‘Yes.’ Her face lit up with joy. ‘I’m going to adopt Scott and then he can never be taken away from me.’
Jed shook his head as he looked down at her. ‘Do you know—do you have any idea—? My God, Meg.’ His arms moved about her as he pulled her tightly against him. ‘You are the most amazing woman I have ever met,’ he told her forcefully as he buried his face in the perfumed darkness of her hair. ‘I can’t think of another woman I know who would have done what you did.’ He groaned. ‘And I want…I want…’
‘Yes?’ she prompted huskily as he seemed lost for words.
Because he was lost for words, had no idea how to tell this beautiful and wonderful woman, when they had only known each other three days, that he loved her, wanted to marry her, wanted her and Scott with him for all time.
Chapter 12
Never in their acquaintance had Meg ever known Jed at a loss for words.
As he still seemed lost.
But she was already so happy, felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders now that the truth about Scott had finally been told and Sonia had agreed to Meg formally adopting him as her own.
It was like a dream come true for her, after years of worrying that Sonia might change her mind at any moment and decide she wanted Scott back after all. Now, that fear taken away, she felt as if she might conquer the world, or, at least, get Jed to talk to her.
‘Tell me, what is it you want, Jed?’ she questioned confidently.
‘You,’ he told her purposefully. ‘I want you, Meg Hamilton.’
She wanted him too, even more than she had this afternoon, if that were possible, the truth seeming to have liberated her in more ways than one.
Okay, so he was a world-famous author, had homes all over the globe, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t…
Oh, goodness, he was a world-famous author with homes all over the world.
‘I have no idea what you’re thinking, Meg—’ his arms tightened about her, his expression determined ‘—but I want you to know my intentions are strictly honourable.’
Strictly honourable. What did that mean?
‘As in marriage,’ he continued firmly. ‘As in allowing me to be Scott’s father. As in being my wife for the next thousand years. As in—’
‘Jed, what are you talking about?’ She gasped, confused, this the last thing she had expected.
‘I want to marry you, Meg Hamilton. I love you, I want you, and I need you,’ he said huskily. ‘I realize you can’t feel that way about me yet, but if you give me a chance, I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that you do. I love you, Meg, and I’m not leaving here without you.’ His expression was grim.
Meg stared at him. Jed loved her.
She hadn’t believed that possible, had been so sure he would leave in the morning and she would never see him again. And now, now he was offering her the sun, the moon, and the stars all rolled into one, in his love for her.
Jed gave a shake of his head. ‘I told myself from the beginning that I wouldn’t get involved. I should have known by the mere fact that I had to tell myself that that it was exactly what I was going to do,’ he muttered self-disgustedly. ‘I know I was a grouch when we first met, I always am if my writing isn’t going well, which it most certainly wasn’t, but I’m not usually like that. Well, I am sometimes, but I’ll try not to be, I really will.’
‘Jed, you were perfectly entitled to feel grouchy when we first met; I had just driven into your cottage,’ Meg cut in, huskily, her happiness such now that she thought she might burst with it. Jed loved her.
‘My editor’s cottage,’ he corrected. ‘And I shouldn’t have been so bad-tempered; you were a young woman and her son stranded in the snow.’ He gave a self-disgusted shake of his head. ‘But you frightened the hell out of me—not when you drove into the cottage,’ he dismissed impatiently as she winced. ‘You, you were what frightened me. I had never before desired a woman while at the same time wanting to protect her, from myself, if necessary.’
This really was all too wonderful to be true.
‘And I know you’ve told me that you don’t want a permanent relationship.’
‘That was because of Scott. Any man I loved and who loved me would have to be told the truth about Scott,’ she explained as he frowned. ‘And it must surely be difficult enough taking on another man’s child; I can’t see any man wanting to take on a child who doesn’t even belong to his wife.’
