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He gazed into her eyes. ‘Does that sound good?’ he asked.
She lifted her mouth to his.
‘Blissful,’ she whispered. ‘Because it comes with the one thing I want more than anything in the whole world—the one thing I can’t live without.’ She kissed him softly, with all the love in the world in it. ‘You,’ she said.
EPILOGUE
‘HOW would you feel,’ Leon said, with a slightly tentative questioning note in his voice, his arm around Flavia’s shoulder as they stood on the terrace at Harford in the autumnal air, ‘about having a helipad here? It would mean I could commute to the City and so spend more time here.’
Flavia leant into his shoulder and smiled warmly up at him. ‘It’s a brilliant idea. The lawn really isn’t a good place to land.’
He gave a rueful laugh. ‘No, I can see that. Not good for your herbaceous borders.’
It was Flavia’s turn to sound tentatively questioning. ‘Are you sure you want to be based here, Leon? You’re not used to country living …’
‘Cities are overrated,’ he said dryly. ‘Even now that I can live in penthouses and not on the streets. But even though I would love to be based here at Harford, there will still be more times than I would like that I have to travel abroad. Especially when I’m checking up on my South American pro bono projects.’
Her eyes warmed. ‘Will you let me come with you?’ she asked. ‘I’ll learn Spanish, I promise, so I won’t be a total waste of space! I’d love to see all the good work you are doing.’
‘I would love to show it to you. My endless concern is how few the projects are, compared with the need for them. So many lives need to be transformed to lift people out of poverty.’
She heard the frustration in his voice and kissed him softly on the cheek. ‘You’re a good man, Leon Maranz. A better man than so many who have made it in this world. Think of men like my father, who’s used people all his life for his own selfish ends, caring for no one but himself!’
Anger was etched into her voice. Leon looked down at her.
‘Maybe there is a cosmic karma after all. His Far Eastern bail out came to nothing, and after I’d made it crystal clear to him my offer was off the table because of the way he’s treated you and your mother’s family he lost everything. Including the lovely Anita, who wanted a more solvent protector.’
Leon’s voice changed from harsh to reassuring. ‘But you needn’t be afraid that he’ll try and contact you. I’ve done a deal with him. While he leaves you totally alone and stays out of the country I’ll pay him a modest monthly pension. He’s taken himself off to Spain, and the last I heard he was trying to set himself up as a property developer. Don’t worry,’ he said caustically, ‘I’ve got someone keeping tabs on him, and if his business ethics veer towards the dodgy I’ll be leaning on him painfully. He won’t intrude into your life any more.’ He paused. ‘Our lives,’ he amended.
He turned her towards him, gazing down at her uplifted face. Flavia felt her heart squeeze and melt with love, as she was bathed in the love-light in his dark, expressive eyes.
‘Our lives, my beautiful, adored Flavia. Our lives together from now onwards. Never to be parted again.’
Softly he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her gently with sweet, possessing passion. He cupped her face with this hands.
‘I wish I could have met your grandparents to tell them how wonderful a granddaughter they raised. To tell them how grateful—how profoundly and eternally grateful I am to have found you. And to tell them—’ he glanced around at the autumn splendour, framing the house in a blaze of colour ‘—how beautiful their house is. How wonderful a home it will continue to be for you and me—’
‘And for our children?’ There was a wistful note in Flavia’s voice.
He gave a warm laugh. ‘Oh, yes, for our children. Definitely, definitely for our children. You were happy here when you were a child, and you know all the secret places in the house and in the grounds. Our children can roam wild here, be happy and carefree. And you and I—’ he kissed the tip of her nose, sliding his arm around her shoulder and strolling with her towards the open French windows leading into the drawing room ‘—will watch them grow well and strong, and safe and loved. All our days. All our years together.’
At the entrance to the drawing room he paused and looked out over the lawns. ‘We’ll make a happy home. A happy family.’ He drew her fast against his heart. ‘A blissful, perfect marriage. Wouldn’t you agree, Mrs Maranz?’
She clutched him close, radiant with happiness. ‘Absolutely,’ she breathed.
He laughed, happiness in his voice as in his heart. ‘Then let’s crack open that waiting bottle of champagne and drink to our marriage! And then …’
The expression in his eyes altered and Flavia felt a quickening of her pulse, a breathlessness in her lungs.
‘And then, my beautiful, beautiful bride, I’m going to carry you upstairs and remove you from that exquisite but really quite unnecessary bridal gown you look so breathtaking in. We shall have a wedding night that will melt the very stars in heaven!’
She frowned. ‘I don’t think stars can melt, can they?’ she queried.
‘Whatever,’ he said airily, and hefted the champagne bottle out of its ice-bucket. Then he paused. ‘On second thought …’
He scooped up two flutes, hooked his fingers around the neck of the champagne bottle, and then, with effortless strength, scooped up Flavia as well. She cried out in laughing surprise and he grinned down at her.
‘The champagne can come with us,’ he said.
