Thanks for dropping by my First Kiss Friday blog. It’s always a pleasure to have you here along with my guest author and friend, Jude Knight. Today, Jude has an excerpt from her upcoming novel The Night Dancers that releases February 10th. Happy reading, my lovelies, and take it away, Jude!
Inspired by The Twelve Dancing Princesses and The Twelve Nights of Christmas, The Night Dancers has nine romances with a happy ending, but this scene belongs to my hero and heroine. I notice that the kisses are not described, but give what is happening, you can assume that there were, in fact, kisses, and one of them was the first.
Excerpt:
Melody woke two hours later from a deep sleep, not certain what had alerted her. The sounds were wrong. That was it. Accustomed to the background noise of the upper tower, she now had the deep stillness of the lower tower, with its thicker walls. The door of her chamber was thinner, though. Someone was moving around out in the center space.
When she wrapped herself in a shawl and went to investigate, she found that Allan was up, and was bending over a metal jug-like contraption that was heating over a spirit burner.
“Melody,” he said, when he noticed her. “Did you smell the coffee?”
She did now. The pleasing odor was rising from the jug. “It’s a Rumford percolator,” Allan explained. “Little to no smoke, and we’ll be able to drink fresh coffee in about ten minutes.” After a quick look at her in her nightgown and the loosely-wrapped shawl, he had his eyes fixed on his coffee machine.
That won’t do at all.
Mel dropped the shawl. “What shall we do for ten minutes?” she asked.
His head snapped around and his eyes devoured her for a moment before he said, in a hoarse voice, “My darling woman, if you mean what I think you mean, it shall take much longer than ten minutes.”
He was not rejecting her out of hand. Mel gulped back the lump in her throat and said, boldly though with a quaking stomach, “Then I suggest you turn off the coffee pot until we are ready.”
She watched in fascination but also disappointment as he jerked toward the pot as if moved by strings then stopped the motion, reasserted his iron control and replied to her, though his voice shook as he spoke. “I promised myself I would not take advantage of you when we are here alone.”
Taking heart from the fact that his voice was not fully under his control, and nor was his gaze—it continued to heat her skin as his eyes roved her form—Mel said, “I made myself no such promise. Allan, may I take advantage of you?”
What could she say to persuade him. “We are alone together, and I want to be with you. I warn you. I have little experience. My husband was not much interested in me, and I suspect he was not very accomplished in the arts of the bed chamber.”
That was what one of the women at The Golden Adonis had called them. The arts of the bed chamber. Mel had never seen much “art” in the messy, boring, uncomfortable process, but she was willing to learn.
“Your husband,” responded Allan, his voice huskier still, “was a fool.”
“Must I beg?” Mel asked.
Allan did not reply. Or perhaps his actions spoke for him, for he bent to the spirit lamp under the percolator and turned a wheel until the flame went out. Then he held out his hand, and she put hers into it.
“Are you certain?” Allan asked, and she assured him that she was.
“Your bed or mine?” That was the next question. She chose his, for it was larger. As he led her in that direction, he added, “You can stop me at any time. Just say ‘stop’, and I shall.” That required no reply, but was good to know.
Allan was right about it taking more than ten minutes. And those at The Golden Adonis who enjoyed the activity were right, too. It was neither boring nor uncomfortable. Her husband really had been a fool.
The Night Dancers
By Jude Knight
Certain that the Marquess of Teign is behind her cousin’s disappearance, investigator Melody Blackmore enters his mansion disguised as a man. Tasked with discovering how Teign’s sons are leaving their tower prison or having food and other items brought in, she soon realizes that the sons are also the marquess’s victims. As her interest in the eldest of the brothers grows, she joins them all in a campaign to bring Teign down.
Allan Sheppard, the Earl of Kemble, is the eldest of Teign’s ten sons. He is weighed down by his frequent failures to protect his brothers from Teign’s beatings and abuse, but determined to keep them as safe as he can until his youngest brother is no longer under Teign’s guardianship.
All they must to do is fool the most recent investigator sent to find out their secrets. But Mel Black is not like the others, and Allan finds that an alliance with her gives the brothers the chance to not only survive, but to thrive.
However, Teign will stop at nothing to punish his sons for escaping him. Only Allan’s and Melody’s growing commitment to one another keeps them steadfast as they uncover evidence of evil beyond imagining.
On preorder. Published February 10th
Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GFY9FDMJ
About the Author:
Jude always wanted to be a novelist. She started in her teens, but life kept getting in the way. Years passed, and with them dozens of unfinished manuscripts. The fear grew. What if she tried, failed, and lost the dream forever? The years since 2014 have brought 17 novels, 16 novella, 6 volumes of short stories, a number of awards, and hundreds of positive reviews. The dream is alive.
Website and blog: http://judeknightauthor.com/
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