"Stay here, while I get the horse."

John's command wasn't one she was about to disobey even if she wanted too. The snow engulfed him for a moment before he emerged from the white powder like a black knight leading his charger behind him. Without a word, he lifted her up onto the horse's back. She was adjusting her seat on the mare when John tugged off one of her shoes and handed it to her, followed by the second.

"What are you doing?" she gasped.

"Your feet are soaked, aren't they?"

It wasn't so much a question as it was an exasperated chastisement. Before she could protest, John slid his hands up under her skirts and along her leg to undo her stocking. With the hosiery released from the garter clip, he proceeded to roll the silk hose down off her leg. The warmth of his hands spread heat across her skin, while butterflies fluttered rapidly inside her stomach. The wickedly delicious touch of his fingers on her bare skin sent a shiver through her.

"You'll be warmer in a moment," he said as he misinterpreted her tremor.

With one stocking off, he threw it over his shoulder and proceeded to remove her other one. As his fingers unsnapped the hosiery from her garter, the pads of his fingers left a trail of fire as he worked the stocking down off her leg. There was nothing seductive in John's touch, but it singed her skin with a white-hot heat that sank its way down into her pores.

She wanted him to go on touching her this way. The warmth consuming her was enough to melt the snow falling down on her. Another tremor streaked through her, and John lifted his head to meet her gaze. The concern on his face quickly evaporated as he narrowed his eyes.

Charlotte jerked her gaze away from his. What on earth was the matter with her? She'd known John since she was five. He'd pulled her out of the pond near her father's parish, and from that time forward, she'd followed him everywhere. When he'd grown older and gone away to school, she'd lived for the summers when he'd return. He was her best friend, and until this very moment, she'd never thought of him as anything else but that.

A warm hand grasped her ankle as John dried her foot with the top part of a stocking. Fire streaked up her leg and reached the apex of her thigh. Charlotte swallowed hard. She was accustomed to touching herself alone in her bed, but this was the first time she'd ever wanted a man to touch her there.

When John was satisfied her foot was dry, he performed the same ritual with her other one. Without a word, he pulled one of her shoes out of her hands and used the stockings to remove the snow and water from the ankle-high footwear. In a perfunctory manner, he slid the shoe onto her foot then repeated the action.

"There," he muttered in an odd voice. "That will keep you dry until we get to the farm."

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About the Author.

Monica Burns is a bestselling author of spicy historical and paranormal romance. She penned her first romance at the age of nine when she selected the pseudonym she uses today. Her historical book awards include the 2011 RT BookReviews Reviewers Choice Award and the 2012 Gayle Wilson Heart of Excellence Award for Pleasure Me.

She is also the recipient of the prestigious paranormal romance award, the 2011 PRISM Best of the Best award for Assassin's Heart. From the days when she hid her stories from her sisters to her first completed full-length manuscript, she always believed in her dream despite rejections and setbacks. A workaholic wife and mother, Monica is a survivor who believes every hero and heroine deserves a HEA (Happily Ever After), especially if she's writing the story.

Other Amazon Titles by Monica Burns.

A Bluestocking Christmas.

Love's Portrait Love's Revenge.

His Mistress Obsession.

Two Shades of Seduction - Two Book Box Set.

Contains Love's Revenge and Love's Portrait.

Kismet.

Pleasure Me Dangerous.

Free Dangerous Epilogue PDF * PRC Mirage.

Order of the Sicari Novels Assassin's Honor.

Assassin's Heart Inferno's Kiss.

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