by Fiona Harper
Chloe stared at Daniel. She thought her heart might have stopped beating. Her brain had certainly stopped working. She could feel her pulse throbbing in the hand he was holding. It rushed and pumped, filling the silence, filling every part of her.
She couldn’t doubt the sincerity in his eyes. He’d meant what he’d said, yet …
Yet …
A couple of weeks ago he hadn’t even been able to say how he felt about her. She knew he had baggage. Lots of baggage. Was this really the right time? And, if he hadn’t been going overseas tomorrow, if he hadn’t been pushed into it by that witch of a TV reporter, would he have asked her today? Would he have asked her at all?
The room had been perfectly still for far too many seconds, but that immaculate silence now broke. People began to move. Somebody coughed. She glanced over her shoulder at the gathered crowd. Every single face was turned towards her. Every pair of eyes was heavy on her.
She looked back at Daniel.
She wanted to believe him, really wanted to … but he’d backed off too many times before. When would be the next time? At the altar? She couldn’t let it go that far. She had to be certain.
She opened her mouth, and Daniel pulled her hand towards his lips and then he closed his eyes and kissed it tenderly. A tear slipped down Chloe’s cheek.
All of her. He’d said he’d loved all of her.
And heaven knew he’d seen the worst of her—the bits no one else had a clue existed.
He opened his eyes and looked at her again. The proof of his feelings was there for anyone to see. Intensity, yes, but softness too, and a tenderness she’d never seen before.
Chloe swallowed. She knew.
She knew what her answer had to be.
She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, and every single backside in that room shifted forward on its seat. She looked into Daniel’s eyes, let him know how real her love was for him before she formed the words with her mouth.
Her voice rang out clear, even though she was sure it was going to catch on the barbs in her throat. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘No. I can’t marry you, Daniel.’
The room around them went wild.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHLOE SHIVERED AS she stood on Daniel’s porch. At this time of year, dawn was still an hour or so away. Was it too early to knock? She had no idea what time Kelly and the boys got up and she didn’t want to disturb them. But she also didn’t know what time Daniel’s flight was—apart from this morning—and she had to see him before he left.
She checked her watch again. Five fifty-six. She watched the second hand sweep round. When it hit twelve again she screwed up her face, grabbed for the door knocker and rapped twice. It sounded like gunshots in the silent street.
For the longest time there was no light, no movement at all, but then she saw a patch of dull orange through the obscured glass of the Victorian door. And then she heard thudding on the stairs. Moments later the door opened and she was face to face with a crumpled-looking Kelly, a fluffy pink dressing gown clutched around her and held tight with the hand that wasn’t on the door. When she saw Chloe her expression changed from one of sleepy befuddlement to something entirely less welcoming.
‘For heaven’s sake, Chloe! Have you gone completely insane?’
Chloe wet her lips with her tongue. She considered nodding, but instead she said, ‘Can I see him?’ Her breath came out in shaky white puffs on the predawn air.
Kelly’s brow lowered further. ‘Too late. He’s already gone.’
Chloe hadn’t been prepared for the cold stab to her stomach at that news. ‘No …’ she murmured, feeling a violent stinging in the bridge of her nose.
Kelly stared at her, and then she said, ‘Oh, for crying out loud! Come in. I need to talk to you.’
She hesitated for a second, but she followed Kelly into the house, down the hall and through to the kitchen. When they reached the dining area, Kelly turned round and surveyed her with steely eyes. Chloe knew that expression. It was the one Daniel wore when he was a hair’s breadth from losing his temper.
‘Do you know …?’ she asked, with a quiver in her voice, her pitch rising. ‘Do you know what it took for him to ask you that—in front of all those people?’
She nodded dumbly.
‘Then why, for God’s sake, didn’t you say yes?’ Kelly shouted, then remembered the two sleeping boys upstairs and curtailed her volume.
‘I … I …’
Kelly’s eyes narrowed. ‘Yeah, I got that much on the evening news last night.’
