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“I brought wine, bread, cheese, some grapes, some… strawberries—I believe they are—and some assorted cakes and tarts from the kitchen. Oh, and a meat pie.”

“What a feast.” Anna laughed. “Would you beveryhurt if I said I wasn’t particularly hungry?”

He laughed ruefully. “I suppose I should have checked before I packed all of this. How are you feeling?”

“Much better. I’m still a little shaken. I think I’ll have some bad dreams for years to come.”

He bit his lip, glancing away. “I suppose I owe you an apology.”

“Yousuppose?”

Theo snorted. “Idoowe you an apology. If you hadn’t gone to your mother’s house, he would never have caught you alone like that. I spoke harshly to you when we parted ways, and I… I wish I hadn’t done that. The truth is, I didn’t mean what I said, but how were you to know that?”

Anna was silent for a moment. Around them, the night-time sounds of the woodland were starting up—the chirps of birds roosting for the night, owls hooting, the rustlings of small creatures on their nocturnal travels—and above them, through the gaps in the willow tree, she could see the stars.

“I’m not angry,” she said, at last. “I never was. I just… just wanted you to talk to me. To be open with me. I know it’s not what we agreed on, but?—”

“Well, we’ve already agreed to leave those rules behind. Most of them.”

“Most of them,” she agreed, smiling.

Glancing at Theo, she found him looking at her, something intense in his gaze. He took her hand, lifted it to his mouth, and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. She could feel the rasp of a day’s worth of stubble on her skin, and it made her shiver.

“You are more than I have ever deserved, Anna,” he said, his voice low and shaky. “And everything I could have dreamed of for Kitty. Please stay with me.”

“I will,” she said, without thinking twice. “I will stay with you, I promise.”

A smile spread across his face, slow and unguarded, and warmth bloomed in Anna’s chest at the sight of it. She reached out a hand, her fingertips tracing the curve of his lower lip.

“I’d like to see you smile like this more often.”

He kissed her fingertips. “I only smile for you, my dear.Reallysmile, I mean.”

She had to grin at that.

Theo leaned forward, his hand sliding around the back of her neck. Anna closed her eyes, waiting for the kiss to come.

When it came, it was soft and gentle, almost chaste.

“Keep your eyes closed,” Theo said, his breath tickling her ear.

She obeyed, flinching to find herself gently lowered down onto the pile of pillows and cushions. It was comfortable enough, and a shiver of anticipation rolled through her.

Theo kissed her again, his touch growing more intense. His fingers skimmed the length of her body, lingering around the swell of her breasts and around her hips. He leaned over her, supporting his weight on his elbows—or so she assumed, since her eyes were still closed and she was not getting crushed—and she loosely wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders.

Theo’s lips ghosted over hers, trailing down her jaw to the column of her throat. She kept her eyes closed, concentrating on the sensations.

She felt him shift his weight downwards and shivered at the feel of warm fingertips on the bare skin of her thighs, still ever-so-slightly damp from the bath. Cool air rushed under her skirts, and Theo nudged her legs apart a little, the curve of his shoulder under one knee.

“What are you—” Anna broke off with a gasp when he pressed his lips to her inner thigh, tantalizingly close to her sex.

She felt rather than heard him chuckle, the vibrations traveling through her skin. She knew what he was going to do before it happened.

Anna’s eyes flew open when he kissed the core of her, his stubble scratching her inner thighs.

She wasn’t entirely sure how long it lasted—a moment or two, perhaps?—before he lifted his head and crawled over her body. She was vibrating with pent-up energy, her climax near but notthereyet.

“I thought I said,” Theo said, his voice slightly raspy, “to keep your eyes closed.”