Page 22 of Desert Island Duke

He leaned in conspiratorially. “I’ll make sure you get in.”

Caro stilled. Did he realize what he’d just said? A mere stablemaster wouldn’t have any sway with patronesses like Lady Jersey. Such confidence could only come from the Duke of Hayworth.

Did he remember who he was?

She gazed at him suspiciously, but the intent look on his face distracted her. He hadn’t lowered his hand. Instead, he slipped it around her head to cradle the back of her skull.

Caro sucked in a breath. His eyes flicked to her lips, and everything inside her tensed in wicked anticipation.

“All this talk of pudding has me craving something sweet,” he murmured. “Do you know what would be sweet?”

She managed a slight shake of her head.

“Kissing you.”

She couldn’t frame a response. Her wits had gone begging.

“Let’s just pretend there’s mistletoe,” he said huskily.

And then he kissed her.

For a full second Caro was so surprised that she didn’t move. And then she melted against him like a candle held too close to the fire. She’d dreamed of kissing him for years, but the reality was better than she’d ever imagined.

His lips were firm, and a little rough. Caro kissed him back, inexpertly, and when his tongue slipped between her lips to tangle with her own, she gave a gasp of delight. She closed her eyes, drowning in the taste, the feel of him. Experimentally, she swirled her own tongue against his, and he groaned deep in his chest. His fingers tightened for a moment against her nape, and then he drew back.

She stared at him, panting and breathless.

“Merry Christmas,” he rasped.

“Merry Christmas.”

He released her head and returned his attention to the fire, as if the earth hadn’t just shifted on its axis.

Caro drew her knees up to her chest and stared blindly into the flames. Her whole body was tingling and she pressed her lips together to stop herself from begging him to do it again. And again. And again.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Max reached behind him into the shelter. “I got you a present.”

Caro lifted her brows. He caught her wrist and pressed something into her palm. “It’s only a stone with a hole in it. I thought you could put it on a necklace or something.”

A pink flush rose on his cheekbones and Caro came to the delightful realization that he was blushing.

“Thank you,” she said solemnly. She closed her fingers around it, as pleased as if he’d presented her with a diamond the size of a robin’s egg. “I’m sorry, I haven’t got anything for you.”

“That’s all right.”

Silence reigned as they shared the lobster, but Caro’s thoughts kept returning to the kiss.

“A penny for your thoughts.”

She jumped at his question and cast around for an entirely different subject. “Do you know, I promised my parents that when we got back to England, I’d start seriously considering my suitors.”

His brows rose.

“But now,” she continued, “even if by some miracle we do get rescued, I doubt I’ll have any suitors to consider. Who’s going to believe I’m still an innocent when I’ve been alone with you for so long? I’ll be completely unmarriageable.”

“You don’t sound particularly distressed by the prospect,” he observed carefully.

“Well, in all honesty, I’m not. It’s not as if I’ve ever met a man I wanted to marry.”

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