First Kiss Friday with Jane Charles
Welcome back to my First Kiss Friday blog. Today my guest is the fabulous Jane Charles who has an excerpt from her upcoming release, The Vanishing Viscount . We hope you enjoy this first kiss scene. Happy reading, my lovelies.
Excerpt:
Except he knew now what he had tried to shield from himself these past few years. Love could be the only reason, or he would not have been so intent on pursuing her since her first Season.
Did he know her well enough to fall in love?
How long must a person know another or did the heart already decide?
These were not thoughts or questions that he had been prepared to face when it came to Lady Clara, but he could not run from them forever either.
Chedworth had also told Pierce to kiss her.
Maybe that would be the answer. Once they kissed, he may no longer desire her and she would no longer be smitten, and then her heart would be at ease enough to return them back to Nightshade Manor. Or he would fall deeper and so would she, which might just leave them stranded. Unless, if the kissing brought calm to her and then all would be well.
Harcourt placed a hand on her cheek.
Frowning, Clara looked at him.
“Relax,” he said quietly, then brushed his lips across hers.
“Why did you do that?”
“Because I have wanted to for some time.”
“Why?”
“Because I find you charming, delightful, despite everything,” he answered honestly.
Clara leaned in. “Are you not afraid?”
Pierce pulled back and laughed. “I should be, and it is likely you will drive me to Bedlam one day, but I do not fear you, Clara.”
He also knew that one simple kiss had certainly not been enough to make a determination of where his heart may lead.
Clara could only stare back at Harcourt. He had kissed her. It was light and feathery, merely a brushing of the lips but they had been his on hers.
For a fleeting moment, Clara feared that he had only kissed her to try and put her at ease so that she would be calm enough to take them back to Nightshade Manor. Except, it had the opposite effect. Those butterflies in her stomach multiplied and her heart no longer did a little skip but pounded against her breastbone.
How could he possibly find her charming and delightful? Because of her, he had ended up falling onto a stinging nettles plant and now he was missing his mother’s ball and they were sitting in a strange place.
Harcourt was staring at her—a study, and she wasn’t certain what to do. His hand still rested on her cheek, and she could not find the will to pull away. It was almost as if she were mesmerized staring into the dark depths of his eyes.
Then he moved closer, and Clara let her eyes drift close as his lips once again touched hers. This time, however, it was not light, like before.
Goodness. They were firm and warm. She’d only been kissed once before, and that had been by Chedworth and that had been nothing like this. Harcourt’s kiss had a rather dizzying effect on her person. At his probing, she opened her mouth, and he swept in, stealing her breath. Clara returned his kiss the best that she could, learning from him, imitating his actions, afraid she was clumsy, but soon all thought left and she just enjoyed and experienced.
His hand cradled the back of her head as he broke away and trailed kisses over her cheek and down to her neck. Goodness, suddenly it was hotter here than it had been that day in July when she’d seen his bottom.
Her bodice grew tight, and she had the strangest sensations in her belly. Clara longed to remove her gown and take a dip into the clear lake so that she could cool herself, but she’d need to break from his kisses to do so, and that was the last thing that she wanted.
A moment later he broke away. “I am sorry. I simply meant to kiss you. I…I took liberties that I should not have.”
Clara blinked at him.
“Are you calmer now?” he asked with a half-smile.
“I am not certain.”
He brushed her lips again. “Take us back to Nightshade Manor and we will further discuss what happened.”
“Yes, of course.” Clara took his hand in hers, closed her eyes. “Return us to Nightshade Manor.”
When she opened her eyes, she was staring at Harcourt, and they were still sitting on the steps of this Greek temple. Tears of frustration sprang to her eyes. “Why will it not work?”
“I do not know,” he offered with disappointment.
Then she realized that he had asked if she was finally calm and her heart sank. “Did you only kiss me to distract me enough not to be nervous?”
“Only partially,” he answered.
“What was the other reason?” She was almost afraid to hear his answer.
“Because I finally gave into the desire to do what I have wanted since we found ourselves alone in the vault.”The little anxiety that had started to build subsided. It did not matter his motives so long as he had also wanted to kiss her.
The Vanishing ViscountMagic & Mystery, Book 2
Jane Charles
Release date: August 22, 2023
Lady Clara Westcott fell in love with Pierce Drakos, Viscount Harcourt, at the age of fifteen. That is also when everything went wrong- at least magically. When she encounters him again in London, Clara quickly realizes that she might very well be a danger to Harcourt and vows to keep her distance.
Pierce had considered Lady Clara sweet and pretty at fifteen but by eighteen, she had matured in a most delectable manner. However, every time he wished to draw near, she disappeared. Now that she would be visiting his family’s estate and attending his mother’s Witches’ Ball, he vowed to learn why she avoided him. What he hadn’t counted on was him being the one who now vanished.
Buy Links:
Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Viscount-Magic-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B0C71X6CCC
BN – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-vanishing-viscount-jane-charles/1143594376?ean=2940161010525
Apple Books – https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-vanishing-viscount-magic-and-mystery-book-2/id6449888309
Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-vanishing-viscount-magic-and-mystery-book-2
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/172467316-the-vanishing-viscount
About the Author:
USA Today Bestselling Author Jane Charles lives in the Midwest with her former marine, police officer husband. As a child she would more likely be found outside with a baseball than a book in her hand, until one day, out of boredom on a long road trip, she borrowed her sister’s romance novel and fell in love. Her life is filled with three amazing children, two dogs, two cats, community theatre, and traveling whenever possible. Jane may have begun her career writing romances set in the Regency era, but blames being a Gemini as to why she’s equally pulled toward writing Contemporary/New Adult as well as Historical romances.
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