TALL DARK AND HUNGRY Page 0,92

hands and pulled her forward to cover her mouth with his. She sighed into his mouth with relief as he kissed her, uncaring that they were standing in the middle of the church. He snogged her senseless, actually, she decided a moment later as her arms slipped around his waist. The man wasn't just giving her a hello kiss.

"Okay, you two, cut it out. The minister's getting nervous."

Bastien ended the kiss at Lucern's words, but not quickly. He eased the kiss, then turned to nibbling Terri's lip. Once, then twice, then he straightened with a grin.

"Hi," he said with the sexiest grin Terri had ever seen.

She smiled and covered the hands still cupping her face. "Hi, back," she whispered.

"So, when's the wedding? And am I invited?" Chris Keyes asked.

Terri blushed scarlet and turned to make a face at the editor. He had been released today, just in time for the wedding rehearsal. Lucern had chosen the man as his third groomsman, to make up the numbers needed to match Kate's bridesmaids. Etienne and Thomas were the other two. Bastien was, of course, the best man, and Terri was maid of honor. And Kate's two sisters and her friend and coworker Leah made up the bridesmaids.. Leah, Terri, Chris, and Bastien were the only members of the wedding party in town for the rehearsal, though. The others wouldn't show up till the end of the week.

"If you two are done, maybe we can go to the restaurant now," Lucern said, preventing any further embarrassment from the editor.

"Okay," Bastien agreed. "Lucern, you're riding with Kate. Terri's with me." He paused and eyed Chris and Leah with what might have been dread. "How did you two get here?"

"I had a car pick them up, just like with us and the girls," Lucern announced. He added, "The driver will take them to the restaurant too, then drive each of them home afterward."

Terri glanced at C.K. with surprise. "Are you back in your own apartment then?"

"Yes." C.K. grinned. "They finished the painting, which was the last of the repairs, last night. Tonight will be my first night home."

"Oh, good!" Terri exclaimed. "I'm sure it will be a relief for you to be back in your own bed."

"I'm looking forward to it," the editor admitted.

"Well, let's get this party moving," Kate said, ges¬turing toward the church doors.

"Good thinking." Bastien was much more relaxed now that he knew that he wouldn't have company in the car. "Come on, baby."

Terri blushed at the affectionate endearment as he steered her toward the exit. He'd called her baby! Right there in front of everyone! He wasn't trying to hide their relationship at all. Man, she was going to get so hurt if this went wrong.

Grimacing at her thoughts, Terri slid her arm around Bastien's waist and concentrated on matching her step to his. "I missed you last night," he said, qui¬etly pulling her into his arms as soon as they were in the backseat of the chauffeured car. Then he added, "When I wasn't worrying."

"Worrying?" Terri pulled back in surprise as he tried to kiss her. "Why were you worrying?"

He hesitated. "Well, you seemed to change once Kate and Lucern arrived. I was..." He shrugged. "Just worried that maybe you didn't want them to know about us, or something."

"Oh," she said softly, then smiled. "I was worried you might feel that way."

"I'm glad we were both wrong," Bastien said. He kissed her as the driver began to back the car out of its parking spot.

Terri sighed and leaned into him. A moment later, she caught his hand with a choked laugh. It had gone wandering down her upper leg, then tried to wander back up under the skirt of her baby-blue dress.

"Be good," she muttered against his mouth, trying to sound firm.

"I'd rather be bad," he whispered, trailing his lips to her neck.

Very aware of the driver, Terri caught back the moan that threatened to slip from her lips. Excite-ment raced through her, brought on both by Bastien's words and what he was doing. Bastien had already managed--with just a kiss--to make desire unfurl in¬side her. She was so glad that she had spoken up. Si¬lence might be golden, but good communication was priceless.

Terri was really wishing they could skip the re¬hearsal dinner and go back to the penthouse for a quick refresher course on Bastien and Terri 101. Or a long refresher course. Possibly a really long one. Sev¬eral days would have been good. But, of course, that wasn't