July 1822, Cavendish Manor
Jackson hovered behind the large upright stone and peeked at the blankets spread across soft grass in the distance. Two food hampers lay open, one on either end of the spread, and Uncle Henry and Sarah lay, side by side and hand in hand, between them.
Even farther in the distance, Nora and Max helped Pansy and the twins stand on their hands, and nearby, beneath a tree, Ada and Cass sat, twined around one another like two ropes of ivy, a book open but almost forgotten on Ada’s lap.
Could any of them see? Would they notice? Or would he have to wait for greater privacy to tease his wife into a kiss.
Gwendolyn stood beside him, squinting at the stone in the sunlight. “Pagan?”
Jackson nodded. “So Uncle Henry says. The Coldrum Long Barrow. A burial site.”
Gwendolyn shivered and ran her fingertips down the stone. “Ada says the name stems from an old Cornish word that meansplace of enchantments.”
He pressed her palm flat against the stone. “Do you feel it enchanting you?”
“Perhaps.”
“Or perhaps, it’s just me.” He grinned, winked.
She swatted his arm, but the gaze she tipped up to him was hotter than the sun. She turned, her fingertips flirting with his waistcoat buttons. “A burial site is a morbid choice for a picnic. Your family, Jackson, continues to be quite odd.” No snap or judgment in her voice though. Pure love floated every word out into the air.
He wrapped his arms around her. “Our family. And I don’t know if it’s so strange. Look around. So much life here—green grass, blue sky, the purple blooms on the tree.”
“If you launch into a lecture on the interconnection of life and death, I’ll tickle you.” She rested her cheek on his chest, though.
“It’s all caught up together.” He kissed the top of her head. “Just as I’m all caught up in you, and I’d like your legs all caught up around me. If we were home at Seastorm right now, I’d take you to our bed and show every inch of your body how much I love you.” This was their first trip away from Seastorm since they’d wed, and they planned to return soon and had no plans to travel far for quite some time.
They’d both stopped running, and in that still place, with steadying breath, had found their home.
She lifted up on tiptoe, tilted her face up to him, and silenced him with a kiss that tasted of lemon tart and poured a ravenous need into his belly. He growled, pulled her behind the stone.
“Shh,” she laughed. “They’ll hear us.”
“I’ve considered that. I’ve also considered that they’re all too wrapped up in each other to notice or care what we choose to do. Especially if it’s this.” He lowered his head, took her lips, and kissed her till not a single muscle protested.
When he finally lifted from the kiss with panting breaths, her eyes were foggy with lust. He dipped to do even better than that.
“Ack!” Gwendolyn’s lips slipped out from under his, her body sweeping to the side.
Nora, her hand circling Gwendolyn’s wrist, ran off with his wife. “You may have your wife back, Jackson, when she’s gone upside down. Just once!”
Gwendolyn’s laugh rippled into the heavens, as blue as her eyes. “I’m not going upside down, though.”
“Oh, yes, you are,” Nora said, tugging her toward a field of soft, level grass. I’ll show you how to tie your skirts just so. To hide the essential bits.”
“All my bits are essential, thank you very much,” Gwendolyn said.
Jackson jaunted out from behind the stones, following his wife as his cousin pulled her along, his heart soaring happy and high as her laughter. How would she get out of this little corner?
Nora threw a hand out to her older sister. “Ada, do tell her it’s not that difficult. Max and I will support her.” She looked over her shoulder and called out, “She’ll be safe, Jackson. Promise! Ada, do tell her.”
Ada stood and laughed and swatted Cass’s hands away as he swiped the grass off the back of her skirts with a rakish gleam in his eyes. “It was interesting, Gwendolyn. And if you do not try it once, she’ll make puppy dog eyes at you until you do.”
Nora laughed and made pouty, puppy dog eyes. “Well? Can you resist?”
“I can’t,” her husband, Max, mumbled.
Gwendolyn flashed a look at Jackson.