How very odd—her heart missed beats—that it should be her marriage which would resolve this muddle, after all! Straight upon this thought she was assailed by doubts. Philip loved her; he couldn’t have kissed her so...so violently otherwise; but he wasn’t happy about it yet. Was he wondering how she would settle down to sharing his life? Did he feel a wife might be in the way? Was he worried about the completion of his work, the trip he was duty-bound to make to the Far East?
She turned to him impulsively and touched his sleeve. She smiled, but there was a catch in her voice. “It’s all happened at the wrong time, hasn’t it? Would it hinder your work if I went on living next door? I can type. Perhaps I could help you.”
He took her firmly by the elbows and spoke with a metallic inflection. “Look here, my sweet darling. I’ve never before been in love and this particular phase of it won’t come twice; therefore, I intend us both to make the most of it. If I can get all my stuff over to Chris Raebrook we can have two or three weeks’ break, which will give us time to go to England and get married there. Chris will find a cottage for us in Majorca, and when the job is done I shall be free for the trip to the East. You’d prefer to be married in England, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes. Oh, yes. You and my father will like each other; I know it.”
“And you’re not afraid of going to the Far East with me?”
She gave a broken laugh. “I’d even go to Alaska with you.”
“The Far East is much nicer. We’ll have wonderful times, Linda.”
“I’m sure of it.” Pink flags flew in her cheeks, her eyes shone. “Philip?”
“Yes?” He studied her closely.
“What made you love me?”
“I don’t know. At first you were pretty and defiant, but in no time at all I was feeling I had to look after you and hating any other man who so much as looked your way. But we weren’t even friends, were we?” His glance glittered a little. “I knew for certain that I loved you the night your foot was hurt in Valdez. I felt your pain as if it were mine, and afterwards I became touchy as the devil. Even Reeves.”
Her finger lay across his mouth. “No. There was never anyone but you.”
His hands went to her shoulders with a bone-cracking ferocity, and he kissed her. In his arms, Linda didn’t try to think. His touch, possessive, passionate and tender, was all she needed or could experience at that moment. It assured her there was nothing in the world Philip wanted more than to spend the rest of his life with her.
A Cottage in Spain Page 22