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‘Why don’t you take the rest of the evening off? I’ve got it from here,’ Xanthe added. ‘That pie smells delicious, by the way.’
‘Then I’ll get going—if you’re sure?’ Ella beamed as Xanthe nodded. ‘I made a spare pie for you and Dane, if you want it tonight. If not just shove it in the freezer.’
‘Wonderful, Ella. And thanks again,’ she said.
The housekeeper gave Rosie a quick cuddle and then bade them both goodbye before heading to the house she and her husband shared in the grounds.
As Xanthe settled her daughter in the highchair she watched the July sunlight glitter off the infinity pool and heard wild whooping from upstairs. Apparently Dane and their son were flooding the children’s bathroom again during their boat race.
The sunlight beamed through the house’s floor-to-ceiling windows, making Rosie’s blonde hair into a halo around her head. Xanthe’s heart expanded a little more as she fed her daughter. To think she’d once believed that her life was just the way she wanted it to be. She’d had her work, her company, and she’d persu
aded herself that love didn’t matter. That it was too dangerous to risk her heart a second time.
Her life was a lot more chaotic now, and not nearly as settled thanks to her many and varied commitments. They had a house on the river in London, and Dane’s penthouse in New York, as well as this estate in the Vineyard, but as both she and Dane had demanding jobs and enjoyed travel they rarely spent more than six months a year in any of them.
As a result, their children had already climbed the Sugarloaf Mountain, been on a yacht trip to the Seychelles and slept through the New Year’s Eve fireworks over Sydney Harbour Bridge. Eventually she and Dane would have to pick one base and stick to it, which was exactly why Dane was restructuring his business and why she’d appointed an acting CEO at Carmichael’s in London, giving herself more flexibility while overseeing the business as a whole.
But with Dane’s nomadic spirit, her own wanderlust, and their children still young enough to thrive on the adventure, they’d found a way to make their jet-set lifestyle work for now.
By risking her heart a second time she had created a home and a family and a life she adored, and discovered in the process that love was the only thing that really mattered.
Rosie spat out a mouthful of food, looking mutinous as she stuffed her thumb into her mouth.
Xanthe grinned. ‘Right, madam, time to hand you over to your daddy.’ She hauled her daughter out of the highchair and perched her on her hip. ‘He can read you a bedtime story while I feed your brother, and then rescue the bathroom.’
And once all that was done, when both her babies were in bed, she had other plans for her husband for later in the evening.
She smiled. Love mattered, and family mattered, but sometimes lust was pretty important, too.
* * *
‘How do you feel about taking the munchkins to Montserrat next month?’
‘Hmm...?’ Xanthe eased back against her husband’s chest as his words whispered into her hair and his hands settled on her belly.
The sun had started to drift towards the horizon, sending shards of light shimmering across the ocean and giving the surface of the pool a ruddy glow. She felt gloriously languid, standing on the deck. The children were finally out for the count, and Ella’s second chicken pot pie had been devoured and savoured over a quiet glass of chardonnay.
The adult promise of the evening beckoned as warm calloused fingertips edged beneath the waistband of her shorts.
‘Montserrat? Next month?’ he murmured, nipping at her earlobe. ‘I’ve got to test a new design. Figured we could rent a house...bring Ella and John along to help out with the kids while we’re working. We might even get some solo sailing time.’
She shifted and turned in his arms, until her hands were resting on his shoulders and she could see the dusk reflected in his crystal blue eyes.
‘Sounds good to me,’ she said. ‘As long as we have a decent internet connection I can handle what I need to on the Shanghai development.’
She pressed her palms to the rough stubble on his cheeks and sent him a sultry grin which made his expression darken with hunger.
‘But right now all I want to handle is you.’
His lips quirked, his challenging smile both promise and provocation. ‘You think you can handle me, huh?’
Large hands sank beneath her shorts to cup her bare bottom and drag her against the solid ridge forming in his chinos.
Arousal shot to her core, staggering and instantaneous. ‘Absolutely,’ she dared.
‘We’ll just see about that,’ he dared back, as he boosted her into his arms.
She laughed as he carried her into the house, then took the steps two at a time to get to their bedroom suite. But after he’d laid her on the bed, stripped off her clothes and his, his gaze locked on hers and her heart jolted—she could see all the love she felt for him reflected in his eyes.
