Read Tessa Dare - [Spindle Cove 03.5] for Free Online Page A

at each other. His dark eyes held her rapt.
    “I find you terribly handsome,” she blurted out. Because it was the only thing left unsaid.
    He rubbed the back of his neck. “I would tell you you’re the kind of lovely that’s unfair to roses and sunsets. But I don’t think this honest conversation is working the way you hoped.”
    “No. It’s not. We were meant to be laughing, but none of this seems ridiculous. In fact, it feels more serious by the moment.”
    To know that her attraction hadn’t been one-sided—that she’d been right about those long, searching looks he’d given her now and then . . . The vindication buoyed her spirits, and a delicious tingle ran from her scalp to her toes. But from there, she didn’t know what happened next.
    Evidently, he had some ideas.
    He took the reins from her hands and secured them on the dash rail. Then he gathered her in his arms and drew her close.
    Her heart stuttered. This was really going to happen.
    She’d run from his kiss the first time.
    The second time, she’d begged him for it.
    This time, she’d learned her lesson. She did nothing but remain absolutely, perfectly still.
    And it worked.
    His lips touched hers, imparting that unique blend of strength and tenderness she was coming to treasure. To crave.
    But all too soon, he lifted his head. “Have you been kissed before?”
    “I don’t know whether to say yes or no. Which answer will make you do it again?”
    “Oh, I’m going to do it again.” His thumb stroked her cheek. “Just wanted to know how slow to take things.”
    “A little faster would be fine.” She’d been waiting twenty-three years, after all.
    His answer was a thrilling, sensual growl. “As you like.”
    He renewed the kiss with a series of rough presses of his mouth to hers. Warm friction teased her lips apart, and his tongue swept between them.
    The invasion was startling. She felt as though the ground had gone to liquid beneath her, and now she was adrift on unfamiliar seas. Far outside the boundaries of her experience.
    As if he sensed her uncertainty, his arms flexed tight, drawing her flush with his chest. Her head naturally tilted back. She was vulnerable beneath him now, and he took control, deepening the kiss. His tongue stroked hers. The grain of his whiskers rasped at the edges of her lips. Intriguing and so essentially male. She wanted to touch him, slide her fingertips down the edge of his jaw. But she lost her courage, afraid to make a mistake and bring an end to everything.
    She wanted this to last and last.
    When he did pull away, he made no effort to hide that he was affected, too. It was all there, in his eyes. The deep wellspring of mutual desire and need they’d barely tapped.
    “Mr. Dawes,” she sighed. “What do we do?”
    “First, you start calling me Aaron.”
    She tested it. “Aaron. What do we do?”
    He put space between them. “I suppose this is where I should revise the speech I started last night. Remind you that you’re a gentlewoman and I’m a craftsman, and nothing can come of this. And tell you we should just go back to trading longing glances across the green and never speak of this again. But the thing is, I don’t feel like giving that speech this morning.”
    “Oh, good,” she said, relieved. “Because I’m not at all in the mood to hear it.”
    “We’re both sober. It’s a fine, clear day. You’re a grown woman, and a clever one. I believe you understand the situation. And I’m going to trust that you know your own mind.”
    Her heart swelled. What a lovely, lovely gift. No one else had ever done the same.
    He put one hand over hers. “We have something, the two of us. I don’t think we could name it quite yet, much less decide what we’d do to keep it. But if you like, we can spend more time together and puzzle it out.”
    “I would like that. Very much.”
    Goodness. It was settled, then. She had a proper suitor for the first time in her life—and he was a blacksmith.