‘You’re wrong, Hal.’
Her voice was more tenderly compassionate than he’d ever heard it before, and Kit returned to his side of the bed and carefully sat down.
Taking his hand in between hers, she said, ‘I know how much it tears at your self-esteem and your pride that you can’t do all the things you did with ease before the accident. But, honestly, with all the progress you’re making it will be no time at all before you’re walking around again, fully fit, and chasing me round the kitchen for a kiss to boot!’
‘And joining you in the shower?’ Despite the flash of irritability and frustration that had seized him, Kit’s calm-voiced reassurance had done a lot to alleviate Hal’s concerns. With pleasure, he saw that she was blushing too.
‘I’ll look forward to it,’ she said, and smiled.
‘Well, I suppose you’d better go and get ready. We shouldn’t let that cooked breakfast go to waste, should we?’
‘Are you kidding? Something tells me I’m going to need to eat all the cooked breakfasts I can get to build up my strength if I’m to meet your insatiable demands, Hal Treverne.’
Dropping a kiss on the side of his cheek, she got to her feet and disappeared into the bathroom...
EPILOGUE
One year later
KNOWING THAT HER adventurous husband was champing at the bit to be off on the most taxing mountaineering hike he’d undertaken since his leg had fully healed—this time on Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain—Kit hesitated outside the stately bedroom in the private wing they’d made their home in at Falteringham House.
They’d moved in shortly after they’d married because Hal had decided it was time he came back to his ancestral home and learned the ropes of running the estate with his father. Kit had agreed. Although it wasn’t easy, getting used to living in such a grand place, she was definitely adapting to it and had been delighted when her father-in-law, Sir Henry, had asked if she’d like to take over the PR aspects of running the estate. She’d taken to the job like a fish to water.
But now Hal was busy packing his gear to head off to Ben Nevis, and she couldn’t help anxiously biting down on her lip at the thought of the adventure he had ahead of him. He would only be gone for the weekend, but any separation from him had to be endured always seemed like purgatory to Kit. Sometimes she would swear that they were literally two halves of the same soul, and even after nearly a year’s marriage their need for each other seemed to grow even greater, not lessen. However, she had promised him on their wedding day that she would never seek to curtail the sports and adventures that gave him pleasure just because she was fearful of the danger he might put himself in. Hal was a loving and devoted husband, and challenging himself was part of who he was. Kit wouldn’t want him to be any different.
But maybe today she had good reason to revise that view...
Lifting her hand and briefly sucking in a steadying breath, she rapped on the walnut door. ‘Hal? I know you’re busy, but can I come in for a minute?’
No sooner had she finished speaking than he opened the door, and just as though she’d been brought face to face with his six-foot-two, straight-legged frame for the very first time her heart skipped a beat. He was wearing faded jeans and a dark blue chambray shirt, and his tawny chameleon eyes glinted with pleasure as soon as they alighted on his wife’s face.
Straight away his arms encircled her waist to bring her close against him. ‘Since when do you need to knock on the door to ask if you can come in? This is your bedroom too, sweetheart.’
‘I know.’ She smiled, but her voice was perhaps not as steady as she would have liked it to be. ‘I just thought I’d see how you were getting on with your packing and if you needed any help.’
‘You can’t resist offering to help me, can you?’ Hal lowered his head to brush his warm lips tenderly across his wife’s. ‘I know you mean well, angel, but I’ve been climbing and hiking long enough over the years to know the drill for how to pack and what to take.’ His smooth brow puckered for a moment. ‘But that’s not it, is it? I mean that’s not the reason you wanted to come in and talk to me? Is everything okay? I know you’ve been feeling a little under par since we came back from our trip to Morocco a few weeks ago. Do you think it’s something you ate that’s caused it?’
‘No, Hal, I don’t think I’ve been under par because of something I ate.’ Apprehensively Kit lifted her gaze to his. ‘I’ve just found out that I’m pregnant.’