This First Kiss Friday, my dear friend Caroline Warfield brings us a scene in which the weary physician, Salvatore, can’t resist stealing that first kiss. You don’t want to miss Caroline’s upcoming release, Lady Charlotte’s Christmas Vigil. Happy reading and enjoy!

Excerpt:

“Salvo?” a muffled voice queried from the bed.

He started to back out. Too late.

Lottie sat up, her cotton nightclothes white in the moonlight. “What is it? Are the boys worse?” She pulled the covers back and swung over to sit on the edge. The movement pulled her gown high over one knee and gave him a view of graceful feet and a slender leg.

“Don’t get up, Lottie. Are you well?” He raised the candle to see her face better. The purple smudges under her eyes hadn’t abated.

She looked back, puzzled. “Well enough. Why did you come?”

His eyes scanned her, from the glorious hair to the tips of those graceful toes. He tried to remind himself of his professional demeanor, but diagnosis played no part in this scrutiny.

“Salvo?” Lottie asked, her voice thick.

“I’m sorry, Lottie. You should not be embroiled in my family’s crisis.”

She pulled her gown down to cover herself. He suspected she blushed rather in the semi-darkness, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away.

“I don’t mind. It feels good to be needed. Besides, David looks better every day. I have you to thank for that.”

His feet moved into the room before he could tell them to stop.

She frowned at him. “You look exhausted. You can’t care for patients all day and stay up all night. Let me take over with the boys.” She rose. “You get to your bed.”

He had her in his arms before either could take another breath.

“Thank you,” he breathed against her mouth, just before he kissed her.

Lottie pulled back and gasped. He would have pulled back then, but a second later, she moved closer and pressed her mouth to his. He tasted her gently, but didn’t probe. He cupped her face, so he would not pull her up against his arousal, though he yearned to drag her close. He kissed her eyes and down her cheek before setting her away from him.

Lottie raised trembling fingers to her mouth. “Salvo?”

“That was shameless of me, but I can’t regret it.”

 

About the Book

 Love is the best medicine and the sweetest things in life are worth the wait, especially at Christmastime in Venice for a stranded English Lady and a handsome physician.

 Lady Charlotte clings to one dream—to see the splendor of Rome before settling for life as the spinster sister of an earl. But now her feckless brother forces her to wait again, stranded in Venice when he falls ill, halfway to the place of her dreams. She finds the city damp, moldy, and riddled with disease.

As a physician, Salvatore Caresini well knows the danger of putrid fever. He lost his young wife to it, leaving him alone to care for their rambunctious children. He isn’t about to let the lovely English lady risk her life nursing her brother.

But Christmas is coming, that season of miracles, and with it, perhaps, lessons for two lonely people: that love heals the deepest wounds and sometimes the best dreams aren’t the ones we expect.

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About the Author

 Traveler, would-be adventurer, former tech writer and library technology professional, Caroline Warfield has now retired to the urban wilds of Eastern Pennsylvania, and divides her time between writing and seeking adventures with her grandbuddy and the prince among men she married. Her new series sends the children of the heroes of her earlier books to seek their own happiness in the far-flung corners of the British Empire.

 

 

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