"Not anymore."
His head was propped up on one hand as he examined the mark on her abdomen where they had opened her up for the C-section. He would never forget seeing it and how it had affected him to see them cutting into her flesh like that. He had felt it to his very bones.
"I didn't feel anything." She went on to add, as if realizing where his thoughts had taken him.
"Your beautiful skin."
"I will still be able to wear a bikini at the beach." She told him jokingly. Her amusement fled when he lifted his head to look at her. The expression on his usually hard, handsome face took her breath away. There was no doubting the way he was feeling. The naked adoration there made her unable to breathe or even think.
"I adore you." He told her thickly. "How can you think I could ever love another? Be with another woman?"
"I--I don't--" She felt as if she was suffocating.
"You're mine and I'm yours. From the first time I laid eyes on you, that has been the case and will always be the case. It's even more so now." He pressed his palm flat on her abdomen, his emotions veering close to the surface. "I've never met anyonelike you. You display the type of strength that I've never seen before. I admire you, darling. And I love you so much that it scares me."
"Samuel." Tears blurred her vision. "Samuel."
"Use your words." He teased shakily.
"I can't." She gamely swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Then let me help you out." He moved so that he was lying next to her. Turning her in his arms, he gazed into her eyes deeply. "I'm yours. I'll always be yours. Do you understand?"
She nodded, still unable to verbalize what she was thinking. He overwhelmed her, this powerful and often taciturn and arrogant husband of hers. The world saw him as ruthless and unattainable, but with her he wasn't afraid to show his vulnerability. It humbled her tremendously.
"I would do anything for you." She told him huskily, her hand lifting to touch his cheek. "Anything. I wanted a family for us and was determined to make it happen."
"I know." He brushed his lips on hers. "You thought you were losing me. You weren't."
"We had been so far apart that I panicked. I could not lose you."
"There was no fear of that ever happening. I might have entertained thoughts of it, but I wouldn't have gone through with it. I couldn't leave you." He stroked her hair.
Her hand drifted down his chest, loving the feel of the springy chest hairs covering the skin. Leaning over, she kissed his throat, glorying in the feel of his pulse hammering madly. This was all for her. She felt him surging to life inside her. She could make him feel this way and it made her feel invulnerable, strong, and powerful. And confident.
"Don't blame me if you feel exhausted in the morning." Flipping her onto her back, he covered her body with his. "Because I'm about to prove myself to you again."
"As much as you like. I'm all yours." She told him with a sultry smile that had him chuckling.
Even after she had fallen into an exhausted sleep an hour later, he was still wide awake, his body still wired. Turning his head, he brushed his lips gently on her forehead, a smile touching hislips. His wife, he mused tenderly. The only woman he had ever loved. When he considered how he had entertained the thought of divorcing her, he shuddered. But he had told her he would not have gone through with it and he meant every word. He belonged to her, always.
Chapter 12
"We can take her home?" Eliza did not dare breathe in case she had heard wrong. "Today? I thought – it has been three weeks since we left her here and you said it could take up to a month or more for her to be discharged."
"We did a thorough examination on Sofia and the medical team, and I agree that your daughter is a miracle baby and a fighter." Dr. Forsythe beamed at them. "She has put on the necessary weight and is breathing on her own. What's more, her lungs are clear and she's healthy. And ready to go home and join her brothers. I just need to sign the discharge papers. I want to see all four of them in two weeks to do another examination, but for now, they're doing all right."
Eliza gripped her husband's hand, the joy exploding inside her chest. For three weeks she had been here every day, dodging the press who insisted on camping outside the private clinic to see if they could catch a glimpse of the celebrity couple and their babies. Three weeks during which she had prayed earnestly and spoken to her daughter, telling her how much her brothers were longing to see her. How much they wanted her home.
And now...
As if sensing the turmoil going on inside her, Samuel wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. "Want to gether dressed in that pink frilly outfit you brought in?" he asked her gently.
"Absolutely." Eyes dancing, Eliza looked at the doctor. "Is that all?"
Blake nodded, a smile tugging at his lips. "I have a list I need to prepare for you to take and some paperwork of course, but you're free to go and get your daughter."
"Go on, baby." Samuel urged. "I'll be right behind you."
