Linda Needham (27 page)

“I said nothing about a pirate.”

“Perhaps I need to become a member of your club.” He’d conquered the buttons on the front of this particular shirtwaist and had them undone before she noticed,
and his hands playing at the linen of her camisole. His uncorseted wife and her lovely nipples which crimped when he fondled them, and made her gasp.

“Ohhhhhh…my! A pirate? You’ve gone completely mad.” She sighed, nicely flummoxed, her eyes so blue, her lashes wet. “I don’t have a club.”

“Ah, the League, then.” He covered her delicious sweet mouth with his, made love there with his tongue. “The Ladies’ Charitable League. Or do I need to be a lady for that?”

Another long sigh against his mouth. “I prefer you as a lord.”

“But obviously not as a master. You haven’t the slightest idea how to obey.”

She stopped her squirming and glared at him. “If you think this little seduction is going to make me change my mind, you’re wrong, husband.”

“What if I offer myself up as your own personal double agent in the Home Office?”

She quirked her brow. “What do you mean?”

He took her hand, kissed her fingers. “If you promise never to take a risk that you don’t first tell me about. Ever, Kate.”

“I’m listening—”

“If you must have your justice done, then I’ll help you.”

“How?”

“I’m a spy, remember? I pick locks and tamper with evidence, forge signatures and have access to most any piece of information you’d ever need to mask the activities of your little band of thieves.”

Her eyes had grown wide with wonder. She took
hold of his jacket and smiled madly up at him. “You’d do that, Jared?”

“For the children, Kate. For you. Because I love you beyond all things. Because you waited for me to come home and love me in spite of my faults.”

Kate saw a peace come over her splendid husband, his eyes smiling, his grin lopsided. Her handsome hero, who could love a dozen children all at once, and rescue her from her recklessness, and danced so finely in the moonlight—

“I love you, Jared.”

She’d have said more, but the delicious man had enfolded her in his arms and was making the most amazing love to her mouth, whispering his heart and his hopes, telling her of his dreams for the children.

A most amazing man.

Her husband, her pirate, her spy.

L
INDA
N
EEDHAM
credits her bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts, support from her fellow writers, and her hero-husband for her publishing achievements. Winning the RWA’s Golden Heart as an unpublished author and joining Avon Books two months later are among the highlights of her Fabulous Forties. Seven books, two stageplays, three musical revues and the
USA Today
and Waldenbooks bestseller lists later, Linda has entered her Fantastic Fifties with brazenness, exaltation, and an RWA Top Ten Favorite Book of the Year award!

Enjoy your visit with Kate and Jared and their romp through
The Pleasure of Her Kiss
, the first book in Linda’s new Gentleman Rogues series. Visit her at:
www.lindaneedham.com.

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