by Daphne Clair
‘Not financially,’ he said. ‘You know you would have been okay if I died. But emotionally?’ he suggested slowly. ‘To have a part of your life that didn’t depend on someone you loved?’
Astonished at his unusual insight, she stared at him. ‘I…yes, I suppose you’re right. That’s exactly it.’ And ironically, because of her desperate determination to hold on to that, she had lost him.
‘So everything I said only drove you further from me. You couldn’t trust me to do what I promised. And that’s why you rejected me.’
‘I didn’t mean to, I didn’t realise what I was doing. Can you forgive me?’
‘If you need forgiveness so do I.’ He took her hands and looked down at them. ‘I don’t want to rush you into anything,’ he said. ‘You said you need to get this film out of the way before you start thinking about personal things. I can wait until you’re ready.’
‘Oh.’ She peeped at him from under her lashes, deliberately provocative. ‘I’m not sure I can.’
He lifted his eyes slowly, as if almost afraid of what he might see in hers.
What he saw was laughter and love, a hint of regret at what they’d missed during their estrangement, and the promise of passion. She tilted her head and looked back at him, bold and teasing.
‘Shannon,’ he said, the word very nearly inaudible, a groan welling straight from his heart. ‘Oh, God, my darling, sweet, sweet Shannon.’
Then she was in his arms, and their mouths met with a hunger that burst into instant, all-consuming fire. He picked her up and carried her into his bedroom, fell onto the bed with her and kissed her again, a wild kiss of need and gladness and uninhibited sexuality.
He stopped long enough to tear off his clothes and help her with hardly less haste to get out of hers, and then they were mouth to eager mouth again, skin to skin, his hands finding softness and roundness, hers exploring muscle and tautly covered bone, the exciting contrast of smooth skin and wiry little curls of male hair on his body, the salty taste of him, and she breathed in a subtle masculine scent that made her dizzy with desire.
Nuzzling behind her ear, he murmured, ‘You smell wonderful. You feel wonderful.’ His hands told her so as they touched her cheek, her shoulder, waist, the curve of her hip. A strong thigh nudged hers apart and she arched into him, inviting his mouth to find her breasts, which it did, bringing her to a sighing, delicately poised brink of unnameable, unimaginable pleasure.
She moved to bring him closer, opened herself to him, and felt him filling her, warming her, giving himself utterly, and then the world burst into dazzling flame around them and consumed them both until they passed through the fire together and were cast into the cool washes of the night, still clinging to each other.
She was floating on a dark sea, safe and warm in Devin’s arms where she belonged…where she had always belonged. Only somehow she’d been shipwrecked and thrown on some barren desert island without him. Until now…
‘I’m home again,’ she said at last.
He stirred against her, his arms tightening. ‘So am I,’ he said. ‘Thank God. And you…Shannon, my lovely, loving wife. Back where we belong.’
EPILOGUE
THE premiere of A Matter of Honour was a glittering occasion.
The famous Rose Grady had flown in for a few days to attend, and she and her handsome co-star had just announced their engagement, and their plans to star in another film together. It was widely known that they had fallen for each other on the set of Honour, and interest in the sizzling onscreen affair was high. The media were jostling to get shots of the two of them, and clamouring for interviews.
Watching Rose and Craig pose for yet another photo after the show, Devin said in Shannon’s ear, ‘The stars get all the attention and the director’s scarcely mentioned.’
‘Neither are the rest of the crew,’ she reminded him. ‘The actors are our ambassadors. Anyway, I certainly don’t want to attract too much attention looking like this!’
Devin looked down at her burgeoning figure and placed a hand over it. ‘You look utterly, completely beautiful,’ he said. ‘I hope our little girl is going be just like you.’
This pregnancy had progressed normally but she was taking no chances. When she discovered she was expecting while Honour was in post-production, she’d announced she was taking some time off. She had enjoyed hunting for a house that was suitable both for entertaining and bringing up a family, and supervising the installation of a small theatre Devin had insisted she should have to view rushes with her crew in comfort.
She’d furnished a nursery and spent hours buying baby clothes, sometimes with her sister-in-law who was also pregnant. They joked that their babies might even share a birthday.
It had been fun, but when she and Devin moved to the new house and everything was in place Shannon had begun getting restless. Already she was planning her next film, a romantic thriller, with a starting date after the baby’s birth.
‘We’ll get a good nanny,’ Devin had promised, ‘and she can bring the baby on location if necessary. Oh…I suppose a crying baby isn’t a good idea on a film set.’
‘No,’ Shannon had agreed. ‘But we could set up a special van or something. I don’t want to be parted from my baby for days at a time.’
No doubt there would be hitches in their carefully laid plans but in filming the unexpected cropped up all the time and problems were made to be worked around. Devin was bending over backwards to support her career, and she was no longer deathly afraid of compromising it. The certainty of their love and commitment to each other had dissipated the tension.
‘Are you up to this party?’ he asked her as people began to move, heading toward the refreshments.
‘I’m fine,’ she said.
‘I don’t want to deprive you of your moment of glory, but you must look after yourself.’
Once that would have made her hackles rise. ‘I hardly need to,’ she teased him, ‘when I’ve got you do it for me.’
‘Do you mind?’
‘No.’ She smiled at him. ‘I don’t mind at all. And this is the last do like this we have to attend before the baby’s born. After tonight I’m going to put my feet up.’
Her words were truer than she knew. April Rose Keynes made her presence decidedly felt the next morning, and by evening was already making her mark on the world and her parents’ lives.
As Shannon cradled her new daughter in her arms Devin gazed down with a slightly stunned expression and took the baby’s hand, watching in awe as April’s tiny fingers wound about one of his. He looked up at Shannon and she saw tears in his eyes, for the very first time ever. ‘I love you,’ he said. ‘I never knew how much until now. And I swear you’ll never regret coming back to me.’
Shannon swallowed a lump in her throat. ‘I know I won’t,’ she said. ‘I’ll never, never leave you again.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ he said. ‘It would kill me if you did.’
‘It would kill me too,’ she said. ‘This time is forever.’
‘Forever and beyond,’ Devin agreed. And across their baby’s downy head they sealed the vow with a kiss.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-8079-7
THE MARRIAGE DEBT
First North American Publication 2003.
Copyright © 2002 by Daphne Clair.
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