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His mouth found hers and they kissed urgently and passionately, holding on to one another as if their lives depended on it.
‘I’ve never felt anything like this before...’ The feel of her against him was like a minor miracle. He wanted just to keep holding her for ever. ‘And I didn’t have the vocabulary to tell you how I felt. The only thing I could do was hope that my actions spoke on my behalf and, when they didn’t, when I thought that I was going to lose everything...’
‘You came out there...’ She reached up and sighed with pleasure as their mouths met yet again, this time with lingering tenderness. She smoothed her fingers over his face and then through his hair, enjoying the familiarity of the sensation.
‘So...’ he said gravely. Even though he was ninety-nine per cent certain of the answer she would give him, he still feared that one per cent response he might hear. This, he thought, was what love felt like. It made you open and vulnerable to another person. It turned wanting into needing and self-control into a roller-coaster ride. He could think of nowhere he would rather have been.
‘Yes. Yes, yes, yes! I’ll marry you.’
‘When?’ Leo demanded and Brianna laughed with pleasure.
‘When do you think? A girl needs time to plan these things, you know...’
‘Would two weeks be time enough?’
She laughed again and looked at him tenderly. ‘More than enough time!’
* * *
But in the end, it was six long weeks before they tied the knot in the little local church not a million miles away from her pub. The entire community turned out for the bash and, with typical Irish exuberance, the extremely happily wedded couple were not allowed to leave until for their honeymoon until the following morning.
They left a very proud Bridget behind to oversee the running of the pub because Ireland was her home in the end and she had been reluctant to leave it behind for good.
‘But expect a very frequent visitor,’ she had said to Brianna.
Brianna didn’t doubt it. The older woman had rediscovered a joy for living ever since Leo had appeared on the scene, ever since she had rediscovered the baby, now a man, whom she had been compelled to give away at such a young age. She had spent her life existing under a dark cloud from which there had been no escape, she had confided to Brianna,. The cloud had now gone. Being asked to do the job of overseeing the pub, which had been signed over to her, was the icing on the cake.
Now, nearly two days after their wedding, Brianna sat on the veranda of their exquisite beach villa, a glass of orange juice in her hand and her baby bump a little bigger than when she had first headed down to London with a madly beating heart to break the news of her pregnancy to the man who she could hear padding out to join her.
The past few weeks had been the happiest of her life. By the time they returned to England, the house which she had loved on sight would be theirs and what lay ahead glittered like a pathway paved in precious jewels: a life with the man she adored; a man who never tired of telling her how much he loved her; a baby which would be the perfect celebration of their love. And not forgetting Bridget, a true member of their family.
‘What are you thinking?’
Brianna smiled and looked up at him. The sun had already set and the sea was a dark, still mass lapping against the sand. It was warm and the sound of myriad insects was harmonious background music: the Caribbean at its most perfect.
‘I’m thinking that this must be what paradise is like.’
‘Sun, sand and sea but without the alcoholic cocktails?’ Leo teased, swinging round so that he could sit next to her and place his hand on her swollen stomach. He marvelled that he never seemed to tire of feeling the baby move. He was awestruck that he was so besotted with her, that he hated her being out of sight, that work, which had hitherto been his driving force, had taken a back seat.
‘That’s exactly right.’ Brianna laughed and then her eyes flared as he slipped his hand under the loose cotton dress so that now it rested directly on her stomach, dipping below the swell to cup her between her legs.
‘Have I told you how sexy I find your pregnant body?’ he murmured into her ear.
‘You may have once or twice, or more!’ She lay back, as languorous as a cat, and smiled when he gave a low grunt of pleasure.
‘And now...’ he kissed the lobe of her ear and felt her smile broaden ‘...I think there are more pressing things for us to do than watch the sea, don’t you?’
He could have added that he too now knew what paradise felt like.
