Page 31 of The Blacksmith

She let her fingers rest on the nape of his neck as his mouth slanted over hers.

When he pulled away, she licked her lips instinctively, wanting to taste where he had just been.

“You learn quickly.”

Though he didn’t let go, Lance looked in the direction of the guard. They were still hidden, though in truth, Idalia should be more worried about being discovered.

Instead, she wished to know how Lance felt about what had just happened.

“My tutor said the same.”

His brows raised. “Tutor, aye?”

A laugh welled inside her chest and escaped in a most unusual sound. Almost as if it were a giggle. But Idalia did not giggle. That was usually the purview of her younger sister.

“You know very well what kind of tutor I meant.”

He looked at her lips, and Idalia nearly blurted out the question.

Will you kiss me again?

“I enjoyed that very much.”

“As much as the other kisses?”

“The other . . .” Then she remembered telling him she had been kissed before. “They were nothing like that.”

He leaned down, opening her mouth as he’d done before. This time, she knew immediately what to do and matched his tongue’s caresses with her own. When a loud clang from below them rang out, she pulled away.

But not out of his arms.

“Likely,” he said, loosening his grip just slightly, “because an earl’s daughter should not be kissed that way. At least not by someone other than her husband.”

“How sorrowful that is.”

When he laughed, Idalia’s chest swelled with happiness. It was such a rare sound from him, and all the more treasured for it.

“You should laugh more often.”

“You should kiss more often.”

Her smile felt wide enough to split her face in two.

“You believe so? I wonder, will anyone else be willing to instruct me?” She pretended to think. “I’ve no suitors currently, but—”

“I meant me.”

Of course he had. But Idalia took immeasurable joy in teasing this man who’d obviously had so little lightness in his life.

“Oh dear, I did not realize.”

He stopped her with another kiss, and this time, he did not coax her mouth open. This time, he silently demanded it as soon as their lips touched.

She complied most willingly. The sensation of his tongue touching hers as his lips moved over her own . . . she was pretty sure this was the most pleasant thing she’d ever experienced in her life.

Idalia never wanted it to end.

But it did.