‘Of course.’ I rummaged around in my handbag for a notepad and pen, wrote out my email address and mobile phone number – neatly, so he would be able to read them – and tore out the page. ‘Here. Oh, and I forgot to say that I’m heading to London at the end of this trip – my sister lives there, and I’m staying with her for a week.’

He returned my smile, obvious delight in his eyes. ‘That, lovely Sarah, is wonderful news.’

‘I think so, too.’

We arrived at the end of the pier, and I stopped and turned to him. ‘This is me,’ I said.

He took both of my hands in his and lifted them to his lips, kissing them in turn. ‘I still cannot believe you were at dinner tonight. It was a lovely surprise.’

‘And after I recovered from the shock, it was a lovely surprise for me too. Thank you for taking me to Armando’s – I had fun with you crazy Europeans.’ He laughed.

And then he stopped laughing and looked at me with those ridiculously sexy eyes. ‘I’m going to kiss you now.’

‘You’d better,’ I replied as I slid my hands around his neck and stood on my tiptoes. The kiss was incredible – slow, sexy, strong. He really knew what he was doing. But, then again, so did Josh. Josh was a great kisser – which was wonderful, but not something I wanted to be thinking about while kissing the silver fox. I pushed the unwelcome thought away and sunk back into the kiss I was in.

We pulled apart, and I think I may have purred a little.

‘Goodnight, beautiful. I hope to see you in London.’

‘Goodnight,’ I said dreamily as I turned and walked back to the boat.

Chapter Eleven

I wasn’t wearing my watch, so when I arrived back at the boat I had no idea what time it was – late, I guessed. I crossed the gangplank cautiously. I didn’t want to fall between the boat and the dock for two reasons – I wanted to avoid drowning, and I didn’t want to wake the family. I made it across without doing either, stepping onto the deck of the boat as lightly as I could.

‘Hey,’ came a soft voice from the top deck of the boat. Josh was silhouetted against the moonlight.

‘Hey,’ I replied just as softly. Had he been waiting up for me? I remembered thinking earlier in the night that he might, but still, it surprised me.

‘Fun night?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’ I didn’t know what else to say. Had he seen me at the end of the pier with James? Oh god! Did he see the kiss?

A moment went by in silence – a big, fat moment. ‘Goodnight,’ I said, for want of anything better to say. I was still basking in the euphoria of kissing James.