“How long did it take you to learn how to do this?”
“Years,” he confessed. “I lost a fair amount of skin in the early days.”
I looked at his large, capable-looking hands. There were darker flecks of shiny skin on them, and on his forearms. “Those must have really hurt,” I said, taking the excuse to touch his arm, and then I stood there like an idiot because I wastouchingArcher’s skin and his warmth and strength…
I snatched my hand away, willing my dick to behave.
He looked at me a little strangely, before explaining what he used each machine for. I was fascinated both by what he told me and by the way he changed as he spoke of his craft. He evidently loved what he did, and for the first time, he seemed more like a normal dragon than the head of a family.
“That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about metal and smithing,” he told me as he finished the guided tour. “I’m sure Mia or Tim will have told you, but no one’s allowed in here unless I’m here and have said it’s safe to come in.”
“That must have been difficult when they were younger,” I said, hoping it might lead to him telling me more about his family
“They were teenagers by the time I got the workshop set up here.”
And? Didn’t Archer know how to make conversation? The idea was to keep talking.
“Is the sundial in the gardens one of yours?”
He nodded. “I sell almost everything I make, but I liked that one.”
“How do you get your ideas?”
But it seemed my tour was at an end. “I need to get back to work,” he told me. “I’m on a deadline for the eagle.”
“It isn’t finished? But it’s perfect.”
His lips raised at the corners. “Not quite, but thank you. Can you let whoever’s in charge of supper know I’m going to be working late tonight?”
“Tonight?” I asked, my heart plummeting. “But we—”Shit. Shutup,Ollie. He’s just spent more than an hour with you, and he can take you flying another time. But my dragon protested. He wanted to fly.
He must have seen it in my face. “We’ll fly when I’m done,” he said. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“Thank you,” I said, because it was that or fall at his feet and kiss them. Although, if I were on my knees in front of him, it wouldn’t be his feet that I’d be kissing…
“See you,” I choked out and headed swiftly for the door.
In the afternoon sunshine, I could breathe again. It had felt as if we’d been in our own world in that workshop. It washisspace. I’d felt that unmistakably. Yet he’d let me in and shown me around.
As well as the eagle, there’d been a couple of wrought-iron garden gates and a whole box of black metal brackets and hooks that he’d made. “My bread and butter,” he’d said.
I’d looked at the perfect curves, the symmetry of each of them, and known that creating even a hook would be beyond me. He wassotalented, and while that fact made him even hotter, it was also depressing. I could never do anything like that.
My enthusiasm for exploring the maze had gone. I was happy and healthy and that should be enough. Those were the most important things, Mum had said, after she got over the disappointment of me failing my A levels and losing my place at uni.
But I didn’t believe her. She had graduation pictures of herself, Dad, Peter and Ian on the bookshelf in her study, where there was no picture of me. There were other photos in the livingroom of all of us, but I didn’t get a place on her prized academic bookshelf. That wouldn’t matter if I could do something like blacksmithing as brilliantly as Archer could, but I couldn’t even pass a driving test, for God’s sake.
I headed back to the donkeys, hoping they’d remember me and let me pet them. The comfort of their furry bodies and soft muzzles made me feel better enough after a while to message Jack and tell himallabout my private guided tour of Mr Rochester’s lair.
Chapter Sixteen
ARCHER
It was almost ten pm by the time I was fully satisfied with the sculpture. I took some photos for my website and messaged Bhavanjot, the specialist courier who looked after all my larger pieces, letting him know it was ready for collection.
Rolling my shoulders back, I groaned at the stiffness. I’d kill for a hot shower and sleep. But I’d said I’d take Ollie flying.
I’d need to be careful when we were undressing to shift. When he’d touched me earlier, it had been like an electric jolt through my entire body. Maybe he’d seen my reaction and that was why he’d reacted as if I’d scalded him. Ihadto get this under control. Iwouldget this under control.
