The Frenchman's Marriage Demand

by Chantelle Shaw

  ‘More than life, mon coeur,’ he vowed fiercely, ‘more than you can ever know.’ He slid his hands up her arms to cup her face and she could have died at the expression in his brilliant blue gaze, the faint sheen of moisture that revealed his vulnerability and his deep, abiding love for her.

  ‘When I received the results of the paternity test I was desperate to know if I carry the gene and the likelihood that I had passed it on to Aimee. I contacted medical experts who specialise in genetics and discovered that in the last two years a reliable test has been developed, which means that I will finally know if I am a carrier. If I am, then Aimee will have to be tested and it will mean that I can’t risk having another child,’ he said in a strained voice.

  He broke off and stroked a stray tendril of hair from her face with fingers that shook slightly. ‘When you spoke to Camille at the party I saw in your face how much you would love another baby and it hit me like a thunderbolt that I hadn’t been fair to you, chérie. I’ve spent the past three days on The Isis in abject despair, knowing that it would be wrong to marry you until I know if I can give you other children.

  ‘Waiting for the test results is tearing me apart. If it proves negative then I will gladly marry you, but if it is not, then—’ He broke off, his expression tortured.

  Freya stared at him. ‘And if it’s not, what then? What are you suggesting?’ she demanded fiercely. ‘That I marry someone else? Have children with someone else? Is that what you want?’

  ‘No, it’s not what I want,’ he denied savagely. He spun around so that his back was to her and ran a hand over his face, but Freya saw the betraying gesture and her heart clenched with love and tenderness. ‘It would destroy me to see you with another man, to know that you loved him and to watch you grow big with his child whenever I came to visit Aimee. But what I want isn’t important,’ he continued huskily. ‘I want you to be happy, chérie.’

  ‘Then come here and make me happy,’ she pleaded softly. ‘You’re the only man who can, the only man I want. I love you,’ she said simply, opening her arms to him when he jerked his head round and stared at her.

  ‘Don’t you understand? I want to postpone the wedding until I know if I can give you more children.’ He swallowed when she walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist. For a moment he fought against his desperate need to hold her, but he had never been able to resist her smile and with a groan he slid his fingers into her hair.

  ‘I’ve waited for you to ask me to marry you for two long years and I’m not waiting any longer,’ she told him fiercely. ‘I don’t care what the test reveals. Aimee is healthy and you’ve said she stands no chance of developing the illness herself. It would be nice to give her a little brother or sister, but I love you, Zac, and that’s more important than anything else. All I’ve ever wanted is for you to love me the way I love you, completely and utterly for the rest of our lives.’

  ‘Freya…’ His voice broke and he claimed her mouth with such tender passion, such love, that her eyes filled once more. ‘Je t’aime, chérie, for ever.’

  ‘Show me,’ she whispered against his mouth and smiled when he scooped her up and carried her over to a sun lounger.

  ‘Do you want me to take you to the bedroom?’

  ‘No time,’ she muttered thickly. She had been starved of him for the past two nights and she couldn’t wait a moment longer. His clothes were a hindrance and she tugged impatiently at his shirt buttons, murmuring her pleasure when she parted the material and ran her hands over his broad chest.

  He dispensed with her robe with similar speed and paused to savour the sight of her in a wisp of black lace before he drew her negligee over her head and absorbed the beauty of her soft curves. His woman—the thought of living without her had almost destroyed him and the knowledge that he didn’t have to was slowly sinking in. He would make her happy, he vowed fiercely. He would devote the rest of his life to loving her so that she forgot the lonely years of her childhood and knew beyond doubt that he adored her.

  He lowered his head and captured her mouth in a tender caress before increasing the pressure, crushing her soft, moist lips beneath his own as passion quickly built to a crescendo of need. Freya curled her arms around his neck and arched towards him when he trailed his mouth down her throat and over the soft swell of her breast. The sensation of his tongue stroking delicately over her nipple made her cry out.

