Juliet blinked, returning his gaze warily. 'Me?'
'Mmm,' he acknowledged softly. 'The benefits are that the salary is good and you would have lots of time off; I work hard, but I play hard too. But there is one major drawback,' he added heavily.
Juliet was still stunned that he was actually offering her Diana's job. How could she possibly work for him, feeling about him as she did? And, if she believed what he had said to her earlier he had feelings towards her too that wouldn't be particularly conducive to a harmonious working partnership. Unless…?
'Liam, I thought you said you believed me about my relationship with your father—'
'I do!' he assured her forcefully, crossing the room to take up a kneeling position next to her chair. 'Of course I do.' He took both her hands firmly in his. 'That wasn't the drawback I was talking about,' he said impatiently. 'Although I'm not too sure, on reflection, whether it was a particular compliment to me that you should think a relationship with me would be a drawback!' He gave a dismissive shake of his head. 'What the hell? I probably deserved that! No, the drawback is that my assistant has to be a married lady.'
Juliet frowned. 'Why?'
He shrugged. 'My wife insists on it.'
'But you've just said—'
'Well, she isn't my wife quite yet.' He grimaced self-consciously. 'But I'm hoping.' He looked up at her with dark blue eyes. 'Juliet, will you marry me?'
She stared at him once again. She didn't seem to be able to do much else at the moment!
'I love you very much,' he continued pleadingly. 'I know I haven't shown that too much, but if you'll let me I would like to spend the rest of my life making up for that. For a lot of things,' he added darkly, obviously thinking of the past. 'Juliet?' he prompted as she still remained silent. 'I just want to see you smiling and happy—see the shadows leave your eyes.'
She swallowed hard. 'You also want to fatten me up,' she said inconsequentially.
'Only a little,' he conceded. 'I just want to look after you!'
'And who will look after you?' she said huskily.
'You will. If you would like to. I mean—'
'I know what you mean, Liam,' she laughed softly, sitting forward to throw her arms about his neck. 'And I would love to look after you. And have you look after me. I love you, Liam,' she told him emphatically. 'I love you very much!'
'God, I never thought I would hear you say that!' he groaned huskily, his face buried in the thickness of her hair. 'I love you too, Juliet. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you, loving you, and having you love me.'
'Yes!' she told him ecstatically. 'Yes, yes, yes!'
'I think it's a pity that Diana and Tom chose Liam John as their baby's name,' Juliet murmured as she lay on her side in bed next to Liam, playing with the dark swirls of hair on his chest.
They had just made love, wonderful passionate love, such as they had enjoyed from the first.
Liam looked sleepily replete, his arms about her as he cradled her against him. 'I was rather pleased when they decided to name him after me.' He sounded puzzled. 'I thought you were too. You certainly spend enough time cooing over him,' he teased lightly.
Diana had given birth to a healthy son only three weeks before, to everyone's delight, and Juliet had to admit that she did spend rather a lot of time at Diana's cradling the baby.
'But what are we going to call our son when he's born?' She continued to make a pattern with the hairs on his chest.
'We have plenty of time to—' Liam broke off as she gently shook her head, looking up at him, her eyes glowing. 'We don't have plenty of time?' he said slowly.
She shrugged. 'About thirty-three weeks, by the doctor's calculations,' she told him happily.
'Juliet!' Liam shot up into a sitting position in the bed. 'You had better lie down—Oh, you are! Oh, well, we had better—'
'Calm down, Liam,' Juliet laughed lovingly. 'I'm fit, and healthy, and very happy. And our baby is going to be the same,' she assured him firmly.
He looked down at her wonderingly. 'I didn't think it was possible, but at this moment I love you more than ever.' He gathered her up into his arms. 'I love you, Juliet Carlyle, mother of our child!'
She no longer cringed at the name Carlyle. And neither would their son. Or daughter. Or both.
'What are you thinking now?' Liam grinned down at her, a much less grim-looking Liam than he used to be, their marriage of the last six months having been an extremely happy one.
'I'm thinking,' she said slowly, her arms curving up about his neck as she pulled him down to her, 'that I would like us to make love again!'
'Any time, my darling,' he laughed huskily. 'Any time!'
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
Two's Company Page 15