Welcome to my First Kiss Friday blog. Today I have returning author Misty Urban who has an excerpt from her novel The Baronet’s Bartered Bride. We hope you enjoy this first kiss scene. Happy reading, my lovelies!
Excerpt:
“A bloodthirsty wench, are you? I never knew.”
Joseph put a finger to her chin to inspect her face. Rage and the fight had given his face a cast she barely recognized. His shoulders seemed enormous, his hands were weapons, and the lines of his face seemed sharper, bolder. He looked like a warrior. A king.
“You’re the bloody one.” A trickle of crimson streamed from his temple where his lordship’s signet ring had cut the skin. Without thinking Inez yanked out the neckerchief tucked at her bodice and pressed it to his head, cupping his other cheek with her palm. His skin was warm and firm and soft, so soft.
She’d thought men were only ever rough and dark and hairy, but Joseph was a pillow of silk drawn over sturdy muscle and bone. The jut of his cheekbone against her palm felt vulnerable. He could have been hurt. He had been hurt, for her.
His gaze moved over every line of her countenance, then down her neck. Stuttered and stopped at the sight of her breasts, the tops exposed in the tight bodice. She couldn’t slow the rise and fall of her breath, still sharp and panicked as blood beat through her.
He stared, and she wondered if the hot flush she felt everywhere showed on her skin. Joseph Illingworth had noticed her breasts.
He dragged his gaze back up to meet her eyes, and there it was, what she’d longed to see: desire. At long last, he looked at her as a man looks at a woman he covets.
His voice was hoarse and strangled. “Are you—”
She rose up on her toes, pulled his face toward her with both hands, and kissed him.
His lips were as soft as the skin beneath her palms and the curls of hair falling over her fingertips. He tasted delicious. She couldn’t go one more instant of her life without kissing Joseph Illingworth, and if she had to pay for her trespass, so be it.
For a tortured moment he stood completely still, as if she’d delivered the kind of blow he’d given to Wigsby, who even now was being carried down the hall and, Inez hoped, out of her life forever. Joseph didn’t want to kiss her. He’d appeared out of nowhere, he’d fought for her, he’d looked stunned at the sight of her bosoms pushed up by her tight bodice, but he didn’t want—
All of a sudden her feet lifted off the ground and Inez tumbled backwards, as if the carpet had been yanked from her feet. Joseph’s arms closed around her like the swoop of a hawk’s wings. She felt giddy. His mouth was hot and devouring and pressed to hers as if he meant to swallow her whole.
Her heart jumped into her throat and pulsed there with wild joy. His entire body was pressed to hers and she couldn’t breathe with the shock of it. She was going to expire from happiness. Joseph Illingworth, kissing her, finally, and kissing her with a desperation that made her head whirl, as if he didn’t consume all of her, this instant, he would die or disappear.
The Baronet’s Bartered Bride
By Misty Urban
With her mother dead and her father lost at sea, Inez De Costa has nowhere left to turn. Alone in England, she is hunted by a dangerous man and hiding a fortune in stolen jewels—wealth that could save her or destroy her. When her employer leaves London to claim a forgotten Cornish estate, Inez makes a desperate choice and hides herself among his belongings…straight into temptation she cannot resist.
Joseph Illingworth has spent his life in another man’s shadow. Inheriting Penwellen offers him a rare chance to build something of his own—until he discovers the beautiful, secretive woman seeking refuge under his roof. Offering Inez protection is the honorable thing to do, but her presence awakens desires he has never dared indulge.
As threats close in and past sins refuse to stay buried, Joseph and Inez find themselves bound by danger, desire, and an impossible bargain. Trust could cost them everything. Love may be the riskiest trade of all.
In this emotionally rich installment of Ladies Least Likely, two wounded souls discover that passion can defy class, fear, and fate—if they are brave enough to claim it.
Buy links: The Baronet’s Bartered Bride, Book 10 in the Ladies Least Likely
https://books2read.com/u/3L7QZw
Author bio:
Misty Urban fell in love with stories at an early age and has spent her life among books as a teacher, scholar, editor, writer, and bookseller. Her favorite stories take you new places, teach you new things, and end with a win. She especially likes romances about unconventional heroines who defy the odds and the unexpected heroes who woo them, so that’s mostly what she writes. When she puts down the book she likes to take long walks, drag her family to new places, or hang out around water, dreaming up new stories.
Find Misty online at http://www.mistyurban.com and sign up for the newsletter for sneak peeks, publications news, exclusive content, and subscriber-only giveaways.
Or let’s be friends on social media: find me through https://linktr.ee/mistyurban