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What is he doing here?
“Shh.” He touches my arm. “Don’t speak. You’ve been through a lot. But you’re fine now. You’re in a hospital. I found you and brought you here in time. Well, Vivian told me where you were.”
Vivian?
“When she found out you had left on a horse, she had someone follow you to make sure you didn’t go the right way. She was just going to leave you to die and pretend she didn’t know anything about it. She’s good at pretending, you know. I bet she had you fooled that she didn’t send you that note or push Norman down the stairs.”
She pushed Norman down the stairs?
“Ah, but you already knew her real nature, didn’t you?” Rainier holds up my mother’s diary. “I found this in your coat and I started reading it. I know why you ran away. You found out about Alex, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I answer. “Vivi… Vivian killed him.”
“And you were running away from her,” Rainier says. “She thought you were running away for a different reason, but you were running away from her. You were scared of her, weren’t you?”
I nod.
“But hey, you don’t have to be afraid of her anymore. It’s all been taken care of. Vivian will never hurt you or come near you again.”
Really? I want to ask what Rainier means, but I decide to save that for later. Right now, there are more important things I’d like to say.
“Sorry,” I start. “For not…”
“Shh.” Rainier holds a finger to my lips. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. I’m the one who should apologize for leaving you even when I knew you were still in danger. I let my feelings cloud my judgment.”
Feelings?
“I promised myself I’d protect you, and I failed.”
I shake my head. “You didn’t.”
He strokes my hair. “At any rate, you’re fine now. You had hypothermia, but you’re fine now. And the baby’s fine, too.”
“Baby?” My heart skips a beat.
Rainier’s eyes narrow. “You… didn’t know?”
“I suspected it, but no.” I shake my head. “I didn’t know.”
Now, I do. And the knowledge fills me with so much joy I feel I might burst. It seems just a little while ago that I was on the verge of death. Now, I’m alive and I have life growing inside me.
I’m full of life and joy. And love.
“I love you.” The confession leaves my lips.
I think I’ve loved him from the start, from that very first dinner we had. I’ve just been trying to hold back, to fight my heart for one reason or another because I was afraid – afraid Rainier wouldn’t love me back, afraid I was making a mistake. Now, I’m no longer afraid. I’ve already seen fear and overcome it.
Rainier’s eyes grow wide.
Oops. I think I might have said a little too much for him.
“Rainier…”
“I love you,” he blurts out.
My eyebrows arch. What?
“I love you, Ellis,” Rainier tells me as he holds my hand. “I’ve loved you for quite a while now, I think.”
My heart leaps. Still, I can’t believe my ears.
“But I thought…”
He silences me with a kiss. Warmth flows through my entire body all the way to my toes.
Now, this is warmer than I’ve ever been. I don’t think there’s anything quite like it.
After the kiss breaks, Rainier touches my cheek. “I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby.”
I smile. “It’s the best Christmas present, isn’t it?”
Rainier grins. “Actually, I can think of something just as good.”
Chapter 28 ~ The Most Wonderful Night of the Year
Rainier
I carry Ellis in my arms over the threshold of my apartment. I bring her straight to the living room and put her down on the rug in front of the fire.
“You got a tree,” she observes out loud as she turns her head. “That wasn’t there last time.”
“Well, I got it for you,” I tell her as I toss off my coat. “For our first Christmas together.”
Ellis smiles. “So, is that my present?”
“No,” I tell her. “This is.”
I press my lips against hers as I place my hand on her cheek. She kisses me back fully, firmly. Ripples of heat go through me, straight to my cock, at her response.
She said she was done holding back, and I can tell she is.
I’d like to toss aside my self-control as well, but I told myself I’d be gentle with her this time, especially now that I know she’s pregnant with my child.
I’m going to take my time worshipping her body.
I pull Ellis’s eyeglasses off and plant kisses on each of her eyelids. I put the glasses aside where I’m sure we won’t roll over them, then I kiss her again. I undo the buttons of her coat as I let my tongue play with hers. I push the sleeves off her arms but leave the coat lying beneath her like a blanket. Next I pull her sweater up over her head. After our lips unlock, I move mine to her ear.