  ‘I love you so much, Zac,’ she whispered, wondering how she could ever find the words to tell him what he meant to her. ‘I’ve wanted to say the words for so long,’ and had said them, silently, in the sweet aftermath of their lovemaking. Now she could say them out loud and she smiled when he transferred his mouth to her other breast and then lifted his head to stare down at her.

  ‘The words are special, but I was afraid to say them, knowing that I should let you go,’ he said deeply. ‘Instead I tried to tell you with my body. When I kissed you, caressed you, my heart was reaching out to show you how much you mean to me. You are my life, Freya—you and Aimee. You mean the world to me.’

  He moved over her and entered her with exquisite care, setting a rhythm that swiftly built to explosive passion. Freya wrapped her legs around him and revelled in his strong, deep strokes driving her higher and higher until she could take no more. As she shattered she called his name and heard his answering groan, heard him tell her again and again that he would love her for eternity. She convulsed around him, heightening his pleasure to an unbearable degree, and he finally lost control, gloriously and unashamedly and with a lingering sadness that he had dared not risk making love to her without a protective sheath.

  Afterwards Freya hugged him tightly to her and stared up at the night sky. The moon was a pale orb suspended against black velvet and the stars seemed close enough to touch. She loved the weight of Zac’s body on hers, but eventually he eased away from her and stared into her eyes.

  ‘If the test results are positive…’

  ‘Then we’ll deal with it,’ she said steadily. ‘All my life I have longed to be part of a family and now I have Aimee; I feel closer to Yvette than I ever did to my grandmother and Jean is more than Aimee’s nanny, she’s become a dear friend. But most of all I have you,’ she said softly, her eyes shimmering with tears as she traced the contours of his face. ‘I want to be your wife, Zac, and know that whatever the future brings, we’ll face it together. There’ll be lows as well as highs, but there will always be love and that’s all we need.’

  Zac said no more, couldn’t when his throat ached with emotion, but he kissed her and stroked his hands over her body, showing her without words that he would love her for the rest of his life.

  Three days later they were married and their wedding day was everything Freya had ever dreamed of. A day of joy and laughter that began when she walked across the lawn at La Maison des Fleurs escorted by Laurent and with Aimee clutching her hand and skipping alongside. Zac was waiting for her beneath a bower of pink and white roses and as she approached he stepped forwards to draw her and his little daughter into his arms.

  ‘Papa,’ Aimee greeted him with an impish grin and drew murmurs of delight from the assembled guests when she toddled off to sit between Mamie and Jean, the two people she loved most after her parents.

  Zac looked so utterly gorgeous in his superbly tailored wedding suit that Freya’s steps faltered and she stared up at him, overwhelmed by the depth of her love. He smiled and she caught her breath at the lambent warmth in his gaze, an ache starting deep inside her when he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed each finger in turn.

  ‘You know I will never let you go,’ he murmured, his voice shaking with emotion. ‘You are mine and I guard my possessions jealously, chérie.’ He brushed his lips over hers in a gentle kiss that promised heaven and hand in hand they stepped forwards to make the vows of love that would last a lifetime.

  EPILOGUE

  FREYA tiptoed into the nursery and smiled at the sight of Aimee asleep in bed surrounded by
her collection of teddies. At nearly four years old she was growing up to be a bright and beautiful little girl and was a devoted sister to her baby brothers.

  At the other end of the room two cots stood side by side, each containing an identical dark-haired baby boy. From the moment Zac had learned he did not carry the gene that had taken such a devastating toll on his family, he had been eager for them to try for another child, and as usual he couldn’t do anything by half, she thought wryly.

  Luc and Olivier were now nine months old and were quickly discovering how much mischief they could get up to now that they could crawl. Both had inherited their father’s strong will and she’d had a tussle to change them into their sleep suits. Now, finally they were asleep and looked so utterly adorable that she couldn’t resist leaning over to brush her lips against Olivier’s velvet soft cheek and then Luc’s.

