“I noticed. And she had provocation with the way Bertis kept fussing over her.”

“I think she liked it.”

“Yeah, I think so, too.” He slowed, and for a moment she wondered if he’d spotted something in their path. “Come here. Out of the light.”

The husky note in his voice made her senses quicken. She felt a queer combination of excitement and misgiving as he drew her off the path into a thicket, then led her to the base of a large tree. Without letting go, he braced his back against the trunk and pulled her in front of him. Then he kissed her.

It was urgent and carnal, revealing decades of sexual experience, but this time she didn’t let herself worry about whether she was doing things right. She simply wound her arms around his neck and gave in to it.

His hands skittered over her body, igniting fires wherever he touched. “I can’t get enough of you.”

He cupped her breast through her nightgown, ran his thumb over the crest. His head dipped, his lips found her nipple, and he suckled her through the thin cotton fabric.

She moaned. The sensation was exquisite—deeply arousing, magical . . . exactly right. She heard herself murmur, “I don’t want—”

“Yes, you do.”

She’d meant to say that she didn’t want to be outside—she wanted privacy. But she couldn’t be bothered to explain.

He reached under her nightgown. Found her panties. Gently cupped her through the nylon. “You’re wet.”

His blunt words made her shiver. Was this the way lovers talked to each other? He began stroking her. She arched her back and clung to him, her legs parting of their own volition.

“Take off your nightgown,” he whispered.

His words jolted her back to reality. She could only handle so many new experiences at a time. “We’re outside.”

“That makes it even better.” He gathered the gown in his hands.

She began to resist, then stopped herself. She was sick of caution, sick of following other people’s rules. She relaxed her arms.

Cool air slid over her bare skin as he pulled it off and dropped it. “Now your panties,” he whispered. “Hand them to me.”

She hesitated.

“Do it.”

His rough, sensual command thrilled her. At the same time, some primitive female instinct made her want to play a little, too, so she tried to sound put-upon. “Oh, all right.”

She was rewarded with a dark chuckle that ran like warm honey through her blood. As she bent over, she was thrilled by the tawdriness of what she was doing. Even though no one in the campground seemed to be stirring, they were still in a public place.

He took her panties from her, and she thought he might be slipping them into his pocket. “Stand completely still,” he whispered.

She couldn’t have moved for the world.