He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and cushioned her head. “Well, I’m properly scandalized.”
She smiled. “Thatwasunexpected.”
“You know what this means?” he whispered.
“We need to up our game?”
“Absolutely.” Percy regarded Denise and Kendra as they shared shy glances next to each other on the divan, the unmistakable warmth of love in the air. “We can’t allow yoursister’s grand spectacle to stand. What we need is a bold counter.”
“Fireworks over the Thames? Knife-throwing at St. James? Pinching the new bear sculpture from Pleasure Park?”
“I was thinking of a walk through Hyde Park stark naked.”
She laughed. “Your competitive spirit may very well end up in the pen, dear husband.”
Percy tipped her chin up and caught his breath at the glint of mischief in her eye. Eight years after their wedding, and he still found himself at a loss for words—and a desire for a loss of clothes—when she touched him. “Any objections?”
She shook her head. “None at all. I’ve plenty more suggestions.”
His body shivered at the innuendo in her voice. “Tell me.”
Running a finger down his arm, she raised up on tiptoes to whisper a wicked image of a circus tent by the river’s edge and something unimaginable with high wires.
His own trousers tenting at the erotic scene she conjured, he nipped at the sensitive lobe of her ear. “When did you concoct such a naughty fantasy?”
“After I read aHistory of the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth.”
Percy sighed. “Have I mentioned how I adore how much you read?”
She chuckled. “Glad you agree.”
“Shall we begin practicing now?” he asked. “There’s a narrow ledge in the maze that would do nicely.”
She smiled knowingly. “This ledge wouldn’t be part of a fountain, would it?”
“Perhaps.”
“Hmm.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and glanced at the beckoning terrace doors. “We must be careful. People have been known to spend hours lost in the maze.”
“Hours, you say?” Percy ran a hand down her back, maneuvering them around furniture and away from the others still lost in the joy and distraction of Denise’s budding romance. “My darling, we have a lifetime of avoiding the authorities to look forward to.”
Danny grinned. “Why does that sound more appealing than it should?”
Percy rubbed his nose against hers and tickled her side with deft fingers. “Because you married a dangerous man.”
Danny shook her head and laughed. “You are up to no good, sir.”
He caressed her cheek and stared down into the eyes of his goddess. “Does the idea make you happy?”
“Exceedingly.”
Entwining their fingers, they stepped out onto the terrace that overlooked a greenhouse of coconut trees—a successful batch of a small variety that had survived when three other varieties had never made it past a year. Remembering those first three years of failures and his wife’s endless teasing, Percy sighed.
Laughing, as if she too remembered, Danny led him down the stairs and into the hedge maze, where they lost themselves for a lifetime.
And never considered finding their way free.
