by Sophia James
Like an onion, he thought, and Lucinda was his very centre.
A soulmate. He had never expected one, never believed that after all he had been through he might find such paradise.
Tripping as he walked, he clutched at the stick he needed to use now, a reminder not of his infirmity, but of their survival.
Asher’s arm came out and steadied him. ‘If you get tired, we can go home.’
Tay knew Asher hated these large gatherings and smiled at the hope in his voice. ‘I have promised your sister that I will dance with her.’
‘You feel up to it?’
‘My balance is getting better with each passing week. Doctor Cameron said that soon there will be only a little of the vertigo left.’
‘A lucky escape. It could have been so much worse.’
‘Lucinda could have fallen instead of me.’ Taylen had relived this horror during so many nights that the dread of it was like a familiar stranger walking with him.
‘No, I meant for you, Tay. You could have died.’ Amber eyes looked grave.
‘But instead I found everything I was looking for.’ He gestured to Lucinda and to the Wellingham family all about him.
‘And as Cris said, once we claim someone we keep them for ever.’ Taris added this from behind, and laughter accompanied the group as they walked on to the overcrowded dance floor.
A few hours later Lucinda and Tay lay in bed with moonbeams across their bodies and the winds off Hyde Park making the trees sway as shadows on their walls. Swan the dog lay in his own bed of fur by the window, tucked into sleep. He accompanied them everywhere now, his fearful demeanour changed to one of contentment.
‘I love you,’ Lucinda said softly to her husband, her fingers moving across the skin of his chest and feeling his heartbeat strong and even.
‘And I love you back,’ he replied, the smile in his voice bringing her in further. It was colder tonight and he always felt so very warm. ‘When I found you at the Croxleys’ ball and offered you money for a legitimate Ellesmere heir, I did not realise that it was my heart I was giving away instead.’ He stilled her hand. ‘You have it all, Lucinda, every piece of my love and if anything was to happen to you …’
‘It won’t.’ She turned over and lay across him, his face within the veil of her hair and his worry vanished to be replaced by a look that simply took her breath away.
‘That first time when you came to my room at Alderworth I thought …’ He stopped and swallowed. ‘I thought that you might be the one to save me and I was right, sweetheart.’
‘We saved each other, Taylen, and this child shall be the beginning of a whole new dynasty of Ellesmeres.’
Turning her beneath him, his lips came down across her own, all the magic that she had felt from the very first second of meeting him beginning over again.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
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First published in Great Britain 2013
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Sophia James 2013
eISBN: 978-1-472-00371-3
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Author Note
About the Author
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Copyright
