Suggesting marriage, though, just to solve his problem, was preposterous. That was worth hanging him for. The very idea! No romance involved, not the least bit of courting on his part. Good grief, they’d only shared one kiss together, and that was after he’d proposed!—those kisses she’d fantasized about didn’t count.

But she tried to continue in the same light vein, and staring down the beach with nothing in her view but lush foliage, she said, “When you order up that storm, how about ordering a carriage, too. Or do you think we’re close enough to a town to walk to one?”

“You don’t seem to have much confidence in Tyrus,” he admonished.

“It was just a thought. But we are somewhere along the Spanish coast, aren’t we?”

He shook his head. “Not unless I got seriously turned around in the water. This should be one of the Balearic Islands. I had just sailed past them last night right before you appeared on deck, so I knew which direction to swim in. They aren’t all populated. It looks like this is one that isn’t, though I could be wrong. Most islands, even well-populated ones, can still have long stretches of empty shoreline.”

He leaned to the side to feed a few more twigs to his little fire, and to turn the fish over on its spit. Not seeing anything else lying around other than a pile of dry twigs next to the fire, his shoes drying in the sun, and his jacket tossed over a nearby bush to dry as well, she wondered how he’d obtained a fish for their lunch.

“How did you catch that?”

He chuckled. “I’m not going to pretend I’m an excellent fisherman. It got trapped in that little pool over there when the tide went back out. I found it flopping about in the puddle that was left.”

She saw the indent in the shore he was talking about. There wasn’t much sand there. Dirt and trees had encroached too close to the water, and dirt wasn’t as malleable as sand, so the hole was being further eroded by the tides, rather than filling back in. It was a nice-size fish, probably enough for lunch and dinner. At least they weren’t going to starve while waiting to be found.

“And the fire?” she asked curiously.

He grinned and pulled a small glass lens out of his pocket to show her. “I’ve been carrying this around with me for years now, ever since I watched someone break a spyglass open to hold the lens toward the sun to get a fire started. I found this much smaller version, small enough to barely notice it in my pocket. I figured it might come in handy someday, though, ironically, I almost tossed it away this year, since I never did end up needing to use it and I frequently misplaced it, as small as it is. It’s a good thing I didn’t. I don’t think you would have liked raw fish. Hungry?”

“Not yet.” She smiled. “I rarely am when I first wake up, and I did just wake up.”

Instead of smiling, she thought he actually winced slightly. Odd. Or was she mistaken? But the sun was getting up pretty high. It could even be close to noon already, and she never slept this late.

Come to think of it, how could he possibly have gotten her to shore without her waking? Water would have been splashing in her face, his arm would have been uncomfortably tight around her, pulling her along. Normal sleep couldn’t have survived that much activity. Either she’d drunk more than she remembered last night or hitting the water had indeed knocked her unconscious. She supposed she was lucky to have finally woken up at all.

She realized suddenly that he’d risked his life to save her. He wouldn’t have been able to keep them both afloat for long if he hadn’t found land. And she would have sunk to the bottom, without even knowing she was about to die if he hadn’t jumped in after her. She owed him…

“What?”

She blushed. She’d probably looked quite amazed there for a moment, enough for him to notice.

“Nothing,” she said, glancing down in her lap, then, “Do you see rain on the horizon?”

Oh, God, she didn’t really just give him such a blatant invitation, did she? But maybe he wouldn’t relate her question to his remark about drumming up a storm for her so they could have an affair. And a peek back at him showed he didn’t even look at the sky for storm clouds. There was no need. There hadn’t been a single cloud of any sort in that blue sky and they both knew it.

His eyes did widen, though. He understood perfectly. And now would be the time to tell him she’d been teasing, whether she had been or not. Quickly, before it was too late. But no words came out as she stared at him. Sun sparkled in his golden curls. That intensely sensual look entered his eyes.

