he asked gently.
I took a deep breath, and met his eyes.
“I’m scared. I loved you once, and it nearly destroyed me.”
His hand seemed to tighten on the black velvet box. His voice was low. “You don’t have to love me.”
Marriage without love? The thought was a jarring one. I licked my lips. “I’m afraid if I say yes, you’ll soon regret it. You’ll wish you could be single again, and date all those women....”
“I’ll only regret it,” he said, “if you say no.”
“Where would we live?” A hysterical laugh bubbled to my lips. “You don’t want to spend your life waiting for me, as I film commercials... Sooner or later you’ll have to get back to work.”
He looked up at me, his dark eyes inscrutable in the fading twilight. “You’re right.”
“I won’t live in London. We were so unhappy there. Both of us.”
“There are other choices,” he said quietly.
“Like what?”
“The whole world.” Rising to his feet, he pulled my left hand against his chest, over his heart. “Just let me give it to you.”
I could feel his heart pounding beneath my hand. The strong rapid beat matched my own. My fingers curled against his warm skin.
“I won’t let you break my heart again,” I choked out.
“I’ll never hurt you, Diana. Ever.” Dropping the rose and the black velvet box to the end table, Edward pulled me into his arms. His hands stroked back my hair, down my bare back that was only covered with the crisscross lines of my sundress. “Let me show you....”
Lowering his head to mine, he kissed me.
And this time, I could not resist.
His lips were tender. They enticed me, lured me, soft and sensual as the whisper of a sigh. I exhaled. There could be no fighting this. It didn’t just feel as if he were embracing my body. It felt like he was caressing my soul.
“Marry me, Diana,” he whispered, his lips brushing against mine.
All the reasons I couldn’t marry him rose to my mind, but as he kissed me they dissipated into thin air like mist.
What was fear, against the incessant pull of his body against mine? His muscles were solid beneath my hands, his body powerful and strong. Something to cling to. Someone to believe in. And oh, how I wanted to believe.
I’d been keeping the secret for so long. Even from myself. But it had been right there all along. The real secret in my heart.
I loved Edward.
I’d never stopped loving him.
And all I’d ever wanted was for him to love me back....
“Say yes.” Edward kissed my cheeks, my lips, my eyelids. “Say it—”
“Yes,” I breathed.
He drew back. His handsome face looked vulnerable, his blue eyes caught between hope and doubt. “Do you mean it?”
Please let this be right. Please let this not be a mistake.
Unable to speak, I nodded.
Grabbing the black velvet box, Edward slid the obscenely huge diamond ring onto the fourth finger of my left hand. I felt its heavy weight for just a moment before he lifted my hand to his lips, kissing my palm.
In the candlelit bedroom, with the open window overlooking the twilight sea, the reverence of his gesture, like a private unspoken vow, lacerated my heart.
“You said yes,” he said in wonder. He shook his head. “I was starting to think...”
His voice trailed off. With an intake of breath, he lifted me in his arms, as if I weighed nothing at all. Gently setting me down on his bed, he pulled off my sandals one by one, kissing the tender hollow of each foot.
Leaning forward, he pulled off my sundress, leaving me stretched across the bed in only my white cotton panties and a bra that seemed barely adequate, trapped between my overflowing breasts and full pregnant belly. The enormous diamond ring on my left hand felt heavy as a shackle, making me suddenly afraid. After everything I knew about Edward’s soul, was agreeing to marry him, giving him not just body and soul but offering up all my future, all my life, and my child’s in the bargain—an act of insanity?
Edward cupped my face in his hands. His expression was tender, his eyes shining. “All I want is to take care of you forever....”
“I want to do the same for you.” I was in so deep now. I wanted desperately to believe the fantasy was true. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I kissed him with trembling lips. Twining his hands in my hair, he kissed me back, matching my passion, exceeding it. A fire roared through me, and I gasped.
Drawing back, he pulled off his clothes and gently lay me back against the bed. My hair tumbled over the pillows. I shivered, closing my eyes as he kissed down my neck. His lips were warm beneath the cool ocean breeze blowing through the window. I breathed in the scent of him, clean and masculine, with the sea air and the rose petals scattered around us.
He unhooked my bra. I gasped as I felt his lips nuzzle my breast before he drew my full nipple gently into his mouth. Pregnancy had made my breasts so big, he had to hold each with both hands in its turn. I gripped his shoulders tightly.
Pulling back, he looked down at me. “You’re in your third trimester,” he murmured wickedly. “The doctor said you shouldn’t spend too long on your back....”
Before I knew what was happening, he rolled me over, so I was on top of him. He pulled my knees apart, so I straddled his hips. My belly was huge between us, my breasts hanging almost to his face as I leaned forward to kiss him. I felt the size of him, hard and huge between my legs and the pregnancy hormones I’d tried to ignore for months suddenly rocketed uncontrollably through me, leaving me weak with lust. Pulling up, I came down hard, impaling myself, drawing him deep and thick inside me. He gasped, putting his hands on my hips. Not stopping, not waiting, I rocked back and forth, riding him with increasing speed until he was stretching me to the limit, filling me to the core, and with a loud cry, I exploded, and so did he. We both soared amid the fading purple shadows of the night.
Afterward, he drew me close, holding me in his arms. He kissed my sweaty temple. “I never want to let you go.”
“So don’t,” I whispered. My body felt illuminated, glowing with happiness. I pressed my cheek against the warmth of his bare skin, glorying in the feel of his arm wrapped snugly around me in bed.
“Let’s go to Las Vegas,” he said suddenly.
Blinking, I lifted my head to look at him. “You want to elope?”
I thought I saw a shadow cross his eyes. Then he gave me a lazy smile. “I don’t want to give you the chance to change your mind.”
“I
