9. Ambrose #3
Zeth stopped and set the basket aside while I took the moment to rub my arms through the wet sleeves.
He shuffled around me, and then something heavy plopped onto my shoulders.
His jacket. He had given me his jacket .
Yes, it was waterlogged, muddy even, but he’d put it on me regardless to ward off the chill.
And God, how good it smelled, even being wet; like Zeth himself, a mixture of soap and skin that was him .
My teeth clenched as I pulled it tighter around me by the lapels and continued on at his side until we reached the end of the path.
Annabelle’s estate loomed in front of us. Zeth dropped off the fishing gear at the back door before we rushed inside. By now, I had shrugged off Zeth’s jacket and hung it on a peg, along with my cap, and made my way over to Annabelle.
“I apologize for dripping all over your floor,” I said.
“Don’t make a fuss, Amby. You and Zeth should get into some dry clothes. Zeth, you know where the Ivory Room is. Please lead Amby there, and I’ll have Betty sort through and deliver some of my father’s clothes to the room.”
Zeth’s jaw tightened. I wondered if he didn’t like being ordered by our hostess. If he actually wanted to wed Annabelle, he would have to get used to a strong woman telling him what to do.
When he turned for the stairs, I followed. We made our way along the upstairs hall until we reached a door. Zeth opened it to step inside, and when I followed him in, I realized why it was called the Ivory Room as the walls blurred white.
Well, I couldn’t blame Zeth for wanting something like this. That’s what he was after, wasn’t he? Annabelle’s riches? This house? The vase…
I unknotted my tie and began to undo my vest. Around the fourth button, I froze, realizing we were no longer young men used to walking naked around each other, but grown men who hadn’t seen each other in nine years.
It felt so natural to strip in front of Zeth, and that fact alone made my cheeks heat.
Perhaps Zeth thought the same because his tie, vest, and shirt all sat half off his right shoulder, and his arms were frozen too.
A mark on him caught my attention, so I shuffled forward to see better, hands still stuck on my own buttons.
His back was to me. I knew he heard my shoes squeak, but he remained rooted to the carpet as I leaned in.
His sleek muscle was marred with a jagged scar on his upper shoulder, midway between neck and joint.
That was the exit wound from the fence post, and it wasn’t pretty.
From the exit, a long, smooth scar ran up and over the top of his shoulder to connect with the matching wound that I knew marred his chest.
I winced as I envisioned the fence post impaling him there, recalling how scared I’d been that he might die that day. I had cried for hours as I waited for Doc Light to help him.
I lost Zeth anyway. My time with him had happened, and now it was gone.
He wasn’t back in Everdeen for me. He was here for Annabelle.
And I had ruined his morning plan to woo her into courting.
But dammit, I was trying to woo her too.
Still, that one thing he’d said that pushed me over the edge tugged at my mind, and I had to ask.
“Do you really think it only took me one morning to get over you?”
Zeth’s head tilted, then he inhaled sharply. His shoulder blades tightened. He didn’t answer. I shook my head, frustrated. When something thumped against the chamber pot, I looked over to see Zeth’s crumpled shirt there.
I turned, ready to lay into him about how clothes should go into the linen basket, but when my eyes landed on his bare back, my breath hitched.
Good God above, his arms and shoulders were wonderfully muscular.
The very sight of him made my blood rush so hot through my body that I was sure Zeth could feel the warmth radiating from me.
I tilted my head to get a better view of those muscles in his back, all the way to his waist.
I had to stop myself from groaning.
I bit my lip and turned away, annoyed with myself for getting stirred by him. His silence was even more irritating. I suppose he was going to continue acting like a child. Looking around, I found the linen basket near the window and pranced over to drop my vest there instead.
“Well, at least I’m a gentleman and don’t throw things where they don’t belong.” I pulled my shirt out from my trousers and started to unbutton it. “I also answer when someone is trying to talk to me.”
Zeth’s arms paused for a moment before he slipped his thumbs under his waistband and pushed his clinging trousers down, exposing an exquisite ass.
My eyes widened as I stared. It was round in all the right ways, with little dimples in each cheek.
I fondly remember pushing my thumbs into each dimple and teasing him.
