Page 25 of The Duke's Goddess

“Tell me something no one knows about you.”

Silently she eyed him, and he could feel her skepticism scanning him. “If no one knows it, why do you think I would tell you?”

“Sometimes it’s easier to tell something to a stranger.”

“While I wouldn’t call you a stranger, I can see your point.” She sat back in thought.

After rowing for a minute, just when he thought he would need to ask a different question, she spoke up.

“You know that Boudicca fences?”

“Yes.”

“My thing is daggers.”

James studied a small blush creeping up her neck, and he smiled. “What do you mean exactly? What do you do with daggers? Are you a clandestine knife fighter?”

“No. I throw them, and I’m a bladesmith.”

Stunned, James stopped rowing. “Wait. You actually make the blades?”

“Mostly daggers. They’re my specialty. I’m always carrying one.”

“Like right now?”

She nodded.

“When we were dancing?”

She nodded again.

“When you sleep at night?”

“Not that it’s any of your business what I do at night, but I do keep one close at hand.”

“Wow. You are an impressive lady, Joan. For being so predictable, I’m shocked.”

“Thank you.”

When she said those two words, it was as if she wanted to say more, so he waited, hoping that she might trust him. For some unknown reason.

“Sometimes people commission blades from me.” She looked up at him, and the light in her eyes actually stole his breath. She was the most excited he had ever seen her. “They don’t know it’s me. I hope to grow my business one day.”

Her confession warmed him. She was trusting him with something incredibly important to her. And though he didn’t know why she was doing it, he felt…appreciated. Maybe that wasn’t quite the right word. He felt included, a sense of belonging, and strangely, it all felt right. It felt as though she should always confide her secrets in him.

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“Of course not. Your secret is safe with me.” He remembered to row again. After a few strokes, they were now obscured from view by some large hedges and trees growing in a tall clump at one part of the pond. “I never knew you were such a daredevil.”

“I’m not really—”

THWUMP.

“What was that?” Joan asked, putting her hands on either side of the boat, she stood up. Well, she half stood up. What she was really doing was bending over in half to look over his shoulder (he knew that was to be the real reason). But the tiniest part ofhim wondered if she was trying to show him the depths of the valley between her two jostling mounds.

He could feel his arousal twitch between his legs.

“Could you” —he cleared his throat— “sit down?”

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