* * *
Their meal over, and confident Izzie and Luke would remain on the couch in the family room for the next hour or so while they watched a film and ate popcorn, Marcus and Jodie slipped into the adjoining sitting room with conspiratorial smiles.
“Why do I feel like I’m doing something wrong in my own house,” Marcus whispered as he sank down into a recliner and pulled her onto his lap.
She grinned at him. “Because this is how it all started, remember?”
“You mean that weekend in London when all you’d let me do was snatch a few moments with you when Izzie and Luke weren’t looking?”
“Mmm…and I refused to come to your bedroom even though I was sure it was the only reason you’d invited us to stay with you.”
“It was not! It was so we could get to know one another better.” Even to Marcus’ ears, his protest had a hollow ring, and soon they were laughing at the memory. As always though, it was laughter that quickly settled into something else as their lips touched and their bodies ignited into a familiar passion.
Eventually, with a groan of frustration, Marcus settled her more comfortably on his lap. “Unless you want me to disgrace myself right here, just lie still.”
Searching for somewhere to rest her head she found it in the angle between his arm and his shoulder and relaxed into it with a sigh. “You started it.”
“So I did but that was before I remembered how long it is until Luke and Izzie go to bed!”
* * *
Much later, when all the windows were in darkness, they walked together across the garden to the horse therapy centre that stood next to Marcus’ studio, and which was now such an integral part of their home. The scatters of stars were pinpoints in the midnight blue of the sky and for one brief moment the silence was absolute. Then it was broken by familiar night sounds: the occasional complaint of a roosting bird; the rush of wings as an owl flew overhead; the snorts and grunts of resting horses. Listening to the rustle of straw, the occasional whinny, the sound of a heavy body accidentally knocking against a stable door, Jodie gave a sigh of contentment.
Marcus smiled down at her. “This is where your heart truly belongs, isn’t it?”
“Only if you’re here too.”
“Well I’m not going anywhere…not even to California in the foreseeable future. Writing songs and arrangements for Izzie’s next tour is taking up all of my time these days.”
Jodie didn’t answer until she had checked all the horses and given Buckmaster one last pat on the long blaze of white on his forehead. Then, with the doors to each stable securely locked behind her, she turned back to Marcus, slipped her arms around his neck and raised herself up on tiptoe so she could kiss him.
“Thank you.”
“For what? For bullying you into marrying me?”
She laughed. “Yes…and for helping Izzie to realize her dream…and for forgiving me for having such a bad temper…and for making me see there’s nothing wrong with giving up a little bit of independence if you love someone …but most of all, for this. You’ve helped me do something I didn’t even know I wanted to do before I met Luke. To be able to concentrate on horse therapy full time without having to worry about livery charges and riding lessons and all those other things that kept the riding school afloat…it’s a dream come true. I wake up every morning and pinch myself to check it’s real.”
He returned her kiss with force. “And here I was hoping it was all about me.”
“It is! It is! You know it is Marcus…always and forever.” Then her laughing protestations were lost as his arms tightened around her again until they became a single black shadow against the bright backdrop of the moon; and soon their own sighs were added to the small sounds of the night.
The End
Click the links below to purchase Books 2 and 3
When Path’s Meet Trilogy
Book 2: Finding Bella Blue
Book 3 – Saving Katy Gray
Also from Books We Love by Sheila Claydon
Kissing Maggie Silver
Double Fault
Reluctant Date
Cabin Fever
http://Bookswelove.net
About the Author
Born and brought up in the south of England, Sheila has lived and worked in the UK all her life. She had several books published in the 1980s, but then a busy job and family life got in the way and she stopped writing fiction for more than 20 years. Now she has time to write again she identifies with the author Ray Bradbury, who said ‘First, find out what your hero wants. Then just follow him.’ Plot, Chapter outlines, characterization; she knows all the rules and faithfully follows them each time she starts to write a new book…then her hero takes over...
Lucky enough to have done a lot of travelling she also frequently sets her stories in exotic places so, as her website says, reading her books is a ‘ticket to romance.’
Sheila’s earlier books were published under the pseudonym Anne Beverley. Now she is considerably older and no long shy, she writes under her own name. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted on her website at http://sheilaclaydon.com where all her books are listed, and where she also writes a blog.
Mending Jodie's Heart (When Paths Meet Book 1) Page 20
