Oh, that Sweet First Kiss!

One of my favorite first kisses from any of my own books is in my newest release, “Flawless”. This novella is set in occupied France during the Second World War. Madeleine is a French Resistance fighter posing as a housemaid in a French Chateau taken over by the Nazis. The Nazi commander, General Klaus Dietrich, has his eye on the beautiful housemaid. Madeleine is terrified because she knows what happened to Dietrichs’s last lover; she was murdered when he found her rifling through his desk. Madeleine has told him she’s married, and even wears her mother’s wedding ring, but the General is not deterred. How is she to avoid being ravaged by the General before her mission is complete?

The mission is to steal back Le Coeur Bleu, the famous blue diamond. The Nazis stole the blue diamond and are planning to sell it to in order to finance their war efforts. The French Resistance, and the Special Operations Executive in Britain are determined that this sale not go through. The SOE sends jewel thief Hunter Smith to France to retrieve the diamond, with help from Madeleine. But Madeleine has reasons to distrust the arrogant American, and reasons for not wanting to kiss him. In this excerpt Hunter has just saved Madeleine from rape by convincing General Dietrich she’s his pregnant wife:

 “We’ll have to make it look good,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

He grinned at her.  “Our marriage.  The general won’t believe we’re married or that you’re pregnant unless we look like a couple.  We’ll have to spend time together, do things that married people do, like kiss.”

“Kiss?”  The idea was both appalling and strangely exciting.  “Don’t be ridiculous.  I’m sure that won’t be—”

“Shh!”

Hunter pulled her into his arms, covering her mouth with his in a hard, insistent kiss.  From the corner of her eye Madeleine saw a couple of housemaids approach the fountain.  She struggled for a moment, her hands pushing against his chest, but then something changed.  His kiss softened, sweetened, his hands gentling on her waist.  Her hands slid up his broad, muscled chest to his shoulders.  She reveled in the feel of his solidness, his strength.  The feel of his silky hair at the nape of his neck was unexpected.  So much of this man was hard, iron-like, that the silkiness of his dark, overlong hair came as a surprise.

One of the housemaids giggled, rousing Madeleine from her trance.  She broke away from Hunter, confused.  He was someone she should hate for what he’d done to Jean Philippe, yet he’d just saved her from being raped, maybe even saved her life.

And his kiss.  How could she explain her reaction to his kiss?

When she glanced into Hunter’s face, he looked as shocked as she felt.  The thought that she wasn’t the only one confused comforted her.  She took Hunter’s hand between the two of hers and turned to her co-workers with a smile.

“I want to introduce you to my husband, Jacques Lemay.”   

Thanks for dropping by! To read another excerpt from “Flawless” or any of my other books, please go to my website at http://www.janarichards.net And while you’re there, why don’t you enter my contest? For more information go to my contest page. 

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