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‘I wanted to talk to her first. About you. About us. I didn’t want there to be any confusion. Or any secrets.’ He hesitated. ‘And then I spoke to Alistair.’
A great tangle of emotion was swirling inside her. ‘You went to see him at the hospital?’
He nodded slowly. ‘I needed to talk to him about the acquisitions. Actually, one of them is more of a merger.’
She felt his hands slide down to her hips, holding her gently but firmly.
‘A very specific merger,’ he said softly. ‘The only merger that matters to me.’
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small square box, his eyes blazing not with anger but with something that burned inside her too.
‘Marry me, Dove. You have my heart. You are my life. Let me love you and care for you.’
Tears sliding down her cheeks, she nodded, and he slid the ring onto her finger and they kissed again. Some time later they broke apart, but they stayed close, their hands moving over one another in relief and wonder, as if neither of them could quite believe that they were there, together.
‘You said there was an acquisition too.’ Dove frowned. ‘What is it?’
She watched his face change, tense a little.
‘Cavendish and Cox.’
For a moment she didn’t react, and Gabriel waited, his heart accelerating a little.
‘And Alistair knows about this?’
He nodded, curving his hands round her body, anchoring her against him.
‘Your mother told me what Oscar did.’ He hesitated. ‘And I know the sepsis could have happened to anybody, but Alistair’s been pushing himself for years. This way he can slow down a little. Enjoy life with his new family.’
He felt her arms slide up around his neck. ‘I said you were a good person.’
He smiled then, and she felt her whole body open up to him like a flower to the sun.
‘Well, to be absolutely truthful, I have been looking into acquiring a law firm for a couple of years now, and it just so happens my fiancée works for one.’
Gabriel felt a jolt of astonishment and elation as he used the word, and the rightness of everything blossomed inside him.
‘So you’re going to buy us out?’
He shook his head. ‘I’d invest in the business. But I would be more of a sleeping partner.’
She leaned into him, her heart somersaulting. ‘I’m not sure that would work. I don’t remember you doing much sleeping.’
His blue eyes were steady on her face, and there was a softness in them that she couldn’t turn away from. With joy, she realised that she didn’t have to, not now—or ever.
‘That reminds me—didn’t you say something about starting in the bedroom?’ he said softly.
And then he laughed, and she laughed too, and then they were kissing as if the world was ending...but for them it was only just beginning.
