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‘You overheard part of a conversation and judged me on that?’ Solo shook his head in disgust. ‘I didn’t stand a chance.’ He shot her an angry glance. ‘You didn’t trust me at all; no wonder you left me.’
‘I’m sorry if you were upset,’ she murmured.
‘Upset didn’t begin to cover it. I was gutted and furiously angry. I became half-owner of a house I didn’t want and lost the girl I did,’ Solo drawled cynically. ‘My pride took a hell of a battering that day.’
‘But you didn’t love me,’ Penny said flatly, and that was the bottom line. He had never loved her.
‘No, at the time I did not believe in love,’ he told her with brutal candour. ‘But with hindsight I realise I do.’
‘What are you trying to say?’ Penny asked softly, holding her breath.
‘For a long time I did not…would not admit I loved you.’
Solo had said he loved her, and she couldn’t believe it. She studied his dark features, saw the strain in his silver eyes, and her heart swelled with love. ‘You mean you…’
‘Let me finish,’ Solo commanded. ‘I practised this all last night when I thought I might never see you again. If I don’t say it now I might never have the nerve again.’ His piercing gaze seemed to see right into her soul. ‘I was angry when you finished with me, and thought it was a trick by you and your father to con money out of me.’
‘Oh, no.’ Penny cut in. ‘I never knew anything about the money. I can’t believe my dad could be so greedy.’
‘Yes, well, to give your father his due he did get in touch with me, and offered to give back part of the cash, but he also said he thought you were too young for marriage, and I should try again when you finished university.’ His sensuous mouth tightened. ‘Deep down I agreed with your father. You were very young, so I told him to keep the money, and decided to do just that in three years’ time,’ he vouched, almost talking to himself.
Penny stirred restlessly. ‘So Dad wasn’t really being deceitful,’ she said softly.
‘No.’ Solo agreed. ‘But I was, I fluctuated between thinking of your family as no better than thieves, and denying I loved you while hoping to get you back. I knew when you finished university and I was preparing to return to England to see you and find out if you were still with Simon.’
That was the second time he had suggested he loved her, and Penny was beginning to believe him. ‘Why didn’t you tell me all this when we met again?’ What she really wanted to ask was why didn’t he say he loved her, but she dared not. She had nev
er known Solo to talk so long and openly and she did not want to miss a word.
Solo’s hand tightened on her shoulder. ‘I had made a big enough fool of myself once over you and I wasn’t prepared to do it twice.’ The look he gave her was full of self-mockery. ‘When I heard of the death of Veronica and your father, I thought you must know I owned half the house—either your father would have told you or after the will was read. It gives me no pleasure to admit in a way I was glad. My ego had taken enough of a beating where you were concerned. Now I thought, Penelope Haversham will have to come to me,’ he declared with some of his old arrogance. ‘So I waited and waited for you to get in touch and, the longer I waited, the angrier I got.’
‘Oh, Solo.’ Penny was appalled by the bitterness in his tone.
But if he heard it he gave no sign. ‘Until your solicitor finally got in touch with me, and set up a meeting. Then, the night before, I walked into the hotel bar where I was staying and there you were… Dio, Penny, the shock of seeing you in the hotel in a red dress—the innocent vision I had cherished in my mind had transformed into a sexy woman with acres of flesh on display.’
‘I thought I felt someone watching me,’ Penny recalled. ‘But it wasn’t my dress—it was Jane’s and I was dying of embarrassment, and reeling with shock having just discovered your involvement in my home.’ Instinctively she placed her hand over Solo’s resting on his knee. ‘That is not my style at all, believe me.’
Solo looked into her green eyes and what he saw there gave him hope and the strength to admit what he had been skirting around ever since he’d arrived. ‘I know, Penny. Though you did look great, I felt sick.’ He paused. ‘Sick with love for you.’
‘You love me.’ Her voice trembled.
‘Dio mio, I thought that was blatantly obvious.’ He wrapped his arms around her, his silver eyes glittering down into hers. ‘I love you to the depths of my soul now and for ever.’ He bent his head, and gently rubbed his lips softly on hers before adding, ‘You are my life, my love, and for a man who has never trusted anyone in his life, I am placing my heart in your hands.’
Elation flooded Penny’s mind, and her mouth opened eagerly beneath his. His tongue flicked out to explore the moist, dark cavern of her mouth and hungrily she responded. She lifted her arms around his neck, her fingers streaked through his black curly hair, urgently clasping his skull as the kiss went on and on.
Finally they drew apart, needing to breathe. Solo, his silver eyes glittering with an intensity that touched Penny’s heart, said, ‘And if you will forgive me and come back to me, I swear I’ll make you love me or spend the rest of my life trying.’ A faint dark colour burnished his high cheekbones.
Penny could feel the tension in his body, and, although passion glazed her huge green eyes, she saw and recognised the vulnerability in Solo’s face. He had told her he loved her, he trusted her, but he still wasn’t sure of her.
‘You won’t have to try. I love you,’ she admitted with a beautiful smile. Her heart cried for this perfect man, so alone in the world he had never known love. Her husband was a magnificent male animal, and yet he was afraid to reveal his feelings. ‘I have loved you since the first moment I saw you,’ she declared, and it was there for him to see in the jade eyes blazing into his. ‘You have always had my heart, and I’ll never doubt you again or leave you again.’
‘I don’t deserve you,’ Solo husked, his silver eyes, suspiciously moist, fused with Penny’s, and then he kissed her almost reverently.
A long moment later, curling her fingers in his silky black hair, Penny sighed happily. ‘That red dress has a lot to answer for,’ she quipped. ‘I wish I had kept it, because it got you to admit you love me, and I seem to remember you came to my house the day after I wore it and seduced me.’
Solo slanted her a sardonic look. ‘Not really—as I remember you held out your hand and said, “Come on”.’
‘You know I didn’t mean it the way you took it,’ Penny shot back, giving a quick tug on his silky curls. Her arrogant husband was back. It was too much to expect for Solo to stay humble for long, and if she was honest she preferred him his usual dynamic self.