Chloe’s head swam and she had to close her eyes to regain her balance. The evening news.
And Kelly had seen it?
‘I’m so sorry,’ she mumbled, and met Kelly’s fiery gaze.
‘And then you just left him to sit it out here, waiting for his plane, didn’t even explain … Didn’t even talk to him afterwards!’
‘I couldn’t!’ Chloe replied. ‘They—the PR team—they whisked us off in opposite directions. I tried to get to him, but everything was going wild … There were microphones and reporters everywhere.’ She shook her head. ‘Even if I could have got to him, he wouldn’t have wanted it aired for the whole nation to see! I decided I would wait a bit … talk to him once the fuss died down …’
Kelly’s expression softened a little. ‘So why didn’t you?’
‘He wouldn’t answer his phone. I thought maybe—’ a small hiccupping sob caught her by surprise ‘—maybe he just needed some space …’
And then a big fat tear rolled down her cheek.
Kelly puffed out a breath. ‘Sounds about right. You know Daniel … He doesn’t do crushed, he does angry instead.’
Chloe nodded. ‘That’s what I thought. But I couldn’t let him go without talking to him.’ Oh, help. Here came the tears again, and this time they’d brought reinforcements.
Kelly pulled out a dining chair and motioned for Chloe to sit, then she did the same. ‘Why did you say no?’ she asked, her features drooping. ‘You love him, don’t you?’
Chloe hiccupped again and nodded vehemently. ‘We’ve hardly even talked for weeks …’
‘Because you asked him to leave you alone,’ Kelly interjected, far too reasonably.
Oh, crap. She had, hadn’t she?
‘I wasn’t sure … I’m still not sure … if he just said it as a knee-jerk thing, if that reporter kind of pushed him into it … If it’s me he really wants,’ she added, with a desperate look at Kelly, ‘or if it’s just the prize of getting me to say yes.’ She swallowed. ‘You know what he’s like …’
‘Yes, I do,’ she said firmly. ‘I know that he was broken inside until he met you, Chloe. I know he struggled to let himself care about anyone or anything.’ Her expression grew grave. ‘You’ve broken his heart, you know. He meant it. Every stupid word.’
Chloe felt a shiver start deep in her belly and work its way up through her body, through her shoulders and out of her mouth on a breath. ‘I know,’ she whispered. ‘But meaning it and following through with it are two very different things. What if he changed his mind?’ He had before. Twice. ‘I couldn’t live with it if he did it again,’ she added, almost to herself.
Kelly shook her head. ‘He’s not like that,’ she said, her eyes glistening a little. ‘Believe me, if anyone knows about guys who run hot and cold, it’s me. But Daniel … It takes him a bit of time to get there, but when he’s in, he’s all in.’
Something warm blossomed within Chloe, even as her stomach swirled with ice.
‘Oh, Kelly … What have I done?’ she whispered, and then louder, ‘What time’s his flight?’
Kelly was on her feet so fast her chair almost toppled backwards. ‘He only left ten minutes before you knocked on the door. You could catch him with a fast enough driver.’ But then she pressed her lips together and shook her head again. ‘I don’t know how you’re going to get him to listen to you, though. The kind of foul mood he was in this morning won’t
lift for at least another week. The idiot will probably fly the plane himself to avoid talking to you at the moment.’
‘Oh.’ Chloe felt dizzy. There were too many things to think about. ‘I don’t have a car.’
‘I do,’ Kelly said, and then she ran to the bottom of the stairs and yelled, ‘Boys! Get your coats and shoes on! We’re going on an adventure.’ Moments later a pair of dark heads appeared in the kitchen doorway.
‘Cool!’ Cal said, putting his wellington boots on the wrong feet. Ben didn’t say anything—he was too busy watching his brother and copying everything he did. Including the wellies.
‘Can we really get there in time?’ Chloe asked breathlessly.
‘I can outgun any cabby in London,’ Kelly replied, ‘but that still doesn’t mean he’s going to listen to you.’
