Page 57 of Her Diamond Deal with the CEO

Silence filled the hallway.

Jack stared at her. A muscle worked along his jaw. ‘Is that it? Have you finished?’

She nodded, but he didn’t speak, he just kept staring at her and then he said slowly, ‘Nobody has ever looked out for me except my grandfather. I told you that on the plane, do you remember?’

He took a step forward. ‘But I was wrong. You looked out for me too. Right from the start when you pulled me from the water. And then you stayed at the hospital and you watched me sleep. Even when I said awful things you didn’t leave.’

‘I did.’ She thought back to Whydah. ‘On the bluff, and after we played croquet.’

‘And I deserved it both times. But you came back. Nobody’s ever done that.’

‘You deserve to be loved, Jack,’ she whispered.

He took another step closer. ‘And you went looking for me today. You made Tom take you around New York.’

‘Did he tell you?’

He shook his head. ‘My grandfather told me.’ Leaning forward, he lifted a tendril of hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. ‘Why did you go looking for me, O?’

She felt her heart melt. ‘I couldn’t not.’

Jack stared down into her eyes. ‘What you said to my grandfather about loving me.’ He was struggling to speak. ‘Was that true? Because I love you.’

She covered her mouth with her hand, and he pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her, holding her close against him so that she could feel his heart beating in time to hers.

‘I love you,’ he said again, and this time he smiled a smile that lit up his face and filled her with light and a happiness she had never known. ‘You saved me, O. And I’m not talking about what happened in Palm Beach. I was drowning on dry land, and you saved me. You gave me the kiss of life. The kiss of love,’ he said softly.

‘You saved me too.’ She felt his arms tighten around her and, looking up, she saw his golden eyes were glittering with tears. ‘You make me feel special. You made me trust myself again.’ She bit her lip. ‘I thought I’d lost you—’

He breathed out shakily. ‘You share my heart, my soul. You can’t lose me. I belong to you.’ His hand curved around her stomach. ‘Both of you.’

Their mouths met blindly and they kissed just as they had that first day on the beach, and they were still kissing as he scooped her into his arms and carried her back into their apartment, their home.

EPILOGUE

THEGARDENWASstarting to fill up. Guests were milling around the terrace, talking, laughing. Leaning forward to get a better view, Ondine watched as one of the animal handlers opened a brightly coloured carrier and two lop-eared rabbits hopped enthusiastically onto Red Knots’ pristine lawn. ‘It’s getting pretty crowded down there,’ she called over her shoulder.

‘With people or animals?’

A flicker of heat danced over her skin as two warm hands slid round her waist, and Jack leaned in to drop a row of kisses down her throat.

‘Both.’

‘Who or what are we waiting for?’

His voice was casual but she knew what it cost him to ask that question. What it had cost for that question even to be possible. ‘I think we’re good to go,’ she said softly, turning in his arms. ‘Your dad is with your grandpa making friends with the ponies, and your mum is talking to Oliver.’

It was twenty months since she and Jack had stood in the Miami-Dade courthouse and exchanged vows. But the transactional relationship they had entered into that day bore no resemblance to their marriage now.

For starters, there were no more secrets. Everything was in the open. More importantly, the love they had promised one another was real. So real, she thought, looking up at him, her heart contracting so that it was suddenly difficult to breathe.

‘You know we’re never going to make it downstairs if you keep looking at me like that,’ he said softly.

She reached out and touched his marvellous, miraculous face. ‘Did I tell you how proud I am of you?’

His golden eyes were meltingly soft. ‘I think you mentioned it a couple of times.’

She had. But she still liked to remind him. ‘You made this happen.’

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