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‘Are you out of your mind?’ He gaped at her. ‘Lizzie, I’ve loved you all my life. I was in love with you when you were too young to understand what love was all about.’ He caught her face in his hands. ‘I still love you. I will always love you.’
‘Then what’s the problem?’
‘I can’t do another fling,’ he admitted brokenly. ‘I love you so damn much, more than you’ll ever know, but I’m sorry, I can’t go there again. The last one nearly killed me.’ Gently he smoothed at a stray lock of her hair, wondering how he could sit here and turn her down. But she’d made him greedy. Made him want more. ‘I want forever, Lizzie, not just a few stolen weeks between your modelling commitments.’
Her eyes cleared and she beamed back at him. ‘Blimey, is that all? Why on earth do you think I’m here? That’s what I want, too. I’m not going back to LA. I’m moving back to England. I was rather hoping it was going to be with you.’
His hands were trembling so much he had to clasp them together. She’d finally said what he wanted to hear, but after all this time, he had trouble believing it. ‘Lizzie, oh God.’ He shook his head, hoping it would help him to think clearly. ‘You know how I feel about you, but you need to think very hard about this. Your life is over there. I don’t want you giving it up just to be with me.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because modelling has always been your dream. You love the drama, the excitement, the razzmatazz. If you gave all that up, in time you’d resent it. You’d resent me.’
‘I’ve lived the dream, Nick. And, yes, for a while it was fun and I had a ball. But that part of my life is over now. I don’t enjoy it any more. I haven’t for quite a while now.’
He looked at her in surprise. ‘Then why have you carried on?’
‘Because it’s all I knew. Robert’s care was expensive and I couldn’t see a way of me earning enough money from anything else. I don’t have any qualifications. All I have is a photographic face.’
Gently he cradled her face in his hands. ‘I’ve told you before, there’s a damn sight more to you than just a face.’
Her eyes softened. ‘You always did have faith in me.’
‘Because I see you, Lizzie Donavue.’ He fixed her with his gaze, hoping she could see his sincerity, his utter belief in her. ‘Not just your beauty, but you.’
She gave him a tremulous smile, her hands reaching up to grip his. ‘You know I told you about the acting lessons? Well, I’ve been given a role in a film being shot this summer. In England.’
His heart jumped. ‘Seriously?’
‘I’ve been lucky,’ she added hastily. ‘Catherine recommended me. She’s starring in the film. I’m going to play her wayward daughter.’
‘But that’s fantastic.’ He hoped she could hear the pride in his voice.
She must have done, because she beamed back at him. ‘I’m yours forever, Nick, if you want me.’
He rained kisses down her nose, across her cheeks. ‘You need to be sure, Lizzie. I’ve let you disappear out of my life too many times already. Once I’ve got you, I’ll never let you go.’
‘I’m banking on it.’
‘And what about the fact that I’m not your type? That I’m, what did you say back in LA, too nice?’ And why the hell wasn’t he just taking her at her word and grabbing her with open arms? Why was he giving her this chance to doubt herself?
She snuggled closer onto his lap and squeezed him tight. ‘You’ve always been my type. You say you’ve loved me all your life, but I’ve loved you all my life, too.’ When he was about to interrupt, she placed a finger on his lips, stopping him. ‘I have. Why do you think I wanted you to be my first lover?’
‘But, I thought—’
‘I know. You were wrong. It wasn’t just something I wanted to cross off my to-do list. I didn’t just want any man. I wanted you. I may have been too young to really understand the concept, but I loved you, Nick.’
He cursed, loudly, at the wasted years, but Lizzie simply smiled. ‘Perhaps I needed those years to experiment, to grow and work out what I really wanted in life. And now I know. I want a man who’ll give, and not just take. Who’ll be there for me, no matter what mess I might get myself into, and I get into quite a lot, as you’ve seen. One who’ll tell me when I’m being stupid, who’ll be calm when I’m being irrational. A strong, solid man who can see through the image of Elizabeth Donavue, right down to the real me. And who loves me anyway.’
She didn’t let him speak, which was just as well. He was far too choked to say anything. Instead, still sitting astride his lap, she lowered her mouth to his. His mind was now so full, his head was in danger of exploding. Barely half an hour ago he’d been a broken man, wondering how he was going to pick up the pieces of his life without her. Now, here she was. Not just his friend, but his passionate, wonderful lover. One who wanted to spend the rest of her life here, with him.
He groaned as she rubbed her body against him.
‘Can we do this now?’ she whispered huskily in his ear.
‘Hell, yes.’ He would have loved to have lifted her gently into his arms and carried her manfully upstairs to his bed, but that wasn’t going to happen. ‘I’m afraid,’ he muttered thickly as he struggled to undo her trousers, ‘this is going to be over far too quickly.’
Making quick work of undoing his zipper, she laughed softly against his neck. ‘That’s okay. You have a lifetime to make it up to me.’