For a moment her brain froze, too terrified by Kelly’s words to think of any way round it, but then she said, ‘I can think of one way to get his undivided attention for at least a couple of seconds. But I need to borrow some lipstick—the brightest and reddest you’ve got.’
Kelly looked her up and down. It was true that Chloe was not looking her best. She was wearing leggings with a ratty old pullover and her long red coat slung over the top. ‘Honey,’ Kelly said, ‘you can borrow whatever you want. But I think you’re going to need a hell of a lot more than lipstick.’
Daniel stared at Alan’s back as they queued to go through airport security. He shuffled forward, passport in hand, handing it over when required and receiving it back without even noticing if it had been a man or a woman who’d inspected it. All he could think about was the journey ahead of him. Almost twenty-four hours on two planes. That was a long time to sit and think.
And, to be honest, the sitting part didn’t worry him so much.
‘Daniel!’
The shout came from behind him. Instantly, his skin puckered into goosebumps. He turned on autopilot, even as his brain was screaming at him to keep walking forward.
He wasn’t ready for this.
Wasn’t ready to talk to her, wasn’t ready to see her.
But he was … seeing her. Just the other side of the passport check desks, behind a clump of queueing travellers. She wore a look of ragged desperation, her forehead bunched, her eyes pleading. Even with her hair a total uncombed mess she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. His rib muscles spasmed, squeezing his chest cavity.
He held her gaze for a second, then turned away.
He knew she was soft-hearted under all that gloss, that she wanted to explain—or, even worse, apologise—but he just wasn’t ready.
He was one of those flies, caught in a pitcher, who’d worked it out and had given up struggling. Only one thing left to do now … Drown in that clear, sticky fluid while slowly being digested alive. None of that lovely drugging, narcotic syrup for him, though. He would feel every second of it. So, no, he couldn’t look at her again. Not because he hated her, not because he didn’t love her. Quite the reverse.
There was some kind of commotion going on behind him. He ignored it at first, but then he heard her again. ‘Daniel Bradford, don’t you dare run!’
He froze.
‘I love you!’ She yelled it so loud that everyone in the security queue stopped and he smacked into Alan’s back.
‘Flipping hell,’ Alan said, turning round, his eyes going wide.
Daniel couldn’t resist any longer. He spun round to find Chloe balanced on top of a trolley piled with cases, elevating her above the crowd. Where she’d hijacked it from, he had no idea.
Her gaze connected with his and locked. Not so much desperation in those eyes now as determination. Without looking away, she fumbled with the tie on her coat. Then she pulled both the edges wide, her chin tilted up.
Daniel’s heart stopped. Now she had his full and undivided attention.
‘Flipping hell,’ Alan mumbled again.
There wasn’t much under that coat. But not fancy knickers. Plain, functional underwear. Didn’t matter to him. She was still spectacular. But it was the bit between bra and pants that really caught his attention. Scrawled there in bright red … something … were some words.
I do! it read above her belly button in large block capitals, and beneath, Do you?
All this happened in a matter of seconds. When she’d seen he’d read and understood, the coat closed again and she knotted the tie firmly round her waist. Just as well, really. Already he could see a couple of security guards looking her way, trying to work out what all the fuss was about.
With no more distractions, his gaze was drawn back to her face. He could see it all there now—the pain, the embarrassment of what she’d just done, the apology he wouldn’t have listened to any other way and, most importantly, the truth. The love.
I do.
Do you …?
He looked over his shoulder at Alan, standing behind him open-mouthed, and then back to Chloe.
He so did.
And then he was shoving his way past the half dozen people who’d piled through the passport check after him. Alan reached out and grabbed his sleeve.
‘Hey! Where are you going? You just can’t—’
Daniel wrenched his arm free and looked his colleague in the face. ‘There’ll be another plane tomorrow,’ he said, ‘but there won’t be another woman like this one. Not for me.’
The two of them stared at each other, then Alan shrugged. ‘Fair enough.’
