Index: email/test/test_email.py
===================================================================
--- email/test/test_email.py	(revision 79918)
+++ email/test/test_email.py	(working copy)
@@ -1554,7 +1554,7 @@
     def test_rfc2047_without_whitespace(self):
         s = 'Sm=?ISO-8859-1?B?9g==?=rg=?ISO-8859-1?B?5Q==?=sbord'
         dh = decode_header(s)
-        self.assertEqual(dh, [(s, None)])
+        self.assertEqual(dh, [('Sm\xf6rg\xe5sbord', 'iso-8859-1')])
 
     def test_rfc2047_with_whitespace(self):
         s = 'Sm =?ISO-8859-1?B?9g==?= rg =?ISO-8859-1?B?5Q==?= sbord'
@@ -1563,7 +1563,12 @@
                               ('rg', None), ('\xe5', 'iso-8859-1'),
                               ('sbord', None)])
 
+    def test_multiple_encoded_words(self):
+        s = 'aaa=?iso-8859-1?q?bbb?=xxx asdf =?iso-8859-1?q?jkl?='
+        dh = decode_header(s)
+        self.assertEqual(dh, [('aaabbbxxx asdf jkl', 'iso-8859-1')])
 
+
 
 # Test the MIMEMessage class
 class TestMIMEMessage(TestEmailBase):
Index: email/header.py
===================================================================
--- email/header.py	(revision 79918)
+++ email/header.py	(working copy)
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
   \?                    # literal ?
   (?P<encoded>.*?)      # non-greedy up to the next ?= is the encoded string
   \?=                   # literal ?=
-  (?=[ \t]|$)           # whitespace or the end of the string
   ''', re.VERBOSE | re.IGNORECASE | re.MULTILINE)
 
 # Field name regexp, including trailing colon, but not separating whitespace,
@@ -47,7 +46,11 @@
 # For use with .match()
 fcre = re.compile(r'[\041-\176]+:$')
 
+# Match whitespace at the beginning/end of a string
+wbeg = re.compile(r'^\s')
+wend = re.compile(r'\s$')
 
+
 
 # Helpers
 _max_append = email.quoprimime._max_append
@@ -78,8 +81,13 @@
             continue
         parts = ecre.split(line)
         while parts:
+            embed = False
+            if len(parts) > 4 and len(parts[0]) > 0 and not wend.search(parts[0]):
+                embed = True
+            if len(parts) > 4 and len(parts[4]) > 0 and not wbeg.search(parts[4]):
+                embed = True
             unenc = parts.pop(0).strip()
-            if unenc:
+            if unenc and not embed:
                 # Should we continue a long line?
                 if decoded and decoded[-1][1] is None:
                     decoded[-1] = (decoded[-1][0] + SPACE + unenc, None)
@@ -102,6 +110,9 @@
                 if dec is None:
                     dec = encoded
 
+                if embed:
+                    dec = unenc.encode(charset) + dec + parts[3].encode(charset)
+                    parts[3] = ''
                 if decoded and decoded[-1][1] == charset:
                     decoded[-1] = (decoded[-1][0] + dec, decoded[-1][1])
                 else: