It wasn’t what she had expected and she stared at him open-mouthed for a moment, before shutting her lips with a little snap. And then she found her voice and said dully, ‘You can’t.’
‘I can.’ His voice was exceedingly firm. ‘And I’m going to.’
Sophy pushed at his hard chest and felt the steady beat of his heart, but he refused to let her go, even when she said, ‘Andreas, this is crazy. I said all there was to say—’
‘Exactly.’ He reached out and traced the outline of her lips with one finger and she quivered at his touch before she could disguise the weakness. ‘You talked, I listened. Now it is my turn. I do
n’t intend to let you ruin both our lives because of a shadowy figure in the past who bears no relation to me,’ he said with a touch of grimness. ‘I appreciate it might take time to convince you, but we have time. Lots of time.’
‘I can’t go through all this again. I don’t want to talk—’
‘I’m talking, you’re listening,’ he reminded her steadily. ‘I’ve done a lot of thinking while we’ve been apart, and I can see this has happened too quickly for you, with your childhood and all the baggage you’ve brought into adulthood. But that is how it happens sometimes. My father knew within seconds of meeting my mother that she was the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, and nothing could have dissuaded him. I have discovered I am my father’s son in more ways than one. I don’t intend to give up, Sophy, so face it.’
Sophy shook her head, panic at feeling she was being swept away by an unstoppable force uppermost again. ‘Your parents were different,’ she objected feverishly. ‘That was them, a different situation. You can’t relate it to us.’
‘I thought there was no us?’ And then, as she went to speak, he said softly, ‘I am not going to take away your right to choose when you are ready for me, Sophy, not by physical force, or mental. You love me but now you have to get to know me. I understand this. It can be as slow as you want. But please accept this and save us both a lot of wasted time—I am not going to give up. Not now, not five or ten or fifteen years from now. You will grow to trust me as well as love me. I want you for my wife, the mother of my children. I want us to grow old together and watch our grandchildren play in the sunshine. Nothing else will do.’
The rush of love she felt was so intense, she had to take a steadying breath before she could say, ‘And if it never happens, what then? What if I can’t forget the past and learn to believe you, to trust you? What then?’
‘You don’t have to forget the past.’ He touched her face gently, his fingers moving over her cheek, her jaw and the silky skin of her throat. ‘You just have to conquer it, and we can do that together. That is your first lesson in trust, my love, to believe me when you can’t believe yourself. There is such a thing as happy ever after, but you have to reach out for it.’
‘You’ll get tired of waiting for me.’
‘Never.’ He smiled his beautiful smile that made her heart melt.
‘There are hundreds of lovely women out there,’ Sophy said a trifle desperately. ‘Women without any hang-ups, women who would fall into your arms if you so much as clicked your fingers.’
‘No, there is only you.’ He took her face in his hands, his eyes stroking her. ‘For me, that is.’ And then he grinned as he added, ‘But I appreciate your faith in my prowess.’
She smiled reluctantly. ‘This isn’t funny, Andreas.’
‘No, it is not,’ he agreed, his eyes suddenly serious. ‘I have discovered that for myself. You are such a fragile-looking, delicate little thing, but you have this incredible will which I never guessed at when I first saw you. I thought it would be easy. I would wine you and dine you and you would fall madly in love with me, and that would be that.’
‘I did fall madly in love with you.’
‘But that was only the beginning of my fight to win you.’
He saw her eyes darken as he spoke and felt the slight withdrawal of the slender body in his arms. ‘What is it?’ he said quickly. ‘What have I just said?’
‘Nothing.’ She dropped her eyes from his, her face tense.
‘No, none of that,’ he said grimly. ‘From now on you speak from the heart, whether I will like it or not, and I shall do the same. No secrets, no fencing, no pretence.’
She was such a mess inside, she thought helplessly. He would get fed up with her—he would. And then, when she saw he wasn’t about to give in, she murmured, ‘I have always thought the reason my father married my mother in the first place was because she represented something of a challenge to him. He was used to women adoring him, and she did, she certainly did, but she held out for marriage before she would sleep with him. He had met someone who didn’t fall into his arms so readily as all the others, and that was why he wanted her. Once they were married and Jill and I were on the way…’
‘Sophy, I cannot deny that there are men like your father,’ Andreas said quietly, ‘only that I am not one of them. But words are cheap and words will not provide the balm you need on what is still an open wound. If you were pregnant with my child—’ he paused for an infinitesimal second and she felt his hands tighten on her waist ‘—I would be the proudest man on earth. I would want to wrap you up in cotton wool and be with you every minute to protect you and our child. That is the natural response of a normal man. Your father—’ He stopped abruptly, and shook his head, swearing softly in his own language.
‘But we only met a couple of weeks ago,’ Sophy pointed out with undeniable logic. ‘How could we know if we’re compatible?’
His eyes answered that question and she blushed hotly. He bent down, kissing her long and hard again, for good measure.
‘Okay, so we’re compatible,’ she murmured when she’d got her breath back. ‘But—’
‘I will deal with the buts.’ He moulded her against the hot, hard length of him. ‘Or my name is not Andreas Karydis.’
‘I have to go.’ His self-assurance was frightening.
He understood instantly. ‘That’s not a problem,’ he said with silky emphasis. ‘Because I will see you at the weekend. I will see you at every weekend. Okay?’