She swallowed hard. “Why not?”
“I don’t know.”
He tilted his head and stared at her with fresh concentration. She tried not to blush or fidget as his slow, measured paces brought them toe-to-toe. So close, she could see the individual grains of whiskers dotting his jaw. They were lighter than his hair—almost ginger, in this light.
“There’s something about you.” His ungloved hand went to her hair, teasing it gently. A little shower of crystals fell to the ground. “Something . . . all over you.”
Good heavens. He was touching her—without leave, or any logical reason. And it should have been shocking—but the most surprising part was how natural it felt. So simple and unforced, as though he did this every day.
She wouldn’t mind it, Pauline thought. Being touched like this, every day. As though there were something precious and fragile beneath the grit of her life, just waiting to be uncovered.
He dusted more fine white powder from her shoulder. “What is this? You’re just coated with it.”
Her answer came out as a whisper. “It’s sugar.”
He lifted his thumb to his mouth, absently tasting. His lips twisted in unpleasant surprise.
“Sugar mixed with alum,” she amended.
“Oddly fitting.” He reached for her again, this time leading with the backs of his fingers.
She felt herself leaning forward, seeking his touch.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TESSA DARE is the New York Times bestselling, award-winning author of nine historical romance novels and four novellas. A librarian by training and a book-lover at heart, she makes her home in Southern California, where she shares a cozy, cluttered bungalow with her husband, their two children, and a dog.
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BY TESSA DARE
Beauty and the Blacksmith
The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright
A Lady By Midnight
A Week to Be Wicked
A Night to Surrender
Three Nights with a Scoundrel
Twice Tempted by a Rogue
One Dance with a Duke
A Lady of Persuasion
Surrender of a Siren
Goddess of the Hunt
Coming Soon
Any Duchess Will Do
COPYRIGHT
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Excerpt from Any Duchess Will Do copyright © 2013 by Eve Ortega.
BEAUTY AND THE BLACKSMITH. Copyright © 2013 by Eve Ortega. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition MAY 2013 ISBN: 9780062238849
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062238856
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