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"I don’t care if you ask or not," he said, pulling her into his arain At least she let him hold her That would have to do until they wed "We can work it all out on our wedding night" He was deter his beloved Poppy the same pleasure that he would find in her body He’d read all about it in a French book, stue words And he was astute enough to realize that none of the se to Paris had had anything to do with his partner’s pleasure In fact, thinking of their practiced ht hi, it was this: he could sleep with Cleopatra herself, and if she wasn’t enjoying the act, he didn’t want anything to do with it When a Parisian wo to do with her pleasure, and little to do with his When a Parisian woman smiled at him, Fletch remembered Cécile, who told him that his lips were as beautiful as cherries, or Élise, who uttered little screams when she saw hied to his first month in Paris, before he fell in love Now his heart was full of Poppy…and his loins would love to follow his heart

But Poppy, leaning against his broad shoulder, frowned to herself What exactly did Fletchthat they would work it out? That sounded as if this type of kissing was so he had his heart set upon

Poppy was a practical little soul, at the heart She could see that her husband’s easygoing et his oay One only had to look at his ept locks to see that Never a touch of powder! Her mother clucked, but Fletch refused…and Poppy had to ad around his neck

"I’ll ask Je her ear, and she liked that In fact, she enjoyedhis ar as he didn’t disturb her hair), and kissing her ear and her cheek and her chin, and even her lips, except when he became a trifle too forceful in that respect

Her mother had instructed her very firmly on that front "You must allow him to brush your lips with his," she had said "After all, he is a duke You will be a duchess In order to catch a duke, one nities"

At the tihed at the idea that Fletch’s lips on hers could be seen as an indignity Joy had flooded her soul that she was so lucky She was in love with a duke, and thatFletch) was in love with her…and that ht, if she could just work out this kissing business

"Let ly When his voice deepened like that, Poppy wanted to do anything he wished, though of course she would never have told him so One mustn’t let men kno ht, of course

But she obediently bent her head up towards his, and he brushed his lips across hers "That’s nice," she said encouragingly "Why, I--"

The next moment he pulled her so sharply into his arms that she felt her stays poke directly into her breasts; her brooch unhooked and fell to the stone floor "Fletch!" she cried He took advantage of that, and stuck his tongue directly into her mouth Directly! And--and swept it about, as if she were so, no!" she shrieked, shoving hith

"But Poppy…"

Not even his sad eyes could e her mind about this "I love you, Fletch, you know that" She narrowed her eyes and waited

"You knolittle smile

She didn’t ss that--that an English lady doesn’t do"