by Louise Bay
I knew Logan Steele well enough to know that he didn’t say anything he didn’t mean. To hear how he loved me and how he wanted to make things work—I knew those weren’t easy things for him to say. He meant it. He was a man of honor. I knew our road ahead might be bumpy, but I was now convinced that he was committed to the journey.
“You can’t just abandon your company for the day. Be practical,” I said.
He sighed. “I absolutely can.” He took my hand and pulled me out of the office. “Julie, I’ve left for the day. Oh, and this is Darcy. She never needs an appointment and can interrupt any call or meeting I have.”
“Logan,” I said, wanting him to stop.
“She’s my…everything. And she comes first.”
Julie’s face lit up. I wasn’t sure it was delight or shock. “Good to know, sir. Enjoy your day.”
I didn’t even have a chance to say hello to Julie before Logan was striding to the lifts. I just offered her a little wave and she gave me a thumbs-up.
I figured that Logan was on a mission to prove he’d changed. That he was no longer convinced that he didn’t do relationships, that we were no longer friends who hung out. The determination in his grip, the resolve in his words…he meant business.
We stepped into the lift. “I know you wouldn’t say yes if I asked you right now,” he said, pressing the button for the lobby, three or four times. “But make no mistake, we’re together forever. I’m going to buy you a ring, take out an advert in The Times, and pledge to honor and cherish you in front of the entire universe. It’s all going to happen.”
It took me a moment for his words to sink in. Was Logan Steele talking about marriage? “You don’t need to do any of those things. You’re enough, Logan.”
“I’ll never be enough, but I’m going to spend my life trying to be the man you say yes to.”
He was right. A proposal right now was too soon. But there would come a time when our road wouldn’t be so bumpy, when things would have settled between us and we’d be looking forward to the rest of our lives.
I believed it. I believed in us. And I couldn’t wait.
Forty-Two
Logan
The bird’s-eye view of Woolton Village had never looked so perfect. It was possible to make out the farm shop, the community center and the pub, and of course, the estates of Woolton Hall and Badsley House, nestled right next to each other.
Next to me, Darcy said, “I can’t believe I let you talk me into the helicopter.”
“It was the fastest way home.”
“You’d better land in the grounds of Woolton Hall then. I want you to myself for a while before we take tea with your grandmother.”
“Yes, let’s not think about my grandmother for a few hours. It’s likely to kill my libido.”
“And we don’t want that,” Darcy said, raising her eyebrows.
I clenched my jaw and ran through the time it would take to land, get to the house and strip us both naked. I reckoned we could do it in less than five minutes.
In the end, it took seven.
“God, you take my breath away,” I gasped as Darcy came out of the bedroom in her underwear.
“You’re already naked,” she said. “I thought you’d want me to undress you.”
“Not today. Not now. I just want to be with you.” I reached for her.
She tilted her head as if she didn’t yet believe how much I wanted her. “How can two people, so stubborn and single-minded about so much, work together so well in bed?” she asked, stepping toward me.
“I don’t know,” I said as I walked her back toward the bed. “But I’m not arguing.”
I cupped her breasts, one in each hand, enjoying their delicious weight in my palms before I bent to take one in my mouth. I groaned as the soft flesh connected with my tongue. Fuck, I’d missed this. I’d missed her.
Now that I had her back, all I wanted to do was worship her.
Her hands trailing down my arms as I stepped away. I needed to look at her, study her curves, make sure I wasn’t missing anything. No, the sweep of her neck into her shoulder was still the same, the way her breasts jutted out in need, familiar. The arc of her waist was how I remembered. The softness of her stomach, the smooth, milky skin. She was still my Darcy.
“Logan,” she whispered, distracting me from the hypnotizing pull of her body.
I glanced back up at her. “I’ve missed you so much. I’m so lucky you gave me another chance.”
I lifted her up onto the mattress and crawled over her, caging her in. She was mine. Now and forever. I had the rest of my life to be with her, the rest of my life to discover every expression she had. “So beautiful,” I whispered as I pressed my lips to the base of her throat.
She drew her legs up and the slide of her skin against mine set sparks off all over my body. How had I let this woman go? Even for a moment? I paused, wanting to remember it, to scorch the relief, the joy at having her back onto my brain. I wanted to treat her with honor and adoration. But I also needed to fuck her, make her mine again, push into her and prove that we were supposed to be together.
“Hey,” she said, stroking her fingers over my jaw. “I’m not going anywhere. We can do it all.”
“I know,” I replied. “But it’s different now.” I’d always respected and admired Darcy, but I had a new level of reverence for her now. She was the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with. The woman I was going to have children with. I would only make love to her for the rest of my life. And I wanted to do it right.
She shifted underneath me, teasing my cock with a circle of her hips. “I really hope the sex isn’t different.” She grinned. “Because that might be a game changer. Don’t treat me like glass.”
