Standing in the open doorway right behind Damon, Murry heard the Lady’s incredibly bold question.

Murry’s eyes widened to the size of large dinner plates. He clapped both of his old hands tightly over his mouth to stop himself from gasping out loud. His face turned a bright shade of red.

Camilla did not stop her shameless attack. She leaned forward slightly, looking up at Damon’s frozen, shocked face.

"Is that why you are getting so impatient?" Camilla teased him softly, her voice dropping into a dark, romantic whisper. "Is that why you are staring at my bare shoulders so intensely and walking toward me so quickly? You just couldn’t wait to see me?"

Damon stood completely still.

The tips of his ears immediately burned with a bright, hot, highly visible red flush. The heat rushed straight down his neck. He was absolutely not prepared for his wife to ask him for intimacy while sitting half-naked on the floor right in front of the family housekeeper.

It was entirely too much for his strict mind to handle.

Damon closed his eyes tightly for a brief second. He let out a very long, very heavy, incredibly frustrated sigh.

He opened his eyes. He completely refused to look at her bare shoulders again. He looked strictly at the blank stone wall above her head.

"Put your clothes on," Damon ordered quietly. His voice was slightly strained and completely embarrassed.

He immediately turned his tall body around. He practically ran away from the danger zone.

He quickly walked past the shocked housekeeper and completely left the room, stepping out into the long, empty hallway to calm his racing heart.

Murry stood in the doorway for one extra second. He looked past the doorframe at Camilla sitting on the floor.

Murry slowly lowered one hand from his mouth. He smiled a very wide, incredibly happy, deeply proud smile. He slowly raised his hand and gave her a completely solid, enthusiastic thumbs up. He thought her romantic seduction tactics were absolutely brilliant.

Camilla smiled back at the older man. She quickly raised her own hand and gave him a happy thumbs up too.

Murry reached out and grabbed the brass handle. He pulled the door completely shut with a soft click, leaving the young couple to their "privacy."

As the door closed shut, Camilla finally let her shoulders completely drop.

She let out an exhausted sigh of pure relief.

Phew .

She had successfully survived the most dangerous moment of the entire day. She rested her head against the wooden bed frame for a few seconds, letting her rapid heartbeat finally slow down.

"That was entirely too close," she whispered to herself. "He almost caught me. Good thing I was smart."

She pushed her tired body off the hard wooden floorboards. She stood up, making sure the white towel was completely secure around her chest.

She walked quickly across the large bedroom and went into the attached washroom to take her bath.

She filled the large, white porcelain tub with warm water and sweet-smelling soap. She scrubbed the dirt, the dust, and the sweat of the military camp completely off her pale skin. She washed the smell of the death match entirely out of her long, thick red hair. She felt the painful soreness in her muscles begin to slowly fade away in the hot water.

After thirty minutes of peaceful, quiet soaking, she finally stepped out of the tub.

She wrapped a fresh, large, clean white towel securely around her body. She took a smaller white towel and began rubbing it vigorously against her wet red curls, drying her hair as she walked.

"Damon should be in his study by now. I have to find a way to hide those things." She mumbled.

She opened the washroom door and stepped back out into the main master bedroom.

As she came out, drying her hair, she casually looked toward the center of the room.

She immediately froze. Her blood turned completely into solid ice.

Damon was already back inside the bedroom.

He had clearly calmed down from his embarrassment in the hallway and returned to his room. But he was not sitting in his chair. He was not standing near the window.

Damon was currently crouched completely down on the floor right at the foot of the large wooden bed.

He was leaning his tall, broad body forward. He had reached out his large hand and had lifted the edge of the bed skirt.

He was actively trying to look under the bed.

Camilla’s eyes widened in horror.

Her black combat clothes were under there. Her twin steel daggers were under there. And most importantly, a massive stack of paper bank notes was sitting directly under there.

If he saw the clothes and the money, he would know the absolute truth. Her secret identity would be completely destroyed.

"NO!!!!" Camilla shouted.

It was a loud, desperate, completely panicked scream that echoed violently off the stone walls of the bedroom.

Camilla did not hesitate for a single millisecond. She completely forgot she was only wearing a thin white towel. She completely forgot he was the strongest, most terrifying General in the entire country.

She dropped the small hair towel onto the floor. She sprinted across the bedroom with explosive, terrifying speed.

Damon heard her loud shout. He started to turn his head in surprise, completely confused by her sudden scream.

Before Damon could even fully turn his face, Camilla reached him.

She threw her entire body weight completely forward through the air.

She rushed to push Damon entirely out of the way. She slammed her shoulder directly into his broad, muscular chest with all of her strength.

The massive impact caught Damon completely off balance while he was crouching awkwardly.

THUD!

Camilla tackled him violently to the ground. She pushed him completely away from the bed, sending them both crashing heavily together onto the hard wooden floorboards in a chaotic, tangled mess of strong limbs and white towels.