my sister.’ Going to the door, he ruffled Liadan’s long red-gold hair as he passed. ‘Be gentle with him, sweetheart, won’t you?’
When the door shut ominously behind him, Liadan smoothed her hand nervously across her sky-blue sweater to finger the silver locket she wore on a chain round her neck and sighed.
‘I won’t pretend for one minute to understand what all that was about. You men seem to have a code all of your own.’
‘Your brother knows I mean business,’ Adrian said smoothly.
‘Oh, he does? And by that you mean what exactly?’
‘I’ve come here to tell you that I love you, Liadan. It took you walking out on me and telling me some very painful home truths to make me realise that I can’t live without you—let alone work! And I honestly do want you to be my wife. You’re not a substitute for Nicole or any other woman—I swear it! Does that clear up any confusion?’
Liadan gulped. Then she sank down on the plumped-up sofa behind her as her legs suddenly gave way beneath her.
‘This must be some kind of a joke.’ Her wide, puzzled blue eyes with their lustrous lashes tore at Adrian’s heart. After a two-week drought from not seeing her, he’d almost forgotten just how truly beautiful she was…
‘Do you think I’d joke about a thing like that? If you do, then you don’t know me at all.’
‘How could I possibly know you, Adrian? You put up too many walls for that.’
She was right. That was exactly what he had done…but not any more. From now on he wanted to let this woman into his heart. Wanted to let her in and keep her there for ever, because, as sure as the sun was going to rise in the morning, he was crazy about her. And he hadn’t lied. He really couldn’t live without her. It was just a shame that it had taken her walking out on him like that to make him realise it.
‘I know and I’m truly sorry. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Liadan.’
Drawing her to her feet, he smiled smoulderingly down into her startled blue gaze, delighting in the feel of her slender body underneath his hands again, feeling himself growing more and more aroused until he almost couldn’t stand it.
‘But what about—what about Nicole?’ Tears of happiness and confusion springing to her eyes, Liadan bit down tremulously on her lip.
His dark gaze growing even darker, Adrian stroked his hand down the side of her perfectly smooth cheek and smiled again. ‘Nicole is firmly in my past, Liadan. For a long time I couldn’t let the idea of her go because I blamed myself for her death. Holding onto the memory of how she died was like a punishment I was certain I deserved. It wasn’t until you came along with your insistence that there was redemption for everyone that I even started to believe I might be able to forgive myself, and move on. Whether there is redemption, I don’t know. But wherever Nicole’s spirit is now, I know one thing’s for certain. She wouldn’t want me to hold back from telling you how much I love you. Nothing in this world is as important as that—nothing.’
‘And you’re not just trying to butter me up so that I’ll come back and work as your housekeeper?’ Unable to suppress her grin, Liadan leaned in towards Adrian’s iron-hard chest, her whole body lighting up inside like a firework display at the sensation of being held close in his arms once again, when she hadn’t even known if she’d ever see him again.
‘Absolutely not.’ He kissed her then and it was quite a while before he came up for air. When he finally did, Liadan’s lips looked swollen and bee-stung and her lovely blue eyes were shining like twin silver lights that resembled candle-flame.
‘You still haven’t given me your answer. Is this waiting game some new kind of torture you’ve devised to torment me?’
Liadan couldn’t help dimpling as she glanced up into his impossibly attractive face. ‘Oh…you mean the marriage thing?’
‘Liadan…’ Adrian warned, a flash of impatience making him scowl.
‘Okay. I’ll put you out of your misery. Yes, Adrian. I’ll marry you…but only if we can live somewhere a little less ostentatious than that big house of yours. I’m a very simple girl. More cottages and cream than pheasant under glass.’
‘Is that so?’ Grinning in unashamed delight, Adrian swept her up into his arms and strode across the room.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked breathlessly.
‘To your bedroom, hopefully. To get re-acquainted in the best way I know how. We’ve got two weeks to catch up on, remember?’
‘But Callum—’
‘If I’m right about your brother, he won’t be back for quite a while.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Call it gut instinct, but my guess is he wouldn’t be one to interfere in the course of true love.’
‘Really?’
‘It’s a gift I have.’
‘I’m his only sister. He’s very possessive of me, you know.’
His hands tightening round her body, Adrian’s expression was perfectly serious as he glanced heatedly down into Liadan’s bright blue eyes.
‘So am I, sweetheart. So am I…’
EPILOGUE
LETTING the hardcover book she’d been diligently reading drop back onto the cornflower-blue silk eider-down, Liadan stretched her arms wide before falling back against the plumped-up pillows with a sigh. With a contented little smile playing around her lips, she reflected what a lucky, lucky woman she was. Six months married and she was enjoying the kind of life that she’d only previously believed was to be found in fairy tales, or romantic movies at least. She had a gorgeous, insatiably sexy husband who kept her in bed more than she was out of it. She lived in one of the prettiest cottages in the village—albeit with an acre of garden and a Victorian folly that Adrian had had renovated just for her—and now she was going to have a baby, too. Her hands going automatically to the slight swell of her previously flat stomach, Liadan stroked it gently, marvelling at the astonishing changes that were taking place.
In a week’s time she was going on a nationwide book tour with her famous husband, happy to be at his side and to show her love and pride in his success. He was a complex but wonderful, talented man who had successfully put some of his darkest demons behind him and had had the courage to start life anew, and she was so thankful he’d been able to do that. Happily contemplating the pretty blue and white bedroom of their large country cottage, Liadan sighed again and closed her eyes. When she heard the door open again a few moments later, her eyelids flew open and she pushed herself up immediately into a sitting position.
‘I finished the book,’ she announced breezily to the man who was purposefully approaching the bed with a glint in his eye that only his wife knew the meaning of.
‘Oh?’ The glint disappeared and warily Adrian rested his hands on his hips, his mouth in a straight, sober line. ‘And what’s the verdict?’
‘The verdict is…’
