The Bride's Secret

'Yes.' She smiled tremulously, a dawning hope that it was all really going to be all right rising up inside her. 'But—'

'No—no "but"s,' he said levelly. 'Not one single damn "but" between us ever again. Promise?'

She nodded wordlessly, her heart too full for speech.

'And another thing,' he added, his voice deep and gritty and his eyes loving her. 'The next time you want to save me from ruin, please discuss it with me first, I'm a big boy and I can take most things, but I couldn't go through this again.'

'Neither could I.' She tried to smile, she wanted to smile, but to her surprise she found she was crying again, the tears streaming down her face as her mouth quivered like a child's.

He knew the time for words was over and drew her down into the covers with a hungry tenderness, his eyes silver-grey as they held hers and his mouth passionate as he kissed away the tears.

Within seconds they were both on fire, relief and wonder adding an intensity to their love that was all-consuming. He moved over her, his lips claiming hers fiercely as his hands moulded her soft fullness into the hard, male planes of his body.

'Annie, Annie… ' he muttered thickly. 'I could kill them for keeping us apart so long. They'll pay for what they've done.'

Her arms wound round his neck, her body moving almost savagely as she kissed him back with a wildness that spoke of her hunger and, touchingly, her inexperience. His mouth was branding her with heat, and then he moved away slightly and traced her throat, the soft swell of her breasts, her stomach and beyond with tiny, nipping kisses until she trembled helplessly, mindless with pleasure as she gloried in his need of her.

She arched and moaned against him, shaken beyond measure by the enchantment of his lovemaking, and her blatant need and desire took Hudson to the limit of his control as he moved against her convulsively.

His possession was fierce and absolute and her surrender complete, her body moving with his as she invited a deeper and deeper joining of their bodie

s, their lives, their souls. And when the moment of release came they went together into a glorious, shimmering world of their own, transformed, renewed, until their oneness was beyond the stars, the universe…

And afterwards, as they lay together in the warmth of their soft cocoon, the shadows of night fleeing before the brightness of the coming day, they talked and shared and made plans for the future that was now theirs to reach out and take. A future that would enfold children—warm, soft, vulnerable, precious little beings and products of their love—into their lives and hearts.

'No more fears, Mrs de Sauce?' Hudson cupped her face gently in his big hands, his narrowed eyes searching hers.

'No more fears.' And this time she could smile, her face glowing as she stroked her mouth against the hard, bristly side of his chin.

'We're going to be happy, my love, more happy than you could ever imagine in your wildest dreams,' he promised softly. 'I won't allow anyone, or anything, to spoil, one more minute—one second—of our lives together. Trust me, my Annie—the best is yet to come.'

EPILOGUE

'The best is yet to come'…

Marianne breathed in the warm, heady scent of a host of velvet-petalled roses as she reflected how often, in the last few years, she had acknowledged the truth of Hudson's promise to her that crystal-bright morning so long ago.

And the best had been good, so good. Her eyes followed Hudson as he played with their sons in the pool, three miniature clones of their handsome father and all with Hudson's considerable will-power, which made for interesting days. She smiled to herself lazily. But she wouldn't have it any other way.

Perhaps this one would be a girl? She stroked her swollen stomach thoughtfully. She would like a daughter, and she knew Hudson would too, but like the three before it this one would be loved for the precious and individual human being it was; its sex wasn't really important. It would be part of her and Hudson, after all.

And she had so very nearly missed being his wife. Even now she sometimes found it difficult to believe she had been so stupid, but she had been. Thank goodness Hudson was the man he was.

He hadn't waited to find out if her family association with Michael Caxton would become known, but with typical Hudson de Sance authority had announced it himself, and amazingly, through his many links with people working to smash crime from the inside, had identified vital new connections in organised crime. The tables had been turned and the arrests had been many. Hudson had won.

But all that had been ten years ago and she rarely thought about it now—life was too rich and full to dwell on the twists and turns of the past, and the present and the future too precious.

'You're looking very serene, my love. Pregnancy suits you.'

She hadn't been aware of Hudson leaving the pool but now, as he flung himself down beside her on a cushioned sun lounger, she smiled dreamily as she met the wicked grey eyes.

'The best is yet to come.' She repeated his words softly, her eyes stroking over his hard, tanned body that still had the power to thrill her with so much as a glance or touch. 'Do you remember when you said that?' she asked tenderly.

'Of course.' He left his lounger to crouch beside her, before gathering her up in his arms and kissing her passionately, his large hands stroking over the swollen fullness of her belly as he murmured, 'And the story's not told yet. We're going to grow old together, see our grandchildren and maybe even their children if God is good to us. I think this one will be a girl.'

'What?' She stared at him, surprised by the sudden change of conversation. 'What made you say that?'

'Just a feeling.' He smiled at her, his grey eyes with their thick short lashes crinkling at the corners.