Bestseller Collection 2010
Page 34
She had always envied her twin, knew that with her sparkling personality and her obvious beauty Jemima was the one everyone always gravitated towards; Gemini had always wished she were more like her twin. Was it possible she had been attracted to Danny only because he had that same magnetism, selfish though it was…?
‘I never loved him, Nick,’ she said with certainty. ‘Yes, I was hurt and humiliated when he and Jemima deceived us the way that they did. But it took me only a matter of weeks of being married to you to realise what a better man you are, in every way,’ she told him earnestly. ‘Nick, I do love you. I love you so much that the last few days without you have like a living hell!’ she confessed shakily.
‘Then why leave me at all?’ he demanded harshly.
She swallowed hard. ‘I—You aren’t going to like this,’ she admitted with a pained grimace. Nick had said he loved her—miraculously! Unbelievably!—but would he still do so once she had confessed to believing Jessica was his child…?
He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘I can’t dislike it any more than I have being without you the last four days!’
Gemini chewed on her bottom lip. ‘I—I thought Jessica was your child!’ she burst out apprehensively.
Nick looked at her. And looked at her. And continued to look at her!
‘I believed you still loved Jemima,’ Gemini defended heatedly at his continued silence. ‘And Jessica’s eyes are changing from blue to green! And—’
‘And I have green eyes…’ Nick realised softly.
‘Exactly,’ she pounced gratefully. ‘And—and—’ She broke of dazedly as Nick began to laugh. Not a cynical or strained laugh, but a deep, throaty chuckle that reverberated around inside his chest. ‘Nick…?’ she finally questioned uncertainly, when his mirth seemed to go on for ever.
He shook his head, gathering her into his arms, her face buried against his chest. ‘Green eyes run in my family, Gemini—my grandfather had them, my uncle too,’ he murmured ruefully.
‘I thought you were going to be so angry with me for thinking that about Jessica,’ she admitted chokingly.
‘Why the hell should I be angry with you when I’ve been suffering from the same mistaken idea about you and Danny since he telephoned the house last weekend?’ he acknowledged self-disgustedly. ‘I even rushed over here this evening because I was sure you still loved Danny and would be devastated at the idea of his marrying Jemima!’ He shook his head. ‘And all this time you’ve believed I was still in love with Jemima, too!’
Put like that, it did sound rather stupid. Especially when it seemed they were really in love with each other…
Nick grimaced. ‘Emotional insecurity has a lot to answer for.’
Gemini raised her head and looked up at him. ‘Do you really love me, Nick?’ she prompted huskily, still half afraid to believe him.
His arms tightened about her possessively. ‘So much that I ache with it,’ he admitted gently. ‘Gemini, I love you very much; will you please marry me?’
She gave a shaky laugh. ‘We already are married,’ she minded him softly, her eyes glowing with love.
He shook his head. ‘I want us to be really married. I came back early from my business trip last weekend because I couldn’t stand the way we were living any more. I decided I had to talk to you, ask you to be my wife in every sense—all the time hoping that if we had a real marriage, possibly children, in the end you would come to love me.’
That was what he had wanted to talk to her about! ‘I thought you were going to ask me for a divorce,’ she confessed emotionally. ‘That you knew you had made a mistake by marrying me, that it was still Jemima you really wanted. And Jessica’s existence only seemed to confirm that belief.’
Nick nodded. ‘Because you thought she was my daughter. I want our child, Gemini, yours and mine,’ he told her fervently. ‘Hell, I’m going too fast again,’ he muttered self-reprovingly. ‘First of all I would like us to go on that honeymoon we never had. Paris, if you’d like it?’ He looked down at her.
She had been to Paris several times on business, but she knew that would be nothing like going on honeymoon there with Nick. ‘I would love that,’ she agreed huskily.
‘So would I,’ Nick acknowledged, his arms tightening about her. ‘I love you, Gemini Drummond, and only you. More than I believed it possible to love anyone.’ Once again his hands cupped either side of her face as he looked down at her intently.
Gemini’s face shone with a reflection of that complete love. ‘I love you, Nick Drummond, and only you. More than I ever believed it possible to love anyone.’ She echoed his words sincerely.
He drew in a ragged breath. ‘Do you really want to go out to dinner?’
‘Why?’ But she knew the reason why, could see the desire she felt for Nick reflected in his eyes as he looked down at her with hungry need.
‘Because although you look very sexy in pyjamas—you look even sexier without them!’ he told her warmly.
She laughed huskily. ‘In that case—who needs food?!’ She returned Nick’s kiss with a passion that matched his own.
They loved each other, and nothing would ever be allowed to come between them again, she vowed inwardly. Nothing!
EPILOGUE
‘I DIDN’T think I could ever love you more than I did a year ago, when you told me you loved me, too,’ Nick murmured throatily as his head rested against her naked breasts. ‘But I do,’ he acknowledged dazedly, absently stroking the warmth of her thigh in the aftermath of their lovemaking.
Gemini laughed huskily. ‘There’s so much more of me to love!’
Nick’s hand moved possessively to her rounded body, a small protesting movement against his hand telling him that the tiny inhabitant did not like being disturbed in this way. ‘Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?’ he murmured wonderingly as he watched those tiny movements beneath her silken flesh.
In her sixth month of pregnancy, Gemini knew that the last year of being Nick’s wife, and having him as her husband, in the fullest sense of the words, had been the happiest she had ever known. And, as with Nick, her love for him had only intensified.
She looked down at him, one of her hands gently caressing the darkness of his hair. ‘Or boys or girls, plural?’ she suggested huskily.
‘I don’t—’ Nick broke off, looking up at her sharply. ‘Gemini…?’ he said uncertainly as she gave him an answering glowing smile.
‘The doctor seemed a little surprised at my—largeness at my check-up today, and decided to give me another scan—it appears there are two babies, not one!’ she told Nick happily, ecstatic at the thought of having his children.
‘Two?’ he echoed huskily, swallowing hard. ‘But I—you—’
She laughed at his completely dumbfounded expression. ‘Don’t look so surprised, Nick; I am a twin myself, after all.’
‘Yes, but—I always thought you and Jemima—that it—’
‘Did I forget to mention that my mother was a twin, too?’ She rolled over, so the two of them were facing each other as their heads lay on the same pillow.
‘Must have slipped your mind.’ Nick nodded, starting to smile himself now that the first shock was over. ‘Do you mind, Gemini? Two babies.’ He shook his head dazedly at the realisation.
‘Do you?’ she returned indulgently.
‘Hell, no!’ His arms tightened about her. ‘I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than two little girls who look just like their mother!’
‘Or two little boys who look just like their father,’ she pointed out happily.
‘Jessica is going to have her work cut out dealing with two cousins,’ Nick laughed softly.
Jessica was a regular visitor to their home, as were her parents. Jemima and Danny actually seemed to have matured themselves during this year of marriage. Although Jessica, at almost fourteen months old, had definitely taken over as the boss in the family, with her parents’ lives revolving around her now rather than themselves. Which was probably just as well!
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br /> ‘She’s going to love it,’ Gemini said with certainty.
‘So am I.’ Nick nodded. ‘But not as much as I love you, Gemini,’ he nodded gruffly.
‘Or I you,’ Gemini echoed softly.
And their family was made complete two months later when, without too much warning and slightly premature, as twins were apt to be, their identical baby sons were born…
Table of Contents
COVER
BOUND BY CONTRACT
COPYRIGHT
TITLE PAGE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
EPILOGUE
TO MEND A MARRIAGE
COPYRIGHT
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
EPILOGUE