by Helen Brooks
She put her arms round his neck. ‘Flynn,’ she said quietly, ‘please forgive me. I love you with all my heart. Please marry me.’
She could feel him begin to tremble but his voice was perfectly under control when he said, ‘You don’t have to do this, Marigold. I’m a big boy, I can survive rejection.’ He reached up to remove her arms from round his neck but she hung on tight, nearly throttling him.
‘Listen to me,’ she said fiercely, her heart suddenly blazing with hope because she knew, she knew he still loved her. ‘I love you, I do. I loved you almost from the beginning but I didn’t dare admit it to myself. It was too soon after Dean for one thing but that wasn’t really it. I knew you had the potential to hurt me in a way Dean never could have done, that was the thing.’
‘The thing again.’ He was trying to be mocking but it didn’t come off and they both knew it.
‘And then I heard those women talking about this girl that you still loved, this beauty who was always there in the background. It was my worst fear come true. And she turned out to be not just some ordinary woman but Celine Jenet, one of the most beautiful women in the world. I could understand how no one could compare with her. I thought you were waiting until she wanted you again.’
‘Wanted me again?’ His hands weren’t trying to untangle hers now but holding them against his neck. ‘Marigold, it was me who broke off the engagement, not Celine. I realised I loved her like a sister, a best friend, and after a time she came to realise that that wouldn’t have been enough. If we’d married we would have made each other very unhappy.’
Why hadn’t she considered it might have been Flynn who finished it? Because she loved him too much.
‘I was jealous,’ she whispered, her eyes shining with tears. ‘And I didn’t trust you. I don’t deserve another chance…’
He slid off the desk, pulling her into him and kissing her until she was drowning in bliss. ‘I love you, Marigold Flower,’ he murmured huskily. ‘I’ll always love you. I loved you when I thought you didn’t love or want me, and it was slowly crucifying me. I’ve never felt this way before. I have lived for thirty-eight years without knowing what real love was, until I met you. Do you believe that?’
‘Yes, yes, I do.’ Her eyes were shining and his mouth sought hers again, his hands moving over her body, touching her with sensual, intimate caresses.
‘You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, although I couldn’t have said what I was looking for until I saw you. Then it all came together in a moment of time, and I knew. Does that make sense, sweetheart?’
‘I don’t know.’ Marigold didn’t know anything when she was close to him like this, except that she never wanted to be anywhere else in the whole of her life.
‘And you fought me every inch of the way.’ He took her mouth again in a long, hungry kiss. ‘I was the enemy, and whatever I did, however I tried to show you that we belonged together, you wouldn’t give in.’
He made her sound almost brave, Marigold thought ruefully, when really she had been muddled and confused and frightened to death half the time, frightened of her feelings and the desire she’d felt every time he touched her.
‘Ask me again.’
‘What?’
He had pulled away slightly to look into her radiant face, and now his voice was soft and husky when he said, ‘Ask me to marry you again. And before you do I want you to know that it will be forever. Once I say yes, there’s no going back, Marigold Flower. Whatever happens you’re mine.’
‘Flynn Moreau, will you marry me?’ she asked gently, cradling his face in her hands as she let him see all the love in her heart. ‘Will you be my husband and the father of my babies? Will you grow old with me and watch our grandchildren play through mellow summer days, and will you still be my love?’
‘Yes,’ he said, his voice gruff.
And she kissed him.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8320-0
CHRISTMAS AT HIS COMMAND
First North American Publication 2002.
Copyright © 2002 by Helen Brooks.
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