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And did he have the guts now to lay his feelings bare, knowing they might not be returned?
‘You love me?’ Juno quashed the desperate surge of hope, of love. Was it true, or was this just another role he was playing? For the baby’s sake? ‘Since when do you love me?’
‘Since …’ He paused, raked a hand through his hair. ‘Since for ever, I guess. It’s always been there, I was just too stupid to see it.’
Well, that wasn’t exactly convincing.
‘But it’s been over a month and you never contacted me.’ A miserable thought struck her and she felt as if her heart might be breaking all over again. ‘How did you know about the baby? Was it Connor? That’s why you came, wasn’t it? Because Connor told you I was pregnant.’
She saw the guilty knowledge in his eyes and wanted to scream. If only it could have been true. If only he could have loved her. But she wasn’t going to live a lie. Not ever again.
And next time she saw Connor, he was a dead man.
‘This never meant more than great sex to you,’ she said, when he didn’t respond. ‘I heard what you said to Gina. I know you don’t believe in love.’
His eyes narrowed and instead of the shame she’d expected to see, she saw annoyance. ‘So that’s what the silent treatment was about that last night?’ He didn’t sound too pleased about the discovery. ‘I never said that to you, I said it to Gina. And if you hadn’t been sneaking around and listening to what wasn’t meant for you to hear you wouldn’t have known of it.’
He wasn’t putting this on her. ‘That’s not the point.’
‘Grand! Well, how about this for a point?’ He stepped forward, forcing her back into the dress rack. ‘What I said to Gina’s no bearing on anything. I would have told her I was gay if it meant she’d stop pestering me.’ His eyes swooped down her frame. ‘And while I’ll admit that the sex has certainly been great between the two of us, and I plan to have a lot more of it …’
She felt the liquid heat pool between her thighs at the husky promise.
‘It’s only a small piece of what I feel for you. And another thing. I’d decided to come before Connor rang me.’
‘But it still took you a whole month to do it!’ she said, aghast at his gall. How naïve did he think she was? She straightened her spine. Faced him down. ‘Don’t patronise me. I’m not some sad, pitiful little creature you have to pretend you’re in love with, Mac.’
His jaw dropped; he didn’t look annoyed any more. He looked astonished. ‘Er, hello? Since when have you ever been sad or pitiful? You’re the strongest, smartest, most resilient woman I know. And every damn time I tried to patronise you, you wouldn’t let me get away with it. So you’re not holding that against me now.’
Good grief. Her heart stuttered and stumbled.
Was it possible he really did love her?
Delivered in that curt, irritated voice with not one ounce of his usual charm and eloquence, the surly compliment had to be the most convincing she’d ever heard. And the most wonderful. But even better than that was the feeling of power, of entitlement that gripped her. He never had patronised her. It was the truth. Because she’d never let him.
He was the most charismatic, the most gorgeous, the most overpowering man she’d ever met and yet they’d always dealt with each other as equals. He’d challenged and provoked her and driven her completely nuts—while liberating her body, and setting her spirit free.
‘You really do love me?’ She still couldn’t quite believe it. Did she really get to have her dreams come true?
He swore viciously, not exactly the epitome of anyone’s dream man. ‘Haven’t I just got through telling you as much? Now stop mucking me about and tell me whether you love me back.’
She saw the vulnerability in his eyes, heard the exasperation and uncertainty in his tone, and all the love and longing and joy she’d tried so hard to hold back cascaded through her like a river in full flood.
Thanks to all the tragedies and traumas they’d had to face in their lives, all the insecurities they’d carried around with them, they’d put each other through hell.
But now, at long last, they’d found their way to heaven.
She flung her arms around his neck. Clung on. ‘Oh, Mac, I do
n’t just love you, I adore you.’
His rigid shoulders relaxed as he wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet. He buried his face against her neck, blew out a staggered breath. ‘Thank you, God.’
He sounded so relieved, she laughed.
He lifted his head and pinned her with a dark look. ‘It’s not one bit funny. You just took ten years off my life.’
‘Sorry,’ she said, not feeling remotely apologetic. ‘Will I ever be able to make it up to you?’
