by Susan Napier
‘W-what did your parents say?’
He sat up, the sheet dipping dangerously in his lap, his faint smile fading as he said, choosing his words carefully, ‘They’re my parents, Vanessa. I may not like them very much sometimes but they’ll always be my parents. If you’re going to be a permanent part of my life then they’ll be a permanent part of yours, and we’ll have to learn to deal with them together. But last night I had to let them run out of steam before I had any hope of getting them to listen. I know from bitter experience that trying to argue with them point by point only lets them control the confrontation. So they stated their ignorant misconceptions, and afterwards I set them straight. I told them that I loved you. That if it came to forcing me to choose between them and you, you would always win. They probably won’t speak to us for a couple of years after we’re married—in fact, if we’re lucky, for more than a couple of years—but I’m their only son and I doubt if they’ll risk cutting the ties completely...’
Vanessa’s eyes were dark with anguished desire. He was talking about permanency...about loving her. About marriage...as if they both knew they were foregone conclusions. ‘The things they said— When you told me to be quiet, let me go like that, I thought—’
‘I told Lacey to leave, too,’ he interrupted flatly. ‘There were some things that I needed to say to them in private—old scores to settle, you might say, and some ground-rules to lay for the future. They won’t ever speak to you or of you like that again.’ He sighed. ‘I suppose I should have realised that any mention of the fatal word “scandal” was bound to spook you badly. My only excuse is that at the time I was so euphoric that you had trusted me enough to mention love that it never occurred to me that you would suffer another crisis of faith so soon afterwards...’
‘I—you just looked so shocked when I said it—’
‘I was. I couldn’t believe it was so easy. I knew I could make you feel passion, and I was using that for all I was worth, but I didn’t think that I had yet impressed you sufficiently to winkle your heart out of its tight little refuge...’
‘Oh, I found you very impressive!’ Vanessa teased, suddenly brimming with confidence as she ran her hand down the centre of his chest to his navel, and below to where his skin began to pale. ‘Arrogant, but extremely impressive.’ Her fingertips dipped under the sheet.
He sucked in his belly with a savage hiss. ‘Brazen hussy,’ he said thickly, reaching out to cup her breasts and massage the stiffened nipples. ‘No wonder you create a scandal wherever you go. You won’t have to inject me with anything lethal, darling; just keep on doing what you’re doing with that hand and I’ll have a little death all on my own...’
He had thrown out the metaphors deliberately, but Vanessa’s radiance remained undimmed. Her certainty that she was loved gave her the security to laugh at her former fears. Her eyes gleamed with wicked, sultry knowledge as she chuckled huskily. ‘Is that your idea of trying to desensitise me?’
He groaned, his hips arching off the bed, thrusting himself into her hand. ‘I think it’s me who needs desensitising. I meant to take it very slow with you that first time because I was afraid of hurting you, but then you were so damned responsive, I got carried away. I was afraid you might think I was no better than that bastard who hurt you...that you were disappointed...’
‘It all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to be disappointed,’ said Vanessa, so blandly reassuring that for a moment he took her seriously and looked deeply chagrined.
Then his smile was every bit as sultry as hers as he kicked off the sheet and pulled her full-length on top of him. ‘You know, Goldilocks, you haven’t said you’ll marry me yet; maybe I should threaten to withhold my favours until you agree.’
‘If you do I’ll haunt you,’ Vanessa said huskily, wriggling experimentally and making them both shudder.
‘Oh, yes, please...’ He groaned expressively. They both laughed and he kissed her. ‘We’ll live at Whitefield, shall we? You running the hotel and me designing eccentric little houses. And who knows? Maybe...’ He stopped suddenly and his eyes flickered. He nudged her nose with his. ‘Nessa...remember how I teased you in the restaurant about being pregnant...?’
‘Yes.’ She knew what was coming and turned her face into his chest to smile. A few weeks ago, even an hour ago, it could have been a potential tragedy; now it was a symbol of the joy they would share in the years to come.
‘I—er—when we...in the library... I know this was incredibly irresponsible...but I forgot to, you know...’
She was tempted to tease him for his unaccustomed coyness but she regarded him with tender brown eyes instead, watching an insufferable smugness settle over his beloved features as she said pertly, ‘I suppose I had better agree to marry you, then. It wouldn’t do to add illegitimacy to all the scandal I’m bringing down on the Savage family.’
‘The only scandal around here, Nessa, darling, is that I love you so much I’m going to disgrace myself if you don’t let me demonstrate it right now...’
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8461-6
Savage Courtship
Copyright © 1994 Susan Napier
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