Such a thought had fire filling my face again as Zeth kicked his socks and trousers off and bent over to gather the mess.
And that round ass filled my vision again.
When he stood, I roved over the front of his lean body, recalling the feel of every curve and bump on him.
Those curves were more defined now, and that chest of his had much more hair. God, how I wanted to explore him.
Oh shit.
I turned around as I pulled my shirt off, trying my best to ward away past feelings that were rousing all parts of me. No, no, this wasn’t good.
I cleared my throat. “Would you mind changing somewhere else?”
Zeth huffed softly. When his trousers hit the linen basket right next to me with a loud slap, I jumped and spun around to see him glaring at me. There was a different heat there, something that made it clear Zeth wasn’t going to leave. Instead, he started across the room toward me.
I raised my chin again, trying hard not to lower my gaze as I took a step back, but he stopped within arm’s length of me. “Are you going to speak to me now… or are you going to continue the childish antics?”
“Do I look like a child?” Zeth growled softly, and no, he didn’t appear childish at all. His strong presence was so overwhelming that I didn’t hear his next words as he closed the space between us. His fingers curled into my waistband, and he tugged me forward so hard I stumbled into him.
I grunted, my hand grabbing his arm for stability. Then I did something I shouldn’t have. I locked eyes with him, staring daggers at him as I pushed my other hand slightly against his bare chest, surprised by the springy feel of hair there, but I wasn’t ready to move away.
His sharp knuckles felt good against my stomach as he held me close.
“Are you still a child?” he challenged in a hushed whisper.
Goosebumps rose along my skin. “No. You’re the one who tricked me yesterday with that would-be kiss. Such a hit below the belt.”
“I couldn’t stop myself from touching you, and that made me angry at myself and you,” he admitted while his gaze dropped to where my hand lingered in the hair over his heart.
Zeth’s rough hands dug deeper into my waistband, making me gasp.
His eyes sparked as they watched my reaction.
“Just like how we can’t stop touching now. ”
I stared at him for a long moment, ready to give him that kiss anyway.
So much that I even leaned into him. Zeth seemed willing and ready to kiss me back.
But I let out an exasperated sigh. Nothing good could come from kissing while naked in Annabelle’s house, of all places.
Especially with how tense Zeth still felt. I needed to know what he was thinking.
“Are you going to talk to me now, then?” I asked. “Since you enjoy touching me so much.”
Zeth laughed. “You want to chat? About what? About how you broke my heart? So… how long did you mourn me then? A week? A month?”
“A few years. ” I exhaled and focused on his perfect golden-brown eyes.
My stomach fluttered from the way Zeth regarded me as if he was willing to listen further, but was unsure what to expect.
“I finally had to accept that you weren’t coming back.
My heart broke too.” I felt the beats beneath my palm pick up.
One of Zeth’s hands rose to cup my chin, and he nudged me up to meet his gaze again, where I found him staring at me with something between disbelief and awe.
His brow knitted tightly. “If you were so heartbroken, why did you tell me to forget you? To not write? To let you marry? That made me think you didn’t care. That you never cared about me.”
My stomach knotted, making me feel sick.
I could have told him I tried to write to him, but my letters were always returned.
Either he’d returned them, or I’d gotten the wrong address.
Judging by what he’d said, it was the latter.
“My father…” I started, afraid of how to tell him how much my father badgered me about marrying.
“He expects me to marry and carry on the Somerset name… I don’t have a choice. ”
“Don’t toss the same shit in my face, Amby.
” Zeth pulled his hand from my chin, and I instantly missed it.
“You refused my suit because I was the poorest kid in town daring one of the richest boys to marry me. And I don’t even blame you for choosing money over me, but I wish you had fought to be with me.
Just say the truth, you used me. I was never important to you. ”
“No.” I shook my head frantically. “No. Zeth, that isn’t true…” I wasn’t sure how to put my thoughts into words. They were all in a jumble. “I was afraid… I was stupid. A coward.” I wanted to talk to him, but nothing I was saying was coming out right.
Zeth cut his gaze away from me as he spat out, “You’re afraid to lose your wealth and position. I understand perfectly, but do you want children? Do you honestly want to marry Anna?”
