The Secretary's Secret
Page 17
‘Oh, Alex.’ She cupped his face with her free hand.
‘But I’ve started to realize it doesn’t prove I’m either a bad husband or a bad father. I just wasn’t the right husband for Jacqui. And, if I’m truly honest, she was never the right wife for me. It took a long time for me to realize that because I was so busy counting al the similarities between my grandfather and me. I thought his coldness and bitterness were part of my genetic make-up too. But my mother wasn’t like that.
‘There’s no reason why I have to be like him either. He had choices too. He made the wrong choices.’ His eyes didn’t drop from hers, not once. ‘I don’t have to be like him unless I choose to be. And, Kit—’ his grip tightened about her hand ‘—I’m choosing not to be.’
She stil held his face cupped in her hand and she couldn’t help herself, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his.
He kissed her back—gently, wonderingly and with the same love that had splintered her mind when he’d kissed her at the breakwater that day.
He gripped her by the shoulders and pul ed back.
‘No way! No more of that.’
Her eyes bugged.
He smiled that slow, sexy grin. ‘Until you tel me that you’l be my wife.’ His expression sobered. ‘Kit, I love you more than I ever dreamt it was possible to love another person. I wil spend every single moment of every single day making you and our children happy. I swear.’
Her breath hitched. ‘Children?’
‘I hope so,’ he murmured. ‘You do want more children, don’t you? We’d want brothers and sisters for junior here.’
Through a blur she desperately tried to blink away, she nodded. She wanted children, she wanted the life he’d described. She wanted him. ‘I love you, Alex. You, this baby, this bathroom—’ she suddenly laughed ‘—it’s al I’ve ever wanted. Yes, I wil marry you!’
With a whoop, Alex swung her up and around and kissed her til she could barely breathe. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
She didn’t know how long they stayed like that.
She only knew that it was quite some time—a wonderful, magical, I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening time. Alex rested his forehead against hers. She swore she could stare into those dark eyes of his for al of time. ‘Are you sure this is what you want?’ she whispered. This had been such a hard road for him.
If he needed more time…
‘I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. I’m only sorry it took me so long to come to my senses.
Knowing that I hurt you—’
‘Shh.’ She reached up to brush the frown from his brow. ‘It’s the future we look towards now, not the past.’
He seized her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. ‘Kit, I don’t have much to offer you. I don’t have any family and I’ve only a few friends…’
She smiled then. ‘Alex, I don’t think there’s another bil ionaire on the planet who would ever say that they didn’t have much to offer.’ She took his hand then and pressed a kiss to his palm. ‘I have enough friends and family for us both. We’l make our own family. Alex, al I want is your heart.’
‘It’s yours.’
She went to kiss him again and then stopped, cocked her head to one side. ‘Can you hear that?’
cocked her head to one side. ‘Can you hear that?’
‘Hear what?’ he said, nuzzling the side of her neck.
Mmm. She wrapped her arms around his neck and…
She cocked her head to the side again.
‘Someone is singing in the back garden.’
He lifted his head. ‘They are?’
She took his hand and led him through the house and al the way out to the back door and then stumbled to a halt as four sets of eyes swung to them
—Caro, Frank, Doreen and Davey, who was singing.
‘Wel ?’ Caro demanded.
‘Speak up, lad,’ Frank ordered. ‘Do we al get to dance at your wedding?’
Alex’s grin threatened to split his face in two. Kit’s breath caught. She’d never seen him look so happy.
If she’d had any doubts left about his feelings for her, they’d be gone now. He glanced at her and she nodded.
He held his arms out. ‘You’re looking at the happiest man on the planet. Kit’s agreed to marry me.’
Frank popped a bottle of champagne as Caro and Doreen swamped them in hugs.
‘Ooh, I shouldn’t,’ Kit said when Doreen pressed a glass of champagne into her hand.
‘Tsk! In my day it was considered healthful to take a glass of beer in the evenings. Never did any of us any harm. A thimbleful won’t hurt you any.’
Doreen was right. Her doctor had said the same.
A sip or two wouldn’t hurt her. It was only right they celebrate the happiest day of her life.
‘To Kit and Alex,’ Frank boomed, raising his glass. ‘Many congratulations!’
They al lifted their glasses—even Davey, who had a champagne flute ful of lemonade—and drank.
Kit snagged Caro’s arm. ‘You wil be my bridesmaid, won’t you?’
‘You bet!’ She slanted a grin at Alex. ‘The meat cleaver gets them every time.’
He laughed and kissed Caro’s cheek. ‘Had me shaking in my boots.’
Caro nearly spluttered champagne al over them.
‘Liar!’
She sobered a moment later. ‘Okay, so when are you going to have the wedding? Before or after the baby is born?’
‘After,’ Kit said at the same moment Alex said,
‘Before.’
Caro grinned. ‘Right, so you’ve discussed it then?’
Kit turned to Alex. ‘I thought you might want some time to get used to the idea.’
‘This isn’t some idea, Kit. This is my life—our life.’
He reached out and touched her face with sure fingers that made her breath quicken. His thumb trailed a path down to the corner of her mouth. ‘I know what I want and that’s you and the baby.’
She’d never seen him look more serious in al the time she’d known him. Her chest expanded and she could’ve sworn the only thing keeping her from floating off into the stratosphere and turning weightless somersaults was his hand on her face, with that maddening thumb brushing back and forth at the corner of her mouth. She reached up and seized it before it tempted her to do something that would make her blush.
‘So…’ She kept her eyes fixed on his. ‘Before the baby, then? We’l get married before the baby is born?’
He nodded, his eyes intent. ‘Yes.’
A smile built through her. ‘In the first weekend Mum can make it down to give me away.’
‘Am I rushing you?’ He suddenly frowned.
‘Weddings traditional y take a long time to organise, don’t they?’
She didn’t want him to frown; she wanted him smiling. ‘I’ve never much cared about al the trappings that go along with a wedding. I’d be happy to have the ceremony here in the garden.’
‘Won’t fit,’ Caro said, sipping her champagne.
‘Lovey, you’d be better off at the community hal in your grandmother’s retirement vil age. She can organise one of her luncheons for you.’
Kit glanced up at Alex. ‘What do you think?’
‘Does it mean you’re going to marry me sooner rather than later?’
She grinned. ‘It does.’
His lips descended to hers. ‘Then it sounds perfect to me.’
‘Mmm,’ she murmured against his lips. Perfect was exactly how it sounded.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8208-7
THE SECRETARY’S SECRET
First North American Publication 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Michel e Douglas
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