The Promise (20 page)

Conall swung around as the door to the sitting room opened. “Sharon! Where in the hell have you been?”

His obvious agitation caught her off guard and brought her back to the earth she had mentally left the moment she had made her decision. All the way back to the house she’d been practically bursting with joy, and she was sure her feet hadn’t touched the ground once.

Now she eyed the pallor beneath the bronze hue of his skin with concern. “I took Jacob out for some sun. Have you been worried?”

"Worried.
” He bit off the word with a curse. “I came back from the pool to find both you and Jacob gone, and it was like reliving that morning when I woke up and you had vanished.”

She reached out and touched his arm. “Conall, I’m so sorry. I would have left you a note, but it never occurred to me that you would think something like that.”

“Sharon, we’ve got to talk.”

“You're right, we do. I have something to tell you. Just let me put Jacob down. All that sun and fresh air has put him to sleep.”

“Wait,” he said as she started into the bedroom. He walked over to her, leaned down, and tenderly kissed his son’s soft head.

Jacob opened his tiny eyes and gazed up at his father. To Sharon’s amazement, it appeared as if he smiled at Conall. Then he closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep again.

“It won’t take me long,” she murmured, touched by the kiss and the smile but confused by the defiant look Conall cast her. Minutes later when she returned, she found him standing by one of the open French doors, staring out at the sea. He swung around.

“Conall—” she began.

“No, Sharon. I’ve got to speak first.”

“All right,” she said slowly, an uneasy feeling beginning in her that he might have changed his mind.

“Sharon, last night when I asked you to marry me, I pretty much laid all my cards on the table. When I did, I told myself that I’d done everything I could, and that if in the end you decided to move back to San Diego, I’d just have to accept it. Well, maybe that’s what I should do, but I can’t. I realized that today when I came in here, and for a short awful time I thought you’d gone again.”

Relief swept through her. "Oh, Conall, please don’t say anything else. Just listen.” Distressed she had hurt him, she couldn’t wait a moment longer to tell him of her decision. He had suffered enough. They both had.

His expression turned fierce, and he took her arms in an urgent grip. “No,
you
listen. You’ve got to marry me, Sharon. Because if you don’t, I won't make it. Say you’ll marry me. Tell me you love me.”

“I do love you,” she said softly. “And I will marry you and stay with you—always and forever.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. If I can possibly help it, I won't ever lose you again. ”

With a hard shudder he pulled her to him in a crushing embrace. “Thank God,” he muttered, then kissed her deeply, lovingly. She slid her hands around his waist, and when he finally lifted his head, he saw a love shining from her that was pure and radiant and strong. Emotion overcame him, and he blinked away a tear.

“We have your grandfather, Jake, to thank for this,” she murmured. “If I hadn’t received his note of promise to Clarisse, I would never have come to you.”

“I agree,” he said hoarsely. "I will always be grateful to him. And to you for having the courage to come to me.”

“His gift of love redeemed our lost love.”

“And this is my promise to you,” he whispered, brushing a sweetly curling strand of hair from her face. “I will love you until the day I die and after.”

Tears of happiness filled her eyes and clung to her lashes as he swept her into his arms and carried her into his bedroom, careful to leave the door ajar in case their son awakened.

Outside, the sun shone down on SwanSea, warming its stone walls to a golden hue, glinting off its windows so that they sparkled, giving a beatific appearance to the great house.

A new Deverell slept within its walls. In a short while the house would fill with Deverells to meet and celebrate the newest of them.

The years would pass, the child would grow to become a man, the man would father a child. And there would be another child to protect and watch over. The legacy would continue.

For now, SwanSea was content.