when I asked you to marry me I reasoned it all out so logically! I was thirty-seven. A wife, especially one as beautiful and accomplished as you, could be a good business asset. I wanted you, you wanted me, so why not get married? God, what an arrogant fool I was! Okay,’ he drawled self-derisively as he saw Kenzie smile slightly, ‘what an arrogant fool I still am!’
‘Do you think?’ Kenzie prompted softly.
‘No, I don’t,’ he said heavily. ‘Those first four months without you were indescribable! I told myself it was because I was angry. Furious. And with good reason. Not only had you walked out on me, but you had left me to go to New York with another man.’
‘Because Jerome lied to you about the two of us having an affair…’ Kenzie frowned, half of her knowing that what Jerome had said—taunted—was true: if she and Dominick had had the sort of marriage where they loved and trusted each other, then none of that misunderstanding would have happened…
‘We barely spoke any more,’ Dominic went on, ‘let alone made love. We were like two polite strangers sharing the same apartment. And then when you seemed so determined you were going to accept the contract Carlton Cosmetics were offering you I decided to go and speak to Carlton myself. What the hell I thought I was doing, I have no idea.’ He grimaced at the thought. ‘The man I was then seems like someone else to me.’ He winced. ‘A cold, arrogant man who seemed to think the whole world, but especially you, should comply with what I wanted. Even when it came to having children…’ he added heavily.
‘We can talk about the baby in a minute,’ Kenzie assured him, a tiny bubble of happiness starting to grow inside her, getting bigger with every passing second. ‘What’s important is that you believe Jerome lied,’ she said firmly. ‘That you believe I have never had an affair. With him or anyone else.’
‘How can I not believe you?’ he groaned. ‘But, don’t you see? I should have known it then! If I had trusted you then, if I had believed in the love you said you felt for me, then—’
‘You hadn’t had too much of an example of love up to that point in your life, Dominick—’
‘Don’t make excuses for me, Kenzie,’ he muttered, interrupting her. ‘I behaved abominably when you said you were going ahead and accepting the contract despite what I said. I behaved even more dreadfully six weeks ago by taking advantage of the situation when you came and asked for my help over Kathy’s wedding,’ he acknowledged hollowly.
Yes, he had. But if, despite Kenzie’s denials, Jerome had told him that the two of them were having an affair, she could see how hard it would have been for Dominick, when their own relationship was so strained by that time, to have believed anything else.
If the two of them had loved each other, if they had been secure in that love, then no one, and nothing, would have been able to come between them to destroy that love…
‘I don’t blame you for hating me now, Kenzie,’ Dominick said flatly at her continued silence. ‘It’s the least I deserve after the way I’ve behaved.’ He closed his eyes briefly, dull pain in their depths when he opened them again to look at her. ‘If I could take it all back, if I could undo what I’ve done—Damn it, no matter what I thought the provocation, I had no right to treat you the way that I did. Not six months ago. And certainly not five weeks ago when I forced you to come away with me to Bedforth Manor.’ His face was very pale. ‘I bought that house for you, Kenzie. Just before you left me.’
Dominick had bought that wonderful, warm, family home for her…?
‘It doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?’ he acknowledged as he saw her obvious surprise. ‘I’d had this vision of taking you there, of telling you I had bought it for the two of us to live in, of seeing your face light up in the way that it used to when you were happy…’ He shook his head. ‘And instead, four months later I forced you to go there with me and—’
‘Dominick,’ Kenzie cut in softly. ‘You have to stop this now. It isn’t helping anything, least of all us, to rip yourself apart like this.’
‘I told you, it’s what I deserve!’ he bit out forcefully.
‘Why don’t you let me be the one to decide what you deserve?’ she whispered huskily.
He gave a humourless smile. ‘Okay, Kenzie, tell me what you think I deserve?’ His shoulders tensed as if for a blow.
‘I will,’ she promised gently. ‘Dominick, when we first met I fell completely, irrevocably, unreservedly, in love with you.’
‘I know that!’ He gave a pained groan. ‘It was a love I believed I was totally incapable of returning!’
Had believed he was incapable of returning…?
That past tense gave her the encouragement she needed. ‘What you don’t seem to be aware of is that I’m still completely, irrevocably, unreservedly in love with you!’ She smiled shakily.
Dominick became very still, his heart beating so loudly it threatened to deafen him.
‘I could never have made love with you at Bedforth Manor in the way that I did if I wasn’t still in love with you,’ Kenzie continued softly. ‘The baby I’m carrying—our baby—was, as far as I’m concerned, conceived in love.’
He swallowed hard, his emotions—admiration for Kenzie, a building joy, but mostly love—overwhelming him.
‘Dominick, before Jerome arrived, you said I had another alternative,’ she reminded huskily. ‘You offered to continue our marriage even believing that I was expecting another man’s baby. Dominick, did you offer that because you—you love me? Please answer me, Dominick!’ she pleaded emotionally.
‘Yes, I love you!’ He took a hesitant step towards her. ‘I know now that I’ve always loved you. Since the moment I first looked at you. Since the moment you first smiled at me. I just didn’t realize it until I made love with you at Bedforth Manor. Our lovemaking that day was so overwhelming, so deeply moving, it was completely unlike anything else we had ever shared!’
‘For me too,’ she admitted quietly.
He swallowed hard. ‘Please believe me when I say I’ve changed, Kenzie! That I really do love you. That I’ll love you until the day I die,’ he said with certainty, the last five and a half months without her showing him exactly how much he loved and needed her.
She reached up to caress one hard cheek. ‘I do believe you, Dominick,’ she choked. ‘I really do.’
He breathed raggedly. ‘I want you to know our baby—a baby I assure you I want very, very much!—was conceived in love on my part too!’ he whispered. ‘We made love that day, my darling—and it scared the hell out of me!’
Kenzie didn’t seem to notice the tears falling down her cheeks as she laughed huskily. ‘Then what you deserve, Dominick, what we both deserve, is a second chance at being together. And this time we’ll get it right!’ she promised determinedly.
‘Do you really mean that, Kenzie?’ He stared at her. ‘You’ll take me back? Give me a second chance? Let me be a father to our child?’
‘All of those things, Dominick,’ she said, gulping back her tears. ‘And this time we won’t let anything, or anyone, come between us!’
Dominick