He dove at her. She shrieked with laughter as she fell back in the sand, because she’d caught his playful smile. But now his smile was gone as he settled carefully on top of her. So was her laughter. And she was staring up at a man who wanted her so much, he’d made a fool of himself a number of times because of it. God, she could say the same thing about herself. And she was so tired of fighting it…

Chapter Thirty-Five

DAYDREAMING ABOUT KISSING just wasn’t the same as this. While some of those daydreams had actually stirred Katey’s pulse and caused her some private blushes, none of them was comparable to the thrill of really having Boyd’s mouth on hers. Her pulse had started racing even before their lips touched, just in anticipation! And it was such a deep, scintillating kiss. If he didn’t have that lens in his pocket, they could probably have started a fire just from the sparks flaring between them.

It wasn’t all raw passion as she’d worried it would be from him. Close. Indeed, very close. But he was also bringing some nice skill into play that was unexpected. Considering what a powder keg of passion he’d always been around her, and their last stirring kiss, this was a nice surprise. It was as if he were trying to mesmerize her with it and to allay her fears at the same time, to draw her in with a slow seduction of her senses, to make her want to kiss him back, and, oh my, it worked extremely well.

“Don’t wake me. Don’t you dare. I think I would die if I woke right now.”

His voice, and yet she could have said exactly the same thing, she realized. But his mouth had moved across her cheek so it was by her ear that he said that, just before his tongue plunged inside it. She nearly shrieked. Gooseflesh spread down her body so quickly and so powerfully, she tingled everywhere. She did wrap her arms around his neck. Tightly. It felt as if she had to hold on or she would be lost in that maelstrom of sensations he was provoking.

Lips to lips again, he gently sucked on hers and tickled them with his tongue, not intentionally, but her skin everywhere was already getting too sensitive. She pressed her lips more firmly to his, to end the tickles. He must have thought she was trying to increase the tempo when she did that, because the passion he’d miraculously been keeping harnessed was suddenly released. His kiss became voracious, and it sucked her right in to the same steamy vortex.

Having her own passion fired to that degree was mildly alarming, but merely because she hadn’t known she was capable of such passion. She didn’t mind that she was, it was just unexpected. Though with as much as she’d daydreamed about this very thing happening, she shouldn’t have been surprised at all. Nor could she have ordered a nicer setting for her fantasies to come true in. A warm, tropical island with a balmy, ocean-scented breeze just the right temperature for taking off one’s clothes. What more could she have asked for—well, other than a bed, but soft beds were for perfect daydreams. This was real and much more preferable.

And private. There wouldn’t be any doors opening to interrupt them here. That thought was in the back of her mind. Here, only she could interrupt this and she wasn’t about to. That she owed him was merely an excuse. She’d thought about this too often to go on any longer without experiencing it. And there wasn’t anyone else in the entire world that she’d rather experience it with.

He was working on the buttons of her nightgown without breaking their kiss. She wouldn’t even have noticed if the back of his hand hadn’t brushed against her breast. There were too many buttons, of course, because it wasn’t really a nightgown she was wearing but a thin robe that buttoned from neck to feet, one that she preferred because it was so much softer for sleeping in than her cotton gowns.

He’d find that out soon. Would his passion override patience and have him ripping the robe to finish the job? She hoped not, because this robe was all she had to wear for their rescue later. But the thought disappeared as his hand slipped inside what he’d opened so far and caressed her thighs and then moved between them.

Oh, God, she was too sensitized for that! Just the accidental touch against her breast had hardened her ni**les a moment ago. But this, his finger sliding over that kernel of raw sensual pleasure! She jerked. She couldn’t help it, had no control of it! He did it again. She moved again, pressing herself closer to him then pulling back, gasping against his mouth. She thought she could feel his lips forming a smile against hers just before he thrust his finger inside her.

She gasped and went right over the edge. So quickly it happened, it just burst upon her, the most incredible ecstasy that spread out wildly from her loins, throbbing around his finger, draining her slowly, deliciously. She was nearly in shock she was so amazed.

