The Ideal Choice
Page 17
‘He’s an old-fashioned man, and I’m his little girl. He doesn’t realise I led you astray, hussy that I am.’
He chuckled. ‘Hussy indeed.’ His smile faded. ‘About the house.’
‘Yes?’
‘It’ll be a bit crowded.’
‘Do you want to move?’
He nodded. ‘You know I do. I want nothing more than to leave Judy behind. The children hardly remember her—it’s you they talk about all the time. It’s just that the practice is for sale. We’re having a purposebuilt surgery and taking on another partner. That’s a nice house. Plenty big enough, but it would need some work doing.’
‘Mmm. I’d like that; I was happy there. Rhys?’
‘Yes?’
‘I couldn’t tell you I was pregnant because of Judy. I couldn’t bear you to think I was the same. You had to come to me not knowing about the babies, and you did.’
He gave a wry grin. ‘It was the children’s idea. They leant on me pretty heavily.’
‘Maybe they know you better than you know yourself.’
‘Maybe. I’m glad they did, or God knows what would have happened.’
‘Linsey would have let it out sooner or later.’
‘I doubt it. She’s not speaking to me.’
‘Oh, Rhys.’
‘She just calls me a fool. I think she’s right. I’ve loved you since the beginning. I was just too blind to realise it.’
Tricia swallowed. ‘Oh, Rhys, I never thought I’d hear you say that,’ she whispered.
‘You’d better get used to it, because you’re going to hear it regularly from now on. We ought to go and put your parents out of their misery.’
‘In a minute.’ She reached up and threaded her fingers through his hair. ‘Kiss me first.’
The smile filled his eyes with love and laughter. ‘Hussy.’
‘Mmm. Absolutely. Tell me again.’
He bent his head and kissed her. ‘I love you,’ he murmured against her lips.
‘Again.’
‘Are you going to be demanding?’
She chuckled. ‘Probably.’
‘I love you.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ she sighed, ‘because I love you too, and I don’t intend to let you forget it...’
EPILOGUE
‘ALL quiet?’
‘For now, till the others wake up.’
Rhys held up the quilt and she slipped under it and snuggled up to him, sighing contentedly as her head came to rest on his shoulder. His arm curled round her, his hand warm and heavy on her hip.
‘I love you.’
Tricia thought she’d never tire of hearing him say that. She tipped her head back and kissed his bristly chin. ‘Love you too, caveman.’
He growled softly, flipping her onto her back and pinning her to the bed.
“Is this the bit where I imagine you’ve seized me by the hair and dragged me into your cave?’ she asked laughingly.
‘Something like that. You’re supposed to be intimidated.’
‘By you?’ She chuckled. ‘No chance. After seeing you with the twins there’s no way.’
‘But I’m vicious and nasty.’ He dropped his head and pretended to bite her neck, and she giggled and squirmed against him.
He groaned softly and released her, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling in their new bedroom, arms behind his head. ‘How old are Amy and Ben now?’
She rolled towards him, propping herself on her elbows and plucking hairs from his chest with idle fingers.
‘Six weeks.’
His head whipped round. ‘Really?’
Tricia’s smile was slow and lazy. ‘Really.’
‘When do you have your check-up?’
‘Yesterday.’
His arms came down in slow motion, and he rolled onto his side to face her. ‘Are you OK?’
She nodded. ‘Fine. Never better.’
His fingers curled round her neck, his thumb stroking idly over the pulse. ‘I need you so badly I’m afraid to touch you,’ he confessed. ‘Christmas seems such a long time ago.’
She smiled wryly. ‘Of course if I hadn’t gone into labour during our wedding reception you wouldn’t have had to wait so long for the wedding night.’
‘Yes, that was unfortunate, especially as you went all moral and held out on me until after we were married.’ His thumb grazed softly against her jaw, then his fingers cupped her nape and drew her closer. ‘Stop me whenever you want,’ he murmured.
She gave a cheeky grin. ‘You can keep going that long?’
His mouth quirked. ‘I’ll do my best.’
She tipped her head back and kissed him, slowly and thoroughly, and gradually the old fire came back, leaving her breathless and shaking.
‘Rhys?’ she whispered unsteadily.
‘Mmm?’
She lifted his head away from her breast and looked into his eyes. ‘In the bedside cabinet—unless you want six children?’
He hesitated for a moment, then with a faint smile he reached out an arm and fumbled in the drawer. ‘I think,’ he said, coming back armed with a little foil packet, ‘we’ll give five a try for a while...’
ISBN : 978-1-4592-7035-0
THE IDEAL CHOICE
First North American Publication 1997.
Copyright © 1996 by Caroline Anderson.
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