Page 58 of A Merry Irish Christmas
‘You’re up early,’ she said as she went to the fridge. ‘Considering you have absolutely nothing to do today but grump along the beach and veg out on the sofa.’
‘I was starving when I woke up.’ He took off his glasses and closed the book.
‘Me too.’
‘Besides, I’ve got a big day of grinching around ahead of me. I wanted to get an early start.’
Mary laughed. She made herself a mug of tea and joined him at the counter.
‘There’s some of your mom’s soda bread in the toaster.’ He nodded to it. ‘Help yourself.’
‘Isn’t that yours?’
‘You can have it,’ he said, standing up as the toaster popped. ‘I’ll do more.’ He put two slices on a plate and handed it to her.
‘Thanks.’
‘Fair warning, though – this is the last of it,’ he said as he cut two more slices. ‘We’re going to have to ration it.’
‘No need for that.’ She shrugged. ‘I can always make more.’
‘You canmakethis stuff?’
‘Yeah. It’s easy.’
‘Have bakers been holding out on us all this time? I thought bread making was supposed to be really tricky.’
‘Not soda bread. It’s the easiest thing in the world.’ She took a big bite.
‘How does the rest of the world not know about this?’
‘It’s our best-kept secret.’ She smiled. ‘But I can show you, if you like.’
‘You would?’ He grinned. ‘That would be awesome.’
‘You can amaze your friends when you’re back in New York.’
‘Great! I’m putting it on the chart.’ He picked a pen up from the worktop and Mary watched as he added ‘bread-making class’ to both halves of the day. ‘Now you can’t back out.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’
When he’d buttered his toast, he sat beside her at the counter.
‘How are you enjoying the book?’ She noticed he was already almost halfway through.
‘It’s great! But was there really so much boning in those days?’
Mary shrugged. ‘Probably not as much as Carmel likes to imagine, but I guess there was more than you’d think. Peoplewere just more discreet about it. It was all on the down-low, behind closed doors.’
He nodded. ‘No sex tapes…’
‘No Instagram. No Pill either, remember, so it was a much riskier endeavour.’
‘I don’t get why everyone’s so hot for this duke, though. I mean, I get that he’s rich and handsome and all that. But he’s kind of an asshat.’
‘He’s a total asshat.’
‘And womenlikethat?’ He frowned.