“What was that?” she gasped.

“Just the beginning,” he said as he showered her face with tender kisses.

He stood up to remove his clothes. They weren’t done? Excitement swirled in her belly again. She quickly finished unbuttoning her robe, but kept it on. It would make a nice blanket for them in the sand, she thought before she glanced up and had no more thoughts.

Boyd was standing there na**d, had just dropped his breeches to the ground. Her eyes flared wide. She’d always thought he was a fine figure of a man, too perfect in her eyes, but this was pure magnificence. Long, lean lines delineated by thick muscle. His chest was broad, spread lightly with a mat of golden hair that didn’t travel much below his nipples. His midsection looked so hard there was simply no give or take to it. She thought she could stand on his belly without making a dent. Even his thighs were corded with muscle, thick, strong, there’d be no racing on foot with him! And those arms that had held her, how had he kept from crushing her? His shoulders and arms were so muscular. It was no wonder he wore loose-sleeved shirts. Any tightness there would probably have him splitting seams.

All of that was seen as a whole, but what her eyes locked onto was the shaft that protruded from his loins, the pinnacle of his maleness, and awe was definitely in her voice when she said, “Oh my, that is an amazing appendage.”

He went absolutely still with that statement. Should she not have mentioned it? Was she shocking him too much? She didn’t care. She was too curious not to say anything, and, yes, she was shocked. She hadn’t expected anything like this, especially after she’d recently seen those statues in England, several of them. They had each portrayed that unique part of the male body as so small it was barely noticeable. How misleading! And in comparison, Boyd was monstrous, yet oddly, it didn’t frighten her.

Utterly fascinated by what she was staring at, she even said, “Can I touch it?”

He fell to his knees in front of her with a groan. She took that as a yes. With a single hand at first, she covered the length to feel the texture, silky smooth, warm, supple, and yet hard. Amazing.

She heard him groan again and glanced up to see his eyes hot on her. “That hurt?”

“No,” he choked out.

“Good, because I’m not done.”

She ignored a gurgle in his throat. With both hands now she cupped that long length, forming a steeple with her fingers on either side of it and gently tugging as her palms slid across the velvety surface toward her. She did it again, and again. Each time her fingertips left him, the shaft would sway and bounce about. It bounced against her breast once. She felt scalded by it. But it wasn’t as unyielding as it had seemed at first. Incredibly hard, yes, but it was still malleable.

“You’re killing me.”

She glanced up sharply at him with an accusing frown. “You said it didn’t hurt.”

“It’s not that kind of hurt. My God, Katey, I want you so much I’m going to explode.”

Her expression softened as she said, “Then what are you waiting for?”

He’d been serious. His passion had reached the explosive point. In a mere second she was on her back in the sand again and he unerringly buried himself inside her. She was still wet from her own orgasm, so he slid in as deeply as he needed to go without pausing for anything, including her virginity. But the pain of that breaking was over before she even registered the sharp tear. She was overwhelmed. She held on for dear life. It was the most primitive thing she’d ever done, exploding with such intense pleasure again, before him, so she was still arching up to enjoy that second orgasm to the fullest when he released himself into her.

He fell to the sand beside her, seeming utterly spent, but he had enough strength left to draw her to his side and, with one arm around her, keep her there. Her cheek pressed against his chest, she smiled dreamily, just as exhausted, just as replete, and there was something else she was feeling. Was it happiness? She had no regrets, not a one. She had enjoyed her foray into lovemaking immensely. And she was overly pleased with the man she was curled up against. So maybe it was something as simple as happiness.

Eyes at half-mast, lazily twirling a finger around his chest hair under her hand, she finally took note of where her gaze was directed and her eyes grew wide. That magnificent appendage of his was gone!

She sat up. “Where did it go?”

She was serious. She really didn’t know. Opening his eyes to see what she was accusing him of, Boyd burst out laughing.