His sapphire eyes burned down to hers. And in them she could see, with glory in her heart, that same emotion she felt for him. Pouring from him.
‘Whatever name you call me by I am here for you. My own, my beloved, my most beautiful and exquisite Donna Francesca and my incandescent Doc Fran, who sets the heavens ablaze with her passion for them and sets me ablaze too.’
She caught his face with her hands, cupping his strong jaw, her thumbs on the mouth that could smile like a desert wolf but could also kiss with the velvet touch that had melted her from the first time he had ever taken her into his strong arms.
Her eyes poured into his. ‘I told you I didn’t like you, Nicolo Falcone, but that isn’t true. For you are still Nic, and you always will be. Nic Rossi—the man I fell for, the man I went Wow! over the first time he came across to chat me up. And if I admired and respected you then...’ there was a little choke in her voice ‘...knowing you’d made good out of the rubbish childhood you had—well, how much more do I admire and respect you for the dizzying heights you’ve climbed as Nicolo Falcone? You’ve fought such battles and won them all.’
An acerbic glint showed in his blue, blue eyes. ‘I lost my takeover of Viscari,’ he corrected her.
She waved it away with her hand. ‘And I’m glad you did. You don’t have to prove anything to him any more. Or to anyone. Let Vito have his hotels and you have yours.’
She paused for a moment, wanting to say what it was important for him to hear.
‘Nic, I know from my own field that all each of us needs is the zeal to excel. I don’t have to prove I’m better than any other researcher. I just have to find out that bit more about the universe than anyone knows at the time when I publish my latest paper. I don’t have to resent any other researcher for doing the same with their new bit of knowledge.’
Her voice changed.
‘You have nothing more to prove to Vito! Nothing more to resent in him. You’ve got your fabulous empire, made all by yourself, through your own efforts and talents—now just enjoy it.’ She smiled at him. A warm, true smile. ‘Let’s just enjoy it all, Nic—everything that life has blessed us with. I’ve won my own battles too. I’ve got my research career, and it’s all I ever wanted to achieve. But now—’
She broke off. Took his hand, placed it once more where their child was growing silently, invisibly.
‘Now I have even more. We have so much more! We have each other and we have our baby.’ She gave a little choke, realising another truth. ‘The baby brought us back together, Nic, and that is worth more than any number of research papers, any number of luxury hotels!’
His eyes held hers, so blue, so long-lashed, so absolutely precious to her.
‘My wise, wise beloved,’ he said.
His hand splayed across her slow-ripening body, splayed upwards to touch the soft swell of her breasts. She felt her heart begin to quicken as his expression changed, the glint in his eyes now blissfully familiar. As blissfully familiar as it was in her own.
He said her name—a low growl now—and she lifted her face to his, her heart full, lips parting in a sigh of expectation, of fulfilment to come.
His kiss was like slow velvet, playing on her lips, opening her mouth to him, soft and sweet and sensual. She felt her pulse quicken more, and warmth spread in her body as her hand slid under his jacket to feel the muscled strength of him, so blissful to remember, to have again for ever now.
She murmured his name, felt her eyelids fluttering helplessly. She wanted only him, wanted everything he wanted, for all time.
And suddenly he was sweeping her up, leaping to his feet, whirling her around as if she were a feather, then striding off with her.
Breathless, she cried out, ‘Nic! Where are you going?’
His eyes were alight with desire. With hunger for her. Urgent and possessing. ‘To book us in to the lodge—right now!’
She gave another cry, half-laughing, half-rueful. ‘Nic, it’s closed for winter. It’s day visitors only at this time of year.’
He lowered her abruptly, disbelievingly. She pressed herself against him, hugging him close. She was as light as the very air.
‘We’ll have to find somewhere outside the park,’ she told him.
She stepped away, fishing her car keys from her purse. ‘First person to reach a motel warms the bed!’ she cried, and raced for the car park and her car.
He caught her before she’d even opened the door, sweeping her back to him.
‘We’ll take mine,’ he said, brooking no argument. ‘I’ll send someone to collect yours. Because from now on...’ his blue, blue eyes poured into hers, and what she saw in them melted her all the way down to her fast-beating heart ‘...wherever we go, my adored Fran, we go together.’
He scooped her up, lowering her into his own hire car, then climbing in himself.
‘Ready to start our next road trip?’ he asked. His sapphire eyes were ablaze for her and her alone as he reached across to kiss her, to seal with her the union that they were making that would bind them one to each other, all their days. ‘The one that will last a lifetime and beyond,’ he said.
She gave a sigh of happiness and joy and a contentment that would never leave her. ‘Let’s go,’ she said, ‘wherever the road leads us.’