When they were both naked, she led him to her bed and continued her exploration of his body, loving how his skin danced beneath her touch. Loving him. And when she knelt over him, and took him into her body, she felt a closeness with Josh that had been missing before. Finally, there were no secrets between them. Finally they could give and take without any shadows of the past lingering between them.
As she rose and fell against him, sensation swelled upon pleasure, pleasure upon sensation, until they both tumbled over the edge of reality and onto a plane of pure joy, pure enlightenment. Pure love.
Later, as their bodies cooled and their breathing returned to normal, Callie relished the sound of Josh’s heartbeat beneath her cheek—the heart that beat for her. For all they’d been through, for all they’d done, they’d made it through together and would each be stronger for that now.
Josh’s fingers drew lazy circles against her back. She could stay in this half world forever, she thought with a smile. But then again, they’d have plenty of these times together. They had a lifetime to look forward to.
“You know,” she said quietly, “I feel sorry for her.”
“Irene?” Josh’s voice was a deep rumble in her ear. “She doesn’t need your pity.”
“Yes, I think she does. She did help me, Josh. I know she cast me to the wolves when everything began to crumble, but deep down I really feel sorry for her. She only fought for what she believed in—her family, their security, their future. Really, what she did was not a lot different from what you did to them. It’s like everything came full circle.”
Josh lay silent beneath her for several minutes before speaking.
“I hate to admit it, but you’re right. The difference being, though, that I withdrew before it was too late.”
“So you’re definitely not going public with Bruce being your father?”
“No. I’m not even going to approach him about it. I’m satisfied knowing he truly loved my mother. At least she had that, no matter how long it lasted.”
Callie lifted her head and met Josh’s gaze, saw the unexpected sheen of tears in his eyes.
“I love you, Josh Tremont. I don’t deserve you, but I love you and I promise you I will love you until the day I die.”
“That’s all I ever wanted,” he said, as he rolled her under him and lowered his face to her. “And you need never doubt I will spend every day of the future loving you exactly the same way.”
By the time they’d spent their afternoon making love, packing enough of Callie’s things to fit in her car, and making love again, it was early evening before they made it to Josh’s place. As they reached the entrance to his drive, Callie noticed that the gates were open.
“Did you leave them open today?” she asked.
“I was in a hurry this morning.”
“There’s a car outside your house.”
They cruised down the driveway, toward the dark Mercedes parked in the large turning bay. A Mercedes that Callie realised was very familiar. Her breath caught in her throat and a bundle of nerves clenched into a knot at the pit of her stomach. Josh slowed her car to a halt and got out.
The knot in Callie’s stomach tightened even more when the driver’s door on the Mercedes swung open and Bruce Palmer stepped out. If she’d thought he looked as if he’d aged the other day in the boardroom it was nothing compared to how he looked now.
His skin was grey and hung from his cheeks in folds, his eyes were red-rimmed, his posture stooped and his normally immaculate suit rumpled.
Through Josh’s open door, she heard the older man’s voice tremble as he spoke.
“Irene told me. Is it true? Are you my son?”
“Yes.” Josh’s voice choked on the word.
Grief and joy flew across Bruce Palmer’s face and tears streaked down his cheeks. “My boy!”
The two men moved together as one, their arms outstretched one moment and clasped around one another the next as if nothing could ever tear them apart.
And as Callie watched Bruce hold his firstborn son for the very first time, she knew that finally everything would be all right. The great knot inside her unravelled and she got out of the car to follow them inside.
After making the men coffee, Callie left them alone together and took her things upstairs. She put everything away and then, loath to interrupt Josh and his father in their first chance to get to know each other, she moved outside, onto the main bedroom balcony. She looked down the hill and out to the water and wondered how they were doing. How they were coping with discovering each other as father and son.
She didn’t hear Josh come up behind her. She simply felt his warmth and strength against her back, his arms sliding around her waist. She leaned back against his chest.
“He had to go. The Guildarian consulate function is tonight, but he wants to come over tomorrow—to spend part of Christmas Day with us. He said he’s missed too many of them now to want to miss this one.”
“So everything’s okay?” she asked.
“Better than okay. I really didn’t know how it would feel—to actually see him face-to-face. To have him acknowledge that he is my father. But it was incredible. He talked to me about Mum, about how he tried to find her after she’d gone, but she’d done too good a job of disappearing. He kept an eye on the electoral rolls for years, hoping she’d crop up and he’d then be able to make sure she was okay. In the end he concluded that she must have left the country.” Josh took a deep breath and let it go in a rush of air. “I gave him the letters. I explained what you’d tried to do and we decided the best thing was to let them go. He finished what you started.”
“I’m glad. They needed to be let go.”
“Yeah. I know you can’t hold on to the past forever. He’s still very angry with Irene, but I know he will eventually forgive her. She finally told him the truth. Maybe they can start afresh when they move overseas. Who knows?”
“She had to protect what was hers. I know what she did came at a terrible cost to you and your mother, but she must have been desperately afraid of losing her husband. What’s important is that she did the right thing in the end.”
Josh pressed a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re too soft, you know that?”
“Maybe I am, but it got me you, didn’t it?”
“You’re right. Maybe I do owe Irene something after all. By the way, Bruce and I sketched up a plan to help Palmer Enterprises through the losses they’ve incurred with that erroneous deal I set up. With Bruce and Irene leaving for Guildara, I’ll be working with Adam—my brother. My God, my brother! All these years I’ve envied him, even hated him for having everything I didn’t, and now we’ll be working together.”
“Adam’s a great guy—focussed. A lot like you really.” Callie smiled. “You’ll work well together—most of the time.”
“Yeah, we’re bound to bump heads every now and then, but we’ll be working toward the same purpose, for a change.” Josh nuzzled the side of Callie’s neck. “It was good to talk to Bruce. We might never get to be as close as we could have been, but right now I feel as if the last pieces of my life have slotted into place, and it’s all because of you.”
“Me? How?”
“I came this close to ruining my own father and you stopped me. You made me question whether I was doing the right thing. I’ll never be able to repay you for that, Callie.”
“You don’t need to repay me, just love me.”
“I will always love you. Thank you. For everything.”
As they turned together and walked back inside, Callie knew that this Christmas would be one they’d remember forever.
It was the start of the rest of their lives.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4461-4
DEFIANT MISTRESS, RUTHLESS MILLIONAIRE
Copyright © 2009 by Dolce Vita Trust
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 editorial office, Silhouette Books, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.
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.
® and TM are trademarks of Harlequin Books S.A., used under license. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
Visit Silhouette Books at www.eHarlequin.com
*New Zealand Knights
*New Zealand Knights
*New Zealand Knights
†Rogue Diamonds
†Rogue Diamonds
†Rogue Diamonds
Defiant Mistress, Ruthless Millionaire Page 14