The Passionate Lover

by Carole Mortimer

  She nodded, not taking her eyes off Kyle, so bemused by seeing him in this state that she didn't quite know what to say. She needn't have worried about that, Kyle had plenty to say for all of them!

  'I didn't intend upsetting her,' he bit out with the preciseness of a person who has had too much to drink. 'I came to bring her these,' he held up the flowers, several of the stems bent or actually broken. 'Oh,' he frowned down at them. 'I must have sat on them in the cab,' he murmured dazedly.

  'They're lovely, Kyle,' she hurried forward to take the flowers from him. 'Thank you.'

  'That isn't all,' he spoke loudly. 'I came to tell you that I don't care if you're the richest woman in the world, I want to be your—your consort.'

  She stopped trying to pull him to the privacy of the office, looking up at him dazedly. Had he really said what she thought he had. 'Kyle…?'

  'I want to marry you,' the grey eyes were suddenly focused on her with deep intensity. 'I came to London with the intention of doing just that,' his voice had lowered now, the enormity of his declaration seeming to have sobered him somewhat. 'I love you, Shelby. Will you marry me?'

  'Yes,' she answered without hesitation.

  He looked taken aback. 'Really?'

  'Really,' she nodded.

  'I don't want any of your money, you know,' he told her as several of the people closest to them began to clap, having heard the proposal.

  'As of this morning there isn't that much money,' she assured him as they moved towards the back of the salon. He frowned his puzzlement. 'There isn't?'

  'No,' she smiled.

  'Did you spend it all?' he asked indulgently.

  Her smile widened. 'Not quite,' she drawled. 'Jenny could you get us some coffee, please? Black,' she added pointedly.

  'With pleasure,' Jenny nodded, closing the office door firmly behind them.

  'She doesn't like me,' Kyle muttered as he almost fell on to the sofa, his eyes closed.

  'She doesn't know you,' Shelby told him soothingly, taking off his shoes before putting his feet up on the sofa to make him more comfortable.

  He grimaced. 'Meaning she'll love me when she does.'

  Shelby sat back on her haunches. 'I didn't say that…'

  'My head aches,' he groaned, a hand over his eyes.

  'Just relax,' she soothed again.

  'We have to talk—'

  'We can do that later,' she quietened him. 'Just lie back and rest.'

  He was fast asleep by the time Jenny arrived with the tray of coffee, Shelby inviting her inside anyway.

  'I think we're the ones who could do with the coffee,' she said ruefully as she poured two cups.

  Jenny looked over at the sleeping man, his face still flushed from the alcohol he had consumed. 'Are you really going to marry him?' she murmured.

  Shelby nodded. 'If he asks me again when he's sober.' And that was something she wasn't sure he would do. The mere fact that he was drunk was completely out of character for him, so his proposal could be too, something he would deeply regret when he sobered up.

  'Do you think he will?' Jenny quietly echoed her troubled thoughts.

  'I don't know. But I hope so.'

  'The salon is buzzing with talk of his proposal, and everyone wants to know who he is.'

  'He certainly livened the place up,' she agreed ruefully.

  'That's one way of putting it,' her friend agreed dryly. 'Do you intend going back to Montana with him if he does repeat his offer of marriage?'

  'If he does repeat it, yes,' she nodded unhesitatingly. 'After all, I have a very able assistant who is more than capable of managing things for me here.'

  'That's true,' Jenny smiled, standing up. 'How long do you think it will be before he wakes up?'

  They both looked over at the sleeping Kyle, Shelby's heart contracting painfully at how vulnerable he looked, his face flushed, his hair falling untidily across his forehead. 'Anyone's guess,' she grimaced. 'I'm sure this must be a first for him.'

  'The proposal or the drunkenness?'

  'Both!'

  The afternoon passed into early evening, and still Kyle slept on. Not that Shelby minded that, she wanted him stone-cold sober when he did wake up. She needed to know exactly what had prompted him to come to the salon this afternoon. Had he telephoned Kenny and found out the truth, or had he come to see her anyway, still believing her to be a rich widow? Not that she thought for a moment that he was interested in the money, she knew him well enough to be sure of that, but she still wondered how he was going to react when she told him what she had done. And there was also the baby to explain. She was unsure of his reaction to that too!

  'I'm off now,' Jenny came in to tell her just after six. 'Everything is locked up.'

