She started to giggle-- really giggle, continuously and convulsively. "You're begging me to let you beg me," she pointed out. "I can't win."

"I know. Eventually it always comes down to that point. Then I win. Well, either way I win." Playfully he bit her shoulders and pretended to shake his head, like a dog with a rag.

"Not if I go back to may chair and start sewing again," Dierdre retorted, but she shivered at his teeth. "Then you lose."

"Then I bring back a servant girl and we have sex on the bed behind your back until you're overcome with lust and join us," he teased. "I'll be sure to make a lot of loud slurping noises and groan a lot."

Dierdre swatted at him, lightly, and then turned, giving him a mischievous look before she rose from his lap and started-- very slowly-- back across the room toward the abandoned sewing.

He made a half-hearted grab for the back of her dress as she walked away. "Was that a dare?" he called after her.

She smirked at him, over her shoulders, and waggled her eyebrows. "Maybe," she answered.

"You don't think I'll actually come back here with a servant girl?" he said, incredulous. "Give me a half-bottle of decent wine and an hour."

She snorted and dropped back into her chair. "You'll have to ask Nialla if you want some wine."

"Give me a whole bottle of wine and three hours and I'll come back with her," he shot back.