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There was a long silence and she stared at him, her heart pounding away in her chest. ‘That night we—’ She broke off, blushing slightly. ‘You didn’t really want to—I mean, you hesitated.’
‘Because I wasn’t sure how you really felt about me,’ he confessed softly. ‘You turned to me for comfort and that’s what I should have given you, but we got carried away. I was so upset about what happened to you—about what you’d been through. I tried to be just a friend to you that night but I wanted you so much, and suddenly you seemed to want me.’
‘So if you wanted to...make love—’ she stumbled over the words ‘Why were you so cross afterwards?’
‘Several reasons.’ His eyes held hers. ‘I was angry with myself for not having more control. I was angry with you for not collapsing in my arms and declaring undying love. I was hurt that you still wanted to be friends when I wanted s
o much more than that. And I was angry because you described it as sex. As if what had happened between us could have happened between anyone. It wasn’t just sex Holly,’ he said softly. ‘Not for me. That night I made love for the first time in my life.’
‘Oh, Mark!’ Her eyes filled and she shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing.
‘And to make matters worse, you made it clear that you wished it had never happened.’ Mark brushed away a stray tear from her cheek with a gentle finger.
‘I was trying to make things easier for you,’ she whispered. ‘I thought that you were regretting it.’
‘The only thing I regretted was making love to you when you were emotionally vulnerable,’ he murmured, his mouth tilting into a wry smile. ‘I took advantage and I felt hideously guilty afterwards.’
Suddenly Holly felt an incredible lightness in her chest. ‘So the woman that you told me you were in love with...’ She gazed at him steadily. ‘You’re saying it’s me?’
‘Haven’t I made myself clear? I’d better spell it out.’ His strong fingers bit into her shoulders. ‘Holly Foster, I love you. I love you with all my heart. Not as a friend loves a friend, but as a man loves a woman. I know that isn’t what you want, but that’s the way it is.’
‘It is what I want,’ she said softly, reaching up and touching his face with shaking fingers. ‘I want you to love me the way that a man loves a woman.’
He went completely still and his eyes blazed into hers. ‘But you wanted our friendship to stay the same. You were adamant about that.’
‘Because that’s what I thought you wanted,’ she confessed. ‘You hate it when women drool over you. I thought if you knew how I felt then our friendship would have been over.’
‘And how do you feel?’ His voice was hoarse and his fingers tightened. ‘You still haven’t told me.’
Her smile was soft and womanly. ‘Mark, it was the same for me. The moment you kissed me that night in the cave, I knew I loved you. The truth is I’ve probably loved you for ever.’ Her fingers slid over his broad shoulders and curled into the front of his shirt. ‘You were the reason I never had a proper boyfriend. Until that night with you, I’d never felt comfortable enough with a man to—to...’
‘Don’t! I don’t even want to think about you with another man,’ he groaned, sinking his hands into her hair and tilting her face to his. ‘That night was amazing. You were amazing—’
‘So were you.’ She melted against him as his mouth came down on hers and he kissed her thoroughly.
‘And I can’t wait to do it again.’ He lifted his head and gave her a wicked smile. ‘I love you.’
‘And I love you, too,’ she whispered. ‘I thought you’d guessed how I felt about you.’
‘I wondered occasionally,’ he admitted, touching her cheek with his fingers, ‘but I was so desperate for you to fall in love with me that I decided it was just wishful thinking. That and the fact that you’d never really had a sexual relationship with a man before.’
Holly coloured. ‘I couldn’t believe the way you made me feel.’
‘I know.’ He gave her a slow wink that made her heart tumble in her chest. ‘It was scary, and I was afraid that what you were feeling was just physical.’
‘It wasn’t.’ Her eyes held his. ‘I was desperate for you to make love to me—but that was because I was totally and utterly in love with you.’
He bent his head and kissed her gently. ‘I must be the luckiest man on earth because I’m marrying a woman I’ve already been in love with for twenty-four years.’
Her heart stopped and she gave a little gasp. ‘You’re asking me to marry you?’
‘No.’ He grinned at her, totally relaxed now, all the tension gone from his powerful frame. Suddenly he seemed boyish and like the old Mark. ‘Not until we’re standing on a sandy beach. That was your fantasy, remember?’
Holly could barely contain the happiness that bubbled inside her. ‘I’m hardly likely to forget. Mark...’ She swallowed hard. ‘Do really want to marry me? You were always so wary of marriage.’
‘Because I was saving myself for the right person,’ he said softly, ‘and that person is you. So what do you say, Holly? Will you love me, comfort me, honour me and keep me, in sickness and in health until death us do part?’
She stood on tiptoe and kissed him gently, her eyes filled with love. ‘Always and for ever, Mark. Always and for ever.’
