Page 25 of Iron Blade

“Ugh, no! Don’t talk to me about impressionists!” I could hear the disdain in his voice again, and it made me laugh. “Do you like impressionism, Miss Kekoa? Please, tell me no, or it will shatter my hopes and dreams for our marital bliss.”

I wanted to laugh. I didn’t like impressionism, outside of Salvador Dali. Even then, I only enjoyed some of his works.

“I don’t mind impressionism. I like Van Gogh.” A total lie made to irritate him.

“No, you don’t. Because you’re not a fucking pleb.”

I laughed, giving up the game.

I enjoyed flirting with art. I was surprised by that. No man had ever spoken to me about art the way he had. Despite the sensuality of the art form, rarely did it actually become seductive. It was too cerebral for most people, and because of that, it took too much effort to be sexy.

But not for Eoghan.

“The Kiss by Fracesco Hayez,” he finally said. “Do you know it?”

“It’s the most intense depiction of a kiss in Western Art,” I said mechanically, reciting something I had learned in Art History.

I liked that painting too. It was a good composition. But I couldn’t say that it made me swoon like some other bits of art.

“The very same,” Eoghan said, with a slight chuckle. “At first, you see the two lovers exchanging a passionate lip-lock. But if you examine further, you see his leg is poised on a step as though he’s ready to flee, with a dagger hidden in his mantle. In the far corner there are shadowy figures, as though there are guards approaching. Likely after the man himself.”

That was a perfect description of that painting, but I didn’t understand what his point was. I needed more information.

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“Other than you both sharing long, dark hair, and my overwhelming need to revisit that kiss you so rudely cut short…?” His low, slow chuckle made my thighs clench.

It was so fucking hot. It wasn’t fair that he was both handsome and talented, with a voice that promised sinful pleasures!

“It’s because you are surrounded by danger, and you don’t know it.” My heart leapt to my throat, and I held my breath. He was hitting too close to the mark. “Shadowy figures are around the corner, and all I want is to take you into my embrace and give you that same longing kiss.”

I touched my lips again. The memory of our passionate kiss made my body shiver with longing.

“It seems to be a painting about you, more than me,” I said in a whisper.

“That may be.”

I leaned forward in my seat, lightly touched a single orchid blossom, bringing my nose to it to take in the fragrance.

I looked around and decided that I would take his extravagant gift as a peace offering. There was no need for me to run away, right? He meant me no harm. I could continue the mission, and just… wait.

“I was going to resign today.” I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Because of me?” He gave a low throaty sound, as if he was dismayed by my confession.

“Yes.”

“Are you still resigning, Miss Kekoa?”

“I don’t know.” I was losing my resolve. Again, I was a bit of space trash stuck in the orbit of a much bigger sun. “If you pursue me, my choices become giving in and losing my reputation, or resisting you and losing my reputation.”

“Or marrying me and becoming Mrs. Green. Then you’d own the whole lot.”

“Stop saying that.” I was suddenly desperate for him to stop with the talk of marriage. It couldn’t happen. Not just because of my work as a spy, but also because… because of a past he could never know about. A past that would make him think less of me.

A past that made me the conquest, and object he thought I wasn’t.

“I’ll stop when you marry me.” His answer cut through my thoughts, and the alarm bells in my mind sounded again. Mayday! Mayday! Abandon ship!

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