“I was just thinking how much I like your style. Every time I caught a glimpse of you tonight during the party, I just wanted to lick my lips. Big, handsome Sheriff Todd standing around in a suit he wished he didn’t have to wear, nursing one lonely beer all evening so he could drive people home safe, and watching me with those patient green eyes until I was so turned on I’d have to go back to the kitchen just to calm down again.”

“Is that right?” He ran his hands down her arms, amused when he hit the cuffs of her shirt. Carefully he began to unbutton them. “Do you know what I was thinking when I was watching you?”

“Not exactly.”

“I was thinking how you looked like a dancer, all grace and competence. And I tried not to think what you might have on under that starched white shirt and sexy little vest.”

Once he’d freed her wrists, he ran his hands back up her arms. “You’ve got such a fine, streamlined shape to you, Nell. It’s been driving me crazy for weeks.”

“I don’t know how to explain how it makes me feel to know that. To feel steady enough to want that.” She threw her head back, her arms up. “Oh, God! I feel so alive. I don’t want it ever to stop.”

She leaned down again, kissed him hard, then scrambled to her feet. “I want that champagne. I want to get drunk and make love with you all night.”

“I can get behind that idea.” He sat up, then his eyes widened as she pulled open the door. “What’re you doing?”

“Getting the champagne out of the car.”

“Let me get my pants on, and I’ll get it. Nell!” Stupefied, he sprang to his feet as she raced outside, naked as a jaybird. “Well, for God’s sake!” He grabbed his pants, carrying them with him to the doorway. “Get back in here before I have to haul you in for indecent exposure.”

“There’s nobody to see.” It felt fabulous, and exactly right to stand naked in the cool night air, to feel it caress the skin so recently heated by passion. With the grass tickling her feet, she threw her arms out to the side and turned in circles. “Come on out, it’s a beautiful night. Moon and stars and the sound of the sea.”

She looked impossibly alluring, the gold of her hair silvered by starlight, her milky skin shimmering with it, and her face lifted to the sky.

Then her gaze met his across the little patch of lawn with a power so intense it stole his breath. For a moment he would have sworn the whole of her sparkled.