Page 130 of How To Tempt A Bodyguard

And at the head of the table, Matthew.

He watched his wife move through the room, touching a shoulder here, laughing at a comment there, checking that glasses were filled and plates were full. She caught him watching and raised an eyebrow.

What? the look said.

Nothing, he replied silently. Just admiring.

She rolled her eyes and returned to her conversation with Adeline.

He smiled into his wine.

After dinner, after the guests had departed or retired to their rooms, Matthew found Florence in the nursery again.

She was standing over the cradle, watching their son sleep. The moonlight turned her hair to silver and her skin to pearl.

He came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, rested his chin on her shoulder.

"You should be in bed," he murmured.

"So should you."

"I was. You weren't in it."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Thinking about the petition?"

"Thinking about him." She reached down, adjusted the blanket that didn't need adjusting. "About the world he's going to grow up in."

"It'll be a better world. Because of you."

"Will it be enough?"

"No." He pressed a kiss to her temple. "But it'll be more than we had. And he'll make it better still because his mother showed him how."

She turned in his arms, face tilted up towards his.

"When did you become so good with words?"

"I married a smart woman. Some of it rubbed off."

"Only some?"

"I'm a slow learner."

She laughed softly. Kissed him.

"Come to bed," she whispered against his lips.

"Is that an order?"

"It's a negotiation."

"What are your terms?"

"The usual." Her hands slid up his chest, wound around his neck. "You take something off. I take something off."

"I recall that negotiation." He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. "I believe I came out ahead last time."