‘Then…’ She tried to speak but she stumbled over the words. ‘Then maybe…’ She started to sob. ‘Let’s not tear up that paper. Let’s just keep it.’
His arms went tight around her. ‘OK. OK. Oh, thank God.’
Her face was jammed hard into his chest, but she didn’t care. She could feel him shaking. Feel the kisses he was planting on her hair as he clutched her even closer.
‘I’m sorry,’ he muttered. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘You don’t need to divorce me to make it right, Seb. Just stay with me. Please stay with me. I love you.’
He loosened his arms enough for her to lift her face to his. They kissed. Hard yet soft, full of passion, pressure and need. Until he broke away with a groan.
She gazed at him. Despair still shadowed his eyes. Her heart wrenched.
‘Am I enough for you, Ana? Am I always going to be enough for you?’
‘What do you mean?’ He was everything to her.
‘You wanted our baby, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, but—’
‘I’ve never wanted kids, Ana. Made that decision years ago and never thought about it again until the day you told me you’d lost ours. For years I watched my mother suffer. She wanted more children but it didn’t happen. Secondary infertility—no reason they could give, no remedy. It tore marriage after marriage apart. I don’t want that to happen to us.’
‘Seb, the person I want is you.’
He shook his head. ‘But will I be enough, Ana? Won’t there come a time when you want a family? You wanted our baby—losing it nearly destroyed you. So what if it doesn’t happen for us?’
She pushed him away just a fraction. ‘I’ve never
thought of myself having a family either. It isn’t something I’ve had the best experience with—’
‘I know,’ he interrupted. ‘But isn’t there a part of you that wants to create the kind of family you missed out on?’
‘OK,’ she whispered, scared he read her so well. ‘But that doesn’t have to be with my own children.’ She looked into his eyes. ‘You and I both know there are enough kids out there needing some kind of loving home. We could adopt or foster. I want to do something like that anyway. I want to make some kid’s life better—give him or her what I missed out on.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course.’ Her heart burst with that need.
‘Then that’s what we’ll do.’ He cupped her face with his hands. ‘I long to see you pregnant with my child, and I hope it happens. But no matter what, we have each other and we will make our own kind of family. Deal?’
‘Deal.’
They kissed again, colliding with such force and speed they had to break apart, coming together closer, more gently, as laughter and tears mixed.
‘Now,’ he breathed when he finally lifted his head. ‘Are you sure about not wanting the rock?’
She shook her head, very slowly, just the tiniest bit. Because he was reaching into his pocket and she knew there was such a thing as paradise on earth.
‘I never did get you an engagement ring. Better late than never, though, don’t you think?’
When he opened the box her smile faded in shock.
‘Not your shiny bling, but the real thing.’ He lifted it out and it caught the last of the day’s light.
‘It’s beautiful.’ She stared at it.
‘I found it this afternoon. Looked at hundreds of rings. But as soon as I saw it I knew. It’s not a sapphire, it’s a blue diamond. So it’s not what it seems, like you. It’s rare, like you. Precious, like you. Vivid, like you. And it matches your eyes. Do you like platinum? We could get it reset if you don’t. And we can get it resized if it doesn’t fit.’
He was babbling now. Ana put her hand to his mouth and shushed him. ‘It’s perfect.’ It truly was. She didn’t think she could feel happier.
But then he dropped to his knees and her heart liquefied. ‘Seb—’
But he took her hand and shushed her. ‘With this ring, I thee wed.’ His smile was heartbreakingly self-conscious. ‘I promise to love you, and be there for you, in sickness, health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse…just…
for ever
. I love you, Ana.’
His smile had gone, all that was left was the sincerity shining from him as he slid the ring home to its perfect fit on her finger.
She bent, too happy to care about the tears coursing down her cheeks and dripping all over them both. ‘I love you, too.’
He pulled her down, tumbling her into his lap and then rolling, trapping her close. Then slowly, so very, very slowly, he made love to her. And made her scream her joy.
S
EB
reached forward, running his hands over Ana’s gently swollen belly. Part way through the second trimester of the pregnancy, she was over the sickness and full of energy. The sun was setting lower in the sky, casting a reddish-gold glow over the water and the sand beneath Seb’s feet was soft and warm.
While the divorce had never happened, he’d wanted to have some ceremony, something special to celebrate the fact that they’d truly become the one for the other.
And so they had—swapped their own special significant murmurings in their own special place. He took her fingers and pressed his lips to the intricate henna tattoo swirling over the back of her hand. He smiled inside—he’d had them put an entwined S and A on his chest as a joke while she’d been getting ready. He couldn’t wait to see her laugh.
Right now, Hamim would be turning down the sheets, and arranging the last of the flowers as Seb had instructed. Perhaps tomorrow he’d take her around the island again on the kayak, or they’d play bao in the shade. But right now he intended to take his beautiful wife to bed again.
Ana smiled up at him, took his hand and pressed it lower on her belly. The first dance was happening on the inside today. She and Seb could still only manage the stand and sway, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t take her eyes from his. The love radiated from them, as did the awe when he felt their children kick.
‘I still can’t believe it,’ he whispered.
Twins. ‘Well, you do like to do things to extremes, Seb.’
The sickness she’d had with the migraine had mucked up her Pill. They’d conceived some time soon afterwards. She’d had to work hard to soothe Seb’s overprotective streak and insist it was OK to come back to the beautiful island. It was only when the third obstetrician said it would be perfectly fine for them to go that Seb booked the tickets—beyond first class.
They’d spent the previous day visiting the orphanage in Dar es Salaam—the place they’d decided to support as much as they were able. She’d launched Bibbity-Bobbity-Bling and, although it was early days, so far it promised some success. Any profit would be given to the orphanage. They did not need the money themselves.
There was a boom as fireworks exploded up in the sky, bathing them in reflected green and gold. She jumped and giggled as the babes inside kicked.
‘Going the whole hog.’ Seb winked sheepishly.
‘I love it.’Ana turned back to face him. ‘And I love you.’
She didn’t see the other fireworks, didn’t hear the crack as they burst into sprays of diamond-bright light. Because he was kissing her again, and when Sebastian Rentoul kissed her all Ana knew was love.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2009
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Natalie Anderson 2010
E-ISBN: 978-1-4089-1785-5