In the Name of Duty by Sandi Layne

Author:Sandi Layne [Layne, Sandi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798392657322
Published: 2023-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

It felt deliciously secretive, walking to the stables alone with Lord Aberleigh. It wasn’t truly forbidden, of course, as they were betrothed and would be wed as soon as the banns were read.

“It’s a fine thing to be able to practice walking together,” she ventured once they were in the shadows of the brick building.

Her fiancé smiled down at her but kept walking. “Is it? Why is that?”

“So we shan’t appear awkward before others.”

He didn’t answer immediately but guided her to where the hay was stored for ease of access. She had seen the stable hands use the enormous iron forks to collect hay for the horses to eat.

Robert surprised her by lifting her up and sitting her on a rough pile of hay. “Much less awkward for me, having you higher up,” he remarked with another smile. His eyes—so distinctive and riveting with their light and dark blue bands—were intent upon her own. Her heart pounded and she had the fleeting thought that, perhaps, they should have asked for a chaperone.

She tried to smile away her nerves. “Are there indeed advantages to this, my lord?” Her voice faltered as he slowly brushed his hands up her arms, to her shoulders. “My lord?”

“There is one distinct advantage that I can see,” he murmured. His fingertips stroked the bare skin of her throat, soothing her. “May I kiss you?”

“Kiss me?”

“Well, yes.” He shifted closer to her, one arm sliding down her back while the other continued brushing the skin on her neck and collarbone. “We shall kiss in front of others, shall we not, when we wed?”

She had believed that theirs was not going to be a marriage where…kissing…happened much. She had assured Lady Rachel that she did not mind, because it would be convenient for she and Robert to marry to secure the Aberleigh line.

Not that she hadn’t had her brief moments of dreams, but she was at heart a practical person. “We don’t want to be awkward,” she whispered.

“No, we don’t,” he said, a strange intensity in his gaze as he leaned toward her, tilting her head slightly up before nuzzling her nose with his own.

Then his lips swept over hers, slowly. She closed her eyes and parted her lips a little because he suddenly seemed to smell quite wonderful and she wanted to remember the scent forever.

Her first kiss.

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