He said, ‘I’m so sorry for pushing you away…for being such a coward that I had to reject you.’
‘You’re not a coward. You are worth so much, Caius. You are good and full of integrity and you make me feel like I can do anything.’
He smiled and tucked a wayward hair behind her ear. ‘You can, you’re magnificent.’
Feeling dreamy, Poppy said, ‘You still haven’t told me why you’re here.’
‘Because I wanted to tell you that I don’t want a year, or five years, I want a lifetime. I want to be your consort, your husband, your lover, and I want to try and be a father to our daughter even though I haven’t a clue what to do. I just knew it would kill me if I was some sort of stranger to her. I want to fight to prove I’m worthy of you, and her.’
Poppy lifted his hand and kissed it and looked up at him. ‘You will be an amazing father—you’ve already been a father to your sister but you don’t even recognise it.’
She went on, ‘There’s just one thing missing.’
‘What?’ Caius looked a little frantic.
‘Do you love me, Caius?’
An intensity suffused his face, his eyes blindingly blue. ‘Poppy, what I feel for you doesn’t even come close to any definition of love I’ve ever heard. You consume me. I want you. I need you. I don’t ever want to take my eyes off you…and the idea that we’ve created something, someone, that’s an extension of you…’
Caius put a shaking hand to his chest. ‘I feel so full, I don’t know where to put it. If that’s love, then, yes… I love you.’
It was all she needed to hear. Poppy mentally rehired Stephen and reached up, winding her arms tight around Caius’s neck, her belly pressed against him. Her vision was blurry. ‘Oh, Caius, you don’t have to put it anywhere except let it out, share it with me… I love you so much.’ She said shakily, ‘I thought you were gone, back to your life…’
He shuddered in her arms. ‘No way, that was such an empty existence. Do you really mean it, Poppy? You love me?’
She nodded. ‘More than anything. Now will you please make love to me before I explode because I’ve missed you so much?’
Caius looked worried and Poppy said, ‘Caius Mansur, if you don’t kiss me and make love to me right here, right now, I’ll have you deported.’
He smiled. ‘I guess if we’re gentle it’ll be OK.’
Poppy pressed her mouth to his and he kissed her back, she pulled away and started to strip off, desperate to feel Caius where she needed him most, pulling him down onto the ground and opening her body to him. There was no foreplay, Caius joined his body to hers and all talk of being gentle went out the window as the fire rose up around them and consumed them both, leaving them in a state of shattered bliss just minutes later.
Caius came up on one elbow and looked down at the woman he adored more than his own life. She looked drowsy and sated and pink and so beautiful. And she was his, and he was hers. And when she looked at him now and saw right into him, he felt peace. He would never hide again. He knew that he might never be worthy of her but he would do his damnedest to fight to be. For the rest of their lives.
Epilogue
Two years later, Sadat Sur Mer, The Palace
‘YOU SEE, IT’Sall about the way you hold her. If you scoop her up like this and let her rest on her front, along your forearm, it means that she’s not fighting her wind, she’s more comfortable.’
Ares gently bounced Bella, one of his one-month-old twin girls, on his arm, the way Caius was demonstrating with her twin, Calli. Both babies certainly seemed content.
‘Where did you learn this?’ Ares asked suspiciously.
Caius tapped his nose. ‘If I told you I’d have to kill you.’
Ares rolled his eyes.
Just then their wives appeared on the veranda, which was strewn with rugs, cushions and various baby paraphernalia. A table was set up for lunch nearby.
Caius’s gaze feasted on Poppy. She was six months pregnant, with their second baby, and she carried their still-sleepy toddler daughter on one hip. Giulia had dark red hair like her mother and Caius’s blue eyes. Exactly as he’d imagined. She saw him and put out her arms. ‘Papa.’
Cassie came and expertly scooped up her baby and Poppy transferred Giulia to Caius with a rueful smile, saying, ‘Such a daddy’s girl.’ Caius smirked but behind the smirk was genuine emotion. He could have so easily let fear consume him and never have known this depth of love and feeling.
The little girl snuggled close and put her thumb in her mouth, still half asleep. Caius knew it wouldn’t last long, she’d soon be tearing around the place giving him a million heart attacks a minute with her fearless antics.
Cassie sounded amused. ‘Caius, were you showing Ares your baby-whispering skills again?’
