‘No need. Everything’s fine. Felicity’s going to stay another night at Kirsty’s. And I’m going to ask my mother to hold the fort for the rest of the day so that I can spend it with you.’
‘Wow! They say all good things come to those who wait, but I’ve never believed it till now.’
‘Oh, and there’s one more thing.’
‘What?’
‘I love you….’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
NICOLAS had experienced several moments of happiness in his life.
But this moment surpassed all others: it was true happiness. He was stunned to feel tears pricking at his eyes. Never in all his forty years had he cried with happiness.
‘Well you’ve done it now,’ he choked out.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m never going to let you go now, Serina. Not if you love me.’
‘I still won’t go overseas with you, Nicolas. Well, I would…briefly. Just not permanently.’
‘Even that small compromise shows me you do really love me.’
‘You doubted me?’
‘Might I remind you that you were the one who said I was only good for one thing.’
‘Oh, Nicolas…I’m so sorry I said that. That wasn’t nice. But you only have yourself to blame. A girl tends to forget a man’s other qualities when one stands out.’
‘You should be grateful that it stands out at all. When a man approaches forty…’
She laughed. It was a delightful laugh.
‘When can you get away?’ he asked.
‘Soon.’
‘How soon?’
‘Very soon,’ she said softly.
An hour later, Nicolas was pacing the pavement outside Blue Horizons, impatiently waiting for Serina’s car to arrive. The temperature had risen dramatically during the last sixty minutes and a hot wind was whipping down the street. He’d finally dressed sensibly in shorts and T-shirt but was still feeling uncomfortably warm.
Suddenly, there she was, pulling up to the curb opposite. Nicolas raced over and wrenched the driver’s door open.
‘Why has it taken you so long?’ he demanded to know. ‘I could have flown back to Sydney in that time.’
She smiled up at him as she climbed out of the car, looking cool and pretty in cream Bermuda shorts and a lemon blouse.
‘I was held up for a while with a builder who wasn’t happy with the timber we’d delivered to him. Sorry, but Mum isn’t at her best dealing with difficult customers, and Allie’s useless.’
Nicolas wasn’t in the mood to be mollified. ‘I thought you’d had an accident. You could have called me. That’s what mobile phones are for.’
‘I said I was sorry.’ Her smile widened. ‘My, but you’re not a happy chappy when you have to wait for something,’ she said, echoing his words of that morning. ‘Now why don’t you just kiss me and stop being obsessive compulsive?’
‘Takes one to know one, sweetheart,’ he growled, and pulled her into his arms. His kiss was deep and long and brought several toots from horns of passing motorists.
‘I have something I want to show you,’ he said when he finally came up for air.
‘Not down here, I hope,’ she teased. ‘I don’t want to be arrested for indecent exposure.’
‘Very funny. No, it’s nothing like that. I want you to come upstairs with me.’
She laughed. ‘I already gathered that.’
Nicolas gave her a droll look. ‘Will you get your mind off sex for the moment?’
‘You mean you want to actually do something else?’
‘No, I don’t want to do something else. I just thought it might be wise to show you that I can do something else.’
‘Such as what?’
‘If you’ll just be quiet for a minute or two,’ he said as he steered her across the road, ‘I’ll show you.’
‘I’m already speechless.’
Serina laughed when he ground to a halt and speared her with a fierce narrowed-eyed glance. ‘You will be punished later for your sarcasm!’
‘Oooh. Is that a promise or a threat?’
‘Another twenty lashes for Madame!’
‘Are we on the Bounty here, or in one of those old war films? You keep changing characters.’
‘I am the master of disguise.’
‘Good grief,’ she said, laughing. ‘It’s Boris Karloff!’
‘I’m not that old!’
‘You’re nearly forty.’
He pretended to look horrified. ‘You must not mention the dreaded F word. Not unless you want to be punished.’
‘That depends on the punishment.’
‘You will be tied naked to my bed for the rest of the day.’