Chapter 44

He looked up and saw an old-fashioned decorative bowl on a table nearby, took it to the bathroom, and filled it with hot water. He quickly grabbed a washcloth, threw it in the water, and carried it back to the bed. With slow, deliberate movements, he began to softly caress her face with the cloth, working diligently down her body until the blood began to slowly color the water in the bowl. At one point, as he was dousing the cloth in the water, he looked back at her and found her staring at him with questions in her eyes.

“I found you on the path at the edge of the woods and brought you back,” he explained, but she remained silent, still staring. “I figured it was better if I found you than someone else. I—”

His words faded when he noticed her blatant sexual stare as her gaze traveled down his body. He quickly looked down at himself and asked, “Do I have a bruising look?”

Her gaze quickly jumped from his body to his face. “A what?”

“A bruising look…whatever that is.”