‘And vanished out of my life,’ said Jonah heavily. He turned her face up to his. ‘What now, Leo? Are you going to vanish again?’
Leonie looked deep into the intent, tigerish eyes. ‘It depends,’ she said at last.
He raised an eyebrow. ‘On what, exactly?’
She shrugged, arching her back so that her breasts thrust against his bare chest. ‘On what inducement I’m offered to stay. And by whom,’ she added, in case he was in doubt.
‘What did you have in mind?’ he asked, his fingers playing a delicate obbligato down her spine.
Leonie clenched her teeth to control a shiver. ‘I’m open to suggestions,’ she said unevenly.
Jonah turned on his back and brought her over to lie on top of him. ‘My first is to ring Jess, ask if she’d like to have a meal with us somewhere, then apologise because you’re spending the night here with me afterwards instead of with her.’
‘Am I?’ she demanded, smiling down at him.
‘Aren’t you?’
‘Is that what you want?’
‘Yes.’
Leonie slid down to lie on her back beside him, and drew the covers over them.
‘Cold?’ enquired Jonah.
‘No. But serious discussion is difficult when—when—’
‘Your delectable body is sprawled in total abandon on top of mine,’ he finished for her, and turned towards her, propping himself up on one elbow. ‘Leo, if this were fiction, I would now reach in some drawer and take out a little box tied with ribbon and hand over your ring.’
‘But you threw it away,’ she said, resigned, secretly very relieved he was even thinking about rings.
‘It was my first reaction,’ Jonah admitted. ‘But instead of hurling it dramatically into the Thames I sold the ring and gave the proceeds to my mother’s favourite charity.’ He traced a forefinger across her cheek. ‘Do you want another one?’
‘Are you offering one?’ she demanded. ‘If so I want the offer couched with a little more clarity, please—with some romance thrown in.’
Jonah grinned. ‘Put your claws in, little lion.’
Her eyes flashed a warning. ‘Just you be careful, Jonah Savage. Say what you mean in good plain English or I might get really belligerent—no one would know if I hit you, because your eyes are black already.’
‘Kiss me instead,’ he cajoled, leaning nearer.
Leonie waited ostentatiously.
‘Ah—the magic word,’ he said, grinning. ‘Please kiss me, Miss Dysart. After these wounds I’ve suffered just for you I deserve a kiss.’
‘Ah, but will it stop at one?’ she said, laughing.
‘No.’ He kissed her very thoroughly. ‘I’ve been too many years without this,’ he muttered against her lips. ‘You owe me a great many kisses, my darling.’
‘Take them, then,’ she said huskily.
Jonah needed no further prompting. When he raised his head at last, he smiled into her heavy eyes. ‘Darling, if I kiss you any more the inevitable will happen, and unromantic though it is, alas, my head’s beginning to ache again.’
Leonie scrambled up in remorse. ‘Let me get you some pills—’
‘No.’ He pulled her down into his arms again. ‘You’re all the medicine I want. Let’s lie here very quietly for a minute or two—and talk.’
‘What about?’
‘I need to know certain facts before I proceed.’
Leonie tensed. ‘Go on.’
‘This Italian—is he expecting to marry you?’
‘I think he may be.’
Jonah gave her a slanted, frowning look. ‘So he hasn’t asked you formally, then?’
‘No.’
‘And if—when—he does, what will you answer?’
Leonie turned to look him in the eye. ‘Until I came home at the weekend I’d fully intended to say yes.’
Jonah sat up, and pulled her up with him, stacking the pillows behind them. ‘And now?’ he demanded.
Leonie smiled wryly. ‘Now I shall say no. Not,’ she added swiftly, ‘because I’m taking anything for granted where you’re concerned, Jonah. Even if I never see you again after today I know I can’t marry Roberto.’
‘Of course you’re not going to marry Roberto,’ said Jonah with sudden violence. ‘What the hell did you think all that was about just now? Auld lang syne?’
‘You tell me!’ she retorted.
Jonah slid out of the bed and stalked into the bathroom. He returned wearing a dressing gown, and stood at the foot of the bed, arms folded. ‘Pay attention,’ he said tightly. ‘In the intervening years, Leonie Dysart, I have not been starved of female attention—’
‘You mean sex,’ she retorted, secretly cut to ribbons at the thought of it.
