‘That’s how you got the scar?’ she asked, and Daniil gave no shake of his head to warn that that question was out of bounds. Instead, he nodded.
She put her fingers up to the jagged flesh and understood now why he had kept it as it was—it was the mark of his brother’s love for him and he wore it with pride.
‘We’ll find your family,’ she said.
‘I have a family now,’ Daniil said. ‘You.’
Then Libby forgot; she forgot they had problems, she forgot all that was wrong with the world because all was right in hers as he held her in his arms and they kissed. It was a different kiss from any of their others. This kiss was theirs, nothing held back and no leader—they were in this race together. She kissed him back and he kissed her forward, deep, hungry kisses that had waited too long.
‘You turn me on...’ Libby breathed into his mouth, wrapping herself around him even tighter.
‘I thought I couldn’t ignore you all night and expect...’ He stopped because as his hand slipped up her dress he felt naked buttocks. ‘No underwear...’ He was at her neck, marking it; she could feel it and she wanted his mark.
‘I was...’
Oh, she’d forgotten everything—even the most important thing had flitted away.
‘I was doing a test...’
Between hungry kisses she pointed and he carried her through to the tiny area and the light went on but Libby didn’t see it. Her face was buried in his neck as her hands worked his zipper and the only thing that really mattered was the two of them.
‘You are.’
He told her she was pregnant and then kissed her hard enough to chase away any thoughts of too soon, too much. It was good news and they sure as hell deserved it.
Oh, didn’t becoming a parent make you suddenly responsible? Instead, she was back in a dance studio with her shoulders against a mirror and her hands holding the barre in a way she never had before.
There was nothing other than the sound of desperate sex and Libby could no longer hold on. He pulled her flush to his torso and she wrapped her arms round his head and sobbed as he started to come.
Yes, naughty toes, because hers curled as every muscle squeezed to his tune yet he was no puppeteer—there were no strings, and she danced free in his arms.
‘You’re pregnant.’ He said it while still inside her. When they should have been coming down from a high, they just stepped from one cloud to the next. ‘Are you happy?’
‘So happy,’ she said. ‘You?’
‘More,’ Daniil said, because his family had just got bigger.
They shared the sweetest kiss and then he tried to put her down but she refused. ‘I don’t want to let you go.’
She was over-the-top, way too affectionate, yet everything he hadn’t known he needed.
‘I’m going to love you so much,’ Libby said.
‘Then, I’d better take you home.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘WHEN DID YOU first know you loved me?’ Libby asked as they stepped into his home.
‘I haven’t told you I love you.’
‘Oh, please...’ she dismissed. ‘So come on, when?’
She was nothing like he was used to but then again he wasn’t used to smiling, either, but he was doing that now as she prowled around his home.
Yes, he smiled at the slight sag in her shoulders as she looked at his bookshelf and he knew she was annoyed that the thing she had brought him wasn’t there.
And neither was it in the bedroom when she peered in.
‘Did the cleaner move it?’
‘Move what?’ he teased.
‘I can’t believe you got rid of my first present to you.’ She pouted. ‘I’ve the napkin from our first dinner.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yes...and I’ve pressed three of the flowers you gave me and...’
She went into her handbag and produced a little bar of very exclusive soap.
‘That’s from my bathroom.’
‘I know. I went through your cupboards and took one. I wanted a memento of our one night.’ She almost stamped her foot. ‘You really are the most unsentimental man.’
‘There’s something for you in the kitchen.’
That put a smile on her face and for the first time in living memory Libby ran into a room she usually tried to run from and there on the bench was a box.
‘You got me a present.’