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‘God, Fraser,’ she said between kisses. ‘Of course I want you. You know I do.’
Another kiss and her hand was tangling in his hair. The other hand was exploring his shoulders. His back. Pulling at his shirt and diving for the skin beneath.
‘I don’t know how this is going to work...’ she said suddenly, feeling a shot of reality start a slow puncture in their bubble.
‘Stop thinking,’ Fraser demanded, angling his head to deepen their kiss.
The heat of his tongue in her mouth sent a shot of desire straight through her belly, and the feel of his hands exploring her waist, her breasts, her bottom, had her wishing she had somewhere to take him that didn’t share a flimsy plasterboard wall with her mother or her sister.
That thought acted like a pitcher of iced water to the back of the neck and she pushed Fraser away slightly, gasping for breath as she tried to collect her thoughts.
‘Rethinking the whole living together thing?’ Fraser asked with a wry smile, equally breathless, reading her thoughts faster than she could form them.
‘For tonight. Definitely. After that...’
‘After that we’ll figure it out. I can’t promise you easy answers, Elspet
h. But I promise you that I’ll be here. I promise you that we will do this together. We’ll find something that works for all of us.’
She rested her head against his chest and smiled as his hands came round to her belly, rubbing, encouraging, until he was rewarded with a kick.
Fraser cupped her chin, tipped her face up to his for a light kiss on the lips.
‘I love you,’ Fraser said, his gaze locked on hers. ‘And I want you every day. I don’t care that this is the scariest thing I’ve ever done—I’m not going to run from it. I believe we can do this. I believe you can do this. And any time you doubt that, doubt us, I’m going to be here to remind you that we love each other enough to make this work.’
She didn’t doubt him for a second—she couldn’t when the truth of his words was written in every smiling line around his eyes. She stood with that feeling for a moment—the knowledge that they were in this together, the warm satisfaction of knowing that someone loved her as passionately as she knew Fraser did. That everything they would face, they would face together. Her heart was now part of something bigger than her. Something bigger than either of them.
She let the words settle into the quiet of the kitchen.
‘I love you too,’ she said at last. ‘And I’m not just saying that because you did. I’m saying it because I can’t live without you, Fraser. I want you in my life for ever. I want us to belong to each other for ever.’
Fraser pressed his lips against hers again and the kiss was sweet this time, rather than holding the fire they had shared before. Sealing the promises they had just made to each other. When he pulled away he was smiling, but she sensed a nervous anticipation in him as he reached for where he had left his jacket on the counter and pulled out a small leather box.
‘Well, then, I’d better give you this,’ Fraser said, lifting the lid to reveal a delicate platinum band with a channel of diamonds set smoothly into the metal.
Elspeth took the box from him, her mouth open in surprise as she looked from the ring up to Fraser’s face.
‘I was going to break up with you,’ she said, a ghost of a smile on her lips.
‘I know. And if you’d told me that you didn’t love me and you didn’t want to be with me you’d have never known that this existed.’
‘But you thought you might be able to talk me round?’
‘I hoped,’ he said, pulling her tight against him. ‘I hoped like I swear I have never hoped before that I wouldn’t have to. That I was right to trust in what I feel. That I was right to think that you love me, and that what we share will be strong enough to survive this.’
‘You have a lot of faith in me. In us.’
He nodded. ‘I have faith in you. And I have faith that I know how to make you happy.’
‘You know that I come as a package deal? Do you really want to move in here?’
He shrugged. ‘I would do it in a heartbeat if you asked. Are you asking?’
‘Are you asking?’ Elspeth said, her face breaking out into a grin. ‘Diamond rings usually come with a question.’
He laughed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and taking the ring back from her.
‘You’re right. I’m doing this all wrong.’