‘All right, sex. What do you expect? I’m normal, single, and women usually like me.’
‘You mean lust for you!’
‘Will you stop telling me what I mean and listen?’ he roared, then winced and clutched his head, glaring at her. ‘What I am trying to say is that although there have been women in my life since you left me, none of them has been a permanent arrangement.’ He paused, his eyes softening. ‘With you it was magic I never found again. Or expected to. So, unlike you, I’ve never had the slightest desire to marry anyone else.’
‘Haven’t you?’ she said wistfully.
‘No. Never,’ he assured her.
‘Neither have I, really.’ Leonie gave him a crooked little smile. ‘But I can go one better than you, Jonah. Regarding the sex bit, anyway. I’ve never made love with anyone else at all. Today was the first time since that last morning with you.’
Jonah stood perfectly still, his eyes narrowed to green slivers of disbelief. ‘Not even Roberto?’ he asked slowly.
She shook her head. ‘I haven’t known him long.’
‘We hadn’t know each other long before we first made love,’ he reminded her.
‘That was different.’
Jonah came to sit on the edge of the bed. ‘Why?’
Leonie gazed at him steadily. ‘You know why.’
‘I always thought I did. Then you left me, and I assumed I’d been wrong.’ Jonah took her hand, smiling reminiscently. ‘When I kidnapped you out of Rachel’s party I wanted to take you home and make love to you there and then.’
‘I hoped you would,’ she said candidly.
‘I wish I’d known that. I spent the entire evening trying to keep my hands off you!’ He shook his head. ‘I forced myself to hold out for an entire week before doing more than just kissing you goodnight.’
‘I thought you didn’t fancy me.’
He smiled. ‘Darling, you were Rachel’s favourite niece, and I was her boss’s son. Besides…’
‘Besides what?’ she demanded.
‘I had an idea you weren’t nearly as cool and sophisticated as you tried to appear.’
‘Oh, did you?’
Jonah took her in his arms. ‘It didn’t seem possible that no man had ever made love to you, but when I discovered the truth for myself that night—’ He breathed in deeply. ‘I was overwhelmed in several different ways, not least of them a very primitive sense of possession. From that night on, as far as I was concerned, you were mine and mine alone.’
‘I felt the same,’ she agreed, and locked her hands behind his neck. ‘But try to put yourself in my place, Jonah, and imagine how I felt when I heard you and Rachel that day. If it had been any other woman in the known world I’d have come out and confronted you, believe me.’ She rubbed her cheek against his. ‘Until that moment you’d been my knight in shining armour.’
‘Whereas I’m anything but. Though I admit I abseiled down that blasted cliff to impress you.’ Jonah’s eyes gleamed with self-mockery. ‘And got my just desserts for showing off like a teenager! Unfortunately I’m just an ordinary guy, Leo—’
‘Not to me,’ she assured him passionately, and reached up to kiss his mouth. ‘You’re the only man I’ve ever wanted—ever will want.’
‘Until death do us part?’ he said very distinctly.
Leonie’s eyes lit up. ‘At the very least.’
They held each other close for a long time, words no longer necessary. But at last Jonah kissed her hard then pulled her to her feet. ‘Let’s take a shower, then go shopping for a ring.’
‘Yes, please!’ Leonie danced ahead of him towards the bathroom, her eyes incandescent with happiness. ‘Good thing I brought a change of clothes!’ Laughing, she began to gather up the garments Jonah had scattered far and wide.
‘Darling!’ He caught her hand. ‘I thought I’d never hear you laugh like that again.’
Leonie sobered. ‘It’s years since I did. Oh, Jonah, pinch me, please, and tell me this is really happening.’ Jonah laughed and pinched her cheek gently, then turned on the shower and pulled her into the stall with him, insisting he was far too poorly to manage alone. ‘I may not be a shining knight, but I did injure myself in your service, Miss Dysart!’
‘Let me kiss you better!’
