Excerpt of Innocent Betrayal by Mary Campisi

"I was thinking of a bath myself," Noah said, turning toward her, his expression unreadable. "Would you mind?"

The thought of him naked made her hot and cold all at once. When she could find her voice, she stammered, "Why no," with as much matter–of–factness as she could muster. If he could appear so nonchalant about his nakedness, then why couldn't she? The truth smacked against her bravado; she'd never, in her entire life, seen a man naked. The very idea was petrifying – and intriguing. "I wish I'd known," she mumbled, grabbing for something to say, "I wouldn't have put the lilac water in the tub."

He smiled tightly. "Consider it just one more step in our ruse."

She looked at him blankly. "I don't understand."

"Don't you? When my men smell your scent on me they'll have no doubt that we're lovers. That's our plan, isn't it?" he asked, his voice soft as silk. "Pretend to be lovers?" Without waiting for her response, he turned and began unbuttoning his shirt.

Emily hesitated a moment, unable to look away as he pulled off his shirt to reveal a darkly tanned, well muscled back. When he bent to remove his boots, his tightly clad breeches stretched to expose the finely carved muscles of his thighs and buttocks, leaving Emily a vision of what his unclothed body would look like.

She swallowed. He bent his head as he worked the buttons on his breeches. The breath stuck in her lungs as his strong hands worked the fabric over his slim hips. He stopped and jerked his head around, his dark eyes boring into her.

"Unless you'd like to help, you'd better turn around now," he said gruffly.

Emily gasped and buried her head in the pillow, but no matter how deep she burrowed, she couldn't block out the rich sound of Noah's laughter or the sight of his perfect body.