Excerpt: Steady as She Goes

Rory raised his eyebrows. "And...?"
Aselaigh raised his eyebrows in mock confusion. "And...?" he said, mimicking his brother.
Rory sighed and glanced back in the door. "Are you going to kick her out into the fog?"
Aselaigh grinned, just slightly. “Would that break your heart?”
“Don't try to play me like that.” Rory echoed the smile. “I saw the way you looked at her. Like you wanted to pick her up in your arms. Wipe away her tears.”
Aselaigh's face darkened. “I hope you want to die, Rory O'Ceanen.”
“Kiss her little forehead. And then you look into her pretty eyes and you kiss her lips.”
Aselaigh struck and Rory ducked, dancing back just out of his range. He called the taunt out louder now.
“And then you take her back to your room. Wait, no.” Rory dodged a gas lamp that was thrown at him. It shattered uselessly on the floor. “Your style is more outdoors. So you take her out to the garden and you make love to her behind the roses. Tell her that all she needs is a good ravishing. And then-”
This time, the gas lamp struck his jaw. He doubled over, half laughing hysterically, half “ow”ing at the bruise that was beginning already to blossom upon his cheek.
“You never win that game, Aselaigh,” he managed, tearing up now with the effort.
“I'm not the one with a lamp embedded in my jaw,” Aselaigh said. “Give her a room.”