First Kiss Friday with Jude Knight
It’s always a pleasure when I can host my dear friend Jude Knight on my First Kiss Friday Blog. Today, Jude has an excerpt from her upcoming release Inviting the Wild that will hit your eReaders on July 26th. Take it away Jude and happy reading, my lovelies!
This excerpt is from Inviting the Wild. My hero and heroine are walking in the park. Ruadh has been telling himself that he is not courting the lady.
Excerpt:
“Look,” she said, as she accepted the seat he had cleared for her. “Ducklings!” An adult led a dozen or more little balls of fluff across the water. Rose was counting them out loud and laughing as they swapped places and veered off in different directions, all chirping loudly.
“They will not stay still for me to count them!” she chuckled.
“Eleven?” he suggested, then joined her laughter when two more babies came squeaking from the reeds and merged with the fast-moving duckling ballet around the mother.
Ruadh had been telling himself that he barely knew Rose; that his fascination with her would fade with closer acquaintance. But every meeting so far had him wanting her more. She was kind, intelligent, competent, loyal to her family. He enjoyed being with her. He was used to summing people up on short acquaintance—the skill had stood him in good stead as an officer in the army, particularly as the commander of troops charged with keeping the peace in a hostile land. With Rose, he had passion and the beginnings of friendship.
“Look, Ruadh, this one is coming to see us!” she exclaimed, pointing to a duckling who was attempting to scramble out of the pond just in front of them. “I wish I had something to feed to them.”
“The mother is not too happy about the venturer’s direction,” Ruadh observed as the duck’s quacks took on a more urgent tone. His voice was none too steady as he reacted to her use of his personal name. He wanted to hear it again, preferably when they were in bed, her hair spread across his pillow, her voice a husky moan.
The duck didn’t want her child too far away, and that raised another objection to a match between himself and Lady Rose. Rose was an Englishwoman and a southerner. Ruadh’s future lay in Scotland, far away from everyone and everything she knew. Ruadh’s own mother was English, and she had long missed her family.
In Mama’s case, though, she was estranged from her family. Had that not been the case, she could have seen them. Perhaps not often, given the distance, but from time to time. Today, Galloway was not as many days travel from London as it had been a generation ago. Rose’s family could visit, and Ruadh could afford to journey south for a month or so every couple of years, should it come to that.
Rose shook her skirt at the adventurous duckling. “Do as your mother says, until you are a little older,” she advised. It tumbled back into the water with a startled, outraged peep and set a straight course for the duck, who sailed off to the other side of the pond, her little flock paddling around her, though several chose to ferry onboard her back. Ruadh’s heart did an unusual skip at the sound of her laughter and the sight of her smile.
Even if he did find her attractive, as well as acceptable as his wife, the difference in their ages also worried him. He had at least fifteen years on her, and those fifteen years had been spent at war and in the shadow of war.
On the other hand, while she was young, she appeared to have a good head on her shoulders. The question was, could she cope with his moods, with his sorrow, and the dark energy that gripped him from time to time? He would have to be honest with her before she decided whether to allow him to court her. She would at least know what she was choosing.
So that was it, then. He’d chosen to court her, and it hadn’t been a difficult decision at all. He opened his mouth to make a start, but at that moment she turned her head his way, her face alight with laughter, her eyes sparkling. He found himself bridging the gap between them, leaning to meet her and to kiss her. He forced himself to stop, his lips almost touching hers.
“Yes?” he asked. “Or no?”
“Yes,” she breathed. It was little more than a whisper, but it was enough. His mouth covered hers, his lips gentle, though the strain on his self-control had his whole body quivering, like an eager horse constrained at the starting line, waiting for the signal.
Her untutored response helped. She was at first passive, then began to return the pressure and movement of his lips. When she parted her own lips, he had his first taste of her. A taste wasn’t enough. His eager body wanted him to take more, to delve deep, to clasp her to him and shape her body with his hands, to turn this gentle exploration into an imitation of the act for which his body yearned. Perhaps, in this unexpected haven, even the real thing.
He ignored it, touching her only with his mouth, leaving her free to break their connection if she wished.
She moaned and pressed closer. He began to reach for her but called his hands back under his command. He must end this. Someone could come upon them at any time. He drew away, and at first, she followed, but then she allowed him the distance and sat back, looking adorably flustered.
No time like the present. He had not achieved his rank by dithering about an action once he had decided. “Rose, I have some things I need to tell you before I ask your consent to seek Stancroft’s permission to our marriage.”
Inviting the WildRuahd Douglas doesn’t want to go home. Years on the battlefields for the glory of the king have made him more beast than man and he won’t inflict his wounded mind and soul on his family. So, he wanders the streets of London, performing penance by rescuing those in need.
Rosalind Ransome is a misfit in London’s ballrooms, but in visiting the sick of all classes, she has found work she loves and the chance to make a difference. When she is attacked in the streets, she is rescued by the vigilante they call the Wolf.
Rose is drawn to Ruadh when he seeks her family’s help to free his ailing grandfather from a treacherous wife and servants. But is he the loving grandson? Or the wolf who patrols the streets at night?
Even as Rose discovers he is both, Ruadh realizes that he must find a way to tame his anger if he hopes to win the maid.
But when Rose is in danger, Ruadh is glad he can still call on the wild.
A Twist Upon a Regency Tale
Lady Beast’s Bridegroom (inspired by Beauty and the Beast)
One Perfect Dance (inspired by Cinderella)
Snowy and the Seven Doves (inspired by Snow White and the Seven Doves)
Perchance to Dream (inspired by Sleeping Beauty)
Weave Me a Rope (inspired by Rapunzel)
The Sincerest Flattery (inspired by The Goose Girl)
Inviting the Wild (inspired by Little Red Riding Hood)
Hold Me Fast (inspired by The Ballad of Tam Lin)
The Trials of Alaric (inspired by The Princess and the Pea)
Meet JudeJude always wanted to be a novelist. She started in her teens, but life kept getting in the way. Years passed, and with them dozens of unfinished manuscripts. The fear grew. What if she tried, failed, and lost the dream forever? The years since 2014 have brought 17 novels, 16 novella, 6 volumes of short stories, a number of awards, and hundreds of positive reviews. The dream is alive.
Website and blog: http://judeknightauthor.com/
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