‘Sometimes I make mistakes, remember?’ He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.
‘I know, I know. Mistakes stop you from being perfect.’
‘Precisely.’ His voice was a velvet drawl. ‘Open it, Blondie.’
‘Yes, open it, Mummy!’ Lizzie danced next to them and Bryony pulled the paper off with shaking fingers and stared down at the blue velvet box.
‘It can’t be a tiara,’ Lizzie breathed and Bryony smiled.
‘You think not?’ Her eyes slid to Jack’s and then back to the box again and she took a deep breath and flipped it open.
‘Oh, Mummy!’ Lizzie gasped in awe as the enormous diamond twinkled, reflecting the lights from the Christmas tree. ‘That’s beautiful.’
‘It is beautiful.’ She swallowed hard and looked at Jack. ‘How—? Why—?’
Jack’s gaze lingered on hers for her moment and then he turned to Lizzie. ‘On second thought, why don’t you go up to your bedroom and try the dress on?’ he suggested. ‘Then we can check if it fits.’
Without questioning him, Lizzie darted up the stairs and Bryony was left alone with Jack.
Her heart was racing and she felt strange inside but she still didn’t dare believe that this was real.
‘You’ve made her Christmas, Jack.’ She looked after her daughter, her heart in her mouth, not knowing what to make of the situation. ‘But you can’t get married just for a child.’
‘I didn’t do it for Lizzie, Bryony,’ he said softly, taking her face in his hands and forcing her to look at him. ‘I did it for me. And for you.’
She tried not to look at his incredibly sexy mouth. ‘You don’t want commitment,’ she croaked. ‘You don’t do for ever.’
‘I didn’t think I did, but I was wrong.’
She shook her head, forcing herself to say what needed to be said, despite the temptation just to take what she’d been given without question. ‘There’s only one reason to get marr
ied, Jack, and it isn’t to please a child.’
‘I know there’s only one reason to get married,’ he said hoarsely, stroking her blonde hair back from her face with a gentle hand. ‘In fact, I know that better than anyone because I saw my parents together for all the wrong reasons.’
She looked at him, her mouth dry. ‘So what’s the reason, Jack?’
He bent his head and his mouth hovered close to hers. ‘I’m marrying you because I love you,’ he said softly. ‘And why it’s taken me so long to work that out I really don’t know.’
She stood still, unable to believe that he’d actually said those words. And then a warm glow began inside her. ‘You love me.’
He gave her that lopsided smile that always made her insides go funny. ‘You know I love you. You were the one who told me that I love you.’
‘And I seem to remember that you ran away from me so fast you left skid marks in the snow.’
He grinned. ‘I know. And I’m sorry about that.’
‘Where did you go?’
‘I went back to my house.’
She looked at him in surprise. ‘Your house? But you hardly ever go there.’
‘I know that.’ He pulled a face. ‘Which is ridiculous really because it’s a beautiful house with lots of land and a great view.’
‘But it’s never been a home for you, has it?’ she said quietly, and he shook his head.
‘No, it hasn’t. And you’re one of the few people that understand that.’ He looked deep into her eyes. ‘I went home and I sat in that house and I thought about all the years that I’d been miserable there. And I suddenly realised that home for me is nothing to do with beautiful houses and land. It’s to do with people. Home for me is where you are, Bryony, and it always has been.’