From award winning author Katharine
Ashe, comes an enchanting Christmas novella about a shy but imaginative
princess and the rakish Earl who could make all her wildest fantasies come true….
The Christmas season has never
been so steamy.
Handsome as sin and scandalously rakish, Cam Westfall, the Earl of Bedwyr is every young lady's wickedest dream. Shy wallflower Princess Jacqueline Sensaire knows this better than anyone, because her dreams are full of the breathtaking earl's kisses. And not only her dreams--her diary too.
But when Cam discovers the maiden's not-so-maidenly diary, will her wildest Christmas wishes be fulfilled in its pages . . . or in his arms?
Handsome as sin and scandalously rakish, Cam Westfall, the Earl of Bedwyr is every young lady's wickedest dream. Shy wallflower Princess Jacqueline Sensaire knows this better than anyone, because her dreams are full of the breathtaking earl's kisses. And not only her dreams--her diary too.
But when Cam discovers the maiden's not-so-maidenly diary, will her wildest Christmas wishes be fulfilled in its pages . . . or in his arms?
Excerpt
from KISSES, SHE WROTE, A Christmas Romance by Katharine Ashe
“At least you won’t be at a
significant disadvantage when you wed,” the princess said thoughtfully.
“Disadvantage?”
“There is . . .” Her voice
trailed off. She looked out the window and tilted her head. Her stance was
relaxed. This conversation did not, apparently, agitate her as it did him.
“Princess?”
“The thing is, I have never
kissed a man,” she said and looked over her shoulder at him. “Will my husband
be disappointed to discover that I have no knowledge of kissing?”
Cam’s throat had gone entirely
dry. If she had no actual knowledge of kissing, she certainly had excellent
intuition.
“Why do you ask me?”
“I cannot very well ask my
brother. How horridly embarrassing that should be.” She scowled but her eyes
twinkled.
“You might ask your ladies in
waiting, or the Duchess of Lycombe.”
“How would they know the answer?
They are women.”
He was nonplused. “Well . . .”
She turned to him fully. “You and
I are friends, so I trust you will answer me honestly. I know you have
considerable experience kissing women.”
His cravat had shrunk again. “Do
you?”
She lifted a single, eloquent
brow. She was far too intelligent for him, and far too forthright, and he was
far too accustomed to consorting with females of much less acute minds and much
baser characters. She was not now flirting with him but making a statement of
fact.
He nodded in silent admission.
Both brows perked now, like the
shimmering feathers of a raven. “So . . . ?”
“I should think that your husband
would be delighted to teach you the finer points of kissing.” And learn a thing
or two in the process.
“I suppose you may be correct
about that. Men like to instruct women. I think it makes them feel more in
control.”
He could not hide his amusement.
“You don’t say?”
“Well, doesn’t it? You are a
man.”
“Good of you to notice.”
“Do you like it when you feel in
control of a woman?”
“I like it when a woman feels she
is getting what she wants from me.”
Her fine, expressive eyes
widened. Then, slowly, she turned to the pianoforte and began rearranging the
music on the stand. Cam studied the clean sweep of her back to her gently
curved hips and the straight set of her shoulders. She was not petite, not enticingly
round, not anything he had ever desired in a woman. But merely looking at her
back and knowing what she imagined of him — of
them together — made his heartbeats
hard.
“I should like to give it a try
before I marry,” she said without turning around. Her voice was pitched a bit
low. “Kissing, that is.” She glanced at him. Her cheeks were ever so slightly
pink.
“Should you?” He suspected where
this was going. He’d been the object of countless women’s flirtations. But
never this woman. She confined her attentions to him safely in her diary.
This was a different woman before
him now.
“Yes,” she said. “I think it
would be a useful experience to take into marriage. Don’t you?” She turned her
hungry gaze upon him . . .
Giveaway:
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