She clumsily dropped to her rump on the furs, and shook out the largest one. Pieced together from the skins of many hares, it was a motley of browns but big enough to serve as a mantle.

Getting off the gown was not easy, but she eventually shimmied out of it and her shift. The fur wrapped her completely, and its nap provided a luxurious sensation against her skin. Soon, however, along with the heat of the fire it made her overwarm. The light wool of her gown did not look likely to dry very quickly. She would have to swelter most of the night.

She let the fur fall open. The soft pile beneath her beckoned to her exhausted body. Fixing her ears on the sounds coming from behind the lodge, she cast the mantle off and lay down on her stomach.

It would be tempting to sleep thus, but of course she could not. Still, a deliciously languid relaxation crept all through her. Vigilant to the warning signs of Marcus’s return, ready to swaddle herself again when she heard them, she gave herself over to the wondrous sensation playing on her cool body like so many warm, pattering fingers.

The wattle and daub sealing the cracks between the timbers had dislodged over the years in dozens of places, and little streams of golden light penetrated the night through the gaps. Even as he continued his work with the horses, Marcus had no trouble seeing Nesta in front of the hearth.

The glimpses of her body as she undressed entranced him. The image of her wrapped in the fur, her hair in disarray, and the white of her throat hinting at the nakedness beneath the bundle, set his imagination romping. In his mind’s eye the fur fell open, and those large dark eyes watched him as he slid it away.

Then it did slide away, as if she knew he watched and issued a challenge. She stretched and rolled onto her stomach and laid her head on her crossed hands.

Bedding down the horses went very slowly after that.

His chore finally done, he carried his blankets and provisions around to the front of the lodge. Nesta did not stir when he entered. She still lay there, glorious in the light of the fire.

He paused by the door, half expecting and half hoping that she would turn her head to him and smile a seductive invitation. When she did not move, he paced around until he could see her face.

She was asleep. He looked down on her beauty, and realized that he had seen her naked a lot, considering he had never taken her. Images of doing so, fantasies constructed on too many restless nights, flew through his head.

He bent and pulled the edge of the fur over her bottom so she would not be too embarrassed when she woke.