Fear gripped me as my father’s words rang in my head, about our ancestry, our deep familial roots. My body trembled as I closed my eyes and nodded. “Yes… I do.”
”Huh, you’re still a poor liar, Amby.”
Zeth’s quick fingers appeared at the buttons of my trousers, slipping them free within seconds.
My eyes popped open, and I tried to push his hands away, but Zeth was too strong and nimble, and with a whoosh he pulled my trousers straight down until they tangled at my knees. I let out a breath of shock.
“Sit,” Zeth commanded sharply. I didn’t know where that deep, manly voice emerged from. I tripped back rather than sat on my own, not even knowing a chair was behind me until my ass hit it hard with a slap I felt in my balls, and Zeth purred, “Good boy.”
I blinked at him as heat rose in my face. No one had ever uttered such a thing to me. It had me swooning, and my whole body simmered with a strange fire. This was a new side of Zeth I’d never seen before.
His movements slowed as he bent on one knee to pull each of my wet shoes off before setting them neatly at my side. He lifted my legs up next to pull off my trousers, and I didn’t even care to argue.
Next went my socks in a delicious roll of wet wool that exposed my feet and the bumps the fabric made in my skin, but Zeth rubbed those out with a strong thumb stroke that had me nearly groaning.
Maybe Zeth disliked me, but the way he was taking care of me right now told me otherwise.
He was hurt, angry, and taking it all out on me. And I deserved it.
Zeth was right, I was a poor liar, because the truth was I loved everything he was doing to me now, while hating the fact I was pursuing my father’s plans.
My body responded as Zeth tossed my soggy clothes into the basket. I covered myself quickly with my hands while he moved away to rummage through the clothes basket. Then something touched my ears and nose. My glasses.
They still had a splotch of dried mud in one corner, but I could see through them now. Zeth had straightened them, not perfect, but enough. It was a caring thing to do. My chest struggled to move as I blinked up at him like a lost puppy.
The firm curves of his shoulders and neck were brilliantly outlined in the hazy light from the windows.
This close, I could see the goosebumps rising on his skin.
All of it snatched my breath away, especially when he’d commanded me to sit.
Good boy. Those two simple words made me feel…
desired. I wanted to hear him say it again.
I was suddenly all too aware of the distraction between my legs. Zeth also seemed aware, as his eyes drifted down to see how badly I was covering my excitement.
“Good luck with that marriage, Ambrose,” Zeth huffed at me and turned away.
Confusion swept over me. Was he going to act as though he also didn’t get aroused from undressing me?
Another ruse, cleverly played out, the devil.
Even so, I watched those beautiful ass dimples stomp over to the bed.
Zeth swiped a blanket from the top. He tossed the heavy thing to me, and I barely had time to wrap my whole body in it before footsteps echoed outside in the hall.
Zeth stripped off a sheet to wrap around his waist like a skirt just as someone rapped against the door. Guilt hit me as Annabelle’s maid entered and curtsied with a pile of clothes. She set them against the wall and slipped right back out.
Without a word, Zeth moved to pick up the clothes and sorted them out on the bed. Not once did he look at me. We were back to the silent treatment. He had tricked me again, into responding to him physically to prove that I was still interested in him. In men.
He remained calm as he chose a pair of trousers, while my head was spinning.
Zeth’s presence made me so flustered. He was the first person in years to see right through my facade.
He knew I didn’t want to marry a woman. He knew I didn’t want to be a banker.
He also knew how to make my body sing . I wanted him to touch me more, and then just as powerfully, I knew this had to stop.
As he’d rudely pointed out, I had too much to lose.
I huffed, “The next time we meet, you’ll do well to keep your hands off me.”
“Then stop looking at me with those doe eyes,” Zeth muttered. “It’s almost like you want to distract me, but it won’t work again.”
My lips twitched, as it made sense now. I was a distraction to his goal to marry Annabelle. Or perhaps, a temptation. Well, Zeth did say may the best man win .
Standing up, I let the blanket fall from my frame and walked casually to the pile of clean clothes in front of him. Hoping to give him an eyeful, I bent and picked up a shirt. I would become the perfect distraction. Let’s see who won this game.