It took her four, her fingers clumsy over the bows, and then when she was ready she shivered uncertainly in the cool bathroom, frightened to face Kieron in the brief, sexy costume.
‘That’s it,’ he drawled unmercifully, stepping in through the door. ‘Well, well!’ His eyes roamed probingly over her slim body. ‘It’s even got the bows.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ Briony gasped anxiously, stepping backwards, her eyes widening slightly.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at her reflection as she stepped into the bedroom, already knowing full well how brief the bikini was.
She lay face down on a sunlounger, closing her eyes, and resolutely ignoring the rustling sound of Kieron’s shirt and jeans being dropped on the paving beside her.
‘Will you oil my back?’ he asked.
She rolled over, mouth compressed. ‘If you insist, although I doubt I’ll be able to match Louise’s skill.’
‘Jealous?’
‘Certainly not!’ She poured oil into her palm and massaged it firmly into the tanned skin, trying not to react as the muscles relaxed beneath her touch.
‘Umm…now my legs,’ Kieron murmured lazily.
She wanted to refuse, but instead she poured fresh oil, rubbing it in as though she would grind it into his bones. She knew that he was deliberately trying to make her aware of him, and—damn him—succeeding, but she was determined not to let it show.
‘You can do the rest yourself,’ she told him abruptly, straightening up and replacing the cap on the bottle.
When he swung himself off the lounger and dropped on his haunches beside her she froze, a frisson of awareness shivering over as he laughed softly deep in his throat.
‘A little heavy-handed, but pleasurable none the less. And now, my lovely wife, it’s your turn.’
Useless to object, so she didn’t even try, forcing herself to lie still while his hands roamed enticingly over her skin, stroking in the thin sunscreen. Only once, when his fingers strayed close to the provocative bows fastening the minute briefs, did she move, but Kieron ignored her, his fingers sliding under the strings and tugging gently.
‘Perhaps not here,’ he murmured when she glared up at him. ‘This must be a pleasure I shall reserve for later.’
‘There won’t be a later,’ Briony gritted up at him. ‘And will you please stop pawing me!’
‘Pawing you?’ His jaw jutted aggressively. ‘By heaven, you try my patience at times, Briony, but this time I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and put it down to ignorance.’
‘A lovers’ quarrel?’
Neither of them had heard Louise approach. Her look for Kieron was meltingly sweet, but her eyes were cold as she glanced at Briony’s slender body.
‘Tonight you must take me to the casino, chéri,’ she purred to Kieron. ‘I am feeling lucky.…’
‘Then to the casino we shall go,’ Kieron agreed. ‘And we’ll take Marian with us.’
Louise pouted.
‘Tante Marian does not care for casinos.’
‘And I think you’d better count me out,’ Briony said carelessly. ‘There’s Nicky.…’
‘Who is quite happy with Héloise,’ Kieron said smoothly.
‘Really, chéri,’ Louise said crisply, ‘English women are so strange! I would not neglect my husband for a small boy.’
‘Not even when that small boy happened to be your husband’s child?’ Briony said quietly and with cold contempt. ‘Please excuse me, both of you. Nicky will be waking up, and I don’t want him to wake up alone. It can be very frightening.’
She thought for a moment that Kieron’s eyes darkened, but then his mouth suddenly twisted and he looked away, ignoring her.
What was he trying to do? Show her how much more of a ‘woman’ he thought Louise? She told herself that she didn’t care, but she did, achingly so.
* * *
Briony dressed for the evening with scant enthusiasm, staring uncertainly at her reflection in the black dress. She was just about to take it off when Kieron walked into the bedroom.
‘Don’t tell me you chose that,’ he demanded grimly.
Her fingers faltered uncertainly against the silk flowers she had just tucked in her hair.
‘Don’t you like it?’
His eyebrows rose.
‘What red-blooded male wouldn’t?’
The brief, lightly boned bodice cupped her breasts, the black fabric stark against their swelling creaminess, her small waist emphasised by the full skirt.
‘I was just going in to read to Nicky,’ she said nervously as his eyes slid slowly over her.
‘Lucky Nicky,’ was his only comment, although he added laconically, ‘Wait for me, I’ll get changed and we can go in to dinner together.’