Tired and mentally exhausted, Anastasia loved the sight of the mattress on the bed. As much as she really wanted to leave, she found herself getting attracted to the mini luxury of this small room. To her surprise she noted that the servants had placed a bathtub, which had steaming water in it. The room was lit in the buttery glow of the hearth as a candle flame in the candelabra extinguished. She stifled a yawn as sleepiness again took over.

Ileus came in front of her and unbuttoned her cloak. "Do you want to take a bath?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," she whispered. "I can remove my clothes," she said as she tried to swat his hand lazily.

"I like to do this, Anastasia, so let me," he said in a low husky voice resisting her. "I know that you are too tired."

She gave up feeling languid around him. On his cue she put her hands up and he pulled the sweater out. His lips tugged up in a half smile and his golden eyes flickered when he saw that she was wearing his shirt. He opened the buttons slowly and then helped her out of the boots and slacks. Once she was naked, she hesitated feeling extremely coy under his gaze, he picked her up in his arms and set her in the hot water tub. Anastasia groaned the moment water splashed around her skin. She leaned her head on the edge.

He took off his cloak and shirt and knelt beside the tub in his breeches, with those biceps bulging.

"What are you doing?" she asked, bewildered as hell.

"I am going to give you a bath Ana, and over the bath you will tell me about the letter."

Her breath hitched when she saw his naked chest muscles when he turned to pick up soap from the side. She salivated at that broad chest and chiseled stomach. She draped her arm over her breasts and looked up at the ceiling as her face heated up. Damn the werewolf!

He picked up the soap from the side and lathered it. Then he picked up her hand and using the lather, he massaged her hand right from her upper arm to the very tip of her finger. Her eyelids became heavy when he began to knead her arms. "You have such beautiful hands," he said in a low rumbly voice, "and so small". Anastasia pressed her lips harder to suppress the look she knew her face was manifesting even as she tried on the inside. As soon as he let this hand go, he picked up the other one and massaged it the same way. To her mortification she groaned.

"Tell me about the letter now," he demanded. More massaging took place until she stopped fighting her resistance.

She saw him from the corner of her eyes and noticed how his brows were drawn together in concentration as if he was doing this task most painstakingly, as if this was the most important task of his life.

"When I went to the dining room, I saw Aidan brooding over his food. We got into a conversation and Darla walked in."

He started lathering her breasts and why did she feel that he was taking a long time to lather them? "Continue," he said, as his hands went to her belly. She drew in a sharp breath.

"She accused me that I was responsible for Zlu and Carrick's death, but in all honesty I wasn't!" At this point she was contemplating whether to tell anything about Darla's interest in him. Did he know about it? Could he fathom as to what extent she went for him?

"Then?" he asked as he went in between her thighs, and stifled a blast of curses when he touched her folds. "Fuck me!" he said when she closed her thighs around his hand. He stilled over there for sometime, closed his eyes and then gulped. "Let me wash you there, or do you wish to keep my hand there, because I am loving it!"

Red as a beetroot, Anastasia immediately opened her thighs. The man stroked her there with a vicious smile and then removed his hand. "Turn around."

She was rendered relaxed when he massaged her back.

"What else did she say?" he asked as he massaged her head until she was putty in his hands.

Anastasia recounted all that happened between them and said, "In the end she waved a letter towards me, which said what was your price to return me to Aed Ruad."

His brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed. He stopped his action. "And you walked out of here because you thought that the letter was for me?"

"Yes," she bit her lip. "Anyone could have thought that!"

He went back to massaging her head and then rinsed it without speaking a word. As he rinsed the soap out of her long golden hair, he said, "I have no idea where she got the letter from, but if she did, then two things are possible. One, she wrote it herself, but that is highly unlikely, because there are only a few people who know who you are and they all belong to my group. They wouldn't want to feel my wrath. Two, there is someone around who knows about you and is trying to take advantage of the situation or blackmail us or is actually Aed Ruad's man. And that is what worries me."

Anastasia's body became rigid. A vein in her temple throbbed so hard that it pained.

"Don't worry, Anastasia," he said immediately to annul her fear. "You should know that with me around no one could take you away." His jaw clenched ferociously.

"Then how did Darla get the letter? Plus she knew that you wanted to give me back to Aed Ruad. So does that mean that she knew your intention before you came to Vilinski? Was she still hoping that you would do that?" This was all so tangled up.

"So many questions," he said. "You are done and you need to come out of the tub now."