Sometimes it was necessary to take a leap in the dark instead of always procrastinating and Willow realised that this was one such moment. 'That you love me, of course.' Instinctively she placed her trembling hands on his broad chest, feeling the thunderous pounding of his heart under her palms, and held her breath.
'Love you?' he launched back at her. 'I love you so much I can't live without you,' he affirmed, his black eyes glittering intently on her sparkling blue. 'I can't let you go, Willow,' he declared with savage determination. 'Not in eight years, not ever, and if that is selfish of me, so be it.'
'I have heard better ways of declaring one's love.' She smiled brilliantly at him, and slipped her hands up and around his neck. 'How about I will love you until the sea runs dry?' she suggested. 'Or until the stars cease to shine? Or maybe until the moon loses its glow?'
Theo's arms tightened around her convulsively. 'If that is what you want,' he said slowly, completely confused by her attitude. At least she was in his arms and smiling at him, which was a vast improvement on the past few hours.
'I don't know.' She looked at him through her lowered lashes. 'Perhaps something more like, until the universe implodes,' she teased, a tiny secret smile curving her luscious lips as she swayed into him. 'Or perhaps best of all. . .' she paused dramatically for a long moment '. . .I love you, Theo. Four words, simple and concise.'
With a throaty growl, Theo swept her up in his arms and, tripping over the end of the sheet that was wrapped haphazardly around her, he tumbled them onto the bed and all the breath was knocked out of her.
'You little witch—you love me,' Theo declared, his glorious dark eyes gleaming down into hers, and she nodded, too breathless to speak.
'Thank God! I think I have loved you from the first moment I saw you. But in my wildest dreams I never imagined you could feel the same way. You have no idea how often over the years I have wanted to come looking for you. But I told myself there was no such thing as love, especially at first sight. I want to be honest with you,' he said, suddenly serious. 'I was a complete cynic. A marriage for business, and, yes, perhaps for children, I could understand.' He gave a wry grimace. 'But love did not enter the equation as far as I was concerned. It was only tonight, when I was forced to face the prospect of losing you, that my head finally accepted what my heart has always known, and I was terrified.'
'It didn't stop you, though.' Willow reached up her hand and traced the strong line of his jaw in a loving gesture. He was a proud, arrogant man and he was hers.
'Where you're concerned nothing will ever stop me loving you,' he vowed, his heart and soul in his eyes as he leant over her and kissed her with an exquisite, possessive tenderness that told her better than any words he truly loved her. And the small bed proved more than adequate for the rest of the night.
But not so convenient the next morning when she woke enfolded in Theo's arms. He nuzzled her neck and murmured, 'so what was all that about using me as a serial killer in your first book?'
She tried to wri
ggle free but there was nowhere to go. 'I was hoping you had forgotten about that.' She raised laughing eyes up to his.
'I never forget anything about you, surely you know that by now.' He kissed her with breathtaking tenderness, and, lifting his head, he smiled. 'Did you really dislike me so much you had to have me killed off?' he prompted with a chuckle, but his dark eyes were oddly guarded, and Willow realised her arrogant husband was nowhere near as amused as he appeared.
'Dislike you, no, but to dismiss you from my mind, yes,' she said honestly. 'I started writing that book when Stephen was a year old, and I was just beginning to get over the grief and pain of the past two years. I knew I had to get on with my life, but I wasn't sure how.'
'God, I wish I had been there for you.'
'Well, in a way you were. I didn't realise as I wrote the book that my villain bore a striking resemblance to you. A psychiatrist would probably have a field-day discerning my motive. I think killing you off in fiction acted like a catharsis, and I was able to move on with my life in a much happier state of mind.' Willow looped her arms around his neck. 'In fact you could say my success as a writer is really all down to you, Theo,' she declared with a brilliant smile.
'Thanks, I think,' Theo said with a rueful shake of his dark head. 'I don't know how you do it but you can make me believe anything.' And his hands stroked the lustrous black hair back from her face, his dark eyes gleaming with amusement. 'But no more using me in your books.' His hand, on the move again, stroked down her throat and lower to cup her breast. 'Or I might have to take serious measures to stop you.'
Willow's hands caressed down his back, and as she looked up into his face her blue eyes sparkled with mischief. 'Now that is a pity. I was thinking of incorporating romance into my next manuscript—my publisher tells me sex sells.' She trailed a finger down his spine, and felt him shudder. 'And as my only experience is with you, and you say I can't use you. . .' She paused to press a soft kiss on his broad, tanned shoulder. 'It's going to be hard, but I will have to find someone else to practice my fictitious sexual moves on.' She sighed theatrically.
Theo gave a shout of laughter and his hand tightened in her hair, his intent clearly written on his face, and in the depths of his glorious eyes. 'I already am hard, and you are not practising your moves on anyone else but me, from now to eternity. Is that imaginative enough for you?' he husked.
Willow smiled as his mouth claimed hers. . . And it was. . .