Tessa felt her cheeks flush furiously. “No,” she denied emphatically. “No, no, no! That is not happening, Lauren. Not now, not ever. So forget about it.”

Julia smiled. “I tried to give Nathan a lap dance after my bachelorette party. Unfortunately, I’d let myself get conned into Lauren’s little drinking contest earlier in the evening, apparently had one tequila shot too many, and passed out right there on his lap. The, uh, evening didn’t quite turn out the way I thought it would.”

Lauren grimaced. “That’s nothing. One night before Ben and I got back together we wound up, uh, making out a little. And since I’d been mixing alcohol - never a good idea, girls - I sort of barfed right in front of him. Though at least I made it to the kitchen sink in time. Now that was mortifying. And of course the smug bastard never lets me forget it. Good thing I’m crazy about him, otherwise he’d never get away with it. But, hey. Enough little trips down memory lane. I want to see a lap dance, dammit. Hey, who else here wants to see the bride-to-be give her honey a lap dance?”

Tessa cringed as Lauren’s very loud voice carried to everyone in their vicinity, and then groaned as she was quickly descended upon by Victoria, Selina, Sasha, Isobel, Charlotte, and half a dozen other squealing, giggling women.

“You have to do it, Tessa!” insisted Victoria, who was far tipsier than Tessa had ever seen her before. “We’re not going to take no for an answer!”

“Victoria’s right,” declared Charlotte, who’d been celebrating her newfound freedom by belting back martinis all night. “There’s no way out of this, Tessa.”

Panic-stricken, Tessa turned to her two bridesmaids. “Help me,” she mouthed to Julia and Sasha.

But Julia, who was grinning like a madwoman, would be of no help whatsoever it appeared. And Sasha merely assured her, in far too serene a manner for Tessa’s liking, “Relax. You’ll do fine. I’ll even give you a few tips.”

Tessa’s eyes widened. “Please don’t tell me you’ve got experience doing this sort of thing. I mean, it’s obvious you’re a fantastic dancer, but, uh, hopefully not that sort of dancer.”

Sasha shook her mane of corkscrew curls. “Not me, silly. But one of my roommates worked as an exotic dancer for awhile. She even had a pole set up in the living room. And she’d practice her lap dancing on one of our gay roommates. I might have picked up a few things from watching them. Just to give my opinion, that is.”

Julia stared at her yoga teacher/friend. “All of a sudden, it’s like you’ve got this whole other secret life I never imagined. The hot Latin lover, the ballroom dancing, some very interesting roommates. Who are you, anyway?”

Lauren waved a hand impatiently. “Who cares? And the only dancing I want to see is Blondie here grinding her ass on Big Bad and British’s lap. Speaking of which.”

Tessa emitted a little squawk as Lauren took a startlingly firm grip of her upper arm, propelling her forward with determination. For additional reinforcement, Isobel took hold of her other arm and helped march her over to where Ian was chatting with a circle of his friends.

He glanced up as the posse of a dozen or so women approached with Tessa firmly in tow, and grinned as he observed the way she was squirming with embarrassment.

“Something you need, darling?” he asked, his hazel eyes twinkling merrily.

She had rarely seen him this relaxed, this carefree, and knew that he’d been enjoying the evening every bit as much as she had. He’d hardly left her side all night, and Tessa wished now that she hadn’t gone to the ladies room with Julia a few minutes ago. If she’d remained by Ian’s side, then this very awkward situation might not have developed.

“Um, well,” she stammered, uncomfortably aware of a dozen or more pairs of male eyes gazing at her expectantly. A quick glance revealed Hugh, Colin, Andrew, Matthew, Jordan, Clive, and several others nearby, all looking very, very interested. “The, um, girls think that I should - oh, my, God, this is so embarrassing. They think I should give you a - a lap dance. You know, because it’s your bachelor party. And -”

“Oh, hell yes!” shouted Colin gleefully. “I’d pay a thousand pounds to see that happen. Anyone else agree?”

There were whoops and cheers and words of encouragement from pretty much everyone in the room. Tessa’s cheeks were burning with mortification as she glanced up at Ian uncertainly, and while his gaze was sympathetic, his grin was rather unholy.

“I certainly wouldn’t say no to that offer,” he drawled, taking Tessa’s hand in his and giving it a little squeeze. “That is - if you’re offering.”

Behind Ian’s back, Colin gave her a mischievous wink. “I’m not sure I’d bother if I were you, darlin’,” he teased. “Ian would probably prefer to play a game of chess. More in keeping with his idea of a fun evening. That’s what happens when you get to be an old man like my brother here.”

Incensed at his teasing, and at the laughter of the others around him, Tessa gave Colin a sharp poke in the shoulder, hard enough for him to wince. “He’s not old,” she hissed. “And if you think we play chess or read books every night, you are way, way off base. You talk a good game, Colin, but you’d never be able to keep up with Ian. In or out of the bedroom. Now, someone get us a chair.”

Ian was laughing so hard by the time someone brought over a chair that his eyes were watering. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, whispering in amusement, “Sometimes I forget what a tigress you can be, darling. And I don’t think Colin will ever dare try to taunt you like that again. I think you left a bruise on his shoulder from the way he keeps rubbing it. Now, are you sure about this? I realize most everyone here is well on their way to being drunk, but don’t let yourself get badgered into this if it makes you uncomfortable.”

In response, Tessa merely gave him a little push until he had no choice but to sit down on the high backed chair. But the grin quickly froze on his face as she straddled his lap determinedly, ignoring all the catcalls, whoops, and cheers that rose up from men and women alike.

“You go, girl!” yelled Julia. “Give it to him good!”

“Don’t wuss out on us, Tessa!” yelled Lauren. “If you lose your nerve now, you’ll regret it!”

“Come on, darlin’. Give us a show. The old man’s never had a thrill like this in his life!” taunted Colin.