Tender Persuasion

by Sara Wood

  She had got over the shock of his words and elation lit her face, making her dimple dance.

  'You were fresh,' she said in a disapproving tone.

  'Well, I didn't like the way you magnetised me. I was disgusted with my lack of decency too, that I seemed helpless to prevent myself intruding on your grief. I wanted you so much, it seemed all my principles were being thrown overboard. I love you, Jade. I love you so much that I can't bear the thought of living without you. When I went away, it was as if the sun had gone out of my life. There in the church, it seemed to shine again because you were near, but the awful thing was that it wasn't shining for me. Everything seemed black where I was. I had to speak to you then, it was the only way I could think of exorcising you.'

  'Exorcising!' she breathed. 'You exorcised a ghost for me.'

  'You will marry me, won't you? We can have wonderful arguments about naming our children.'

  She smiled. 'Arguments? Me, argue with you?'

  'Yes, please,' he murmured. 'Then I can spend long hours persuading you to my way of thinking.'

  'No, Dane,' she said, shaking her head with a laugh. 'I will spend long hours persuading you.'

  'Can't wait,' he said huskily.

  'We'll need the children before we argue over their names,' she pointed out.

  'Exactly,' he grinned. 'Time we got started.'

  'Oh, Dane! It's been hell, pure hell!'

  'Hmmm. What… kind of hell, Jade?'

  'Cold,' she said. 'Ice-cold. When I saw you disappearing into the wood to catch that poacher, my blood froze over. That was my hell: that we'd come to terms with each other at last and you'd be hurt, maybe killed. My body was turned to ice. Hell froze.'

  'I knew it would freeze over one day,' he said, his rich, deep tones husky with sensuality. 'Now you must uphold your vow and surrender.'

  'Yes, Dane,' she said, as meekly as she could.

  He laughed at her false tone, belied too by the blazing fire of passion in her eyes. She laughed with him as they stood under the oak and, as his mouth tenderly claimed hers, she thought of the couples who had met here over the last few centuries, and wondered how many generations of the King family would come to the oak to make a lovers' tryst in the centuries to come. And then the immediacy of the present caught up with her as she learnt with Dane how sweet it was to love, really love.