Excerpt from Lords of Atonement,

to be released Summer 2014

Coming Soon!



 

“Sorry,” she managed to utter before making the next stitch.

“It was nothing, El.” He bent his head and whispered into her ear. “Just put your stitches in. Get it done. You’re killing me, here. I have never professed to be a saint. Your nearness… it affects me,” he said in a husky whisper. He couldn’t resist pressing a soft kiss against the shell of her ear.

“Is that all you think about?” she asked in irritation.

“With you, El, yes. Only you. When I am this close to you, and almost bloody naked, yes! I dream about it. I’ve told you before, El. You do things to me. Like no other woman ever has. I’m mad with it. Mad for you. I’m not stopping until you give in.”

She tried to be irritated by his words, yet, hearing that he dreamed about her did something to her. She would be lying if she said she hadn’t wondered what it would be like to lay with him. 

He saw the heat mirrored in her gorgeous witchy blue eyes when she looked up, met his gaze. She wanted him! Just as much as he did her. Triumph, at last.

“So, if you can’t sleep at night, El, you can come next door, to my chamber. I’ll tell you - show you - what you do to me,” he whispered again.

She averted her gaze. She couldn’t look at him any longer. She was afraid she’d see something in his eyes, something that would convince her she should go to him in the midnight hours. There could never be anything between them. She was a healer and meant to stay in Cornwall. That was that.

When next she raised her eyes to him, the heat was gone. That stubborn determination was back. She was so prickly.

When she finished applying the poultice to his side and turned to clean up in the washbasin, he asked her, “Am I free to go?”

“No. The poultice needs to stay on the wound for a bit. It will prevent infection. You should lie down.”

“How long?”

“A half hour. It would work even better if it were on for an hour. I wish you would consider it.”

He nodded. “Can you help me into my shirt? I’ll go lie down in my chamber. You can remove it in an hour.”

It was Elowen’s turn to smile triumphantly. “Good. I will. I wasn’t expecting that you would do it.”

“I wouldn’t, if it wasn’t that you asked me. I’m going out on a limb and trying to prove that you mean something to me, El. That I will do as you ask, bend to you.” He allowed her to help him into his shirt, which he left untucked. He decided he didn’t need his waistcoat or coat, so he set them on the table.

He looked at the cravat in his hand and grinned. He threw it over her head and around her shoulders, pulling her close against him with two hands full of silk.

“Oomph!” Elowen exhaled as she bumped up against his hard body. Everything was hard – everything! It made her dizzy and warm to be so close, to feel his heat and the male hardness of him.

He wound his arms about her, letting the cravat fall to the floor.

“I just want to give my nurse proper thanks.”

To her surprise, he gave her a sweet, gentle kiss. He drew it out a little, nipped and tugged at her lips, then smiled down at her. One hand remained beneath her chin.

“Thank you, Elowen. Will you promise me you will be more careful in the future? And think before you take action?”

Elowen sighed in humbled defeat, “Yes.”

“Don’t look so glum, my witch. Sometimes the most power comes to us when we give up control.” He grinned down at her. He stepped back.

“Come, I’ll walk you to the kitchen then upstairs.”

“I thought you were going to lie down?” She arched a finely etched raven brow at him.

“I will. Once I know you are safe in your chamber.”

Elowen didn’t like it that he would escort her, but she consented with a nod.

 

She felt uncomfortable going into his bedchamber to check on his poultice, but he was a perfect gentleman. He instructed her to leave the door open while she tended him. Aside from a whispered joke or two, he hadn’t mentioned much about what lay between them. This thing. This pull. This…attraction. Yes, she had to admit, she was attracted to the man like a moth to flame.