Australia’s Most Eligible Bachelor
Page 17
“I’m staying the night.” Corin joined her, sliding his arms around her, his breath warm against her cheek.
“Marvellous!” She didn’t think she would ever get enough of him. Her guardian angel must have been watching over her the day she met Corin.
His warm mouth burnished the tender skin of her nape.
“You don’t think we should be cautious?” she asked very quietly, always concerned for him.
“Right now I’m beyond caution,” he murmured. “I’m passionate for you. I can’t let you go.”
She spun in his arms. “You’re not worried someone will spot you when you leave? You do rather stand out,” she smiled. He was a prince!
“A small risk. I don’t want to walk alone any more, Miranda,” he said very seriously. “I need you with me. Every step of the way.”
She wanted to cry. “Then that’s a miracle, Corin.” Her heart was in her eyes.
“A miracle that humbles me. Can I just say this—and I don’t want you to be cross—?”
“Say whatever you want. Don’t keep anything to yourself. No secrets. Not any more.”
She swallowed on a little dry patch in her throat. He had to know. She had no choice. “I know you’ve tried to reassure me, but I can’t help agonising over whether you’re shoving my true identity to the back of your mind? You must give me a truthful answer, Corin. Do you think it possible it could surface over time?”
“Miranda!” He released her name on a long, agonised exhalation.
“Let me finish. Time brings changes. We both know that. You’re taking me into your world. It’s a vastly different world from the one I grew up in. We must be clear on this. I know you love me. Lord knows I love you. The magic of it has kept me safe. And sane, I should tell you. There has been a lot to handle. It’s just that I can’t help feeling—actually knowing—your life would be so much easier, less problematic, without me.”
“Stop it, Miranda!”
“But it’s eating at me. What if someone tracks me down? Don’t they always say the truth will out?” She held his glittering, dark eyes. “You could be letting yourself in for a lot, Corin. It’s a bizarre story—like something out of a movie—and we can’t escape it.”
He lifted a hand to silence her. “We can and we will!” he said with great authority. “No more of this, Miranda. With you at my side, nothing is beyond me. I would want you whatever the cost. Surely you know that? At its worst what would it be? A nine-day wonder? If Leila left any tracks, Dad covered them. I can do the same. Besides, it’s me you’re worrying about, not yourself. I won’t have it. You’re everything in the world to me. There’s no going back. There’s only forward!”
He sounded so strong, so utterly sure of himself and her, and her own waning courage was restored. She wasn’t physically like her mother. Her nature was very different. What more was there to know?
“Come to bed,” Corin urged in a deep, desirous voice. “Just holding you in my arms is the most perfect feeling in the world.” Gently he pulled at the ties on her shoulders. Her loose dress, a series of ruffles, landed gently in an iridescent pool at their feet.
“You’re beautiful, so beautiful!” He cupped her breasts, letting the pads of his thumbs encircle the nipples.
The merest touch and she was aflame, her body flooding with sensation.
His voice had dropped to a deep, yearning pitch. “You’re like some exquisite figurine wrought out of alabaster. You’re more than I deserve, Miranda.”
“No, that isn’t so!” Such a tumult of emotion rose inside her it was like a starburst. Against the catastrophe in their lives, they could set the miracle of their love.
It was the wheel of fortune in motion. If she hadn’t found her mother she would never have found Corin. So in the end it was Leila who had brought Corin into her life. There was grace in that.
Her arms trembling, Miranda reached up to lock them around his neck. “I give myself into your hands completely,” she said with such fervour it became a vow. “You are my love. My lover. My life!” It was the ultimate expression of trust. And with the giving came a hitherto unattainable peace and acceptance. Corin had made his choice in life. He wanted her for his wife. That was the greatest honour of all.
The radiance of her expression made Corin’s breath catch in his throat. He swept her up into his arms, in that moment no mere man but a god, exultant. He stood for a moment, locking in the memory of her at that precise moment. Then he carried her down the hallway to the quiet of the master bedroom, where he would peel from her what single garment remained, spread her alabaster body on the bed, silver-gilt head against the pillows, before he sank onto her.
Kissing would pass to prolonged caresses…little whispered endearments to moans…soon the rapture would become too intense for them. It wasn’t simply a matter of two people becoming physically one. It was an exchange of souls. Corin knew deep within himself he could surmount any and every problem that might confront them. It was the future that beckoned, luminous with light, rich with promise.
Life was a tapestry composed of many strands: love, loss, sorrow, happiness, success, failure. There was only one way to handle it—take up the tapestry with both hands. Miranda had given great depth to his existence. He considered himself truly blessed. No greater gift could a woman give to her man than her heart.
No one in this world would look after Miranda’s tender heart better than he.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6596-1
AUSTRALIA’S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR
First North American Publication 2010.
Copyright © 2010 by Margaret Way, Pty., Ltd.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
For questions and comments about the quality of this book please contact us at Customer_eCare@Harlequin.ca.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.eHarlequin.com
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT