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‘Believe it,’ he growled, turning his face to kiss her fingers. ‘I always knew we’d be together in the end.’
‘I didn’t,’ she confessed, her cheeks heating slightly at the look in his eyes. Jed was an incredibly sexy man. ‘It was what I wanted, I knew that from the very first, but every time I managed to persuade myself that it might work, that you might really want me for myself, I remembered my father. I just couldn’t bring myself to trust you in case you hurt Toby. And me.’
‘Understand something, Brooke.’ His voice shook with sincerity. ‘I would never, ever do anything to hurt you or our child. Do you believe me? Do you?’
She gave a nod, her small hands tangling in the front of his shirt. ‘I do believe you. I should have trusted you all along, but I didn’t dare. I just kept remembering my father. And I was so stubborn—’
‘No!’ Jed’s eyes danced. ‘Were you? I hadn’t noticed.’
She smiled shyly. ‘I must have seemed so ungrateful—all those things you did for me and I kept accusing you of acting out of a sense of responsibility.’
‘You weren’t ungrateful,’ he said softly, ‘just very badly hurt in the past. But that’s where it stays, Brooke. In the past. I’m not your father and I’m nothing like him.’
Her eyes locked with his. ‘I know that, Jed.’
‘I love you, sweetheart.’ His voice was deep and very, very male. ‘Not because of Toby, but because of you. If Toby had never happened I would still love you.’
‘Oh, Jed.’ Her eyes filled and she stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. ‘I love you, too—so very much.’
His hands cupped her face. ‘So is that a yes? Will you marry me?’
Ecstatically happy, her eyes teased him. ‘I don’t remember you proposing.’
Jed glanced down at the muddy ground, a rueful expression on his handsome face. ‘You want me on one knee? It’s been raining all day—I’ll ruin my trousers.’
She giggled. ‘Wimp! Oh, well, I suppose I’ll have to make do.’
‘Make do?’ He swept her into his arms, his face only inches from hers, his blue eyes alight with laughter. ‘You’re a demanding woman, do you know that? Will you marry me, Brooke?’
‘Yes.’ Her voice was little more than a whisper. ‘Yes, yes yes.’
He lowered his head, his kiss a gentle demonstration of all the love that he felt, and she returned the kiss with everything that was in her heart.
‘Come on.’ He lifted his head, a triumphant smile playing around his firm mouth. ‘There’s champagne on offer inside. We deserve it.’
Lowering her to the ground, he slipped an arm round her shoulders as they walked back to the farmhouse. Jed opened the door, grinning broadly at his entire family as they watched him with a mixture of speculation and trepidation.
‘Mum, can you send Toby out here, please?’ Jed pulled Brooke into his arms and kissed her gently in front of his smiling family. ‘We’ve got something to tell him.’
