Page 151 of Snowbound Surrender

He shrugged, winking at her. “I jest.”

“I know.”

“Here,” he said, breaking their joined gaze, reaching down to scoop up a spoonful of pudding. He held it up toward her.

“While I have never had a Christmas feast as it were, every Christmas since I was a boy, Cook would ensure this was our dessert on Christmas Day. It’s unlike anything you have ever tasted before, I promise.”

“I’m not sure…” she said, as she had been eyeing the gingerbread.

“You must try the pudding,” he insisted, and he looked so eager she finally gave in.

“Fine,” she said with a sigh, reaching out to take the spoon from him.

“Ah, ah, no, allow me,” he said, bringing the spoon to her lips. She opened wide for him, and his eyes sparked with undisguised desire. She hadn’t time to digest the thought, however, as the pudding touched her tongue.

“Oh!” she said, bringing her napkin to her lips. “That is … that is…”

“Vile?” he finished, his words dissolving into a chuckle. “Yes, Cook has always had trouble with that particular recipe.”

“Oh, you … you…” She swatted his arm, and he laughed even harder.

“Have you run out of names for me? Ah, the look on your face right now,” he said, mirth overcoming him.

She shook her head, narrowing her eyes at him. “That was rather unkind.”

“It was worth it.”

“Time for your own bite.”

“Good Lord, no.”

“Tell you what,” she said with a grin. “I challenge you to a game of billiards. Whoever loses must eat the rest of the pudding.”

He cocked his head to the side, and Scarlett was sure he was currently underestimating her.

“Very well,” he said with a nod. “This should be fun.”

Oh, she didn’t doubt that. Her husband was in for a surprise.

He pushed his chair back from the table, before helping her from her own seat and taking the tray with him as he led her into the adjoining billiards room. A small yet cheery fire was the only light in the well-proportioned room, though the footman hurried in behind them to stoke the fire and light a few of the sconces that lined the wall. The flames flickered across the beautiful Gobelins tapestries that lined the room, their bright colors transporting the two of them to another world, a world beyond these walls or this country. Scarlett loved this room and had spent more time in here over the past few months than she would care to admit to Hunter, for then he would be aware that he might not so easily best her in a game of billiards.

Hunter placed the tray on a side table, from which he filled a glass with amber liquid, holding it out to her first. She walked over to him, her swishing skirts the only sound in the room besides the crackle of the fire.

She took a hearty sip from the glass and passed it back, before removing two cue sticks from the wall. She gave one toHunter, who set down the drink and arranged the balls in their correct place in the middle of the red velvet tabletop.

“Ladies first,” he said, and she made a play of nearly missing the white cue ball.

“Oh, dear,” she said distressingly, “It seems I am out of practice.”

“Not to worry,” he said reassuringly as he came around the table. “You’ll pick up on it, I’m sure.”

He easily sank five of his balls before finally missing one. Scarlett picked up her cue stick once more.

“Here,” he said, looking at her with an easy grin, one she knew was sympathetic to her apparent plight. “Allow me.”

He came around behind her, his arms encircling her as his warm hands covered hers. She had removed her gloves when they came into the house, for which she was glad as she enjoyed the feeling of his big warm hands on hers.

“Back and forth,” Hunter said softly in her ear as he moved the cue with her. She shivered as his breath brushed across her neck, his body moving with hers, and heat suffused her, which had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.