‘With the greatest of pleasure.’ As she reached up to kiss his mouth he smoothed soapy hands down her back and cupped her bottom, lifting her slightly until she stood on tiptoe, her arms wreathed round his neck to keep her balance, both of them oblivious of the water streaming over them as they held each other close with a simple need for affirmation far removed from the sexual, even held naked in each other’s arms.
Later, when they were fully dressed and Leonie’s hair was almost dry, she had a bright idea as they left the flat to go shopping.
‘I’d rather not go out. Let’s buy some food and ask Jess here for a meal instead. She can come round straight from work and I’ll make it clear, with sisterly tact, that she’s not expected to stay late.’ She smiled up at Jonah as they went down in the lift. ‘I see no point in wasting precious time in taxis and restaurants.’
‘Brilliant idea,’ approved Jonah, and gave her a swift kiss before they reached the ground floor. ‘Miss Dysart, do you have any idea how much I love you?’
‘You can spend a long time telling me after Jess goes home tonight.’ Leonie gave him a long, unsmiling look. ‘I’ll never get tired of hearing you say it.’
‘Since you’ll have to put up with it for the rest of your natural life that’s probably just as well,’ he assured her, hailing a taxi.
During the journey Leonie rang Jess to explain the change of plan, but cut off her sister’s exclamations by assuring her all would be revealed later. ‘Though Jess will jump to the right conclusion, of course,’ she said, laughing, then her eyes widened as she realised the taxi was stopping outside the jeweller where Jonah had bought her first ring.
He paid off the driver, then put an arm round her, oblivious of people passing by as he smiled down into her face. ‘Call me sentimental, if you like, but I fancied the idea of retracing our steps back to the beginning.’
Leonie blinked hard, afraid to trust her voice.
‘But this time I suggest a very different ring,’ he said with emphasis. ‘Let’s forget the other one.’
Leo sniffed, and nodded vigorously. ‘Absolutely. I don’t mind what the ring’s like as long as it fits, so I can wear it right now and never take it off again.’
When Leonie answered the door to Jess that evening she forestalled all explanations by holding out the hand with a band of rubies and diamonds on the appropriate finger.
‘Wow!’ said Jess, then flung her arms round her sister in a bear hug, grinning up at the man behind her. ‘Gosh, Jonah, what does the other chap look like? Did you fight the Italian rival for Leo’s hand, or something?’
‘Not yet,’ said Jonah wryly. ‘Do I get a kiss too?’
‘Are you sure it won’t hurt?’
‘Positive,’ he said, leering at Leonie in a way which brought such a vivid blush to her face Jess roared with laughter, and gave Jonah a careful kiss on the cheek.
‘Nothing more friendly, or big sister will clobber me,’ she said, winking outrageously.
‘Too true—hands off,’ said Leonie, unperturbed. ‘Come in and sit down while we do some explaining.’
‘What’s to explain?’ Jess handed Jonah the jacket of her black trouser suit. ‘You met Jonah again and realised you were a complete idiot for jilting him and begged him on bended knees to take you back.’
‘Not quite,’ said Jonah, lips twitching. ‘Have some champagne.’
‘Champagne!’ said Jess blissfully, accepting a glass. She let out a deep sigh as she looked round her at the flat. ‘Nice place, Jonah. Have you just moved in?’
‘No,’ said Leonie, pulling her to sit on one of the sofas. ‘He likes it like this.’
‘Each to their own, I suppose. Personally, I quite like a cushion or two.’ Jess pushed a strand of blonde hair behind one ear, raising an eyebrow as she looked from Leonie to Jonah. ‘My apologies for my working clothes.’
‘It seemed an occasion to wear something special,’ said Leonie, smoothing crushed velvet the exact shade of her hair. ‘I brought this dress to go clubbing with you, so I thought I might as well wear it tonight. It’s not every day I get engaged.’
‘And to the same man,’ Jonah reminded her. He grinned at Jess. ‘And not so much of the working clothes. Even a mere male like me could recognise the label in your jacket.’
‘Probably because you’ve got the same one in your own,’ she retorted. ‘So come on, then, tell all. Well, almost all,’ she added, batting her eyelashes.
‘Actually, there’s quite a lot to tell, Jess, so make yourself comfortable,’ said Leonie. ‘First of all, have you heard about the dog? That’s how Jonah got his bruises.’
