‘Is that right?’ he said dryly, flicking a glance her way.
At least they’d made contact, Savannah thought with relief. ‘I’m sure of it,’ she said fiercely.
‘So you’ve found a way out of the darkness?’
The glint was back in Ethan’s eyes—and that was more than a relief, it was a reminder of their first night together at the palazzo. He had come back to her. Seizing his hands, she brought them to her lips. ‘We’ll get through this,’ she promised him.
‘I already have.’
‘Then you have no excuse.’
‘Not to shine a light?’ As Savannah smiled, he wondered how he could ever have been foolish enough to imagine life without her.
‘I need you, Ethan,’ she told him passionately. ‘We all need you.’
‘Well, I don’t know about everyone,’ he admitted gruffly. ‘But you’ve got me, Ms Ross—and for keeps.’
‘What are you saying, Ethan?’
‘I’m saying that I love you, and that I want to be with you always.’
Savannah swallowed deep as Ethan looked at her. ‘I take it you’ll be staying on, then?’
‘Even a rugby match couldn’t keep me away from you,’ Ethan assured her. ‘Unless England was playing, of course…’
EPILOGUE
THE SUN blazed down from a clear, blue Tuscan sky, and there were no shadows on the day that Savannah married Ethan. The world’s press had gathered in the exquisite ancient city of Florence for what everyone was calling the celebrity marriage of the year.
For the farm girl, and the tycoon better known to the world as the Bear, this was quite an occasion, Savannah thought. As the bells rang out and the crowd cheered, it was a struggle to wrap her mind around the fact that she really was married to the man she adored. Standing on time worn steps next to Ethan outside the Basilica de Santa Maria di Fiore, a cathedral church only exceeded in size by St Peter’s in Rome, she only had to see the guard of honour formed by the youngsters Ethan now made time to coach on a regular basis to know that miracles did happen—and that, yes, dreams did come true.
‘All right?’ Ethan murmured, squeezing her arm.
Better than all right. She adored him. He was without question the most wonderful man in the world. And apart from making her so happy he had extended the reach of the training scheme—which had meant leasing more space from her parents in order to house the office of the newly expanded training business, saving the farm, as well as giving them the little luxuries they’d lived so long without.
And her recording career? Well, she’d just signed a contract to complete a new album, and after that studio work and the occasional personal appearance at the world-famous opera house Glynebourne in Lewes, Sussex, just down the road from Ethan’s new home that adjoined her parents’ farm. He’d told Savannah she was to have her cake and—for the sake of the large family they planned to have—to eat it as well. Their mission, the newly married couple had decided, was to fill all of Ethan’s homes with love, laughter and lots of light—and if possible with a rugby team of their own.
‘You look so beautiful,’ Ethan said, standing a little behind Savannah so the crowd had a good view of her.
‘And you are the most beautiful man on earth.’ To her he was and always would be. Now Ethan’s inners scars were healed, he had no blemishes. ‘And I love you,’ she said.
‘More than life itself,’ Ethan agreed, smiling into Savannah’s eyes. ‘Now, let them have a good look at your dress.’
Oh, yes, her dress…Her very special dress in ivory silk, lavishly embroidered with seed pearls and thousands of twinkles that sparkled in the sun. It had been lovingly made for Savannah by her regular team of seamstresses in the far north of England, who knew a thing or two about showing off the fuller figure to best advantage. Who else would she have chosen to make her wedding gown, to ensure there wasn’t the slightest chance she would suffer a wardrobe malfunction similar to the one that had brought the crowd at the Stadio Flaminio to its feet in Rome? In this dress her assets were displayed to full advantage, a fact that had not gone overlooked by her adoring Bear.
‘Cover yourself, woman,’ Ethan growled as Savannah’s silk-chiffon veil billowed back and away from her naked shoulders.
‘If I don’t, will you carry me off and keep me safe as you did on the day we first met?’ Savannah asked him.
She managed a solemn face for as long as it took her to ask Ethan that question, and as his mouth tugged at one corner he allowed, ‘With one small change.’
‘Which is?’
‘I wouldn’t waste so much time before taking you to bed.’
‘Is that a promise, husband?’
‘You can count on it, wife,’ he murmured as they posed for pictures.