Excerpt of Widow, Spy, & Lover by Eden Carson

“You shouldn’t do that,” she said, short of breath.

“Kiss you?” he asked. “I thought we’d settled my rights back on the train. Should we negotiate more explicitly?”

“No, that’s not necessary. I didn’t mean all kissing. Just not in full view of everyone. People were watching and cheering.”

“It was a chaste enough kiss, as far as kisses go. But if you’d prefer closed doors, here we are. Let’s have a proper tour.”

He opened the door for her and ushered her inside, before she could change her mind.

“It has a bit of charm,” Griffin offered, picking up a broken chair off the floor.

“There’s a hole in the roof.”

“There’s a view of the moon.”

“It’s cold and there’s no stove.”

“You have me now,” he reminded her, hugging her from behind. “I’ll keep you warm.”

“You’re right,” she said, stepping away and tossing a wicked smile over her shoulder at him. She bent down, giving him a most distracting view. When she stood upright, she turned and handed him a hammer, its handle broken off.

“Watch you don’t fall off the roof and kill yourself,” she said.

He smiled into her sparkling green eyes, certain he could make her fall in love with the place. And him. “You’d surely miss me,” he warned.

“With a gaping hole in my roof, and no one to warm me, I surely would.”