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“They’re gone, sweeting.” He pulled her into his embrace.
Jasper’s voice rang through the din. “My lord, my lady, where are you?”
She slumped in Ian’s arms.
Eyes closed, Vangie swatted at the fly tickling her cheek. It then landed on her nose. Dratted, pesky insect. She rolled onto her side, mashing her face into her pillow. Bother it all. Now it crawled across her ear. She tugged at the bedcovers intent on burying her head beneath them.
They wouldn’t budge.
A low, familiar chuckle sounded, and she opened one eye. Ian sat on the edge of the bed, waving a feather and grinning raffishly.
“Rotten knave.” Yawning and stretching, she deliberately let her nightgown slide off her arm, exposing all but the tip of one breast. His sharp intake of breath brought a satisfied smile to her lips. He wasn’t the only one who knew how to tease.
The feather whisked across her breast.
She yanked the sheet up. “Unfair.”
“Tsk, tsk, sweeting. Don’t start something you don’t mean to finish.” He bent over and kissed her, his tongue sweeping hers.
Lord, but the man knows how to kiss.
Vangie forgot everything else for several delectable moments, until he tapped her nose with the feather. “Are you going to lie abed all day, my lady?”
His weight shifted from the bed, and she opened her eyes. “Why are you grinning like a buffoon?”
Ian bent over and lifted a basket from the floor.
She raised an eyebrow before sliding a glance at the bedside clock. “It’s not yet eight o’clock. Isn’t it a bit early for luncheon?”
“Ah, but who says a picnic cannot be breakfast?” He wiggled his eyebrows as he peeked inside the basket. “There’s champagne and orange juice and strawberries.”
Flashing him a smile, she scooted into a sitting position. “My lord, you promised me something weeks ago.”
“Indeed?” Eyebrow quirked, Ian pulled his gaze away from the basket’s contents.
She smoothed the bedding over her lap. “Something delicious having to do with strawberries—”
“Ah, indeed, I did.” He lifted a plump, red berry from the basket. “Shall I demonstrate now?”
“Please do, my lord.”
And he did, most satisfactorily.
