She blinked up at him in shock. ‘You mean that?’
‘I know it probably reeks of nepotism but I quite fancy the idea of you working in the firm with me. We could rename it Knightly and Gresham and Associates. What do you think?’
‘I think your father is going to have a heart attack when he finds out you’ve handed a partnership to your ex-wife.’
‘Ah, but you won’t be my ex-wife,’ he said confidently.
She looked at him in confusion. ‘But…’
‘Marry me, Carli.’
‘You want to marry me again?’ She looked at him in surprise.
‘I do. As soon as I can arrange it, in fact.’
She smiled at him with eyes alight with happiness. ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this… You have been so distant…so mocking and—’
‘Please don’t remind me how badly I’ve handled our relationship. That’s one thing the last five years has taught me if nothing else. I guess I thought if I threw a whole lot of worldly goods your way you’d be happy. My father had done that for my mother and she seemed happy with the arrangement, but of course you were nothing like my mother. How wrong was I?’
‘I was just as wrong,’ she said. ‘I should have told you about my family circumstances. I kept so much from you. I didn’t trust you enough with the biggest issues of my life.’ She took a shaky little breath and continued, ‘I didn’t even really mean it when I said I wanted a divorce. I was being childish and provocative but I was too proud to back down. Can you ever forgive me?’
‘Only if you forgive me for not trying to talk you out of it,’ he said. ‘I should have realised how my family were making things so difficult for you but I just didn’t see it at the time. When we talked that day in the lift I started to realise how little we’d known of each other. I wanted to call you afterwards but I kept remembering how I’d promised I wouldn’t contact you. That was the deal, remember? One drink, and over and out?’
‘You must have got an awful shock when I turned up at your office that day.’ She smiled up at him.
‘Shock?’ He gave her a theatrical grimace. ‘My secretary is still talking to everyone about it. I’ll have to pay her more to shut her up.’
Carli couldn’t help giggling. ‘I think I’m going to like working for you. It will be fun watching you being pulled into line by two women.’
‘And if we ever have a daughter…’ He kissed the tips of each of her fingers in turn, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘Do you have any idea of what you’ve started, young lady?’
Her smile was nothing more than radiant. ‘I’ve started? What about what you’ve done?’
‘What have I done?’ His tone was all affronted innocence.
She placed his hand over the swell of her belly.
‘Oh…’ He grinned. ‘That.’
‘Yes, that.’
‘I hope you’re not going to hold it against me for the rest of our lives,’ he said.
‘No.’ She pressed her abdomen against him and looped her arms around his neck. ‘Only for the next four months. Is that all right with you?’
His dark eyes softened as they took in her uptilted features. ‘That’s perfect with me, absolutely perfect,’ and he bent his head towards hers.
EPILOGUE
CARLI and Xavier both smiled as they came back into Eleanor and Bryce’s lounge room to find an array of toys scattered all over the floor. Bryce was growling like a lion at Angus, who was cackling with delight at his grandfather, while Eleanor looked on fondly.
‘Any trouble?’ Carli asked her mother-in-law.
‘No, he’s been an angel. He’s very well-behaved for a not-quite-two-year-old. How was your dinner?’
‘Fine,’ Xavier said, scooping up his son and holding him close. ‘We have some news.’
Bryce came and stood beside his wife, his arm going around her waist in a gesture of affection that still moved Carli deeply. How had one tiny child made such a difference to so many lives?
‘We’re having another baby,’ Xavier announced proudly.
‘Wonderful!’ Eleanor clasped her hands together in delight. ‘Did you hear that, darling? Another grandchild.’
Bryce beamed, and, reaching for his son’s hand, grasped it in both of his before turning to Carli and hugging her briefly, but no less warmly.
Eleanor moved from kissing Xavier to embrace Carli, no sign of the coolness and formality of years gone past. It had taken a few months and the birth of Angus to melt the chill but Carli was glad she’d insisted on Xavier restoring some sort of peace with his parents. They hadn’t come to the wedding but that had hardly mattered to Carli. She’d only wanted one person there anyway, and he’d come with a huge smile on his face which had taken her breath right away.
She looked at him now as he talked with his parents, his son in his arms, a smile of deep contentment on his face.
‘Mummee, Gandad said we going to the zoo to see the lions!’ Angus wriggled out of his father’s arms to reach for her, pressing a wet kiss on her cheek as she gathered him close.
‘What does the lion say, Angus?’ Bryce held up his hands like paws and growled deep in his throat. ‘Roaarrrrrh!’
Angus chuckled and buried his head into his mother’s neck.
Carli exchanged amused glances with Xavier.
His smile was for her and for her alone. She knew its silent message as surely as if he’d roared it out loud.
It said: I love you.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5795-9
BACK IN HER HUSBAND’S BED
First North American Publication 2006.
Copyright © 2005 by Melanie Milburne.
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Back In Her Husband's Bed (Bedded By Blackmail) Page 17