Page 40 of Let Me Be Your Hero
It turned out that the King of Salaria had turned up at the forge today. They had signed a contract with the former monarch, his brother Charles Frederick IV, for the delivery of fifty cannons last month and another fifty come spring.
Now that he had seen the quality of the cannons, the new king was demanding delivery of the additional fifty his brother had ordered, effective immediately.
“Well, he can’t have them now,” Archibald explained. “We’re fully booked working on orders for other customers. They’ll be ready when the contract says they’ll be ready, and likely not a minute before.”
“That’s what I tried to tell him,” McPherson said, twisting his hat. “He, uh… he didn’t like that answer very much. He’s been asking to speak with you.”
Archibald suppressed a groan. “Did you tell him that I’m dealing with an emergency? That someone tried tokillmy betrothed?”
“I did.”
“And that I’m getting married tomorrow?”
“I told him that as well. But you know how it is—royalty doesn’t like to wait.”
Archibald scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’ll meet with him just as soon as I’m back at work.”
Hope flared in McPherson’s blue eyes. “When will that be, sir?”
Archibald had hoped to take a few days to enjoy his status as a newly married man. If things went well, he was hoping he wouldn’t be leaving whichever of these bedrooms Izzie selected for several days.
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “It could be a few days.”
McPherson’s brow creased. “But Mr. Nettlethorpe-Ogilvy, sir—”
Archibald reached out and squeezed McPherson’s shoulder. “Put him off as best you can.”
McPherson nodded, swallowing thickly. “I’ll do my best, boss.”
CHAPTER 20
After McPherson left, Archibald wandered down the hall, looking for Izzie. He found a half-dozen doors standing ajar, suggesting that she had visited the rooms but no sign of his bride-to-be.
At last, he made his way to his own room. The sight that met him inside robbed him of his breath.
Her boots lay in a heap on the floor, and the borrowed jacket, waistcoat, and cravat she’d had on had been tossed haphazardly upon a chair. Izzie lay upon the enormous bed—hisbed—clad only in a white linen shirt, skin-tight breeches, and stockings, dark hair falling loose around her, gazing dreamily up at the carved black wooden canopy.
A guttural sound rose from his throat. Izzie looked up and smiled, seeing him framed in the doorway.
“Oh, Archibald—this is the one I want! Just look at this magnificent bed.” She ran her arms down the red silk counterpane, luxuriating, and Archibald’s cock went from half-mast to hard as granite.
Izzie hadn’t seemed to notice what was going on beneath the falls of his trousers, because she continued in a dreamy voice,“Could we spend our wedding night here? It would be my every fantasy come true for my first time to be in thisgorgeousbed.”
Archibald’s feet had carried him into the room unbidden. His mouth had gone as dry as the Arabian desert. Isabella Astley wanted to lose her virginity in his bed? He would be more than happy to accommodate her, although he wasn’t sure they were going to make it to the wedding night.
She lifted her head to look at him, her smile fading as she registered the heat of his gaze. “What is it?”
He peeled off his jacket. “This is my room.”
“It is?” She glanced around, startled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. You don’t have many personal effects. I assumed this was a guest room.”
He kicked off his boots. “I don’t spend much time here. Mostly I’m in, er…” It was on the tip of his tongue to saymy workshop, but he stopped himself just in time. “Other rooms.”
He climbed on the bed, knees straddling her slender legs, then placed his hands on either side of her shoulders, so he was looming above her. He brought his face just a few inches from her neck and caught a hint of the cherry-sweet scent of her lips. “But, in answer to your question…”
He couldn’t stop himself from pressing a kiss against her exposed neck and was gratified when she shuddered beneath him.
“Y-yes?” she gasped.
