The Ultimate Surrender

Abruptly Polly remembered that Marcus loved Suzi and that the heady relief she felt at knowing that Suzi was marrying Phil wasn’t something he was likely to share.

Impulsively she reached out and touched his arm, unable to hide the warmth in her eyes and her voice as she told him gently, ‘I could say the same thing to you, Marcus. She…Suzi isn’t good enough for you.’

‘What!’

‘I know that when you went to bed with me you were thinking about her,’ Polly continued quickly, wanting to say what she had to say before she lost her courage. ‘I…I should have stopped you but—’

‘But it was easier to pretend that I was Bernstein,’ Marcus supplied curtly.

Firmly Polly shook her head.

‘No. What I said to you about Phil was true, Marcus—he was never anything more than a prospective employer.’

‘But Suzi said—’

‘I don’t care what Suzi said,’ Polly interrupted him. ‘I never felt anything for Phil other than the most casual kind of friendship, and I certainly never contemplated having any kind of…of intimacy with him.’

Marcus looked blankly at her.

‘Then why…?’

‘Look, I think we should just forget the whole episode,’ Polly told him hurriedly.

‘Forget it? Forget the most important, the most precious hours of my life?’ Marcus groaned hoarsely. ‘Have you any idea just what you’re asking of me, Polly? I’ve waited years to have you look at me…want me…touch me the way you did, and if you think I’m going to forget even a single second of the pleasure you gave me…

‘I know you don’t love me, Polly; I’ve always known that. God knows I’ve tried hard enough over the years to provoke an emotional reaction from you, to break through that wall of indifference you’ve put up against me. Loving you has been so much a way of life for me for so long that…’

Loving her?

‘You love me…?’ Polly breathed shakily.

Broodingly Marcus looked at her.

‘Of course I damn well love you,’ he told her harshly. ‘I’ve loved you from the first time I saw you, and if I hadn’t fallen in love with you then, Polly…Being with you when you gave birth to Briony was the most intensely emotional experience I have ever had. Just as emotional in a different way as holding you in my arms in bed. You will never, ever know how much, how very, very much, I wanted Briony to be my child…how much I wanted you to have my child.’

‘Wanted?’ Polly asked him cautiously, holding her breath a little as she underlined, ‘Wanted as in did want, or…?’

‘Did want?’ Marcus repeated, frowning a little as he tried to puzzle out what she was saying.

And then, as he realised, he reached for her, pulling her bodily into his arms, causing her to tell him in a muffled voice, ‘No, Marcus, we can’t. Not here, where anyone can see us.’

‘I don’t care who sees us,’ Marcus retorted masterfully as he kissed her. And then, as he felt her lips soften under his and her body melt, he lifted his mouth from hers and agreed huskily, ‘Well, perhaps some privacy might be a good idea.’

‘A very good idea,’ Polly informed him mock severely as she put a discreet distance between them and then hesitated shyly before turning towards the stairs,

‘I’ve got a better idea.’ Marcus forestalled her firmly, taking hold of her hand and guiding her towards the door.

‘Where are you taking me?’ Polly demanded dizzily as he took her towards his parked car.

‘Home,’ Marcus responded promptly, adding softly, ‘I’m taking both of you home.’

‘Oh.’ Polly gave him a pink-cheeked look as he unlocked the door of his car for her.

‘Or did I misinterpret that cryptic remark you just made?’

‘No,’ Polly admitted, shaking her head. ‘At least, I’m not totally sure yet, but…’

But she had been very unwell every morning for the past week, and she was so certain herself of what had happened that she had telephoned the surgery just to make sure the pills she had been prescribed couldn’t harm the new life she felt sure was growing inside her.

Her doctor had been immediately and thankfully reassuring, but as yet Polly had not been able to bring herself to do any kind of formal test. The symptoms were all there, but knowing or rather believing that another woman was also carrying Marcus’s child—a woman whom she had thought he loved—had made her reluctant to take the final step that would confirm her suspicions. Was she destined to deprive her children of their fathers? she had wondered despairingly only last night as she had lain, sleepless, in bed.