in defeat, just as a knock came on the door and it swung open.
“Son of a—”Ash stopped himself from finishing the sentence and slammed the door closed behind him. “Mind explaining to me why you’re naked?”
Sofia rolled her eyes. “I am not naked.” Though the way Ash’s eyes raked over her, she might as well be. His breathing sped up as his eyes fell to her chest.
She moved to cover her breasts as best she could, but it was impossible, for the corset caused them to be hard to miss. He’d have to be blind. And clearly, the way he was looking at her, blindness wasn’t something he suffered from.
Swallowing, Ash finally looked away and cursed again. “Why are you not behind the screen making use of the fresh water?”
Perhaps it was the stress of the day, but laughter bubbled up from somewhere deep within Sofia. She wiped a tear of amusement from her eyes. “I am stuck.”
“Stuck?” Ash repeated.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Well...” He waved into the air. “…un-stick yourself.”
Heat flooded Sofia’s face. “I—”
Ash’s eyes widened. “What I meant... that is, I mean… Blasted son of a bloody wh—“
“Help?” Sofia interrupted him. “I promise it won’t take long.”
“Ah, right, music to every gentleman’s ears when he sees a half-naked woman lying on a bed.”
“Pardon?” Sofia asked, confused.
Ash swore again, muttering something about monks and prayers, and walked toward her. He pulled Sofia to her feet and turned her to face the bedpost. “Hold on while I try to figure out this knot.”
Bloody hell, damnation, curses, and death— God must despise him. Ash’s hands shook as he tried to pull at the knots in her corset strings.
He’d never seen a woman so beautiful.
Ever.
Her figure was small but curvy. He had but to move his hands a few inches, and he would be bracing her hips in front of him. She had but to lean forward another few inches, and he could toss the rest of her skirts and take her.
Sweat pooled in his palms as he continued to fumble with the strings of her corset. It seemed the world was working against him, for every time his knuckles accidently grazed her skin, lust shot through every part of his body.
A knot.
He was a man.
And it was mere knot.
Ridiculous.
God save him from such a day when knots are the downfall of a trained assassin.
Sofia let out a soft exhale.
Ash tugged a bit harder, another exhale, and then another tug. It would have been comical had it not been so damn painful to be so near to perfection, yet unable to do anything but look and not touch. Then again, he was touching…
“Are you having difficulty?” Sofia asked softly.
“What the devil did you do to this corset?” Ash tugged on the knot and was finally able to loosen the mangled mess, only to be presented with another knot, this one tighter. Ah, so God did hate him. Lovely.
“I could always ask one of my guards or Pierce if—”
“The hell you will!” Ash growled. “Now hold still.” Being a man, he hadn’t thought of the ramifications of his actions. Well, suffice to say, thinking wasn’t really a strong suit for him at the moment. Cursing, he pulled his knife from his boot then sliced the strings with fervor, causing the corset to fall to the floor.
Because Sofia hadn’t been holding it up.
Because he was an idiot and hadn’t warned her.
And now, he wasn’t just an idiot, but an aroused one who had suddenly developed the inability to speak in complete sentences.
So beautiful. Frail. Damn, the woman needed to eat more. She was all curves and ivory skin.
“Do you mind!” Sofia scrambled away and grabbed a blanket from the bed.
Ash said nothing. Merely drank in his fill of her form, the form he could still see behind the threadbare blanket.
“Well?” Sofia sputtered.
“Apologies.” Ash found his voice. “I was under the impression it was a rhetorical question.” Smiling, he took two steps back, away from the most tempting woman he’d ever had the misfortune of meeting, and headed toward the door. “I’ll just give you a minute.”
“Thank you.” Sofia cleared her throat. “I’ll just— Blast!”
Ash turned on his heel just in time for Sofia to run into his arms and wrap her legs around his waist.
“Kill it!”
Kill me. Please. Just like this. “What the devil?”
“Rat!”
“For heaven’s sake,” Ash grumbled, his voice gruff as he tried to pry Sofia away from his body. If she stayed plastered against him any longer, it wouldn’t be rats causing her to scream. That much was certain.
Sofia refused to budge. If anything, her legs tightened around him, her arms snaked around his neck, giving him a whiff of her lavender perfume. Good God, he was going to have to drown himself in whiskey to exorcise the feel of her legs around him and the scent associated with it.
“Princess,” Ash said through clenched teeth. “I cannot kill the monster underneath your bed if you do not remove your person from mine!”
“Hate them.” Sofia shivered. “I hate them.”
“Don’t all women?” Ash tried to keep his voice hard, lest she realize that she had an effect on him. “Now, kindly remove yourself.”
Sofia shook her head. The smell of lavender again paralyzed all good intentions.
And then he felt something wet hit his neck.