Page 51 of One Bridegroom Required!

So that was where he had gone! ‘Only she wasn’t there,’ she realised wonderingly. ‘Caroline had unexpectedly brought herself over here and was busy choosing a surprise wedding dress.’

‘I came back to fireworks. When I found out you’d let Caroline believe we’d slept together, I was almost exultant—’

‘Exultant?’

‘Of course.’ He shrugged. ‘It meant that I could now cast you in the role of the bad fairy—allowing me to keep my prejudices alive. It meant that I could have you...’ his mouth curved into a sexy line ’...in the truest sense of the word—and afterwards I would be free of my obsession for you.’

‘But it didn’t work like that?’

He shook his head. ‘No, it didn’t—not with you, sweetheart. You had ensnared and captivated me, and then I made the most catastrophic discovery of all—that you were completely innocent. It blew my mind—’

‘I thought you liked that,’ she argued, as she remembered that almost smug look of pride which had darkened his features.

He gave a slow smile. ‘Well, of course I liked it—’

‘But?’

‘It wasn’t a question of not liking it, just that I felt so bad about my attitude towards you. I would have been more gentle if I’d known. More loving...much more loving.’ He looked at her properly then, a question burning in the dazzling blue fire of his eyes ‘Why was I the first?’ he asked her bluntly. ‘Did someone put you off men, sweetheart? Are you hiding some kind of heartbreak?’

She shook her head. ‘No heartbreak, no. In fact, there was nothing before you. Nothing at all, not in the way of feelings. I’d never been in love before, and sex without love just wasn’t an option for me.’ She sighed. ‘You see, we’re all victims of circumstance to some extent, Luke—and I had grown up seeing my mother use men. I saw relationships as a bartering mechanism—sex for money, if we’re being honest.’ And they were being honest, she realised, both of them, more honest than she’d ever been before. But how honest dared she be?

‘Tell me,’ he urged, and she heard vulnerability there, and realised in that moment that this big, strong, adventuring man needed her reassurance just as much as she needed his.

‘I never felt for anyone the love I felt for you,’ she said simply.

‘Felt?’

She smiled. ‘Feel. Present tense. And future tense.’

‘Future perfect tense?’ He grinned as he took hold of her hand and pulled her towards him. ‘Please come here right now, because I think I’ll die if I don’t kiss you soon.’

‘Oh, Luke,’ she sighed dreamily, and went straight into his arms.

His features softened. ‘Now look at me and listen, Holly Lovelace,’ he said sternly. ‘I love you—’

‘Luke—’

‘And I was wrong to think that I could make reality go away by pretending it didn’t exist. I should have done things differently, but, oh, sweetheart-I guess that deep down I didn’t want to run the risk of losing you.’

She nodded, remembering that she had been his for the taking at Apson House. But he hadn’t taken. ‘And Caroline?’ she asked slowly.

‘Is justifiably furious, but not heartbroken—’

‘She must be! I would be!’

‘She wasn’t in love with me, Holly,’ he said gently. ‘Not ever. It was a transaction of the head, not the heart—and I’m not just saying that to make you, or me, feel better. It’s true.’ He hesitated. ‘Caroline craves security over everything else, it’s the one thing she hasn’t got—’

‘She hasn’t got you any more.’

‘But I was ne

ver hers to have, not really.’ He looked into her eyes and she read so many things in his. Love. Regret. Hope. Trust.

‘Would you mind if I bought her a house?’ he asked softly.

‘Of course I don’t mind.’ Holly traced the outline of his lips with her finger. ‘Do you think she’ll accept it?’

I’ll ask her—she can only say no.’

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