“Now,” Alex said, “the audience has to pay the singer to continue.” Charlotte looked surprised. “With a kiss.” Charlotte obediently leaned forward and pressed a kiss on his lips. Alex smiled at her and began the next verse. “Lately when Fancy too did roam—” But he broke off in a strangled choking fit. Alarmed, Charlotte quickly pulled her feet up onto the bed and slid over to sit next to Alex.

“Are you all right?” She pounded him on the back.

Alex kept his head down to hide his smile. “No,” he said in a melancholy tone. “I’m afraid the singer wasn’t paid enough.”

Charlotte giggled despite herself. She took another drink of champagne and set down the glass. Then she put a kiss on Alex’s ear. When he didn’t move she daringly put out her tongue and slid it around the inside of his ear, just as he had with hers. Alex shuddered and surged at his bride. His mouth closed hotly over hers, taking her mouth in a drugging, passionate kiss that sent her melting into his arms. Her mouth was entirely open to his assault, to the fiery, demanding rhythm of his tongue.

Then he pulled back abruptly. Charlotte gasped. Alex smiled and tucked one of her curls back behind her ear. Then he sang again:

“Lately when Fancy too did roam,
Thou were, my dear, a honey-comb;
And had I been a pretty bee,
How I would suck
Oh! How I would creep, creep into thee.”

“Drink,” her husband prompted. Charlotte giggled again. She couldn’t help thinking of Will Holland telling her that he was a honeybee. She took a drink.

“Is Patrick’s favorite song well known?” she asked.

“Tolerably. Why?”

Charlotte smiled into her glass as Alex refilled it. “I think someone once quoted part of this verse to me.”

“Huh!” Alex snorted. “I hope it wasn’t the last line.” Charlotte chortled a bit. Alex looked a bit sulky at that revelation: Could it be that he was jealous?

Alex frowned for a moment and then forgot his jealousy. He gave his beloved a mock glare.

“My payment.”

“Oh.” Charlotte leaned forward, entirely willing.

“No.” His large hand pushed her back. Charlotte’s left eyebrow flew up. Despite himself, Alex stared at her eyebrow in fascination. Could it be that they had a shared ancestor, somewhere back in the Middle Ages?

“My lord,” Charlotte prompted in dulcet tones. “Your payment?”

“That white thing—off with it!”

Charlotte, who was relishing the glowing warmth that was spreading throughout her body, readily undid the knot at her waist and slipped off her robe. She had the enormous satisfaction of seeing her husband’s eyes widen for a moment. He swallowed hard. Charlotte grinned at him impudently.

“The next verse?” she asked.