by Isobel Chace
‘Your fate was sealed when I first saw you. There you were, my little houri come to life and so much more of everything than the picture I knew so well on the wall. I determined then and there that you were going to be mine, no matter what I had to do to persuade you. We will get married with as much pomp and ceremony as I can contrive, because nothing less will do for me either!’
‘Can we get married in Jordan—just like that?’ she asked.
His hands slid down her shoulders to the small of her back and she trembled beneath his touch. It was only slowly that she realised he was less confident of her than she had supposed, and she thought she would never love him more than at that moment.
‘Actually,’ he said, ‘I thought we might get married in Devon. Your mother is there and can make all the arrangements, which is something she’ll want to do for you, don’t you think? We could fly back here for our honeymoon. Would you mind very much? Lucasta—’
Marion came back to earth with a bump. ‘Where is Lucasta?’ she demanded.
Gregory looked embarrassed, but he hid it well. ‘She’s trying to get a line through to your mother now. She wants to get in first with her offer to be your bridesmaid—once I had persuaded her that we were not going to wait on her and Gaston.’ He held her very close and kissed her cheek. ‘It will be much quicker in Devon.’
‘Then Devon it will be!’ she smiled at him. ‘Will you show me your house and everything while we’re there?’
‘It will be your house too,’ he reminded her. ‘Not that you’ll see very much of it for some years to come. Your mother will keep it warm for us, and you’ll see her whenever we’re in England. It will be home to us all, the children too, when they come along.’
He had had it all worked out from the very beginning. She wondered just how much her mother had known about his plans. It might have been one of the reasons why she had settled so happily in her new surroundings. It gave Marion a new security too, banishing the last of her timidity for ever.
‘I love you!’ she said. She heaved a great sigh of satisfaction and, reaching up, kissed him on the mouth. ‘If I were to live for all time, I’d never be able to prove to you how much.’
But it seemed he had some idea, for his mouth came down on hers again with the masterful touch she liked so much and the flame of ecstasy burned fiercely in them both. In his arms, she had found her paradise.
