“Quit charming me, Don—”
“Ottavio.Please do not call me Giovanni.Nothing Giovanni felt was real, but this—” His thumb brushed over her lips, bringing adevilish smile to his own.“What I feel for you is real.I’m willing to go as slow as you need, but I already know what I want.We belong together.”
“My father may have other opinions.”
“The only opinion that matters to me is yours.Do you think you could ever see a future with me?”
All the reasons she should say no bombarded her.Mum’s past as a singer.Father’s opposition.Even her own slipping sanity.But for once in her life, her heart spoke louder than her brain.“Yes.”
His smile was so genuinely happy that if he tried right now, she would gladly accept and return his kiss.
But he did not move closer, only continued to caress her cheek and study her in that cherishing way.“Then I will do everything in my power to change your father’s opinion.Family is important, and I don’t want to be the cause of division between you and your father.”
“Thank you.He’s all I have left now.”
Ezekiel leaned in, his beard tickling her skin as his warm breath brushed her ear.“Not anymore.”
Oh, good heavens.Where had her ability to breathe gone?She turned her head to better see him, and her gaze flicked to his lips.With the erratic beat of her heart and the way her whole body zinged with anticipation, this moment would not be like any other she’d experienced.For one, she wanted it, and two ...Well, she would be the one to initiate a kiss.Before she lost her nerve, she pressed her lips to his.
He didn’t immediately respond, and Nora feared she’d misunderstood all he’d said and not said, but then he met her kiss with gentle eagerness.This was nothing like those unwanted experiences, and she was content to stay kissing far longer than was proper.Was this even proper?She wasn’t sure she cared.
A very pointedahemcut in.
They jerked apart like flinching from a burn.
“I thought the music had been quiet for a little too long.”Mrs.Jerden’s amused tone held no condemnation, but she made a pointof looking at the clock all the same.“Don’t you think it’s time you should be going, young man?”
Ezekiel coughed as he looked down to unroll his sleeves.“I believe you’re right, Mrs.Jerden.”The corners of his mouth still tipped upward, so he must not have been too embarrassed to be caught.
That was all right—Nora was embarrassed enough for the both of them.“It’s probably best if you don’t come back tomorrow.”
His head jerked up, the smile gone.“What do you mean?”
“Oh pish, child.”Mrs.Jerden swatted away Nora’s discomfort like a gnat.“Don’t be so flighty just because you got caught kissing.If anything, that’s more of a reason for you both to meet back here tomorrow.There’s nothing wrong with a kiss between two courting people, so long as it doesn’t go further, and that is what I’m here for.You are courting now, aren’t you?”
Ezekiel watched her, his trepidation evident in the tension around his lips.
Nora tugged at her cameo.There was nothing for it.No matter how much she feared what her future might hold, facing it with Ezekiel did seem less scary.“I suppose we are.”
He relaxed once again, pleasure radiating off him.“And I couldn’t be happier.Until tomorrow, then?”
She nodded, her throat too tight for words.
He shrugged on his jacket and retrieved his coat from the hook.“Thank you for chaperoning, Mrs.Jerden.It would indeed be too easy to get carried away with Nora.”
“Ah, young love.It is as wild as it is beautiful.I’m happy to be the chaperone who’s tardy enough to allow the kiss but timely enough to keep it short.”She laughed at their gaping, then shooed him toward the door.“Go on now.I have bread to pull from the oven, and I dare not leave you two alone again today.”
“Ever the wise chaperone.Might I request a little more time tomorrow before your interruption?That was decidedly too short an experience for a first kiss.”
“Ezekiel!”Nora’s cheeks burned.
Mrs.Jerden cackled.“Bring me a box of chocolates, and maybe I’ll slow my steps a bit more.”
“Mrs.Jerden!”How could Nora’s chaperone and—what should Nora even call Ezekiel?—be conspiring together about kissing?It was downright mortifying.
“I’ll bring you three to ensure you’re too full to move any faster than a snail.”Ezekiel turned the doorknob.
Good gracious!The cheek of him!The man deserved to be punished for such a brazenly public display of flirtation, and she knew the greatest punishment of all.“Aren’t you forgetting Tristan?”
