by Robyn Grady
She stood up tall.
She wasn’t going there again.
“When I walked away that night,” he said, stepping closer, “I thought it was best. I knew I had to work with my brother and get the company back up to speed. I was going to be busy. I am busy. You deserve someone who’ll be there for you whenever you need him, one hundred percent.”
A fist-sized ache swelled in her throat. What was this? Torture hour?
“Well, thanks for dropping in and clearing that up.”
When he reached out, his hand settled on her forearm. Her first instinct was to sigh at the contact. His touch always felt so hot, so right. But she remembered her mother, and how bereft she’d felt the night Pace had walked away, and found the wherewithal to shirk back.
Pace’s brows fell together. “Phoebe, we need to talk—”
“There’s nothing left to say.”
“You need to take a minute—”
“I need to get on with my life.”
His chest expanded on a breath and his eyes narrowed, as though he were working something through in his mind. Then he reached for her arm again, more determined this time.
“We’ll go back to your cottage, out of the weather and—”
Her heart pounding and breaking all over again, she stepped back. “Whatever you have to say, Pace, please—just say it.”
He studied her for a long moment, the intensity of his gaze rippling over her like heatwaves, those fake blossoms swirling all around. He might have come to apologise, but she hadn’t been born yesterday. They were highly compatible together into the bedroom. He thought he could win that privilege back. He should have thought about that while he was living a double life. Before he’d let her know something more important had come up and he was bowing out of their relationship.
A breeze ruffled his dark hair as he slid his hands in his coat pockets.
“I was wrong, Phoebe. Dead wrong. That’s hard for me to admit. Growing up, I always had to be right—or put on a good show that I was. Competing with my brother every step of the way…trying to make my father proud when most of the time I only ever felt overshadowed and overwhelmed by him. I wasn’t ready to take on the head chair when he died. I should have asked for Nick’s help then. But I was stubborn. The worst thing I could’ve done, or so I thought, was to show any weakness.”
Phoebe frowned. But this man was confidence personified. She didn’t know anyone who exuded more self-assurance than he did.
She shook her head. “That’s ridiculous.”
“As ridiculous as you needing to find ‘Mr Right Now’ to prove something to yourself.” His hands eased from his pockets and took hers, so warm, so firm. “Don’t you know that you’re the most beautiful, desirable woman alive?”
A rush of hot emotion flooded her veins and a well of moisture rose in her eyes, but she held the tears back. She needed to keep her head and remember that this was Pace, the consummate flirter, bad boy and breaker of hearts. He’d go a long way to get what he wanted. Apparently even as far as pretending to open his heart.
When she tried to free her hands he released one, but held the other, unyielding.
Quivering inside—with anger, with desire—she raised her chin. “If you think you can sweet-talk me back because after a week your bed is cold—”
“This is me saying that you and I have a lot in common. Something very human. Everyone doubts themselves some time. No one likes to admit it. Who I am with you is the real me. Doesn’t matter if it’s Pace or Davis. I want to succeed in business like you want to succeed in your profession. But I want you more. So much more. I want to be with you. I think you want that too.”
Couldn’t he show some mercy and leave? Even if a world of magnets was pulling her towards him and deep inside a voice was telling her to succumb. To forgive.
“Pace, you have no idea what I want.” She hardly knew any more.
“You want passion and fun.” He stepped near and brought that palm to his lips. “You want love and commitment.”
A warm tear trickled down her cheek; more lay aching in her throat. If he’d stooped to saying that simply to get her back in his bed, he’d gone too far.
She was about to tell him as much when, through blurred vision, something caught her eye. That tear curled around her chin at the same time as she recognised a dazzling gem glittering up from the crimson jewellery box Pace held. She shook her head, disbelieving, as he gathered her into a single-armed caress and brought the box higher.
“I was wrong,” he said, his lips nuzzling the shell of her ear, his breath warming her cheek. “I should never have walked away.”
His mouth trailed her brow and she swallowed hard against the want clutching at her heart and the urge to collapse and believe everything he’d said.
“This past week,” he went on, “I’ve learned that you’re the one person who makes it all real and clear and worthwhile for me. If you let yourself trust me again you’ll admit that you love me the same way I love you.”
A wave of emotion crashed and broke free. Smothering a hitched sob, she buried her face against his broad chest. Could she believe him? Had her father ever said that he’d loved her mother?
But Pace had a ring. A beautiful ring…the most beautiful ever created.
When he cupped her face she met his gaze, shamefully weak with hope.
“I can’t wave a wand,” he said. “Wish I could. I knew in my heart when we said goodbye that night I was making the biggest mistake of my life. I won’t let you go again.” His head lowered over hers. “Marry me, Phoebe,” he whispered, his lips touching hers. “Be my wife, my partner. We’ll ride on the good times and weather the bad. We’ll do it together. And I promise we’ll be happier than two people have a right to be.”
When his mouth slanted over and captured hers, Phoebe felt as if she were Aladdin opening that mysterious, wondrous cave. All those elusive treasures could be hers…
If she said yes.
If this was really for ever.
“I saw my life as win or lose,” he said when they came up for air. “Wrong or right. It’s not about that. It’s about this.”
He kissed her again, bringing her flush against him, and as her eyes drifted shut again all she could feel—all she could see—were those blossoms swirling around their heads and the magic breaking open in her heart. Then she was holding his face, too, her tears of happiness spilling freely. In her head those blossoms lit up like stars, and the answer—the only answer—seemed to light up and blaze in her mind too.
His chest rumbled as their lips parted. Rubbing the tip of his nose against hers, this time he didn’t speak to her eyes. He spoke to her soul.
“I can be president of a company, and I can design a car.” He smiled. “A damn good one. But what I want…what I need more than anything…is to spend my life with you. Don’t let this past week get in the way of what we have.”
She searched his eyes. “What do we have?”
“Phoebe…darling…we have each other.”
Won over, she dropped her head back and waited for his kiss. She would have waited for ever, she thought. But when it didn’t happen she slowly frowned and opened her eyes. One coal-black eyebrow was hiking up.
“Phoebe? Do you believe me?”
Her dawning smile was soft…was real.
“Yes,” she sighed. “I believe you.”
The groove disappeared from between his brows and a dazzling smile lit up his face. His voice deepened as he held her tighter. “Do you love me even half as much as I love you?”
“Much more than that.” It seemed as if she’d always loved him.
“Then your answer’s yes? You’ll be my bride?”
A choked laugh escaped. “Tomorrow, if you want.”
“Because, if you have any doubts, I can show you something I think might help.”
He tilted his head towards the base of her tree and her gaze was drawn to the biggest knot—to the place where she’d etched he
r initials and that love heart so many years ago. A heartbeat before he drew her unequivocally close—before he sealed their once-in-a-lifetime love the way she liked best—Phoebe’s heart swelled as she recognised the letters he’d carved above her own.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7471-0
EVERY GIRL’S SECRET FANTASY
First North American Publication 2010.
Copyright © 2010 by Robyn Grady.
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