Liza tensed in shock; was she dreaming, or had he finally said he loved her?
Nick felt her tense. ‘Are you OK?’ he asked, his dark eyes, full of concern, searching her beautiful face. ‘I didn’t hurt you?’
Lifting her hand, she cupped the strong line of his jaw. ‘No, you didn’t hurt me.’ There had been too many half-truths between them, but now there was no need. ‘I loved every second,’ she said softly, her blue eyes wide as she met his concerned gaze and saw the flare of pleasure in his eyes.
‘And I am so sorry for hitting you that day. I would have died if anything happened to you. You were always my hero as a child,’ she told him honestly, wrapped safely in his strong arms. ‘Then, after the episode in the stables, I tried to hate you. But as soon as I met you again in Lanzarote and you kissed me I knew I was lost.’
‘You and I both.’ Nick groaned. ‘I love you to the point of desperation.’ And he sank back on the bed, hauling her over him and kissing her so urgently she had to pull back eventually.
‘Nick, I need to breathe.’ Draped over his broad chest, she looked down into his darkly attractive face, and she saw the passion mixed with tenderness and love in his night-black eyes. ‘You really love me?’ she prompted, and she could feel his heart bounding in his broad chest, her own almost bursting with love.
A large hand slid around the nape of her neck and tangled in the long length of her hair. ‘Never doubt it, Liza. I can’t begin to tell you how much.’
‘Enough to forget about the Verbier run?’ she teased but with a hint of anxiety.
‘Enough to forget about everything except you,’ he ascertained. But he could still sense her slight insecurity and he determined to leave her in no doubt at all of his feelings. ‘I loved you as a child of eight, but I fell in love with you as a man when you were sixteen.’
‘What?’ Liza exclaimed. ‘I don’t believe you.’
Nick chuckled. His hand was around her narrow waist, and she folded her arms over his broad chest and rested her chin on them, fascinated and intrigued as he continued.
‘I noticed you were turning into a women the summer you were fourteen, but you were still young Liza, my pal. The next summer was different. When we were out riding and you fell from your horse.’
‘I remember that,’ Liza inserted. ‘You were so kind.’
‘Kind was not how I felt,’ Nick said drily. ‘I thought you were dead, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t imagine a world without you in it.’ His hand tightened on her waist. ‘I should have known then that I was falling in love with you. But I arrogantly dismissed the feelings you aroused in me, as a simple reaction to the shock at the thought of the loss of a friend’s life, nothing more.’
‘And the next summer you were engaged to Sophia.’ Liza frowned.
‘Yes,’ Nick sighed. ‘I told you about that, but with hindsight, it was not just for my father’s benefit I got engaged to Sophia. I think subconsciously I knew that the way I felt about you when you had your accident was dangerous. You were far too young for me, and the engagement was not just to protect my father, but myself.’
‘But you slept with her,’ Liza could not help adding.
‘No, I didn’t. Sophia is more interested in women.’ He gave her a slanted smile. ‘I am a lot older than you, so there have been other women in my life, but you are the only one I have ever loved or ever will.’
Somehow what he had told her about Sophia didn’t surprise her; it made sense of the convenient engagement. ‘But that day in the stable, when you saw me…’ She trailed off. Why had he been so angry?
As if reading her mind, Nick said, ‘I knew my engagement to Sophia was a convenience, nothing more. But seeing you kissing that spotty young boy, I was eaten up with jealousy because it should have been me. I suddenly realised I had always thought in the back of my mind that one day you and I would get together and I was furious. But I could do nothing about it, which is why I lashed out at you.’ He kissed her hard and fast, as though to expunge the memory.
‘But if what you say is true why did you never look me up later?’ she asked when she could get her breath back.
Nick made a wry face, and, rolling her over onto her back, he eased a long leg over her slender limbs, so she was pinned beneath him. He was taking no more chances. ‘Because, sweet Liza,’ he said, smiling crookedly, ‘I only recognised the truth after I met you again. I could not help trying to protect you, but even after we became lovers I told myself it was just another affair. It was at the cabin that I finally admitted to myself I loved you.’
‘Why, you… Talk about spinning a line.’ She wriggled against him, but he laughingly held her firm, and his hairy chest rubbing against her breast sent a tingling awareness from her head to her toes.
‘Do you want me to go on?’ Nick drawled huskily. ‘Or shall I prove I love you another way?’ And she felt his great body stirring against her belly.
‘Keep talking,’ she said, her heart beating fast as she watched him through the thick curl of her lashes, a half-smile curving her lips.
‘Spoilsport,’ he chuckled. ‘Well, you know I came to Lanzarote looking for you. And as soon as I saw you at that café I wanted you. I still needed the information, but I convinced Carl to let me take care of you. The very first night at my villa I decided I didn’t care what you had or had not done, I was not having you involved, and I got you to come to Spain.’
‘And seduced me on the plane!’ Liza gave him a teasing look. ‘But I admit I wanted to be seduced. I had had a crush on you since I was fourteen, and when you got engaged I was devastated—more so when you caught me in the stable and called me a slut. I decided I hated you, but then at your villa I agreed to go to see your mother in Spain, and at the same time decided you could be my holiday romance if nothing else.’
‘I surprised myself on the plane,’ Nick confessed drily. ‘I am not the womaniser the Press makes me out to be. I am usually the most restrained of men, and that was the first and only time I have made love on the jet. But as for the holiday romance…’ His voice deepened and his arms tightened around her. ‘I like the idea, as long as it is a holiday romance that lasts a lifetime, with you as my wife. Do you agree?’
Liza’s blue eyes widened in amazement on his. Nick was stripped of the cold, arrogant persona he usually showed the world, and she saw the uncertainty in the darkening depths of his eyes, the vulnerability, and her heart overflowed with love for him. ‘Yes, I agree—though it wasn’t the most romantic proposal in the world,’ she teased.
Nick grinned, and raised a finger and brushed her cheek. ‘But it worked, and I won’t let you out of my sight until you have my ring on your finger.’ He held her closer and his mouth moved on hers in a kiss of tender worshipful possession. ‘We will marry as soon as possible.’