  'Thanks,' she nodded.

  Jenny raised blonde eyebrows at the still-sleeping man. 'Shouldn't you wake him?'

  The truth of it was that she was reluctant to do so. While he slept she could cling to the fact that he had told her he loved her and asked her to marry him. But she knew that a wide-awake, sober Kyle could regret and retract every word he had said.

  The sound of their voices seemed to have penetrated his sleep, and he stirred restlessly.

  'I'll see you tomorrow,' Jenny said, making a quick departure.

  Shelby could understand her haste to be gone after the slanging match she had had with Kyle earlier; she was more than a little uncertain herself what sort of mood he was going to be in when he did wake up.

  'God…!' he groaned weakly as he tried to sit up, pushing back the coat she had draped over him. He looked about him dazedly, his face pale now as he focused on Shelby sitting across the room from him, the desk-lamp their only illumination. 'Shelby?' he questioned slowly.

  She didn't get up, feeling more confident behind the desk. 'How do you feel?'

  'Awful!' He rubbed his aching temples, suddenly looking up at her frowningly. 'And as if I made a bloody fool of myself,' he added questioningly.

  Her expression softened. 'Everyone is entitled to one drunken binge in their lifetime.'

  He winced as she didn't refute his claim. 'Not here, and in front of all those people.'

  ' "Those people" enjoyed the floor-show immensely!'

  Kyle grimaced at the description. 'And how about you, did you enjoy it too?'

  He seemed almost wary, and her own reply was just as guarded. 'It was—interesting.'

  'I'll bet it was,' he muttered, swinging his legs to the floor as he sat round, his elbows resting on his knees as he cradled his aching head in his hands. 'What did I say?'

  'You don't remember?' she delayed.

  'I—God, yes,' he moaned as it all came back to him. 'I must have embarrassed the hell out of you!'

  She shook her head. 'Not really.'

  'How not really?' he looked at her with narrowed eyes.

  She shrugged. 'I was so surprised to see you— like that, that I didn't really feel anything else.'

  'Not even when I asked you to marry me?' he rasped.

  The colour darkened her cheeks. 'That surprised me most of all.'

  Kyle stood up, moving restlessly about the room, frowning as he looked out of the window. 'What time is it?'

  'About six-thirty.'

  'How long was I out?'

  'Three hours or so,' she shrugged.

  'No wonder I have a headache,' he bit out. 'Well headache or not, we have to talk. I meant everything I said to you this afternoon,' he looked at her intently.

  'Can you remember exactly what you did say?' she asked guardedly.

  'Yes,' he still held her gaze. 'I do love you, and I want to marry you.'

  Her breath left her body in a relieved sigh. 'Then you must remember my answer,' she said huskily.

  He nodded. 'But I'd still like to hear it again.'

  She chewed on her bottom lip for several minutes, not answering him. 'Did you talk to Kenny after you left here this morning?'

  'Kenny?' he asked dazedly. 'What does he have to do with this?'


  'Did you?' she persisted.

  'No, I didn't,' he answered impatiently. 'And I don't intend to either. Shelby, I stayed in Montana for almost three months after you left me, if I had wanted to talk to him I would have done so then. I'm not interested in anything he has to tell me.'

  'I didn't leave you,' she corrected. 'I came home.'

  'It amounts to the same thing,' he dismissed.

  'Not at all. If you had once asked me to stay I would have done.'

  'Even then?'

  'Even then,' she nodded.

  'Then I wish to God I had, because the time I've been without you has been pure hell,' he bit out.

  'It's been the same for me.'

  'You love me?'

  'I have for some time,' she confirmed huskily. 'I realised it when you came back from looking for Kenny and Wendy. I would never have had an affair with you if I hadn't.'

  Kyle came round the desk to pull her effortlessly into his arms. 'Will you marry me?'

  Curved against the hardness of his body as she was it was difficult not to fling herself into his arms and tell him that of course she would marry him. But they still had so much to talk about before she could commit herself.

  She pulled out of his arms, moving a short distance away. 'I have to talk to you about Gavin before I answer that question—'

  'I don't give a damn about your first husband,' he dismissed with his usual impatience. 'Oh I know I reacted badly this morning, that I even got drunk because of it, but it did come as a shock to realise just how rich you are.'

