Page 49 of The Valentine Child


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'And I love you.' The truth was in his deep, dark eyes as he smiled down at her. 'I always will.'

'I know.' She smiled with sheer delight.

'Confident little seductress, aren't you?'

She laughed out loud. Then he kissed her gently and her blood began to pound all over gain.

Much, much later, entwined in each other's arms, they talked softly of their love, their son, their fears.

'Don't worry, Zoe, everything will be perfect. Take it easy,' Justin murmured, his mouth brushing tenderly against her ear.

'But will you? Take it easy, I mean.' She remembered the days after Bertie's death when he'd worked twelve to eighteen hours a day. 'When Bertie died you turned into a workaholic. Why?'

He gave her a twisted smile. 'Stubborn little thing, aren't you?' But she could see that he was hiding something.

'Are you going to tell me?'

'Darling.' He kissed the tip of her nose, his arms holding her closer. 'We've wasted so much time; let's forget the past, and go forward from here.'

Thinking clearly for the first time in hours, Zoe turned in his arms to look steadily into his beloved face. 'I know Jess said you joined Bertie's firm simply to enhance your prospects with me. Is that why you had to work so long? Because you didn't really like what you were doing?'

'I love my sister dearly.' Justin chuckled. 'But as an anthropologist she has a nasty habit of not simply examining cultures but also trying to analyse me.'

'Was she right?'

'Yes and no,' he drawled, amusement in his brown eyes. 'You see, when my father died '

'Jess said you never forgave him.'

'Rubbish. Jess has obviously said far too much, and I can see that you're not going to rest and let my poor, worn-out old body get some sleep until you're satisfied.'

She curled sinuously against his naked flesh and felt his body stir. 'Not so old,' she teased.

'Stop that and listen,' he said, with a faint smile. 'I forgave my father long before he died. But after his death, when Bertie had sold the restaurant and wound up his estate, there wasn't a lot of cash. I was all for dropping out of university and getting a job. Jess was still at school and there was only enough money to finance her education.

'Bertie, bless him, insisted on helping out financially. He was very good to me all through law school; I paid him back every penny, but I still felt I owed him a debt of gratitude, and anyway I loved the old man. So later, when I was beginning to specialise in international law and he suggested I was wasting my talent and asked me to join his firm, I didn't like to disappoint him.'

'But. . .' Zoe's blue eyes showed her dismay.

Justin nuzzled her neck. 'And I might—I just might- have considered improving my chances with a certain stunning little blonde,' he teased, with a lazy smile. 'But to be serious. After Bertie died and the will was read '

'You were upset he hadn't left you any money.'

'For God's sake, Zoe!' He tensed and looked at her with grim eyes. 'Let me finish. I never wanted his money, but I was surprised at how little he had actually left you.

I knew that tax would swallow up most of it, but it didn't matter to me in the least. I knew his dearest wish was that you and I should live at Black Gables and I earned more than enough for us to be able to continue doing so. But then you decided you wanted to sell the place.'

'Not really,' she said slowly, feeling slightly ashamed of her shallow younger self. 'I simply thought it would be an easy way to get to share your bedroom.'

Justin shot her a wicked, amused look. 'Rather a desperate measure, and I didn't realise that at the time.'

His expression grew serious. 'I could deny you nothing. But I could not bear to see you lose the house forever. So I worked all the hours I could—and then some—trying to make enough quick capital to buy the house, hoping that later in our marriage when the children arrived you might want to go

back to the place.'

'You would have done that for me?' she said softly, shaking her head in disbelief at the depth of his generosity.

'I did.'

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