Christ, sometimes this woman knew me better than I knew myself, but she was right. The sex between us was always better than the best I’d ever had, and there was no reason that would change now. I thrust into her, rough and hard, erasing any doubt the sex would ever be something that was a problem for us. I wasn’t sure if it were pressure or performance anxiety that had put me on pause, but whatever it was, Darcy had cut through it.
She always did.
“Using me for my body.” I grunted.
She sucked in a breath and bit her lip as I pushed in again. “You’d better believe it.” She struggled to keep her voice level as I fucked her with deep, punishing strokes that turned her words to the desperate sounds that I loved to hear so much.
Our eyes met and her love for me, my devotion reflected back, was almost overwhelming.
This was what being in love was. Connection on every level. Being someone’s world and them being yours. Knowing I’d do anything to make her happy.
My body clenched as I realized I wasn’t going to be able to hold back for long. I liked making her come first, took satisfaction from that, but not today.
“I want us to come together, Logan.” She trailed her fingernails down my back, tracing pleasure up and down my skin. It was too much.
I grabbed her hands and pushed them over her head. “You want me like I want you?” I knew I’d been the one to push her away, I’d fucked up but I’d more than learned my lesson. I’d never needed reassurance from a woman before. Never needed anything from anyone. But Darcy was so mixed up in who I was now, who I was becoming that I had no choice but to need her. She was a part of me.
She held my gaze. “Always.”
It was what I needed to hear, and it released something in me, and in her, too.
“Logan.” She tightened her grip. “Logan.”
I dipped down to kiss her, wanting to swallow her sounds, experience her pleasure as she came. With just the sweep of her tongue over mine, my orgasm coursed through my body, meeting hers with a vengeance, binding us together.
Epilogue
Darcy
“I’m just not really a ring type of person.” I took in the tray of huge diamonds in front of me, a little overwhelmed. They were all massive and show
y and although I appreciated the thought, none of them seemed like me. I squeezed Logan’s hand—I didn’t want him to think that I was being ungrateful.
“I don’t understand. Are you telling me you won’t marry me or that you don’t want to wear a ring?”
“I’ve already said I’ll marry you.” We were on the top floor of the Hilton Park Lane at the same restaurant we’d come to for our first date. He’d warned me the proposal was going to happen, he’d been warning me most days since we’d been reunited, but I’d known from the moment I’d gone to his office all those months ago that we’d be together forever. I’d never needed a proposal, but Logan had insisted.
“Just no ring?” he asked.
I glanced up at the Cartier jeweler who sat on the other side of the table. How Logan had convinced him to bring such an extensive collection of jewelry outside the safety of their store, I had no idea. The six-man security detail that had followed him in probably had something to do with it.
“They are all very beautiful,” I reassured Logan. “I’m not sure it’s practical. I’m up to my knees in mud most days and then with the horses or—”
“You don’t always have to be practical, Darcy. Sometimes you can just buy something because it’s pretty. And you can always take it off when you’re out on the estate.”
“What’s the point in that? If I’m going to marry you, it’s not a part-time gig.”
A smile curled his lips and I cupped his face, smoothing my thumb over his mouth.
“What about just a simple band?” I suggested. “Just plain gold, if it comes off and gets lost, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
Logan chuckled as the jeweler closed the lid on the heavy leather box on the table and replaced it with an identical one. “What about something like this?” he asked. “Normally bigger is better, but personally, I like these simple bands that look like a row of diamonds. People wear them as wedding bands, but it might suit you as an engagement ring.”
He opened the lid to reveal at least fifty rings, just as he’d described. Elegant and sophisticated, less likely to get caught in horse hair or torn off as I moved bales of hay. “Yeah, this is better.”
“Only you would want the least expensive thing in the store,” Logan said, shaking his head.
I glanced up at him, grabbed his tie and pulled him toward me for a kiss. “I love great jewelry. Just not for every day. I want an engagement ring that represents us—we don’t need showy. I always figure a big diamond is making up for something that’s missing.”
“Do any in particular catch your eye?” the jeweler asked.
I studied the rows of bands. They were all pretty.
“What about this one?” Logan pointed.
The jeweler pulled it out of the leather and handed it to Logan.
“I like it,” he said, showing it to me, taking my left hand. It was very simple, even though the diamonds were some of the biggest. It looked like a row of raindrops had been wound around a ring of platinum. It was simple and light and very pretty.
Logan slipped the ring on and my heartbeat scattered in my chest.
I bit down on my bottom lip. I’d known in theory that we were going to be together forever, but watching as he put that ring on my finger, it seemed more real somehow.
We both stared down at my hand. “I think it’s perfect,” he said. “It’s completely you.”
The ring fit exactly and I wondered whether every piece that was here today was in my size. “I love it.”
Logan turned to the jeweler. “I think that’s our decision made.”
“It looks beautiful on you,” he said and gathered up his boxes with the help of his burly security guards, then left the two of us alone.
“Now we just have a wedding to plan,” Logan said as he slid me onto his lap so we were both facing the twinkling lights of the city, the countryside a dark blanket off in the distance.
“You want to get married here?” I asked. “You said it summed us up, London and the countryside in one perfect view.”