When he turned again the crowd had melted away. People were standing back and grinning expectantly, leaving a clear path between him and the woman in the red coat—off the trolley now—hands clasped together and a million questions in her eyes.
And, off to the side, with his nephews, was his sister. Yup. He should have guessed she’d had something to do with this.
But he didn’t care about the whys and wherefores now; he just ran to Chloe, scooped her up so her feet left the floor and delivered the kiss he’d been holding back for far too long. From the response she gave him, he’d guess she had one of her own to let loose.
‘I’m sorry … so sorry …’ she mumbled between kisses.
He pulled back, caught her face between his palms and waited for her to open her eyes. Her lids fluttered open. She focused on him and swallowed.
‘You took me by surprise,’ she said softly, her eyes glistening. ‘I do love you. I do want to be with you. It was just a lot to take in unexpectedly. I panicked …’
Daniel leaned in and kissed her, communicating his understanding the best way he knew how. Softly. Tenderly. Skin upon skin. After all, there had been more times when she’d been the brave one, had hung everything she felt on the line, and he’d been the one to back away.
There was a not-so-subtle cough beside him, disguising the phrase Get a room! in his sister’s dulcet tones. He smiled against Chloe’s lips then broke contact. Her eyes were closed and she looked blissfully happy, totally lost. Good. So was he.
But then her lids snapped open and she looked at the departures board, panic written all over her features. ‘Oh, Daniel! Your plane …’
He shook his head. ‘It can leave without me. Borneo can wait another twenty-four hours.’
She clung onto him, buried her face in his shoulder. ‘I’m going to miss you so much.’
‘Come with me,’ he whispered into her ear.
She pulled away and stared at him. ‘I can’t! My job—’
He silenced her with a quick, hot kiss. ‘I started badgering the powers that be about the sudden need for an orchid expert on the team. Seven hundred species on that mountain alone …’
Chloe shook her head, her eyes full of disbelief. ‘You didn’t!’
He grinned at her. ‘I did. And they said yes. It was supposed to be a surprise. I was going to tell you last night, but things didn’t exactly go according to plan.’
She blinked at him, as if she couldn’t quite make sense of what he was saying.
‘If you want, you can jo
in us next week,’ he added.
That was when Chloe launched herself at him and kissed him until he couldn’t remember if he was here because he was supposed to be getting on a plane or whether he’d just come off one.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ a grumpy-voiced Kelly said somewhere to his left. ‘At this rate we’re never going to make it out of the airport.’
‘Up there!’
Chloe pushed the damp hair back out of her eyes and looked where Daniel was pointing. The sun filtered through the canopy above their heads in shafts, dappling the rainforest floor with gold, lighting up the backs of leaves and adding yet more shades of green into the endless forest.
‘Where?’ She couldn’t see anything.
Daniel came in close behind her. Much closer than a colleague on a seed-collecting expedition should. Thankfully, he was much more than that. No ring as yet—no time to shop—but she didn’t care about that. And this, what he was giving her now, was so much more than metal and stones. That could come later.
She followed the line of his finger to a fallen log, its bark almost completely obscured by the ferns and mosses and creepers that clung to it.
‘Oh!’
She saw it—the distinctive yellow and brown stripes of the rare slipper orchid. Her heart lurched. She wanted to go and see it up close, but first there was something she wanted to do even more. She turned towards him, sliding round under his outstretched arm, and pressed a kiss to his chin as she wound her arms around his neck.
‘I was pretty clever proposing to you,’ she said. ‘Not many women get to marry a man who makes their long-cherished dreams come true.’
Daniel went still and stared down at her. There was a definite hint of challenge in his eyes. ‘That’s not quite right, is it?’ he replied, slipping his arms under hers around her torso. ‘I proposed to you.’
She nodded, and one eyebrow lifted a little. ‘Yes, you did, but—’
‘I asked first,’ he interjected. ‘You wouldn’t have pulled that stunt if it hadn’t been for me.’