Page 30 of The Blacksmith

“I have no real notion of who you are, Lance Wayland.” Indeed, the facts she’d collected were thin. All she knew of his past was that he’d trained under a father he disliked, lost his mother, and had no siblings. Now he was here at Stanton, where people shunned him for not being Roland. But she hoarded those few facts as if they were gold coins—and she wanted more.

When he took another step closer, Idalia knew something was about to happen.

Nay, not something. More than something.

And she was as powerless to stop it as she was to heal her mother. Or make her father notice she was more than a glorified steward.

So she stood there, immobile. Attempting to breathe like a normal person.

“What do you want to know?”

Her eyes raised to his lips.

“That, my lady, will get us both into trouble.”

She looked up. “That?”

“Aye. That.”

She did know, of course, to what he was referring. Idalia glanced over to where the guard would be standing, but he was out of view from where they stood behind the tower’s entrance.

“Idalia . . .”

Lance’s shoulders rose and fell.

That will get us into trouble.

He was right.

Idalia turned back toward the battlements only to be spun back around. Two firm hands guided her face toward him. And, just like that, his lips were on hers.

She kissed him back, his lips so soft and warm.

He pulled back abruptly.

“You’ve not kissed a man before.”

“I . . . I have.”

His hand still cupped her face.

Lance brought her toward him once again. This time, with a hair’s breadth between them, he said, “Don’t be scared.”

“Scared?”

When he touched her this time, she closed her eyes. And nearly jumped when she felt his tongue gliding along the crease between her lips. Opening them just slightly, Idalia startled to realize his tongue was still there. She touched hers to his, not sure if that was right.

It certainly felt right.

His mouth slanted across hers, showing her what to do next.

She followed his lead, becoming bolder as his hands moved from her face to the back of her head. He pulled her closer, and when she responded by wrapping her arms around his shoulders, the sound that came from deep within him shook her to her very core.

It was a sound of pleasure. Of longing.

He desired her.

That thought, coupled with what he was doing to her mouth, enveloped Idalia in a way she’d never experienced before. She wanted to be even closer, surrounded by this man in every way. And she must have communicated that with her lips, because he pulled her toward him.