‘You are so beautiful,’ he announced with betraying huskiness, beautiful himself in a formal white jacket over a pristine shirt and those narrow black trousers that made his sex-appeal positively killing.
Dreamily, she allowed herself to be led back through the silent house. And only when he opened the door to his bedroom did her love-drenched eyes sparkle with delight.
The softly lit room was full of flowers—someone must have denuded the garden and the courtyard! There was champagne on ice and hauntingly sweet music coming from a hidden tape deck.
Wordlessly, he led her to the bedside where the satin covered pillows had been heaped to resemble a throne. He eased her down then with a flourish went down on one knee and took her hand.
A dark flush emphasising his slashing cheekbones, his voice deep with emotion, he asked, ‘Lisa, will you marry me if I ask, leaving nothing to be desired?’
Her throat closed up. Speechless at first, her heart feeling as though it had no option but to burst, she lifted the hand that was gripping hers so tightly and kissed the back of each of those strong lean fingers with fevered intensity until she was able to whisper, ‘Yes! Oh, yes, my darling!’
Several breathless minutes later, after the throne-like position of the heaped pillows had been thoroughly disturbed, Diego eased himself away from her and slipped a ring on her finger. The beautiful sapphire gleamed in the soft light. ‘This is the ring I chose for you five years ago. It is now where it belongs.’
Her eyes brimmed with delirious tears and Diego took his time over kissing them away, only stopping when her fingers clamped around his wrist and she stated happily, ‘You didn’t throw it away.’
‘Throw what away, my dearest angel?’
‘The watch.’ She’d seen the glint of gold.
For a moment he looked discomfited. Then he grinned, kissed her with swift passion and confessed, ‘I have always worn it. Only when I got to London on my mission of vengeance did I replace it with some cheap horror bought from the airport duty free shop. If you’d seen it you would have known that you had been in my heart, had never left it. At the time giving you that knowledge was not on my agenda.’
‘I see.’ Her eyes sultry, Lisa trailed kisses down from his temples to his sensual mouth. ‘So what is on your agenda now, I wonder.’
His mouth smiled beneath hers as his body pinned her back against the tumbled pillows. ‘I’ll give you three guesses, my dearest darling.’
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7717-9
A SPANISH VENGEANCE
First North American Publication 2004.
Copyright © 2003 by Diana Hamilton.
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