‘Yes. Yes, yes, yes!’
Jess felt as if her heart had swollen so full of love and joy that it would surely stop beating. All day doubts had nagged at her, but now her fears had been allayed as Gio had laid his own heart on the line for her. Again. Her vision blurred by tears, her fingers shaking so badly she could hardly make them work properly, she did as he encouraged and opened the jeweller’s box.
‘Oh, my,’ she gasped. ‘Gio!’
‘You like it?’ he asked nervously, and she laughed through her tears that he could doubt it.
She gazed down at the gorgeous ring. Set in platinum were three stunning olive apatite stones that exactly matched those in the earrings her grandmother had given her and which she wore every day. The three stones were set on a slight angle with the shoulders of the ring overlapping each side, each sparkling with a row of tiny diamonds. It was the most divine ring she had ever seen. She didn’t dare imagine how much it had cost but it was not the monetary value that mattered, it was that Gio had chosen something so special, with such care, knowing what it would mean to her and giving it to her with love.
‘It’s beautiful,’ she murmured huskily as he took it from the box and set it on her finger. ‘Perfect. Thank you.’
‘You are perfect and beautiful.’
He cupped her face, bestowing on her the gentlest and most exquisite of kisses. Jess sank into him, wrapping her arms around him, wondering how she had ever been lucky enough to know such happiness. As the passion flared between them, healing the past, uniting them heart and soul and full of promise for the future, she gave thanks for this very special man.
‘I love your home,’ Gio told her softly as they lay in bed later that night, replete after the physical expression of their love and togetherness. ‘I feel at peace here,’ he continued, filling her already overflowing heart with new joy as his feelings mirrored her own. ‘Any day the fences will be ready and our menagerie will come home.’
‘I thought maybe you’d arranged for that to be done so I’d leave your house and move back here,’ she admitted softly.
‘No!’ He sounded so shocked she couldn’t help but laugh, secure now in his feelings and her own. ‘That was not why at all,’ he insisted. ‘It was to make you happy but also, selfishly, because I wanted to come here and to care for the animals with you. Can this be our home, fiamma? Can we bring this beautiful shell back to life together and make it ours for ever?’
‘Yes, please!’
Snuggling into his embrace, she smiled into the darkness, knowing that they shared the same vision, not just for this place that would be their home but for their future. However long they were blessed with they would share together. And with the friends and colleagues who had shown them so much support and understanding.
It was not just the cottage that had been a shell that would be brought back to life. She and Gio had been shells, too. They had each been alone, rocked and ravaged by the events that had turned their lives upside down. But fate had brought them together… two people who had needed each other so much. They had found their place. Had found each other. And together they had found the sunshine, new hope and a fresh joy of living.
Safe in Gio’s arms, Jess felt truly at peace, secure in a love, a friendship and a happiness that neither of them had ever expected to know again. They had been granted second chances and they had found their rightful place in this special part of Cornwall.
It had been a difficult journey but, finally, she was where she was meant to be… with Gio.
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 B.V./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 2011
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Harlequin Books S.A. 2011
ISBN: 978-1-408-92385-6
Special thanks and acknowledgement are given to Margaret McDonagh for her contribution to the St Piran’s Hospital series
Table of Contents
Cover
Excerpt
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
Copyright
St Piran's: Italian Surgeon, Forbidden Bride Page 16