‘The dog? Explain at once!’
It was still early when Jess insisted it was time for her to leave. Very serious for once, she kissed Jonah, then gave her sister a hug.
‘I’m very, very happy for you both. That goes without saying.’ She shook her head in wonder. ‘But I’m glad I heard all this from you instead of from Mother during the weekly call home. It’s quite a lot to take in. Poor, poor Rachel. And poor you, too, Leo. Though how you could possibly think Jonah was Fenny’s father—’
‘But you only have to look at her, Jess,’ protested Leonie.
‘I don’t mean that.’ Jess slid her arms into the jacket Jonah was holding for her. ‘I remember how you both were together, how Jonah so obviously felt about you—’
‘And still do,’ he said quietly.
‘Exactly.’ Jess shrugged. ‘You must have been mad, Leo, to think he would even look at someone else. In my humble opinion, you should have trusted Jonah, no matter how much the evidence pointed the other way.’
Leonie waited alone in the flat, clearing away the meal while Jonah saw Jess down into her taxi. When he got back she turned to him, stricken, her eyes full of unshed tears.
‘Darling, what’s wrong?’ he demanded, taking her in his arms.
‘Jess is right,’ she said thickly, leaning against him. ‘I should have trusted you.’
Jonah tipped her face up to his and kissed her. ‘And I should have come chasing to Florence to demand the truth.’ He looked sternly into her eyes. ‘But though we did neither of those things we’ve been given a second chance, Leo, so no more regrets about what might have been. Let’s concentrate on what’s to come. Which,’ he added, in an entirely different tone, ‘with regard to the immediate future, was occupying my mind for most of the evening. So come to bed. It’s time you thanked me nicely for the ring.’
‘You mean it isn’t for free?’ she said demurely.
‘No.’ Jonah seized her by the hand and pulled her from the room, pausing in the hall to kiss her. They were both breathing hard when he raised his head. ‘I demand your heart—and soul—and body—in exchange, for ever and ever.’
‘Amen,’ said Leonie fervently.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LEONIE sat in the taxi next morning in a haze of happiness. Jonah had insisted on coming with her to Paddington, their reluctance to par
t with each other as strong as their other parting years before.
‘It’s going to be a long time until tomorrow,’ sighed Leonie, as Jonah kissed her goodbye.
‘So change your mind and stay. Come with me to Hampstead this morning, and travel back with me tomorrow,’ he urged for the umpteenth time.
‘You know I would if I could. But I promised Fenny. I must be home in time to fetch her from school.’ Leonie kissed him again, then boarded the train before it could go without her. ‘Give my love to your parents.’
‘I will. Ring me as soon as you get home,’ he ordered as the train began to move, giving her a smile of such open possession Leonie kissed her ring in response, and waved her left hand until Jonah was out of sight.
Frances Dysart was waiting at Bristol Parkway when Leonie got off the train, her eyes widening as she took in her daughter’s air of dishevelled radiance.
‘Had a good time, darling?’
‘Wonderful,’ said Leonie jubilantly, but waited until she got in the car before she waggled her left hand at her mother.
Frances gazed at the ring incredulously. ‘Jonah gave you that?’
Leonie hugged her, laughing. ‘I certainly didn’t manage to meet someone else in that time, Mother. Besides,’ she added, with a heartfelt sigh, ‘there never was anyone else for me, ever.’
‘Oh, darling, I’m so happy for you,’ said Frances thickly, and held her close. ‘Has Jonah told his parents?’
‘He was on his way to do that after he left me at Paddington. Then he’s coming back tomorrow. He wanted me to stay tonight—’
‘But you’d promised Fenny, of course!’
‘Exactly.’ Leonie smiled wryly. ‘I’ve managed to exist without Jonah all these years, so I suppose I’ll survive until tomorrow. Somehow. No dog, I suppose?’ she added.
‘Afraid not.’ Frances heaved a sigh. ‘Fenny’s pining badly. I had a terrible struggle to get her off to school this morning.’
‘Poor little poppet. I felt such a heel taking off to London like that,’ said Leonie in remorse, then smiled at her mother. ‘But I’m very glad, now, that I did.’
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