  ‘Ready?’ Zac’s voice sounded from the doorway and she glanced up, her heart lurching when his mouth curved in a wide, sexy smile.

  ‘Do you think they’ll be all right? We’ve never left them for a whole night before,’ she murmured anxiously as she followed him into the hall.

  ‘Of course they will. Jean and my mother will spoil them beyond redemption,’ he assured her. ‘It’s about time we had one uninterrupted night.’

  ‘Mmm, I’m sure we’ll sleep well.’

  ‘I wouldn’t bank on it, chérie,’ Zac warned her, the gleam in his eyes sending a quiver of anticipation through her. ‘I have various plans for our second wedding anniversary, and none of them involve us lying still.’

  He held her hand as they rode the lift down from the penthouse and walked along the quayside to where The Isis was moored. Freya could not help but glance at him, noting the way his black trousers moulded his thighs and his shirt was open at the neck, revealing the tanned column of his throat. He still had the power to make her heart stop and she swallowed at the lambent heat in his gaze when he lifted her into his arms and stepped aboard the boat.

  ‘Happy anniversary, chérie.’ He bent his head and kissed her until she was breathless before carrying her down to the lower deck. The master cabin was filled to overflowing with flowers and tears welled in Freya’s eyes when she glanced around at the mass of roses and carnations.

  ‘They’re beautiful,’ she whispered, clinging to him when he lowered her onto the bed. ‘Where are you taking me?’

  ‘Nowhere.’ He grinned and the gleam in his blue eyes sent a tremor of excitement through her. ‘At least, not yet. Later we’ll sail along the coast to Antibes and have dinner there. But right now I’m not hungry for food, mon coeur.’

  ‘I see.’ Freya pouted. ‘So I got all dressed up for nothing. Perhaps I’d better take my dress off before it creases.’

  ‘I think that’s a very good idea,’ Zac murmured, sliding the straps of her dress down her shoulders until her breasts spilled into his hands. He groaned his appreciation and dipped his head to capture one dusky nipple in his mouth; tormenting her with his wicked tongue until she begged for mercy and he transferred his lips to her other breast.

  She was on fire for him instantly, desperate to feel him inside her. She was glad that her body had returned to its pre-pregnancy shape and eagerly helped him to remove the rest of her clothes, her excitement mounting at the burning heat of Zac’s gaze. Their lovemaking had been gentle and more restrained since she’d given birth to the twins, but tonight she sensed his urgency and knew that he would couple tenderness with fierce, primitive passion.

  ‘You’re incredible,’ Zac breathed, his eyes darkening as he ran his hands possessively over her flat stomach and then lower to caress the sensitive flesh of her thighs. He stripped out of his clothes with indecent haste and came down on top of her, taking care to support his weight as he entered her with one slow thrust that filled her and made her groan with pleasure. Each deep stroke sent her higher and higher until she sobbed his name and clung to him while spasms of intense pleasure racked her body.

  Still moving within her, he whispered the words she had waited so long to hear, vowing to love her and cherish her for the rest of his life, before his control shattered and he spilt into her, his big body shaking with the power of his release.

  ‘This is for you, to celebrate the second year of our marriage,’ he said some while later, sliding his arm from beneath her shoulders for a moment as he reached for a small velvet box. He slid the band of diamonds and emeralds onto her finger to join her wedding ring and kissed away her tears. ‘You are my wife, my lover…’ his voice faltered fractionally ‘…mother of my children, and the love of my life. I will love you for eternity, Freya,’ he vowed, before he took her in his arms once more and proceeded to demonstrate without words exactly what she meant to him.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-1100-5

  THE FRENCHMAN’S MARRIAGE DEMAND

  First North American Publication 2008.

  Copyright © 2007 by Chantelle Shaw.

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