The Marriage Merger
Page 17
No, she couldn’t be hearing correctly. He couldn’t possibly be saying what he appeared to be saying. He couldn’t want her, love her. Could he?
“What do you mean, Braden?” It was a tentative whisper, her heart caught up in every word.
He held her apart from him then. The shadows had left his eyes, they gleamed brightly, the blue flecks larger, more intense.
“I’m not very good at saying this, Jenna, I haven’t had any experience, but I love you. I didn’t want to, I was afraid to, but when I finally admitted it to myself it was the most wonderful feeling I’d ever felt. Apart from making love with you.” The look in his eyes told her more than his words. “Making love with you shocked me to the core. No-one, ever, has made me feel the way you do. Marry me, Jenna. Please.”
Now she was truly stunned. He was saying the words she never thought she’d hear, and she couldn’t believe him. The joy that had flooded through her at his words was quickly replaced by doubt.
“But ... you told me ... you were going to make your peace with Veronica.”
He shook his head, and that wayward lock of hair danced onto his forehead. Her heart twisted in her chest and she instinctively reached up and smoothed it back. His skin burned beneath her palm and her body reacted in such an outrageous manner she nearly didn’t listen to his reply.
“When I said I was going to make my peace with someone, I meant my father. After we’d made love and I’d recovered from my shock at not having used protection, I realised that I loved you. I was going to tell you the next evening, and then I nearly lost you.” His face hardened. “I’ll never forgive Veronica for what she did to you. I never knew the woman was so obsessive about me.”
He grimaced. “I realised after I spoke with Ian Barclay that Veronica must have put wine in your drink. After I saw my father I confronted her. Apparently she saw the merger of our two companies as a way of trapping me into constant contact with her that she hoped would lead to marriage. She saw you as an obstacle to that. She reckoned she only put the wine in your drink to make you sick. She didn’t realise just how badly you would react.”
A warm glow swept through Jenna’s body. The concern and caring in Braden’s eyes was balm to all the pain she had suffered. As the realization that he did, indeed, love her, sank into her confused mind she felt a happiness that she had thought would forever be denied her. It bubbled up within her and exploded into a wild euphoric joy.
But there were still loose threads to be tied up.
“So after you left me that morning you went to see your father, not Veronica.”
“I phoned Dad that morning and said I needed to talk to him. He was flying to New Zealand that afternoon so I drove down to Brisbane straight away. I didn’t want to leave you...” his hands cupped her face and he allowed himself one soft, sweet kiss before he reluctantly dragged his lips from hers, “but I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to him while he was away and I hadn’t made things right between us.”
“Oh, Braden, I’m so pleased!”
“So you should be,” he chuckled. “You were right about Dad - he has always loved me, he just didn’t know how to tell me. I guess I didn’t make it easy for him, though.”
His lips returned to hers, his teeth gently nibbling at their softness.
“Marry me, Jenna. A proper marriage. No pre-nuptial agreement, no merger, no contract. All I ask is that you love me and you’ll let me love you for the rest of our lives.”
“Always, my darling,” she whispered as she surrendered to his increasing urgency, his body pressed against hers in mute appeal.
For several minutes she was lost in the ecstasy of loving him and knowing his love in return.
“Braden,” she finally whispered, anxious to have only honesty between them, “there’s something you should know.”
“Nothing,” he breathed as he allowed her to pull slightly away, “will make me change my mind about marrying you.”
Oh, the joy of his words! She took his hand that rested on her cheek and kissed the palm, and felt desire shiver through him. “It might need to be an early wedding.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, his lips slanting back to hers. Her mind started to slide into her body’s non-thinking bliss.
She gave herself a mental shake so she could concentrate on what she needed to say.
“I could be pregnant.”
That stopped him! She watched the dazed expression on his face.
“You mean ...” he faltered.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I wasn’t prepared.”
“That makes two of us! Well, I was hoping we’d give Caitlin some cousins. It just might be a bit sooner than I thought.” He looked suddenly worried. “You don’t mind, do you?”
The smile she gave him was dazzling. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed into his eyes, delighting in the knowledge that he loved her.
“As long as you love me, my happiness is guaranteed,” she said.
“That’s a life-time guarantee, Jenna, my love.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sandy Curtis writes contemporary romance for Ormiston Press’s Lavish Novels line, and is also the author of seven romantic thrillers published in Australia and Germany, two of which have been finalists in the Romantic Book of the Year Award.
Sandy has presented many writing workshops including 10 days teaching creative writing at the University of Southern Queensland McGregor Summer Schools, given library talks, and been a panellist at writers’ festivals.
She is a member of many writing organisations, and has organised the Bundaberg writers festival, WriteFest, since its inception in 2005.
In 2010 she was awarded the Regional Arts Australia Volunteer Award for Sustained Contribution to the arts in regional Queensland, and in December 2012 she was selected by the Queensland Writers Centre to receive the Johnno Award for outstanding contributions to writing in Queensland.
OTHER TITLES
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
No Cure For Love
A Tender Deception
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Dance With The Devil
Black Ice
Deadly Tide
Dangerous Deception
Fatal Flaw
Until Death
Grievous Harm