She nodded, eyes bright with happiness—for him.
“Hm. I think every time I get something right there should be some sort of reward.”
She laughed. “You would think that, you devil. Very well. What reward shall you claim? An extra glass of after-dinner port? Your favorite biscuits?”
That got his attention. “I have a favorite biscuit?”
She nodded, grinning ear to ear. “Butter biscuits.”
He laughed aloud. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
Unable to resist a moment longer, he took one of her hands in his. “I’ll pass on the port. A kiss, I think, for every time I guess correctly.”
After a small hesitation, she replied. “Fair enough.” A new, husky quality laced her voice, and sent a shiver straight up his spine.
“I think I should get credit for my first two, don’t you?”
She went very still. “No,” she replied.
Her answer should have doused his ardor. No such luck. “Very well. Go on with your tale.”
“It was a beautiful day. Between that and the plentiful butter and you, being all that was charming and kind, I was having a hard time holding on to my previous pique.”
He held up his free hand—his other had not relinquished hers. “A moment. Why were you vexed to begin with?”
She opened her mouth to reply.
He shot one finger in the air. “I…forgot your birthday?” he asked with a hopeful note.
She shook her head.
He curved his mouth into a pout, which only caused the smile playing at hers to blossom.
“You’d helped yourself to one of my notebooks,” she said. “And read something I’d written about you.”
He hooted with laughter. He was having a jolly good time, he realized. Even minus the kissing. His wife, it seemed, was grand company. “Something that told me how much you fancied me?”
She sniffed.
“Have I just earned a kiss?”
She swallowed. Without another word, she leaned toward him, and pressed a tender kiss to one corner of his mouth.
More,his insides screamed. So much more.
She straightened and went on as if no break had ensued. “We went out on the skiff, the two of us, alone. There wasn’t room for theothers. It wasn’t exactly improper, as we were in plain view of anyone present who might care to look our way.”
“How boring,” he drawled and enjoyed the resulting splash of color on her cheeks. “So much more fun to be naughty.”
“At least I thought we would remain in view,” she added softly.
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“You rowed us into a shallow, shady alcove, hidden by the tallest yew trees you’ve ever seen, and that’s when you told me why you’d read my private papers.”
He waited, watching her expressive face, the dart of her pink-tipped tongue as it moistened her enticing lips. He wished he had a guess that might earn him another forfeit, but right now, his brain seemed disinclined to function.
