AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘We were each other’s first,’ Jude murmured. ‘Even though we had no problems in that department, she was determined to try sex with someone else as a comparison.’
‘Oh…’ Tansy’s green eyes had rounded in surprise at that information.
‘So…’Jude purred, staring down at her with a new tenderness glowing in his beautiful eyes and a dazzling smile tilting his lips. ‘You will have to content yourself to never ever having a comparison.’
‘I’m very attached to what I got first time around,’ Tansy confided as she struggled to extract him from his T-shirt. ‘In fact, so keen am I that I just enjoy try, try, trying you again.’
Wicked amusement lit his amazing eyes. ‘I love you so much,’ he husked, claiming her parted lips again in a passionate kiss.
The robe fell open, exposing pale silky skin, and Jude took full advantage. Both salad and conversation were forgotten as the fever of desire took over and drew added fire from the depth of their new attachment. Passion and excitement combined until Tansy finally flopped back against the pillows and gazed at Jude with loving tenderness in her eyes.
‘Why on earth did you talk about renegotiating terms when you loved me?’ she demanded without comprehension.
‘When you told me you were pregnant I panicked because I assumed that you would also be thinking of that clause in our prenup and you had already mentioned the prospect of us getting a divorce,’ Jude reminded her. ‘I honestly believed that you might already be planning to walk out on our marriage.’
‘Idiot!’ Tansy scolded, running gentle fingers along his strong stubbled jawline. ‘You were the guy who warned me not to get too attached—’
‘When I was already insanely attached to you…only I hadn’t put a label on those feelings.’ Jude flung his head back with a sigh, skimming narrowed dark golden eyes to her. ‘It wasn’t until you said this morning that you were pregnant that I realised why I was so happy with you.’
‘And then you decided you needed to renegotiate.’ Tansy grimaced.
‘Not my most shining moment. But after getting to know Posy, I am incredibly excited about our baby,’ he confided, warming that cold spot that his silence had inflicted earlier that day. ‘I love her too…you know that, don’t you?’
‘There’s a lot of love in the air right now.’
‘But it was you who taught me to love again. Until I met you, I was so closed off from my emotions that I couldn’t even see Isidore’s affection for me,’ he confided guiltily. ‘I misinterpreted everything he did. I saw my mother’s pain and blamed Isidore for it, but it wasn’t his fault that my father was continually unfaithful to Clio, and I can understand that at the end of the day he chose to support his son, only he shouldn’t have been so cruel about it.’
‘She’s your mother and she did suffer at their hands. Your father treated her badly and her experiences with him are still influencing her now. There’s not much you can do about that.’ Tansy sighed. ‘But, thankfully, Isidore looks spry enough to be around for many years more and you still have the chance to show him that you care.’
‘He really likes you. When he hears about the baby, you’ll be the eighth wonder of the world!’ Jude teased.
‘I’m more worried about keeping Posy with us,’ she admitted anxiously.
Cradling her tenderly in his arms, Jude gazed down at her with an air of satisfaction. ‘I have good news on that front…although it’s not good for your stepfather. I received a call about him late last night and another confirming his situation only an hour ago.’
Tansy stared at him. ‘Calls from whom?’
‘His former employers, my UK legal team. Apparently, Hetherington was helping himself to money from clients’ accounts at the legal firm. That’s why they laid him off—they needed time to bring in a forensic accountant to investigate. They have concrete proof now and he’s been charged with theft. He’ll go to prison,’ he forecast grimly.
Shaken by those facts, Tansy swallowed hard. ‘Prison? My goodness, Calvin is not going to like that.’
‘He was in a position of trust. That kind of crime is severely punished.’
Tansy nodded, shaken to think of Calvin in a prison cell and so grateful that her little sister had been safely removed from the fallout of such a crisis.
‘If he agrees to surrender his parental rights to Posy, I will offer him the services of the best criminal defence lawyer in the UK,’ Jude told her. ‘I think he’ll go for it. After all, he’s not interested in his daughter and doesn’t want the responsibility for her. The lawyer won’t be able to get him off the charges, but he may well be able to win him a shorter sentence.’
‘Let’s hope he accepts your offer,’ Tansy murmured heavily. ‘You know I never liked him, but I’m shocked that he was actually stealing.’
‘I bet you made all sorts of allowances for him because your mother loved him. You have too much heart, but I’m not about to complain when you managed to fall in love with me even though I was behaving like a four-letter word of a guy.’
‘I want to record that admission and use it against you in the future,’ Tansy confided with eyes brimming with laughter as she laced her fingers in his ruffled black curls and drew him down to her again.
‘You do realise that I’m never ever letting you go?’
‘Cuts both ways,’ Tansy warned cheerfully.
‘How could I not love a woman who makes me this happy?’ Jude purred, stretching against her, lithe and lazy, and pulling her close. ‘You’re my personal gift of sunshine and I love you.’
The same happiness swelled inside Tansy, assuaging all fear and insecurity. He loved her. He loved Posy and hadn’t she seen that love in action? And he would love their baby as well. Contentment settled over her as she closed her arms round him, full of joy and love and possessiveness and no longer afraid of what tomorrow would bring.
