Safe in her own bed chamber, Diana's thoughts turned to the incident in the sauna. Her cheeks burned red. She had been so blatant in her perusal of Kal's body. She herself had no shame that he had seen her nude. Brought up as she had been, she was comfortable with nudity and thought nothing of it. So there had been no haste to cover herself or to pull a robe on. Besides, she had not wanted to break the magic of the moment. And had been entranced by the image of Kal bathing in front of her.

'Stop, Diana, pull yourself together,' she scolded herself. But ah, how was she to face him again? Surely she had courage? She was an Amazon, after all.

Taking a deep breath, she walked out of the bedroom to join the others. Maybe if she met Kal in front of the others, it would not be so bad.

Kal, dressed in white and blue robes (provided, no doubt by her mother) and Hipployta were talking quietly as they played chess. Diana frowned as her mother whispered something to Kal and he bent his head close to hers to catch the words and then laughed out loud. They seem too cosy together, too close for comfort. Whatever were they talking about?

As she crossed the room, Kal's gaze slipped to hers for the briefest of moments. Was that a smile breaking at the edges of his mouth?

Hyper aware of his presence, Diana pushed her feelings deep as they would go, hoping that in doing so, she wouldn't make a fool of herself. Luckily, her inward reactions to being in such close proximity to him were invisible to all but herself.

'Cassie has arrived, and Donna and she have gone to meet Artemis,' Hipployta said, just as Diana reached them and took a seat next to her mother. 'Kal agreed to play chess with me, and I think that he will lose this round,' she continued. She picked up a carved game piece from the board and placed it such that Superman was bound to lose five moves from now. Diana knew her mother had an unfair advantage, she had been playing chess for centuries.

Diana was grateful for the game just now. Anything to keep her thoughts in line – which were still wandering to image in the sauna. Even now, a vision of Kal, naked and sweating, flashed across her mind.

'Wow, my luck's really in today,' murmured an admiring voice. He was a young man of about nineteen, with an untidy mop of blond hair and mischievous green eyes, wearing the customary jeans and thick jacket, holding a sprig of mistletoe above her head.

Startled out of her preoccupation with Superman, Diana was shocked completely out of her reverie to see a young man she did not know, who she could not believe was on Paradise Island, let alone who looked as if he had every intention of kissing her.

'I don't think so,' Superman drawled softly who had stood up and come round the table to stand next to Diana, who was looking askance at both of them now.

An irritated green gaze was turned on the older man who stood so commandingly at Diana's side. The two gazes clashed challengingly but, whatever it was the younger man read in Superman's eyes, he looked disappointed rather than rebellious when he turned back wistfully towards Diana.

Then his expression brightened suddenly. 'Well, there's no reason why the mistletoe shouldn't be put to good use.' And he held the green sprig with its creamy berries over Diana's and Superman's heads, his intention obvious as he looked at them expectantly.

Diana was too embarrassed by the action to even glance at Superman.

How in Aphrodite's name were they going to get out of this one, and with her mother sitting there, looking at them curiously?

The idea of the two of them actually kissing each other was unthinkable!

'I—'

'It is Christmas, Diana,' Superman reminded her softly, the firmness of his lips softening into a smile as her mouth fell open in surprise at his remark.

The fact that her mouth had fallen open made the brief brushing together of lips that the kiss should have been, virtually impossible, their mouths melding together in a kiss that took Diana's breath away.

Superman was actually kissing her, was standing here in front of her mother and kissing her! It was unreal. Incredible. Beautiful. Wonderful…

And over much too soon.

She swayed dizzily, her mouth still raised in vitingly as Superman straightened, his eyes warm on her, looking for all the world as if he hadn't just shattered Diana's control.

'Great,' cried the young man. 'Well done, my name is Marlon, and I'm a friend of Cassie's.' That explained it. Marlon was dating Cassie, and being a member of the Teen Titans, probably knew who Superman and Wonder Woman were, even without their costumes. But that did not explain what he was doing here playing pranks with the mistletoe.

"I invited him here with Cassie,' her mother supplied helpfully, breaking into Diana's thoughts.

Marlon beamed at the two victims of his pranks, having no idea of the turmoil he had just created, then moved around them quickly to occupy the seat Superman had vacated. 'Cool, chess, oh man, that's a losing position, but let's play, Your Majesty!'

Hippolyta smiled at her daughter and Superman, before she turned her attention back to Marlon and the chess board.

The focus was no longer on the two of them, and yet Diana couldn't speak. Her lips still felt the touch of Superman's, firm and oh, so sensual lips.

She was breathing hard, her fingers still clinging onto his arm and she slowly forced her grip to relax as Superman looked down at her enquiringly.

'I—' She moistened dry lips. 'I'm sorry about that.'

'It doesn't matter,' he dismissed shrugging. 'It didn't hurt.'

It took a couple of minutes for Diana to re alize he was talking about her nails digging into his arm, and not the kiss! Of course, it would not hurt the man of steel!

How could he just carry on as if nothing un usual had happened, when to her it had been the single most breathtaking experience of her life? Because he wasn't in love, she acknowl edged heavily.

But, whatever she had thought of the in timate side of his life during the past few years, the kiss he had given her had been that of an expert, practised and assured. And she was left wondering who he had done the practising with!

'You didn't mind what happened just now, did you?' Superman had turned and seen her frowning expression. 'I thought it would cause less embarrassment to all concerned if we just humored Marlon.'

Of course he had; he certainly hadn't wanted to lose an opportunity to kiss her, he thought ruefully.

'I realised as much.' She nodded abruptly.

'Should we take a walk? I can show you around Paradise Island,' she murmured brightly. Anything to get away from her mother's knowing eyes.

He looked at con sideringly, his eyes a deep blue between thick, dark lashes. 'Certainly.'