Page 25 of The Duke's Spinster

Corralling his thoughts, he studied her movements. She was lightning quick, and he barely registered the whipping of the blade. When she repeated her movements, slower the second time, he forced his ears to listen to her describing the action.

“You try.” She motioned for him to stand in front of her.

When he attempted the move, halfway through the swing, his body drew a blank on what came next.

“From here, what’s next?”

He expected her to vocalize the subsequent action, so when she didn’t say anything, he forced his body to complete the arc it had started.

A soft grunt sounded close to his ear. He hadn’t seen her come up behind him and his blade made contact with her.

He whirled around. “I didn’t know you were—Oh my God, Boudicca, you’re bleeding.”

Her hand was on her neck.

“What happened?” His eyes dropped to his blade.

“I didn’t see that you grabbed the wrong sword.”

“You have unprotected swords in here?”

“Yes.” Nonplussed, he watched as she walked over to the water station and grabbed a small cloth.

“Hang it all. You’re bleeding. I stabbed you.”

“You didn’t stab me.”

“What do you call it when a blade makes contact with skin and draws blood?”

“I walked into it. It’s my fault.” She was pressing the cloth against her neck.

“Sit down.” He looked around, but there were no chairs. “Just sit on the floor. Let me see the damage.”

“No damage. I’ve had worse.”

“Just sit down, will you?”

Together they sat on the floor, leaning their backs against the wall. He took the cloth from her hands, and brushed a fewstrands away from her neck. He could feel the heat from her body, and his breathing was labored. Even though he was the uninjured party. “Let me see,” his voice was a hoarse whisper.

Her body was rigid, and he saw how she twitched when his fingers grazed her soft skin. Just this small, soft touch lay siege on his warrior queen’s defenses.

“You act as if you’ve never been this close to a man before?” Surely she had stolen a few kisses in her years. She was a beautiful woman after all, at least one man must have pressed his lips to her crimson petals.

But her whispered reply shattered his illusions. “I haven’t.”

Chapter Ten

She shouldn’t havedisclosed that fact. Obviously, he surmised, for absolutely no reason other than perhaps she was a forward-thinking woman for having the secret skill of fencing, that she was a forward moving woman in other areas as well. Well, she wasn’t. And it was no more painfully clear to her than at this moment, with his soft, warm breath against her neck, and his soft, warm fingers stroking her ear, that she had not ever been in such close quarters with a man. Let alone such a gorgeous specimen of a man.

Why had she exposed herself to him? It was bad enough the cut was stinging, she didn’t need her heart and her pride stinging as well.

But the words were out there.

And his look of shock, quickly covered in a cool demeanor, had her heart rate pulsing. What was he going to do with his newfound knowledge?

“Never?” he whispered, another stroke along her ear.

“What kind of woman do you take me for, Duke?” The tone she was going for was umbrage, but the execution sounded much more strained.

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