The Marriage Solution

by Helen Brooks

  'I don't want any man to touch me but you,' she said lovingly, her fingers tracing an idle path across the strong, muscled chest. 'I do love you, Carlton. I never want to face another twenty-four hours like the last—'

  His mouth descended on hers with a passionate ferocity that stopped further talk, and her desire rose to meet his, her response without inhibition now that she knew she had his heart as well as his body. They soared into a timeless, enchanted world of their own where there was no yesterday or tomorrow, only the present in all its richness. And this time their union had a sweetness, a depth that was like nothing she had ever imagined.

  'I wonder if we just made a baby?' She was still enfolded in his arms and now the night sky was dark and strewn with a million tiny, sparkling pinpoints of light, the bedside lamp at the side of Carlton bathing the room in a rosy, subdued glow that gave their naked bodies the texture of silk.

  'I hope not.' His words startled her and in spite of the reassurance of the last few hours she raised her head sharply to look into his eyes, relaxing when she saw that they were lit with a soft, tender warmth that melted her bones. 'I'm selfish enough to want you all to myself for a while,' he admitted softly. 'You've married a very possessive man, my love.'

  'I know.' She sighed happily. 'Tell me again when you first fell in love with me.'

  'Little toad…' He turned her over and slapped her rounded behind before drawing her to him again. 'You put me through hell on earth and then you expect compliments? Just like a woman.'

  'Have there been many—women, I mean?' she asked carefully, although his eyes noticed the flash of pain on her quiet face.

  'None that has touched my heart.' His dark face was suddenly very still. 'I thought I loved Penny for a time but it only took a little while for me to realise that what I had felt was a blind infatuation, a youthful dream of something that never really was. And then I was searching, without realising it, without ever admitting it to myself—searching for the one woman I could love and want for the rest of my life.'

  'Me,' she said with great satisfaction, the last lingering doubts from the past laid finally to rest.

  'You.' He raised himself on one elbow and searched her face with his eyes. 'Even your face in that photograph pierced my heart in a way that was both uncomfortable and disturbing and when I met you, breathing hell-fire and damnation, I still told myself that what I felt was a strong sexual attraction—until the minute I took you in my arms, that was. From that moment on I knew I loved you, but it would have been more than my life was worth to try and make you understand how I felt at that time.'

  'I wouldn't have believed you,' she admitted ruefully. 'I thought you were like my father, hard and callous, and by the time he explained why he'd been so cold over the years there was Penny and Maisie.'

  'And now there is just us.' He kissed her hard. 'And from this moment on we talk about every little thing, every worry, so there can be no misunderstandings between us again.'

  'You think you can do that?' she asked in loving disbelief.

  'I will try,' he promised gravely. 'And now we should go and see if this stupid brother of mine has finally done the thing I have been urging him to do for years. I'm surrounded by stubborn people in this family.' He eyed her with mock-severity. 'When will you all understand that I know best?'

  It was much later, as the four of them sat having a midnight supper in the soft warmth of the June night, that Joseph and Maisie outlined their plans for the future.

  'That house I designed for the Croxleys is up for sale,' Joseph said quietly as he sat holding Maisie's hand, their faces relaxed and at peace as though they had just come through a great storm. 'I'd like to put in an offer. With their son being disabled, all the alterations another place would need are already taken care of and they'll be glad of a quick sale now that his new job in America has been finalised. There's a massive downstairs study which would be ideal for my work and the garden is a pocket handkerchief that Maisie will easily cope with.'

  'Are you sure you want to leave here?' Carlton asked Joseph softly, although Katie sensed he had been pleased at the proposal.

  Joseph had obviously caught the same notion because there was a twinkle in his eye and a wicked tilt to his head as he gazed back at his brother. 'I don't think Maisie and I could stand the noise,' he murmured innocently, with a sidelong glance at Katie that held both respect and admiration. 'I have the strangest feeling you've met your match in Katie, Carlton. I've often longed to shout at you but I've never had the bottle.'

  Katie blushed to the roots of her hair but Carlton's face was lazy and unconcerned as he grinned back at the younger version of himself. 'It wouldn't have had the same effect,' he admitted drily.

  'We'd like to get married in a few weeks. Neither of us wants any fuss—just a few close friends and family,' Joseph continued quietly, with a long glance at Maisie's lovely face. 'But you'll be my best man?'

  'Well, I sure as hell wouldn't let anyone else be,' Carlton said with a flash of his old arrogance, which made Katie smile and Joseph grin wryly.

  'And the Croxleys' house…?'

  'That'll be down to you to sort out, Joe, my lad,' Carlton said firmly as he stood up, pulling Katie up with him and wrapping a possessive arm round her waist. 'Just in case anyone has forgotten, this is supposed to be our honeymoon and we're back out on the first plane to Spain tomorrow morning..'

  'We are?' Katie queried breathlessly.

  'We are.' His eyes were dark and hot as they left the others and mounted the stairs to their room. 'I want to hold you in my arms all night and most of the day without anyone else around, my sweet love. I want to look at you spread out before me in the moonlight and know that you are mine to touch and taste and love. I want to feel your body quiver and tremble beneath mine as I possess every part of you until the only thing you can think of is me.'

  As they entered the bedroom he pulled her against him fiercely, his eyes glittering with desire. 'I can't get enough of you, do you know that? You're like a drug, a hypnotising, powerful drug that has enslaved me.'

  'Carlton…' Her legs were ready to give way beneath her, so sensual were his words, spoken in that deep, husky voice that made love to her all by itself.

  He ran his hands over her skin, satin-soft and honey-brown from the heat of the Spanish sun, as he stripped her swiftly until she stood naked and trembling before him. 'You are my love, my life,' he whispered softly as his eyes blazed over her body. 'My yesterdays, my tomorrows, my wild, sweet destiny…'

  And then there was nothing but the blinding, hot darkness of the night as love consumed them both.