  'Were you hoping to bribe me into marriage with the ranch as bait?' she mocked.

  'If I had to,' he admitted grimly. 'It threw me when I got here yesterday and realised you owned this place, finding out you were Gavin O'Neal's widow made me realise you didn't need me for anything.'

  'But I do,' she contradicted earnestly. 'I need you very badly. But there are some things about Gavin and myself that I think you should be aware of.'

  'Then tell me,' he encouraged softly.

  She did so, haltingly at first, and then more quickly, as if to get it over and done with. 'So you see,' she concluded breathlessly, 'if I marry again I forfeit Gavin's money.' She looked at him intently.

  'Which is why Kenny changed his mind about marrying you,' Kyle realised grimly.

  His astuteness warmed her. 'Yes,' she nodded. 'Although if you asked him he was going to tell you I changed my mind because I found out he didn't own half the Double K. He told me he did, you see,' she explained at Kyle's puzzled expression.

  'When did he threaten you with that?' he rasped.

  'When he got back from Las Vegas and realised something had happened between us.'

  'A black eye was too lenient,' Kyle bit out furiously. 'I'll kill him when I get back!'

  She shrugged. 'As long as you believe that I didn't just think I was marrying another rich man it isn't important.' She looked at him uncertainly.

  'Shelby, one thing I learnt about you in Montana, and that I was blind to this morning, is that you're scrupulously honest,' he told her gently. 'I'm sure you wouldn't have married Kenny for any other reason than that you thought you loved him. God, you were giving up a fortune to marry the young idiot,' he rasped disgustedly. 'He didn't realise how lucky he would have been! Will you mind giving it up to marry me, because I can't settle for anything less than a lifetime commitment from you?'

  'I've already given it up.'

  He frowned. 'You have?'

  'Kyle, when did you know you loved me?'

  'What does that have to do—'

  'Just tell me,' she encouraged throatily. 'It's important.'

  For a moment he just continued to look at her, and then he shrugged. 'At the cabin,' he answered bluntly. 'Away from the ranch you didn't seem to be the woman Kenny had described. I found myself liking you in spite of myself. The snowball fight we had was the most lighthearted fun I'd had in years,' his expression softened, 'and I could tell you enjoyed it too. But I didn't want to make love to you, felt as if I was taking advantage of the situation and you. But when I saw you naked in front of the fire that night I couldn't stop myself. And it was the most erotic and beautiful experience of my life.'

  That was what Shelby had wanted to know, what she had most wanted to hear!

  'Until the next day when I realised I had made love to a very sick woman,' he added hardly.

  'It wasn't like that!'

  'It was,' he insisted flatly.

  'It wasn't,' she went to him then, her arms up about his neck. 'I knew exactly what I was doing, that night, and when you came back from Las Vegas.'

  His arms tightened about her. 'You'll never know how much it cost me to let you leave after the time we had shared together.'

  'You seemed cheerful at the airport,' she accused with remembered pain.

  'Only because you did. You seemed to want to go home,' he said gruffly. 'And after all that had happened I had no right to try and stop you.'

  'You had the best right in the world,' her lips caressed his jaw. 'Kyle, when do Kenny and Wendy expect their baby?' she murmured against his throat.

  'Just before Christmas,' he answered in a puzzled voice. 'But what—'

  'Then you're going to be a father first,' she told him softly.

  He was justifiably startled. 'A father?' His gaze moved questioningly over her stomach. 'I thought there was something different about you…!'

  'And I thought you hadn't cared enough to notice,' she pouted up at him.

  'I noticed. But I— Is this the reason you're giving up your husband's money?' he frowned.

  'I haven't given up anything,' she chided softly. 'Because I never considered it mine in the first place.' She explained how she hadn't touched a penny of the money since Gavin died. 'And I'm so glad you feel the way you do about our time at the cabin, because that's when our baby was conceived.'

  'Could it be any other way?' he groaned gruffly, kissing her with a gentleness that bordered on reverence.

  'You don't mind that we're going to have a family straight away?' she voiced her last doubt when she could get her breath.

  He shook his head, a deep glow in his eyes. 'I'd like four or five girls—and all of them just like their mother.'

  She smiled her relief. 'I think you could be biased.'

  'One hundred per cent!' he agreed huskily before he began to kiss her again and they forgot everything but the present moment.