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‘And you’ Alex freed one hand and clasped his friend’s ‘Give Charlie a hug from me’

‘Who is Charlie?’ Tess asked as he carried her into the inn It was seductively pleasurable, being carried by a ed the fantasy that this was her lover, sweeping her away

‘His son’ Alex’s terse answer jerked her out of the dream

‘Mr Rivers is married?’ Somehow he had not looked married, whatever that looked like

‘Widowed’ Alex’s tone gave no encouragement for further questions

Perhaps that hy Grant Rivers’s eyes were so sad She closed her lips on questions that were sure to be intrusive as the landlord careet them

‘LeGrice, I need an extra room’ Alex was obviously known and expected ‘A comfortable, quiet chamber for the lady, a maid to attend her, hot baths for both of us and then the best supper you can lay on in my private parlour’

‘Milord’ Known, expected and not to be denied, obviously The innkeeper was bustling about as though the Prince Regent had descended on his establishent when she was in London Tess was distracted enough by this interesting thought not to protest when she was carried upstairs and into a bedchamber

The sight of the big bed was enough to jerk her out of fantasies of state coaches and bewigged royalty, let alone thoughts of romance ‘Please put me down’

It must have come out more sharply than she intended Alex stopped dead ‘That was my intention’

‘Here Just inside the door This is a bedchamber’

‘I know The clue lies in the fact that there’s a bed in it’ He was amused by her vapours, she could hear it in his voice, a deep ruh hidden inside it

Her ear was pressed against his chest Tess jerked her head upright ‘Then, please put me down You should not be in my bedchamber’