Welcome to my First Kiss Friday blog. I’m happy to have returning guest author Ruth A. Casie hosting here today. Ruth has an excerpt from her novel A Shadow Amongst the Roses. We hope you enjoy this first kiss scene. Happy reading, my lovelies! Take it away, Ruth!
Lady Eliza Thornhaven is a widow returning to Hartleigh Hall, the estate of her late husband’s family. It is a place filled with memories—and with people she has known for years.
Among them is Thomas Grey, Hartleigh’s estate manager. Steady, capable, and quietly attentive, Thomas has always been someone Eliza could depend upon without thinking very much about why.
But returning to Hartleigh has changed something.
Eliza has begun to notice Thomas differently.
And perhaps more unsettling, she has begun to realize that Thomas has been noticing her all along.
On a rain-soaked day at Hartleigh, the two find themselves beneath the narrow shelter of a shed. It should be an ordinary moment between two people who have known each other for years.
It isn’t.
Excerpt:
She smiled faintly. “You notice everything.”
He shrugged. “Only what matters.”
Once, she might have mistaken that restraint for reluctance or indifference. Now she understood it differently. Thomas had spent years ensuring his usefulness never became mistaken for ambition.
The rain soaked the earth beneath their feet, the ground softening. Eliza adjusted her stance, the hem of her skirt brushing the damp gravel. Thomas noticed at once.
“Come here,” he said, gesturing toward the shelter of the shed.
She hesitated, not because she objected, but because the movement would close the distance between them.
Then she stepped beneath the overhang.
The space was narrow. Close enough that she could feel the warmth of him beside her, the solid presence of his shoulder just within reach. The scent of rain and clean wool filled her senses.
Neither of them spoke.
Water dripped steadily from the eaves, the rhythm slow and insistent. Eliza was acutely aware of her breathing, the way it matched the quiet rise and fall of his chest.
“You stood your ground,” Thomas said at last.
“I did what was necessary.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “You usually do.”
The words were simple. The meaning was not.
She turned her head slightly, enough to see the line of his jaw, the concentration in his expression. He was not looking at her. He was looking ahead, as though giving her the space to decide what to do with the moment.
“I don’t always know when that is,” she said.
He glanced at her then, his gaze steady. “You do. You just don’t always like the cost.”
Something in her chest tightened.
Rain brushed against her cheek where the wind carried it beneath the shelter. Thomas reached out without thinking, his fingers brushing her glove, then stilling.
The contact was brief. Barely there.
He withdrew his hand at once.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She did not move away. “Don’t be.”
A shift of wind pressed the rain beneath the overhang, and she stepped instinctively closer. He did the same in the same moment, a quiet adjustment to keep her within shelter.
Their movements collided.
Her cheek brushed his jaw. His hand lifted to steady her elbow. And in that half-second of misjudged space, her mouth touched his.
Not a kiss in intention. Not planned. Barely more than breath. But their lips met, soft, startled, impossibly warm.
Thomas froze. Eliza did too.
The world seemed to narrow to the point of contact, the scent of rain, the heat of him just beneath the chilled wool of his coat. Then, as if waking, they both drew back a fraction. Not enough to sever the moment. Just enough to feel its absence.
“Forgive me,” he said, voice low and roughened.
“It was an accident,” she replied, though her pulse carried the truth that something in her had not found it accidental at all.
He exhaled slowly, steadying himself. “Yes,” he said. “An accident.”
But he didn’t move away.
Eliza realized then that this was the danger. The kind that asked nothing and therefore offered everything.
Nothing had ever felt more dangerous to her than wanting something that carried no obligation to remain. Hartleigh itself had taught her how quickly certainty could vanish. And yet standing beside Thomas, she understood with terrifying clarity how easily she could begin depending upon the simple fact of his presence.
“I should go in,” she said.
“Yes.”
Neither of them moved.
Then, deliberately, Thomas stepped back.
The rain seemed to fill the space he left behind.
Eliza drew a steady breath and turned toward the house, the warmth of him lingering as she crossed the wet gravel.
Behind her, Thomas returned to his work.
And the rain, untroubled by either of them, continued to fall.
A Shadow Amongst the Roses
Book 2 – The Hartleigh Inheritance
By Ruth A. Casie
After the death of her husband, Marchioness Eliza Thornhaven returns to Hartleigh Hall, the estate that once felt more like home than her own, expecting only duty, silence, and the careful management of another family’s grief.
Instead, she finds a house that remembers.
Behind Hartleigh’s cold stone walls, secrets move through shadowed corridors. Old wounds linger beneath polished civility. And somewhere within the estate’s restless heart, someone is watching far too closely.
The last man Eliza expects to trust is Thomas Grey, Hartleigh’s quiet estate manager. He has known Eliza since they were young, long enough to recognize the strength she hides beneath composure and the loneliness she never speaks aloud. Steady where others posture and observant where others overlook, Thomas has spent years keeping the great house standing without ever asking for recognition.
But when a missing child uncovers truths someone would kill to protect, danger tightens around Hartleigh and draws Eliza and Thomas into an uneasy alliance neither can ignore.
What begins as wary partnership deepens into something neither of them can deny.
Yet Hartleigh’s shadows are not finished with them.
Because the house guards more than secrets.
It guards legacies.
And some loves ask not to be rescued…
but chosen.
A Shadow Amongst the Roses is a gothic romance of buried secrets, haunted inheritance, found courage, and a love that refuses to be silenced.
Welcome Back to Hartleigh Hall…
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HGNJJ2M3
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/u/3JaayB
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/257551228-a-shadow-amongst-the-roses
About the Author:
USA Today Bestselling Author Ruth A. Casie writes historical romance filled with emotional depth, compelling characters, and stories where love is earned, tested, and ultimately triumphant.
Social Links
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- Newsletter: https://ruthacasie.com/newsletter-2/
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4792909.Ruth_A_Casie
- BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/ruth-a-casie
3 responses to “First Kiss Friday with Ruth A. Casie”
Brilliant and lovely! Very moving.
Thanks for dropping by. So happy you enjoyed Ruth’s excerpt. 💗
Thanks for dropping by! 💗