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He sighed. ‘The day after you left me. I flew to the States looking for you.’
‘You did?’
Quinn nodded. ‘Yes, darling. I found out I’d made a terrible mistake. You see, the day I went to Edinburgh, I phoned home to talk to you. Norah answered; she told me…’
‘She told you my father had been to see me.’
Quinn shook his head. ‘She told me she’d found you in the arms of a tall, fair-haired man. I… I thought it was Jack Ward.’
Everything began to fall into place. ‘You mean, you thought that terrible man and I…? Oh, God!’
His laughter was bitter. ‘Exactly. I put two and two together and came up with five. I think my conscience was almost grateful for the chance.’
Paige leaned back against his encircling arms and looked into his eyes. ‘I don’t understand,’ she said softly.
There was pain in Quinn’s smile. ‘I was filled with guilt,’ he said. ‘You were right when you said I wanted you for myself. It was one thing to take you from my brother to protect him, but it was quite another to admit to myself that I’d fallen in love with you. I couldn’t face the truth, Paige.’ He kissed the tip of her nose. ‘That was why I didn’t want to talk about the way I’d forced you to marry me.’
‘Oh, Quinn, we should have trusted our feelings. I… I never came alive until I met you…’
&nbs
p; His arms tightened around her. ‘I’d never known a night like the one we shared, Juliet,’ he whispered. ‘When I woke up with you in my arms, I knew I had to get away and sort out my feelings. I didn’t know what to believe. Were you the woman I’d learned to love, or were you the woman I’d accused you of being? Could I live with the knowledge that I’d have taken you from my brother, no matter what the circumstances?’ He laughed softly. ‘I wasn’t gone half a day when I knew that none of the questions mattered. I loved you now, no matter what had happened in the past. It was our future that counted. I phoned home to tell you that.’
Paige closed her eyes. ‘And Norah told you I’d been with a man. But… how did you learn the truth?’
He shrugged. ‘I went looking for Ward. I wanted to kill him—but it turned out he and his wife had left the city early that morning. I realised he couldn’t have been the man who’d come to the house.’ He sighed. ‘I began to search for you; I traced you to Claridge’s and then to the airport—and your trail vanished. But I thought surely you’d flown back to the States—so I did, too.’
‘Looking for me,’ Paige said softly.
‘Yes. That’s when your father told me everything, and Alan flew home for the weekend.’ He laughed. ‘Would you believe he’s courting a dark-eyed senorita?’
Paige smiled. ‘I’m happy for him.’
Quinn nodded. ‘Yes, but all I could think of was you.’ He touched his lips to her throat. ‘I’ve been going insane, darling, loving you, wanting you, worrying about what might have happened to you…’
Paige put her arms around his neck. ‘I never left London,’ she said. ‘I loved you too much to put an ocean between us.’
‘Juliet,’ he murmured, ‘sweet, beautiful Juliet.’ She lifted her face to his. Quinn’s kiss left her breathless, and then he put her from him gently. ‘Are you sure that’s all right for the baby?’
Paige smiled. ‘I don’t think love can ever hurt a baby.’
There was a discreet knock and the door swung open. ‘Doctor says Mrs Fowler can leave any time now,’ the nurse said pleasantly. ‘He says if you need anything…’
Quinn smiled at Paige as he gathered her into his arms and rose to his feet. ‘Do we need anything, my love?’
Paige pressed her lips to his throat. ‘We need to go home,’ she whispered.
His arms tightened around her. ‘You are home,’ he said, and she knew he was right.
* * * * *
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A search for truth and the promise of passion!
