A Vow of Obligation (Marriage by Command 3)

Tawny’s mother-in-law, swathed in a spectacular crimson dress and looking ravishingly beautiful, posed like the Hollywood star she was in the doorway, and her husband grinned and pulled her into his arms with scant concern for their audience. Within the space of thirty seconds they had vanished upstairs. Tia had just finished filming in Croatia and Luke was about to set off on tour round the USA. As they had been apart for weeks and Luke had a stopover in the city Tia had invited herself and her husband to dinner and to spend the night.

From the moment that Tia had finally faced reality and persuaded Navarre to take care of the challenging task of telling Luke who he really was, all unease between the two couples had vanished. Luke had been very shocked, but relieved by the news that he had no reason to feel threatened by Navarre’s bond with Tia, and certainly the revelation did not seem to have dented Luke’s devotion to his demanding wife. Navarre would be Tia’s big dark secret until the day he died but that didn’t bother him and if the paparazzi were still chasing around trying to make a scandal out of his encounters with his mother, it no longer worried him or her. The people that mattered knew the truth and Navarre had no further need to keep secrets from Tawny.

Tia was a fairly uninterested grandmother, freezing with dismay if Joie and her not always perfectly clean hands got too close to her finery. Tia’s life revolved round her latest movie, her most recent reviews and Luke, whom she uncritically adored. She had initially taken a step back from her son but that hadn’t lasted for long, Tawny thought wryly, for Tia rejoiced in a strong manly shoulder to lean on and Navarre was very good at fulfilling that role when Luke was unavailable. Tia’s marriage had become rather more stable and fortunately the passionate disputes had died down a little, so Navarre was much less in demand in that field. Tawny, who had nursed certain fears, also had to admit that Tia never interfered as a mother-in-law. She had become friendlier, but at heart Tia Castelli would always be a larger-than-life star and she didn’t really ‘do’ normal family relationships or even understand them.

Navarre, who had flown Tia back from Europe in his private jet, appeared in the doorway.

‘Where have our guests gone?’ Tawny’s tall, darkly handsome husband enquired, bending down to scoop up the toddler shouting with excitement at his appearance.

Tawny watched with amusement as Navarre’s immaculate appearance was destroyed by his daughter’s enthusiastic welcome. His black hair was ruffled, his tie yanked and he was almost strangled by the little arms tightening round his neck, but he handled his livewire child with loving amusement.

‘Our guests are staging their reunion … we just may find ourselves dining alone tonight,’ Tawny warned him, her easy smile illuminating her face.

‘That would be perfect,’ Navarre confided as he set Joie down to run to her nanny, who had appeared in the hall. ‘Merci, Antoinette.’

‘I don’t really want company either when you’ve been away for a couple of days,’ Navarre admitted bluntly once the door closed on their nanny’s exit with their daughter. ‘Whose idea was this set-up anyway?’

‘You need to ask? Tia’s, of course. You’re so possessive, Monsieur Cazier,’ Tawny teased, but when those intent green eyes looked at her like that she knew she was loved and she adored that sensation of warm acceptance.

‘And with you getting more beautiful every day that’s not going to change any time soon, ma petite.’

‘How do I know you haven’t simply become less picky since you met me?’ Tawny teased.

‘Because every month that I have you and Joie in my life I love you even more,’ he murmured with roughened sincerity as he drew her into his arms. ‘My life would be so empty, so bleak without you both.’

‘I missed you,’ she admitted in reward.

‘So much,’ Navarre growled, leaning in for a hungry, demanding kiss. ‘What time’s dinner?’

‘I thought, since our guests have made themselves scarce, we could go out … later,’ Tawny whispered encouragingly.

‘This is why I love you so much,’ Navarre swore with passionate admiration. ‘You’ve worked out what I want before I even speak.’

Tawny knotted his tie in one hand and laughed. ‘And sometimes I even give you what you want because I love you …’

‘And I love you,’ Navarre husked, making no attempt to conceal his appreciation.