“I think this view is about who we were when we first met. Now, I’m not so sure.” He nuzzled into my neck and pulled me closer. “I would have thought Woolton Hall was the most obvious place to hold the wedding.”
“Maybe, but I think our wedding should be about us and our friends and family.”
“But doesn’t that include the entire village? You know, I think every woman in Woolton sees you as their daughter.”
I sank back into him. He was right. The whole village had seen me grow up, helped raise me, given me my values, showed me what was important in life. It was only fitting that they should witness me move on to the next phase of my life.
“Perhaps you’re right. The ceremony could be just a few of us and then we should just have a big party and invite everyone.”
“Sounds like the perfect compromise,” Logan said.
We’d been getting better at making those. He was moving into Woolton Hall and I’d promised to come to London two nights a week. We agreed that eventually Mrs. Steele would move in with us, but she wanted to keep her independence, and her garden, as long as possible.
“I think you’re right. I’ve been looking for family everywhere my whole life. And now I’ve found it.” I turned my head and kissed his jaw. He was my home, the place I felt most myself, the person I trusted above anyone in the world. Logan was my family now.
Logan
“Why didn’t you try to convince me to stay in bed?” Darcy asked as we wandered hand in hand past the stables and toward Badsley House.
Sunday mornings had become both ritual and negotiation. Darcy would insist it was the perfect time for a morning walk to her favorite spot that overlooked Chilternshire, and I would try to persuade her to stay in bed just a little longer. But this morning was different.
The mist swirled across the lawns and the sun was trying to break through. It was a special part of the day, and I’d come to enjoy our Sunday morning walks together.
I shrugged. “It’s your birthday, so it’s only fair we do what you want to do today. Plus, you stayed in bed with me last Sunday morning—and last night should keep me satiated for a few more hours yet.” That was a total lie. There wasn’t a time when I didn’t want Darcy, even if I’d had her just a few moments before, but I had a surprise for her and everything was in place.
She narrowed her eyes as if she didn’t quite believe me, but didn’t say anything. “Isn’t it a perfect morning? You have to learn to ride, and we can go out together.”
“I’m not sure I’m ever going to be a good rider. I think it’s like skiing—you can’t be great at it unless you learn as a child.” I was much more at home boxing or lifting weights.
“You do okay,” she said, a compliment considering I’d only been on a horse a handful of times and okay was as good as I got.
“We need to make sure our kids ride and ski from the time they can walk.”
“Our kids? We’re not even married yet.”
“You of all people should know that just because people are married, it doesn’t mean they’re ready for children and just because people aren’t married doesn’t mean they’re not.”
She gazed up at me, the soft, pink bloom in her cheeks making her glow. “Are you saying you’re ready for kids?”
I kissed her on her head. “With you, I’m ready for anything.” Losing Darcy had sent any expectations I’d had about the way my life was going to be up in flames. The day she’d come back to me, I’d started with a clean slate. She was at the center of everything I wanted, and with her, I wanted everything.
She bit back a smile in the most delicious way.
I paused and pulled a scarf from my pocket. We were just a few steps away from her favorite spot and her birthday surprise. “I need you to put this on,” I said, holding up the handful of navy blue silk I’d stolen from her dressing room.
“I’m not cold. Where did you get that—”
“I’m going to bl
indfold you.”
She tugged out of my grip. “What are you talking about?”
I cupped her face and skimmed her cheek with my thumb. “Trust me. I have a surprise for you.”
She didn’t say yes, but neither did she object. She clung to my shirt as I wrapped the silk around her eyes.
Wrapping my arms around her waist, I guided her forward.
“Logan, what are you doing?”
“Shhh, just a few more steps.” I paused when we got to the clearing. Everything and everybody was where it was meant to be.
“Okay, promise me you won’t scream.”
“Logan, I swear, if you—”
I pulled off her blindfold and watched as she took in what was before her. Ryder, Scarlett and their children had arrived last night and slept at Badsley House with Violet and Alexander. Aurora had messaged me before Darcy and I had set off to say everything was in place. My grandmother had been determined to be part of the surprise and with some help from Ryder and Alexander, seemed to have arrived unscathed.
“Happy birthday,” everyone chorused.
“I can’t believe you’re all here.” Overwhelmed, Darcy sped toward her friends and family, pulling them into hug after hug. “How did this happen? I thought you were in Shanghai or something?” she asked Ryder.
“Logan made it happen. Organized us all,” Ryder said.
She turned back to me and held out her hand. “You did this for me?” she asked as I joined the fray.
I shrugged. “You’re not an easy woman to impress. I can’t just drop some money on a fancy gift.”
“Having all my favorite people around me is better than anything you could ever buy me.”
Darcy might have been brought up in an incredibly wealthy family, but what made her rich was how much she loved those in her life, and how they loved her in return.
“Well, I did kind of buy you something, you know, in case seeing this lot was a bit of a let-down.” I nodded to the bench I’d placed overlooking the view she loved so much. “I thought as we got older, we’d need somewhere to sit when we came up here.”