Jed’s expression softened. ‘You’re looking at him. And I wouldn’t be taking on Scott, I would be his father, as you are his mother. What can I say, Meg? I love the kid almost as much as I love you.’
She could see that he did, and that he had no doubts about that love.
‘Jed—’ she reached up to touch the hardness of his cheek ‘—I don’t think of you as a grouch, I think of you as an amazingly kind man who has been there for me every time I needed him these last three days.’
‘I don’t want your gratitude, damn it.’ He broke off, giving a self-derisive grimace. ‘The grouchiness may need a little working on,’ he admitted ruefully.
Meg laughed huskily, her gaze steadily meeting his. ‘Don’t work on it too hard—I may not recognize you if you do. Because the truth is, Jed, I love you. I love you just the way you are.’
He became suddenly still, looking down at her uncertainly. ‘This isn’t another one of those “I cannot tell a lie” things, is it?’
‘No,’ she laughed again. ‘We haven’t known each other very long.’
‘Time has nothing to do with it,’ he told her firmly. ‘I began to fall in love with you the moment I opened that car door in the snowstorm and saw you.’
She had probably done exactly the same thing, despite the fact that Scott had thought Jed was a bear.
Jed shook his head. ‘I’ve been fighting against the emotion ever since, and—Meg, did you just say that you love me?’ He looked slightly dazed as that realization hit him.
‘I did.’ She laughed softly. ‘I love you, Jed,’ she told him again, enjoying the freedom of being able to say those words. ‘I love you, I want you, I need you,’ she told him intensely. ‘The thought of your leaving in the morning, of never seeing you again, has been making me totally miserable,’ she admitted shakily.
‘And I was furious because you couldn’t seem to get rid of me fast enough.’
She looked up at him, her eyes a clear, unwavering green. ‘That was my pride talking. No more misunderstandings, Jed,’ she promised him.
His arms tightened around her, holding her close against him. ‘Will you marry me, Meg? Will you and Scott marry me?’
‘Yes,’ she choked emotionally, knowing he offered her earth’s version of paradise. ‘Oh, yes, Jed.’
‘Then I guess we did have a Christmas gift for each other, after all,’ he murmured throatily, his lips only centimetres away from her own. ‘Each other,’ he groaned as his mouth claimed hers.
Meg had no doubts that he was the other half of her, her love, her soul mate, the person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
Jed held the telephone receiver to his ear, his other arm firmly around Meg as she lay curled against him in the library chair.
She was so small and beautiful, so warm and loving.
‘Hi, Mom?’ he prompted as his call was answered, barely able to hear his mother over the talk and laughter he could hear in the background. ‘Mom, I just called to wish you all a Happy Christmas, and to tell you that I’m bringing my fiancée to meet you in a couple of days.’ He held the receiver away from his ear as his mother screamed excitedly on the other end of the line.
Meg.
His fiancée. Soon to be his wife.
It couldn’t happen soon enough as far as he was concerned, wanting Meg and Scott with him for all time, knowing with utter certainty that was what they would have together: for ever.
‘I only have one condition to this marriage.’ Jed turned to kiss Meg once he had ended the call to his family.
‘We’ve only been engaged for an hour and you’re making conditions already?’ She looked up at him teasingly, eyes bright with love, her family having warmly accepted their announcement that they were to marry each other, another bottle of champagne opened as they had toasted the happy couple.
He nodded unrepentantly. ‘Next Christmas we spend with my family. I don’t care if we have to fly all your family over to join us, but next Christmas we spend on the farm.’
‘Scott is going to love your parents’ farm.’ She smiled indulgently.
‘So am I.’ Jed grinned. ‘We don’t need to dress for dinner there. In fact, we may not even come down for dinner at all,’ he added sensuously.
Meg laughed up at him. ‘I don’t care where we are, Jed, as long as we’re together.’
Together.
After years of enjoying his solitude, of revelling in it, he now wanted to spend every waking hour and night with this woman, to love her, and to be loved.
The best gift of all.