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Clearly Lola did something to indicate the affirmative, because then Rico was lifting Gypsy expertly into the passenger seat and suddenly they were turning around and driving back to the villa.
Through a blur of tears Gypsy saw Rico take Lola out and kiss her, before handing her to a relieved-looking Agneta, saying something in Greek which had Agneta nodding and smiling. And then he was at her door and lifting her out before she could protest. In all honesty Gypsy felt as weak as a rag doll.
Rico took her straight up to his bedroom and sat down on a chair in the corner with her on his lap. Gypsy was still sniffing and taking big convulsive breaths. Wordlessly Rico handed her a hanky, and she blew her nose loudly.
When she was more composed, and becoming very aware of sitting on Rico’s steel-hard thighs, she tensed.
‘Now…’ he said. ‘Do you believe that I’ll let you go if you want to?’
Gypsy’s heart beat fast. She looked at him suspiciously. ‘You weren’t far behind us.’
‘Answer the question, Gypsy Butler. Do you believe that if you really want it, I’ll let you go?’
Slowly she nodded her head, because she did believe it. In all honesty she’d believed it even before he’d orchestrated his little enactment.
He said now, ‘I was following just to see that you were OK. You looked shell-shocked—I was worried. And,’ he added, ‘it’s good that you believe me, because I’m never going to let you go again.’
Gypsy couldn’t even gasp or act affronted. She just felt sadness well upwards. Tears formed again. She felt him tense, as if expecting a fight, and rushed to explain. ‘It’s not that I want to leave, I don’t. But I don’t see how loving Lola is going to make you happy in the long run—won’t you want to meet someone else and settle down?’
Gypsy waved a shaking hand, not letting Rico speak. The tears were back, constricting her voice. ‘I mean, Lola adores you, and you adore Lola, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen, and I know now that you would never hurt her like my father did me…’ She gulped in a breath. ‘But it’s going to get awfully embarrassing because…’ Her heart thumped hard once, and then it spilled out. ‘Because you see I adore you too, and I don’t ever want you to send me away, and I do trust you, but it’s scary because I’ve never trusted anyone, so I didn’t believe it, and you won’t thank me for these feelings when you want to move on…’
Rico shifted so that Gypsy fell into the cradle of his lap. He brought his hands to her face and wiped away the tears, and said gently, ‘Can you stop talking and crying for one minute?’
There was such warmth in his voice that it shocked Gypsy’s tears into stopping. She hiccupped once. And blushed when she could feel the press of his arousal against her bottom. How could either of them be thinking of that at a time like this?
‘Gypsy Butler…’ Rico began, making sure she wasn’t looking anywhere but into his eyes, which glowed, making her heart beat fast. ‘Can you not tell how deeply and irrevocably in love with you I am?’
Wordlessly, shock hitting her, she just shook her head.
‘Well, I am. I was about to tell you earlier, but then you looked as if you were going to faint. I started falling for you when I saw you in the club that night. I was ready to walk out, bored beyond tears, cursing myself for having gone in at all—and then you walked in, and I couldn’t look away. You looked so wild and free and totally different to anyone else.’
His thumbs stroked her cheeks, and Gypsy could feel herself leaning against him, melting all over.
‘And then…that night…it was magical. I felt like I’d met the one person who connected with the real me. Not the tycoon. And I was such a fool to leave you like that in the morning, but I was freaked out by how much you’d made me feel: possessive, and yearning for something I’d never even noticed I wanted before…’
‘It was like that for me too,’ Gypsy said, feeling shy, still not really believing she was hearing this.
‘And then you were gone, and all I knew was that I’d spent the night with a temptress called Gypsy and I didn’t even think that was your real name. For the past two years you’ve haunted my dreams and my life. I tried to recreate what I experienced with you but it never happened. I was growing increasingly cynical and delusional and then I saw you again. I thought I was dreaming you up.’
‘But…just now…you let me walk away…’
An intense light lit his eyes. ‘To be honest I didn’t think you’d go through with it. But then I realised I had to let you go, or else you never would have trusted that I could let you go. You and Lola mean everything to me, but if you’re not happy here then I would never keep you against your will. I have to warn you, though, I’ll follow you wherever you go…’
He drew her head down to his and started to kiss her, as delicately and tenderly as if she were made of fine bone china. Impatient with his restraint, Gypsy deepened the kiss, her tongue stroking erotically along Rico’s until she heard him groan and finally he gave in to his passion.
She was being lifted from the chair, and suddenly they were tumbling onto Rico’s bed and his hands were everywhere, desire rising to fever-pitch as they both struggled to be free of conflicting clothes, needing to forge a deeper union.
Finally, blissfully naked, Gypsy arched her whole body against Rico’s hard physique and revelled in his indrawn breath. He pressed her down and moved over her, both hands framing her face, her hair spilling out around her head.
He looked down at her, and nothing but love shone from his eyes.
‘There’s just one other thing.’
For a second something familiarly panicky skated over Gypsy’s skin, and she asked warily, ‘What?’
He waited for a moment, a wicked glint in his eyes. And then said finally, ‘If it’s not too scary a prospect, and if I promise not to ever control you but to give you all the freedom you want, will you trust me enough to marry me, Gypsy Butler?’
Love and passion infused every cell, and she felt the final release of all her old fears. She smiled up at Rico tremulously and reached up to caress his jaw. ‘I trust you with all my heart, and our daughter’s life. And I’d love to marry you.’
