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‘How about if you go and get ready for bed and I’ll bring us up some supper?’ Forde suggested. ‘And tomorrow we have a lazy morning. Breakfast in bed, maybe even lunch in bed.’
‘You missed out elevenses.’
‘That too.’ He grinned at her, feeling slightly lightheaded that the last nightmarish months were over. He had come here this afternoon with no expectations beyond that they might share a meal together before he drove home. He’d hoped, of course. Hoped that Melanie seeing Miriam might have made a difference, that with the baby coming she would see it had two parents who loved each other and shouldn’t be apart, but he hadn’t known how long it would take before she conquered her gremlins. But it was Christmas after all, a time of miracles …
They ate a hodgepodge of a supper, which Forde brought up on a tray for them to share after he’d installed Tabitha and her kittens by the bedroom radiator in the basket. Wedges of bread from a crusty loaf, slices of fragrant ham, some of the canapés and cheeses he’d bought and slivers of the pork pie, and a couple of enormous pieces of Christmas cake. Curled up close to him in her bed with the snow falling thickly outside and Tabitha fast asleep in the basket, her kittens snuggled into their mother’s warm fur, Melanie thought it was the best meal she had ever had.
Afterwards, sated and replete, they made love again, slowly and sensually, the earlier urgency gone. She went to sleep lying in his arms as he held her close to his heart, feeling she wanted this night to last for ever. In a few hours her life had changed beyond recognition, and she had felt closer to Forde as they had made love than she had ever done in the past. Maybe it was because they had come through the fiery trial and were the stronger for it, she thought drowsily, or perhaps for the first time she had met him as an equal partner in her mind and emotions and had kept nothing back. Her guard was lowered and her defences were down, and because of that she could set aside every inhibition.
She opened her eyes one last time to check on Tabitha and the kittens, smiling as she saw three tiny shapes busy feeding. Now the kittens’ fur was dry it had fluffed up and they actually looked like baby cats. One appeared to have lighter colouring than the other two but as the room was dimly lit it was hard to see them in the half-light. But all three seemed to be doing well, although, of course, it was early days.
They had to live, she told herself, shutting her eyes and nestling into Forde’s body warmth. Tabitha had been remarkable and so brave. After all she’d gone through the little cat had to have the satisfaction of rearing her babies.
She already knew she was going to keep Tabitha and all three kittens. Their house in Kingston upon Thames had a large garden just perfect for four cats; she could already picture the kittens playing and chasing each other across the lawns and shrubbery and climbing the trees. And in the summer all four could lie in the sun together or find a cool place in the shade. Tabitha would never know what it was to be hungry again, she vowed as she drifted off to sleep. Or unloved and unwanted. Not while she had breath in her body.
Melanie awoke on Christmas Eve morning to being kissed deeply and passionately. She opened heavy-lidded eyes to a room full of white light and Forde, clad in nothing but her kitchen apron, smiling at her.
‘Your breakfast tray, ma’am.’ He indicated a tray holding a full English breakfast, toast and preserves and a glass of orange juice on the bedside table. ‘Is there anything else madam would like?’
She would never have dreamt in a million years that a fairly ordinary plastic apron could turn into something so erotic. Remembering the events of the evening before, she raised herself onto her elbow. ‘Tabitha?’
‘Fed and happy and downstairs by the kitchen radiator again with her three offspring, who are all doing extremely well. I had a nasty moment when I first woke up because the basket was empty, but once I’d found her and the kittens in the bottom of your wa
rdrobe snuggled in a jumper and put them back in the basket, she seemed quite happy to accept that’s where they all had to stay.’
‘In that case there is something else I want.’ The apron was swathed around Forde’s hips and the way his chest hair arrowed to his navel entranced her. He had never looked more sexy. She opened her arms, winding them round his neck when he bent down to her again and pulling him down beside her on the bed. ‘I love you,’ she murmured before kissing him hungrily. ‘So much.’
‘Words don’t even begin to say what I feel for you.’ He moved back slightly, taking her face between his hands as he stared into the velvet-brown of her eyes. ‘You do know I’m never going to let you go again? Whatever happens in the future, whatever it holds, we walk it side by side. Mountaintop or valley, good times and bad, I’m not budging, OK?’
‘OK.’ She kissed him again.
‘And after Christmas I’m taking you home. No argument,’ he said softly.
‘Me and Tabitha and her brood.’ Melanie punctuated each word with a kiss. ‘They’re ours now. I always wanted pets one day. I just didn’t expect to have four in one go.’
‘We’re keeping them all?’
‘Of course. Tabitha deserves that.’
‘And me?’ Forde murmured huskily, enfolding her against him so she could feel every inch of his hard arousal. ‘What do I deserve?’
‘Everything,’ she whispered throatily.
‘Well, in that case …’
He kissed her until she was pulsing with desire, bringing her to fever-pitch time and time again as he stroked and pleasured her, caressing her until she was trembling in his arms.
How had she managed to exist these last long, lonely months without him? she thought wildly. But that was all she had done: exist. This was life; being close to Forde, feeling him, loving him. And it wasn’t all about sex, mind-blowing though that was. It was his tenderness, his care towards her, the patience and love he’d shown ever since they’d met. Even when Matthew was taken from them he hadn’t blamed her for one moment; putting his own feelings of grief and sorrow aside to comfort her and be strong. She loved him so much …
She met him kiss for kiss, caress for caress, and when he finally eased her thighs apart she was shameless in her need of him inside her. They moved together as she grasped him tight and close, the sheer exquisite physical pleasure taking them both to new heights. They climaxed together in perfect unity, wave after wave of sweet, hot gratification causing them to cry out their release.
They lay wrapped in each other’s arms as they drifted back to reality, the remnants of pleasure taking some time to disperse.
Forde smiled as he traced her mouth with the tip of his finger. ‘Breakfast is cold,’ he murmured, kissing the tip of her small nose.
‘It’ll still taste good.’ Anything would taste good right now. And then, as she felt the baby inside her move more vigorously than it had before, she caught his hand and placed it on her belly. ‘Can you feel that?’
His face lit up. ‘I think so. It’s just the slightest ripple but, yes, I can feel it.’
