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‘Never be ashamed of your emotions; celebrate them. We’re alive and we feel—what’s wrong with that?’
Cade’s answer was to drag her to him and hold her close. ‘You’re too good for me.’
Closing her eyes, she drank him in, his strength, his scent, the essence of the man she loved, until gradually Cade relaxed enough for them to return to the sofa hand in hand, where they stared into the fire in silence for most of that night, lost in thought but drawing comfort from the fact that they weren’t alone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE thin light of dawn was creeping through the curtains by the time they stirred. Cade was running one fingertip down her cheek, Liv realised, and that was what had woken her. ‘Sorry…’ She had been resting on him and now sat up. ‘I must have fallen asleep.’
‘You badly needed to. You must have been exhausted. You invested so much energy in the ball—’
‘Oh, it was nothing…’ She stretched her stiffened limbs. ‘You must have a cramp sitting like that half the night with me snoring on top of you.’
‘It wouldn’t be the first time.’
‘I don’t snore,’ she assured him.
‘But you must think me soft…’
The events of the previous evening poured into Liv’s drowsy brain. ‘I don’t think anything of the sort,’ she said, sitting straight. ‘Or is it usual in your world to apologise for having a heart?’
‘Is that what I have?’
‘I think so.’
‘Can I give it to you, then?’ Cade’s hard mouth softened into a smile.
‘What do you mean?’ Liv said, frowning.
‘I think you’d take far better care of it than I have up to now, and so I’d like to give it to you for safe keeping…if you’ll have it?’
‘Talking in riddles isn’t like you, Cade.’
‘It isn’t like me to fall in love.’
‘You love me?’
‘I haven’t made that clear?’ He looked genuinely bewildered.
‘Oh, Cade,’ she said softly.
‘We’re so different,’ he said, as if dredging up reasons to make her change her mind about him. ‘You’re far too young—’
‘And?’
After a moment he smiled.
‘And yet I need you.’ He cupped her face in his hands.
‘Cade, I’m—’
‘Better off with a nice, safe, uncomplicated husband? Yes, we’ve been through that—’
‘I was about to say I’m in love with you…’ Liv frowned. ‘But did you say husband?’
‘You’re not going to play hard to get now, are you?’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Understand this.’ He silenced her with a kiss. ‘I think we should make our arrangement official.’
‘You are serious…’
‘About loving you? Do I want every day to be challenging and unpredictable?’
‘Of course you don’t,’ she agreed. ‘And I understand that perfectly—’
‘Liv, it’s time to stop being so understanding.’
‘What do you want?’
Cade hummed as he pretended to think about it. ‘Do I want to live with a girl who challenges me every inch of the way?’
‘I don’t imagine you want to lose many more doors—’
‘Or would I be better off looking for a nice, quiet, well-bred girl at the golf club?’ He fingered his coarse early-morning stubble as he thought about it.
‘Cade, you’re impossible!’
‘And, of course, you’re the easiest person on this earth to get along with,’ he countered with a dry look. ‘No one said this was going to be easy,’ he said, drawing Liv into his arms. ‘But if you ever become quiet and predictable, and ever so well behaved I’ll put you over my knee, and—’
‘And, what?’ she challenged him.
‘Just take it from there.’
‘You and whose army?’
‘For this I won’t need the help of my brigade.’
A tussle ensued that was always destined to end on the rug.
‘Narrow escape,’ Liv murmured against Cade’s lips. ‘For a moment there I thought you were going to let me go.’
‘I should have,’ he agreed. ‘But now I’ve got you, what am I going to do with you?’
Liv’s suggestion shocked the life out of him.
Three months later the opening ceremony of the first Giles Grant Featherstone Carew rehabilitation centre went without a hitch at Featherstone Hall, largely due to Liv’s flawless organisation. Even her mother, for they had made up by this time, was forced to admit the facility was impressive, though Mrs Tate couldn’t resist adding that, now it was up and running, Cade had no excuse not to marry her daughter.
‘I hardly think he’d try and get out of it,’ Liv protested gently, gazing at the beautiful sapphire and diamond ring Cade had presented to her that day. It was a family heirloom, he’d told her, and had been passed down through the family over many generations.
‘Yes, well, a family ring wouldn’t cost him anything, would it?’ Liv’s mother commented sourly.
Liv had to try very hard not to share a look with her sister Carly at this point. Their mother would never change; both girls had accepted that. The best they could hope for was a truce.
As their mother bustled off to find their father Liv exchanged a reassuring glance with Cade, who had been hovering close by in case she needed him to step in. She could have told him she could cope. His love had given her all the confidence she needed to deal with most situations, including her mother.
He turned back to his group with relief. He hadn’t forgotten that visit to Acacia Drive and the look on Liv’s face. There were things he remembered, that he had filed away for safe keeping. That look on Liv’s face was one of them and he was n
ever going to let her feel like that again. He had so much to thank her for. It was impossible to describe the sense of freedom she had brought him. He was fully engaged in his scheme now, and had the woman he loved at his side. What more could he ask of life? Liv had proved he could have it all, and he would repay her by making every day of her life challenging and exciting, and—
‘Terrifying,’ she’d told him flatly, a month before the wedding. ‘I can’t do it.’
‘I realise it will take a great leap of faith,’ he told her.
‘That’s putting it mildly.’
‘But I’m quite sure you’re up to the challenge.’ His lips tugged as he studied her face. ‘So what I need to know now is will you, or won’t you, do it?’
As they were lying in bed together—his bed, which was now their bed—he had known that the very last thing Liv had wanted was a long drawn out discussion. ‘Well?’ he pressed her. ‘What’s it to be…on top of me, or below?’
She opted for below as she was still a novice, but now she regretted it, if only because it meant she had to jump first. The past month flashed through Liv’s mind as she waited to fall into the abyss. It was strange how life could do that when you were on the point of no return.
Liv and her sister Carly had worked out the details for Liv’s wedding together. It was to be held on the Featherstone estate, which had been fully restored to far better than its former glory. The ceremony would be held in the tiny chapel in the grounds, with the army padre officiating. They had brought their mother into the planning, having made a pact to ignore her acid remarks, of which there had been an increasing number as the great day had grown closer.
‘You’ve got everything organised except how you intend to arrive at the chapel,’ Mrs Tate complained. ‘Is that because you’re having second thoughts?’ she added hopefully, clearly not convinced that this new confident Liv was someone she could deal with as easily as she once had. They had just finished discussing flowers for the wedding and, once Liv had resigned herself to clashing colours and agreed to use her mother’s florist, Mrs Tate seemed determined to pounce on every loose end she could.
