Page 15 of The Warlock's Kiss

Adalynn smiled and brushed the strange sensation aside—it was likely just an aftereffect of her seizure catching up with her. “We don’t know that, just like we didn’t know he’d be here. There could be others.”

“True.”

She stepped up onto the stage and approached the piano. The instrument was so much more beautiful up close. She ran her fingers over the top of the fallboard; there wasn’t a single speck of dust. How could a place this large possibly be kept so clean, especially if the owner really was here alone?

That question was swept away on a rising wave of excitement as she lifted the fallboard to reveal the keys beneath. It had been so long since she’d last played. Unable to resist, she settled her fingers on the keys and tapped a few notes. The sounds echoed across the room. She cringed at how loud the piano was, at how out of tune it was, but those notes were still the most wonderful things she’d heard since the Sundering had birthed a world lacking in music.

“Addy! You saidno touching!”

Grinning guiltily, Adalynn turned toward her brother. She gasped, nearly dropping the flashlight, when she caught a flash of glowing blue eyes—there and gone in an instant—in the shadows near the door.

“And I toldyouto stay in the parlor, boy,” the man said, his deep voice amplified by the room’s acoustics.

As that voice swept over Adalynn, it raised goosebumps on her skin—just as it had the first time she’d heard it. But her head was clear now, no longer clouded by pain and dizziness, and her goosebumps were accompanied by a thrill that raced straight to her core.

No one’s voice had ever affected her so strongly.

“Uh…we were looking for the bathroom?” Danny glanced at Adalynn. “Right, Addy?”

Adalynn jerked her hand from the piano and took a step away from it. “Right. The bathroom.”

“Oh?” The man entered the ballroom, his steps silent. His features grew more distinct as he neared the glow of Adalynn’s flashlight. “I suppose you missed the bathroom two doors down the hall on your way here, then?”

Cheeks warming, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other and cleared her throat. “Um, actually, no, we didn’t. We were exploring. We didn’t touch anything though! Well, except…” She waved toward the piano. “Sorry. It’s just that your home is so big and beautiful and…”

Her breath caught as the man closed the remaining distance between them, granting Adalynn her first clear look at him. Long, dark hair hung past his shoulders and framed a strikingly handsome face that was only enhanced by his hard expression. His features were sharp, with a short, neatly trimmed beard and mustache framing his sculpted lips. He had a straight, narrow, aristocratic nose, and thick, slashing, arched brows which rested above bright citrine eyes. A scar began an inch or two over his left eyebrow, slicing it in half, and continued just beneath his eye to end midway down his cheek.

It didn’t mar his appearance in the slightest. If anything, it only made himmoreattractive.

The man was straight-out-of-a-romance-novelhot.

With him this close, she smelled a hint of leather and cedar in the air. The scents were strangely calming…and enticing.

She stared up at him—he was at least a foot taller than her—and Adalynn could’ve sworn there was music playing from somewhere near him. It was a faint melody shefeltrather than heard, tickling the edges of her consciousness but too intangible to define. “…and…oh, wow.”

He arched one of those devilish brows—the one with the scar—and held her gaze. His shoulders were broad, and she could tell he had an athletic figure despite the old-fashioned black suit he wore.

Was it possible to orgasm just from looking at someone?

“Oh, wow?” he repeated in a dry tone. “Why are you here, Adalynn? Of all the places you could’ve attempted to burgle, why mine?”

“Burgle? Who says that?” Danny asked.

The man glanced briefly at Danny. “People who speak English.”

“Sick burn, man,” Danny replied in a bored voice.

Their exchange pulled Adalynn out of her trance, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the man. “Danny, hush. Our car ran out of gas down the road and we were looking for shelter.”

He was silent for several seconds. Adalynn had heard people say things likehe looked right through me, but this was different, this was more—she felt like he was looking straightintoher. And there was something familiar about him, something that made her want to take a few steps closer to eliminate the remaining distance between them. Something that made her want to reach out and touch him.

The muscles of his jaw ticked. “You may stay until morning, but you will leave with the sun whether by choice or by force.”

His words were enough to wipe away whatever ridiculous, girlish, romantic fantasies she might have entertained. This was real life. Things didn’t work like in her books. Her shoulders sagged, and she looked away from him, nodding. His offer was more than she could’ve hoped for; at least he wasn’t kicking them out into the night.

But that still left her to worry about Danny. For a few moments, this had seemed like a perfect place for him to have stayed after she was gone. What were they going to do now?

“Thank you,” she said.

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