She’d meddled when she hadn’t needed to and stepped between a parent and child, interfered with their father’s attempt to discipline them.

No wonder Drak had looked so furious!

Maybe he’d even heard her comment to his son!

Not but what the little bastard hadn’t needed a good smack for speaking to her in such a way! And being so hateful to the little one who was homesick!

Regardless of her current circumstances, she was an adult and he was a child and children should be taught some respect for their elders! And not allowed to be so mean to those younger and weaker than them.

She shook her head. She was no psychiatrist. And she knew absolutely nothing about the dynamics of the family here—in general—or this one in particular.

It seemed more screwed up to her, though, than things back home on Earth … and that was saying something because the need to provide financial support for their families had left parents with almost no time to parent their children and contributed to a general breakdown in the family unit. Dysfunctional had become the norm not the exception.

Dragging in a shaky breath, she began to strip her clothing off resolutely and then moved cautiously toward the steaming stream of water.

It was very hot, almost too hot, but she had no idea how to adjust it to a more comfortable temperature and she desperately wanted a hot bath.

Drak didn’t know who he was most pissed at—himself, his son, Kadin, or Noelle. He supposed that was because he was thoroughly pissed off with all three.

Kadin’s comments had enraged him—not the least because Noelle had pointed out an unpleasant truth he had been at great pains to ignore.

Kadin had no place in the line of succession—let alone as second in line. He did not have the temperament for it. He was lazy, jealous natured and spiteful, and he was a bully.

If he ascended to the throne the entire clan would degenerate under his rule—if he did not fall in short order to an assassin.

He shook those thoughts after a moment, trying yet again to convince himself that he was wrong about Kadin and the boy was just displaying behavior typical of boys transitioning from childhood into manhood. Once he outgrew childhood completely, Kulle would whip him into shape and he would learn behavior more becoming of a Prince.

Both boys looked at him guiltily and uneasily when he reached the solar. He studied them for a long moment. “Tell me, Kadin, why was Jules with you in my suite when he is supposed to be with Merl learning his lessons?”

Jules gaped at him and then glanced at Kadin, making it clear he had thought he was doing his father’s bidding.

Kadin chewed his lip but said nothing.

Drak’s lips tightened. “Why don’t you tell me, Jules?”

“He said that I was to help because he could not carry everything by himself.”

Laziness. Anger threatened Drak’s patience. He had not only told Kadin it was his responsibility, he had made it clear that it was a disciplinary action because Kadin had lost his temper with one of the younger warriors he was training with and attacked him with a pike.

“And Merl did not question this even though he had been told that he was to instruct you?”

Jules glanced at Kadin uneasily.

“It is alright,” Drak said gently. “Kadin would not dare to harm you for answering my questions when he is too cowardly to take responsibility for his actions and answer himself, would you, Kadin?”

Kadin reddened but slid a threatening glare at Jules before he met his father’s gaze with patently false innocence. “Of course not, Father. I only took him with me because you had told me that I was to look after him and teach him the ways of the castle.”

Drak studied his middle son. “My mistake, clearly, since it seems to have given you the opportunity to torment the child. Your are dismissed, Kadin, but if I discover that you have spoken so disrespectfully to my woman again, I will give you a taste of the rod you are not likely to forget any time soon. Are we clear on that?”

Noelle was curled in a corner of the shower, weeping quietly when he returned.

Drak felt his anger vanish like the steam escaping the shower. Uneasiness replaced it and a nearly overwhelming desire to retreat before she noticed his presence.

Instead, resolutely thrusting away the ghosts of his past that the scene had evoked, he stripped himself of his boots and clothing, stepped into the shower with her and lifted her from the floor. She gaped at him with a mixture of surprise and embarrassment and he took full advantage of both. Bracing her against the wall of the shower, he pressed himself full length against her and kissed her until he felt the resistance melt from her.

Briefly, he considered leaving it at that but that resolve vanished when she lifted her legs and curled them around his waist. He felt the moist kiss of her nether lips against his belly and lost all thought of anything beyond burying himself hilt deep inside of her.

Chapter Ten

Noelle debated whether to say anything at all or not. Considering the way he’d dismissed her after the first time they’d had sex, however, she decided she shouldn’t consider the sex they’d just had in the shower as a gesture to make peace—and that he probably wouldn’t consider her enthusiastic response as her way of apologizing.

“I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have interfered. I didn’t mean to. It’s just …. He looked frightened and I wanted to comfort him.”

Anger flickered in his eyes. “Coddling the child will not make him a strong warrior and weak men die young,” he said after wrestling with his temper for several moments.

Meaning he was tough for the child’s own good?

The comment roused her own temper. “My grandmother ‘coddled’ me, as you call it, and I certainly don’t consider myself to be a weakling,” she said tightly.

Her tone, she saw, angered him, but in a moment the glitter in his eyes was replaced with amusement. “You are a warrior?” he asked mildly.

Noelle narrowed her eyes at him. She knew she should just shut up, but impulse took over. “I use my brains.”

He caught her wrists in a swift movement. “And they help when you are overpowered?”

Noelle executed a leaping kick but had enough sense of self-preservation to stop before she delivered the blow with her foot to his scrotum. It wiped the look of supreme male satisfaction right off of his face.

The Prince stared at her foot for a moment and then met her gaze.

Releasing his grip on her wrists, he shook his head at her in amusement. “That’s a dangerous move to try on a man twice your size, little spitfire. Don’t threaten me again. You might not like the end results.”

The comment both unnerved and irritated Noelle, but she’d had time to regret the insane impulse. “Well! You can be sure I won’t try that again,” she muttered, moving away from him to dry herself at the hearth before she could lose all the warmth she’d gained from the hot shower.

The Prince tossed her a cloth to dry with and moved to stand beside her to wipe the excess moisture from his own body. They dressed in silence and then Noelle focused on finger combing her hair and separating the strands to help them dry faster.

The Prince pushed her hands away, placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her from turning around and then dragged a comb—she supposed—through her hair. She didn’t think it would have brought tears to her eyes if her hair hadn’t been so ungodly snarled from not being combed for god only knew how long now—a week? Two?

She hadn’t seen anything as civilized as a comb since the damned Amazons had taken her captive.

“Sorry,” he murmured, handing her the comb. “Maybe you should work on it yourself?”

Noelle felt her face redden. “It usually doesn’t look like rats nested in it,” she muttered.