His voice was hoarse when he started to piece the phrases together that told her what had been hidden in his heart. 'It was like death itself to see you run from me...' he whispered. 'The blackness without you! I never expected it to be like that. I refused to imagine life without you. I thought I could let you go. But I love you desperately... I always will. Never run away again, never, never. Now I've found you I won't lose you. I want to have you and hold you forever.'
The symphony of the rain forest was rising in full song on all sides as he added the sweet music of his love in words she had longed to hear. 'If the only way to keep you by my side is to make you my bride,' he told her, 'then that is how it must be... Say yes, my love. Say you'll stay forever.'
Unable to speak, she could only nod her assent. Her arms came up to lock themselves behind his neck. His lips were only inches from her own, rapidly confessing everything in his heart.
'I shall learn all the ways in heaven to make you happy living in the forest,' he vowed. 'It is as you say—we must try to understand each other. We will share all things. Our hopes, our joys, everything, and I shall keep all fear and sorrow at bay for you. I will make life a dream. We will have paradise here.'
Chrissy's heart began to sing. The fear that had sent her running towards the oblivion of the forest had been vanquished by the magic of his words. Instead of emptiness, she was surrounded by all the richness of being loved. He loved her. He said so. Paradise had already begun.
He made a solemn promise. 'I will give you everything I possess. My name, my heart, my love. You will be my bride.'
When they returned to the house, the guests were beginning to leave. They said goodbye to them, standing side by side on the steps. Chrissy's dress was a little stained, her hair in wild wood-nymph tendrils around her shoulders. Rodrigo had a lick of black hair hanging over his brow, making him look even more raffishly handsome than ever.
He stood with one arm round her shoulders, her hand resting in his—just as for three hundred years the Garcia Montadas had posed on the same steps with the hands of their betrothed resting in theirs.
'To see you disappearing into the rain forest, being swallowed up by the darkness --' his voice sank to a hoarse whisper when they were at last alone '—it was a stark image of what the future would be like without you—the blackness, the emptiness... I saw myself living without you down all the dark years forever..
She felt a shiver of fear run through her and forced herself to say the words that could bring the foundations of paradise to dust. 'But, Rodrigo, there is one thing... there is your promise to Maria.' She leaned against him as if it might be for the last time. When he had plucked her out of the nightmare forest she had forgotten everything but the healing balm of his kiss. She was shivering uncontrollably now.
He took her more firmly into his arms. 'Maria is no problem;' he began. 'She has been urging me to change my mind all day, ever since she saw my reaction as you emerged from the pool. She has been nagging me to put things right between us. It was I who insisted that what we had decided was right. If she could have spoken to you she would have explained how she felt. I spent most of the day trying to explain to her how strongly I felt that I would be wrong to persuade you to stay with me.'
He crumpled her hands between his own. 'But tell me, angel, tell me now, will you start to sicken for your own people? Will you sit in that little boudoir as my mother used to, longing to escape to the mists and cold of England?'
'Sometimes,' she smiled softly, 'and if it ever gets too much we'll both go back—together—and after a short measure of all that we'll come back home again—to our home in the forest.'
He kissed her, and she said, 'How could I want to leave my new-found land for good when everything I love is here?'
He turned her towards the house. 'Perhaps there are things about this almost engagement of mine with Maria that need explanation --' he began.
But at that moment they saw Maria herself crossing the hall, and when she saw them both she turned and hurried towards them. She was looking radiant. Gone was the worried expression she had worn earlier.
She moved swiftly, putting a hand on Rodrigo's sleeve. For one heart-stopping moment Chrissy thought that despite Rodrigo's reassurance she was coming to reclaim him. She imagined the whole nightmare starting up again, that his whispered vows in the forest had been her own desperate fantasy—but instead, Maria kissed him briefly on the cheek then stepped back with a beaming smile that took in at once their clasped hands.
'Caro.' She touched Chrissy lightly on the shoulder, then, her radiance unmistakable, she began to explain something rapidly to Rodrigo, shooting one or two shy glances in Chrissy's direction, and when she finished she gripped them both by the hands and to Chrissy said, 'It was all crazee—now is good, very good! Rodrigo tell you!' Then she turned and ran lightly up the stairs.
Rodrigo turned to her, 'The rumour of her marriage to me seems to have forced her errant fiancé to act. He rang here this evening demanding her immediate return to the city in order to fix a marriage date.' He laughed. 'I wanted to explain, she is an old family friend. We've known each other since the cradle. Her family hoped we would eventually marry, but neither of us took the idea seriously. When I told her I was being driven to madness by you and that it was impossible, she suggested marriage to solve both our problems. The reason she changed her mind about it was as I told you just now. She says she has never seen me in love before.'
His eyes deepened to cobalt. 'She was saying she didn't understand until she saw us together how much you mean to me.'
He lowered his lips. 'She said she's sorry if she made you sad.'
It took a moment or two for his words to sink in, then Chrissy threw her arms around his neck but her kiss was not for his cheek. Their lips met as he murmured, 'Stay with me, angel. Stay by my side forever.'
And when she lifted her lips, she replied, 'I will, my love. I will!'
Jungle Lover Page 17