LITMIR.BIZ

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so careless?’

      Dominic hid a smile. He was not used to being told off by a woman. He rather liked it. ‘Never,’ he told her honestly. ‘But I just assumed that you were on the Pill—and please don’t look like that, Romy; you have to agree that it was a perfectly reasonable assumption to make, under the circumstances.’

      ‘I suppose so,’ she sighed, and kissed the gravelly shadow of his chin. ‘But what if I had had millions of partners before you?’

      He stared deep into her eyes. ‘Do you know—the thought of using contraception as a protective device with you simply never occurred to me? And I’ve never, ever taken that risk before.’

      ‘So why do something so out of character with me? Someone who you would have been justified in protecting yourself against, given all the evidence?’

      ‘Because I wasn’t acting on evidence; I was acting on instinct,’ he told her lovingly. ‘Maybe I knew, deep in my heart, that the only risk I was taking was having my heart broken into the bargain!’

      No chance of that! thought Romy.

      ‘In fact,’ he mused, ‘if we’re talking about carelessness, I could wonder why you didn’t bother telling me that you were a virgin...?’ He raised his dark brows at her questioningly.

      Romy sighed. ‘I guess I wanted to get my own back. You thought that I was a raving nymphomaniac, and I wanted to prove to you that I wasn’t.’

      ‘Revenge in its sweetest form?’ he questioned.

      ‘You could say that.’

      ‘But rather a dramatic way of going about it.’

      ‘You bring out the worst in me, Dominic,’ she murmured, but he shook his head.

      ‘The very best,’ he demurred.

      Well, she wasn’t going to argue with that! ‘And also,’ she admitted, ‘I was terribly afraid that if you knew I was a virgin you would insist on doing the honourable thing.’

      ‘The “honourable thing” being?’

      Romy shrugged. ‘You know. Insisting on me staying pure and unsullied, and not making love to me.’

      He grinned. ‘I may have honourable traits, sweetheart, but I’m not completely stupid!’ He narrowed his eyes, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him. “That—um—divine experience in the garden... How in heaven’s name did a virgin learn how to do that?’

      ‘She used her imagination,’ Romy told him smugly. ‘I happen to have a very vivid imagination, you know, Dominic!’

      His eyes darkened. ‘Shall we go to bed now?’ he growled.

      ‘Oh, yes, please,’ she sighed happily. ‘And can we do it again?’

      Dominic laughed aloud, feeling more light-hearted than he could ever remember feeling. ‘As often as you like, sweetheart—as often as you like.’

      He suddenly noticed the telephone receiver lying on the floor by the sofa. ‘Oh, dear—one of us must have kicked it off,’ he observed drily, loving the way she blushed so sweetly.

      He replaced it onto the handset and it trilled out almost immediately. Romy listened while he said, ‘Mmm. Mmm. When? Good. That’s good! Yes. Yes, she is.’ And finally, ‘I’m getting married. Yes! Of course it’s to Romy. We’ll tell you all about it. Tomorrow?’ He grinned at Romy. ‘Well. maybe not tomorrow—I have the strongest suspicion we’re going to be very tied up for the next few days! I’ll phone you.’

      He put the receiver down, looking very slightly bemused. ‘That was Triss,’ he explained. ‘Archie has been trying to get through to us, but couldn’t—so he rang her and Cormack instead. He and Dolly arrived at the hospital just as their daughter-in-law produced a baby girl—she’s quite small but absolutely perfect! And they are both doing well.’

      ‘Oh, Dominic,’ said Romy breathlessly. ‘Isn’t that just fantastic?’

      ‘It is.’ He smiled indulgently. ‘In fact, everything is.’

      ‘Just one other thing.’ She pursed her lips together as he lifted her into his arms.

      ‘Mmm?’

      ‘How on earth did Triss know that you were going to marry me?’

      He smiled. ‘Before the party, I told her that I wanted to get you out of my system.’

      ‘And was that why you brought me here?’ she quizzed softly.

      ‘I’m afraid it was.’ His expression was rueful and his eyes were as silver as the moonlit lake outside. ‘But it went even further than that. You hit the nail on the head when you accused me of wanting to make you fall in love with me, sweetheart. I did. But I didn’t question my motives for doing so too closely.

      ‘You see, Romy, I thought that following an appropriate period of mourning you would come looking for me after Mark died. And when you didn’t...I...’

      ‘What?’ she whispered, thinking of the countless times she had lifted the telephone to contact him, and replaced it again, not daring to risk his contemptuous rejection.

      ‘I felt used,’ he admitted. ‘No better than a stud you’d got a cheap thrill from. I couldn’t forget you—in fact, the memory of you was making it impossible for me to live any kind of normal life. And so I plotted to bring you here—wanting you to be ensnared by me so that I could inflict on you the same kind of suffering and torment I had been forced to endure while you were away from me.’

      ‘Revenge?’ mused Romy.

      ‘Revenge,’ he echoed, and his face darkened. ‘But for once I lacked the perception to see that I was still totally ensnared by you.’ He looked at her candidly, a wry smile curving his lips. ‘And I never thought that when love came it would hit me like that.’

      ‘Like what?’ she asked him, intrigued.

      ‘Like a thunderbolt. Sudden. Powerful. Irrational.’ His eyes glittered. ‘And all-consuming. That kind of wild, crazy love seemed too much part of the world I had grown up in, where instant gratification was everything. The world I had wanted to escape so badly.’

      ‘And how did you think that love would come, Dominic?’ she asked him softly.

      ‘Oh, slow...and considered. And carefully evaluated.’ He smiled. ‘Deadly dull, in fact.’

      He picked her hand up and slowly kissed each finger in turn, and Romy thrilled at the expression of wonder in his eyes.

      ‘I also told Triss that I had an old score to settle with you.’

      ‘And what did she say?’

      ‘Just that I was straying into dangerous waters—that she knew from her own experiences that revenge has an awful habit of backfiring on you. And it has,’ he finished, on a whisper, ‘in the most delightful way imaginable.’

      ‘Oh, Dominic,’ sighed Romy, her heart almost bursting. ‘I love you very much.’

      ‘Then show me, sweetheart,’ he said, and his voice was suddenly urgent. ‘Show me.’

      ‘And I now pronounce you man and wife.’ The registrar beamed when—as if on cue—a blackbird began to sing its heart out in one of the trees. ‘You may now kiss the bride,’ he said.

      Dominic needed no second bidding. He bent his head and briefly brushed Romy’s lips, their eyes meeting in a long, long smile which excluded the rest of the world.

      And then came the low buzz of conversation as the guests all began to chatter excitedly.

      ‘Not a very passionate kiss,’ whispered Lola rather disappointedly. She had been hoping for a passionate clinch in the manner of Rhett and Scarlett! ‘And certainly not what you would expect from

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