He held up his hands in defense. "I'll empty the water from the tub and draw fresh for you. I'll wait outside in the hall."
I eyed him skeptically. Why was he being so nice, so gentlemanly? I questioned his motives. "Why are you doing this? I'm just a prisoner to you," I said, my voice bitter, repeating my thoughts.
"At first I thought you were ogling me in the tub, but I was wrong, you just wanted a bath."
His words were mostly true, for I was longing for the water, but I was ogling him as well.
"You'll give me your clothes to keep."
My mouth fell open. "You're trading a bath for my clothes?"
"You can't escape naked."
"I shouldn't have anything to escape from," I grumbled.
He shrugged. "Ma'am, you're under arrest for accessory to robbery and murder."
"I'm not under arrest. I'm innocent. Everyone says so but you!" I tossed my hands up in the air.
"The only person whose say-so I care about is the circuit judge. Until then—"
"I know. I know." He didn't need to say the same thing again and again. The man was insufferable! I put my hands on my hips, then remembered my brothers. When riled, they only continued to escalate the fight rather than be bested by a woman. Perhaps the bounty hunter was of a similar ilk.
I took a deep breath and tried to even my voice. I replied as sweetly as I could muster. "I don't even know your name."
An eyebrow went up at the change of topic. "Wiley Easton, ma'am."
"Well, Wiley Easton, I will thank you for the kindness, but surely people don't really care if a person's clean or dirty when they climb the gallows steps, even if they are innocent."
Perhaps I could play on his sensitive nature, if he had one.
Mr. Easton's jaw clenched. He hadn't shaved while bathing and although he looked cleaner with the dust washed away, he still looked wild and a little dangerous. I laughed to myself at the irony of that. He was the one guarding me and I was the dangerous one!
"Bathing is a courtesy. Removing your clothes is a requirement until morning." He pointed to the bed. "Wrap the sheet about you for modesty's sake, but that's all you'll get. I won't have you escaping while I'm asleep."
I felt my cheeks heat as his gaze raked over my body in a way that made me feel as if I were already naked. Sensitive nature? The man was the least sensitive person I'd ever met—and I was a Sinclair.
"How do you know I won't shoot you with your own gun?"
He grinned. "You can try, sweetheart, especially unclothed as it holds a certain appeal."
***
Twenty minutes later, I was settled into the tub filled with fresh water. I knew that horrid man stood on the other side of the door with my clothes. While I felt confident he wouldn't barge in and see me in my bath—he might be contrary but he wasn't indecent—it was still disconcerting. Wiley Easton was all man and he could hear every bit of my splashing in the tub. Why should I even think about the man when he was so insufferable?
I dunked down until just my face above the water, as if trying to wash off all my troubles. My hair swirled about me. At a knock on the door, I startled and sat up abruptly, wiping the water from my face with one hand while covering my breasts with the other. It was a silly reaction, for the door remained shut and one hand would not prevent the man from seeing me if he entered. All of me.
"Miss Sinclair. Supper has been brought around. You should come out before it gets cold."
"I will not eat naked, Mr. Easton," I called out.
I heard him sigh even through the closed door. "The sheet, Miss Sinclair."
Frustration at the man made me slap my hand against the water, sending a spray of it into the air. I grabbed the meager bar of soap and scrubbed myself clean with more vigor than usual. I dried myself then tugged the sheet off the bed and wrapped it about myself. While I was covered entirely except for my shoulders and arms, I had no underthings. I grumbled to myself about the various forms of impropriety. I would eat dinner with a strange man wearing a bed sheet without any corset or drawers! Not only was he insufferable, but he was no gentleman!
Once darkness fell, I stood staring at the bed. It was a good size for one person, but not two. I'd never shared a bed with anyone before. "If I'm naked, then you get the floor." I pointed at the hard wood beneath my bare feet. He sighed, but said nothing more as he blew out the lantern.
I tossed and turned, for the bed was strange, as was the hotel. Even sleeping naked was strange. It was the first night in my entire life I hadn't spent on the ranch—the first night I didn't lay awake listening to my family.