‘To take over your good work,’ he pointed out.
‘Yet now you risk that good work by launching yourself like an avenging angel on Nero Caracas and his team.’
‘The important thing is, my team won.’
‘Of course it did,’ Jess agreed with the lift of a brow. ‘And by some miracle you survived.’
‘No miracle,’ he argued. ‘My recovery is thanks to extremely effective therapy from a certain Señorita Slatehome.’ He didn’t want to talk about that. He wanted to talk about Jess. She was all that mattered. He wanted her to trust him and relax in his company. He’d handled things badly when he told her about the farm, but his remorse was genuine and he wanted her to have security in the future, whatever choice she made next.
‘Just don’t take too many chances in the future,’ she warned.
He shrugged. ‘See what happens when you cut me loose? There’s only one way to sort this. The next time I play polo you’d better be there.’
‘What are you saying, Dante?’
‘I’m admitting I need you,’ he confessed.
‘As a therapist?’
‘What do you think?’
‘I think it makes sense from that point of view to keep me on speed dial.’
‘Speed dial?’ His lips pressed down as he considered this for all of a split second. ‘I’m not sure that would suit either of us.’
Even in the dim light he saw her blush at this reminder of their inexhaustible appetite for each other.
‘Will you be heading home now?’ she asked on the way to recovering her composure.
‘Not until I know you’ve spoken to your father, and I feel confident you’re reassured about what’s happening with the farm.’
Then he would leave, with or without Jess. If he’d been in doubt about the nature of love, he understood now that it sometimes involved sacrifice, and if staying here was what Jess wanted he had no option but to let her go. He had been overbearing with his purchase of her family’s farm and in trying to help her father he’d only succeeded in railroading Jess. She couldn’t fight him. The sale was a done deal, and she wouldn’t do anything to upset her father’s future.
‘Dante—’
‘Yes?’ He hardly knew what to expect. Jess’s face was tight with tension.
‘I can’t let you go without telling you I love you.’
Her eyes snapped shut after this statement. She didn’t move. She didn’t breathe and then, with a ragged exhalation of air, she opened her eyes and zoned in on his. ‘I love you,’ she repeated with fiery emphasis.
His entire body thrilled. Jess’s words were a statement, a challenge, a baring of her soul that rang in his head like a carillon of happy Christmas bells.
‘I’m not going anywhere.’ Closing the distance between them in a couple of strides, he lifted Jess into his arms. Sacrifice was one thing, but he was the kind of man who always had to fight tooth and nail for what he believed in. He should have known that all along.
Urgency consumed them both. Jess met him with matching fire. She was already reaching for him. They didn’t trouble to undress completely. Just enough to fall back on the hay and mate like wild animals. It was a wordless, mindless coupling that said everything about how far they’d come, and how deep was their trust.
‘It feels as if we’ve come full circle,’ Jess murmured as they put their clothes back in order.
‘This is where we first met,’ he agreed with a grin. ‘And things get more interesting each time.’
‘There’s a new litter of kittens,’ she warned, ‘so watch out.’
She smiled. So did he, and as they stared into each other’s eyes he knew the situation could be rescued, but lovemaking wasn’t enough. He had to prove to Jess that when it came to business he might be brusque, brisk and to the point, but he hadn’t meant to hurt her over the farm, as he so obviously had.
Stable cats and dogs stood by, ready to assist him. Jess’s motley assortment of strays and beloved pets had sensed they were needed and had gathered around them to provide a welcome distraction. Neither Jess nor he could remain immune to them for long, or remain tense, not with animals around.
When she’d fed them some treats Jess held up her grimy fingernails and grimaced. ‘I’ll never make it in your world. I’m just too down-homey and—’
‘Chilled out?’ he suggested. ‘Don’t you think that’s what I need?’
‘Just as well,’ she commented, grimacing as she took in the damage to her sweater from a new naughty kitten.
‘I still love you,’ he said as she pulled a face.
Her gaze flashed up to his. ‘Please don’t say that unless you mean it.’
‘I love you,’ he said again, his eye-line steady on Jess’s.
‘Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,’ she said firmly. ‘especially when I know you’re about to leave.’
He shrugged. ‘What’s so hard about leaving with me? Or are you more concerned about dealing with the damage from a leaking kitten?’
‘Don’t make a joke of this,’ she said softly.
‘Because...?’
‘Because I love you too much for that.’
‘Then be with me always.’
‘Always? As in for ever?’ she exclaimed, incredulous. ‘As your therapist?’
‘As my wife. I can’t think of anyone else who’d have you,’ he teased with a pointed look at the stain on Jess’s sweater. ‘Let me love you as you deserve. Let me spoil you. Let me lavish things on you.’
‘You should know by now that’s not me. I don’t need any of those things.’
‘But you’ll grow to love being spoiled, I promise,’ he insisted.
‘I love you,’ she stated firmly, ‘not what you can give me.’
‘As I love you,’ he said, ‘but you must allow me to have the pleasure of giving you things. Love, and gifts like the farm are not mutually exclusive, so get used to it because there’s a lot more coming your way. The farm is just the beginning.’
‘But I haven’t given you my answer yet,’ she pointed out.
‘I’m not a patient man,’ he warned.
‘So I shouldn’t push you too hard?’ she suggested.
‘Unless it’s in bed.’
‘Do you take anything seriously?’ she scolded.
‘I’m extremely serious when I take you.’ And when she
shook her head, he added, ‘I love you for everything you are, and everything you will be in the future. So what’s your answer?’
Jess gasped as he dragged her close. ‘My answer’s yes. I’ll come with you wherever you go.’
‘You can depend on it,’ he promised.
A few potent seconds ticked by while they laughed and took in the trust that was the bedrock of their decision to be together for ever, but then, as might have been expected, their control snapped at exactly the same moment and as Jess reached for him he drove his mouth down on hers.
* * *
It was a long time later when Jess fell back, exhausted. They could never get enough of each other and had made love fiercely, tenderly and, last of all, and most affecting of all, they had made love slowly and deliberately, with love and trust in their eyes, while Dante told Jess she was the only woman he could ever love and that he would be proud to have her at his side for the rest of his life.
‘There’s so much we don’t know about each other,’ she whispered, frowning as she turned languidly in his arms.
‘Great,’ Dante approved. ‘So much to learn about each other. New surprises each day.’
She had to be certain. ‘Are you sure I’m enough for you? I’m not fancy. I live a plain life in plain clothes, surrounded by plain-speaking people.’
‘Enough for me?’ he exclaimed softly. ‘You’re perfect for me. And to prove I’m serious I’ve got something for you.’
‘Nothing expensive, I hope?’ Laughter pealed out of her as Dante produced a wisp of hay.
‘Jessica Slatehome, sometimes known as Skylar... I’m prepared to be adaptable when it comes to you, so I’m asking again, formally this time, will you marry me?’
‘You know my answer, but I’ll happily give it again formally,’ she teased, knowing her face must betray her feelings. ‘My answer’s yes.’
‘Now, I’ve just got to get this to stay on,’ Dante said, frowning as he secured the hay ring around her marriage finger with a few well-judged twists.
Jess stared at her hay ring. She loved it as much as any diamond a fashionable jeweller.