He actually sounded sincere, Sally thought bitterly. Going by her own limited experience with Zac, he was a highly sexed, three or four times a night man. Zac celibate for over a year was a joke…Why was she wasting her time listening to him?
‘I found her black hairband, clips and perfume in the cabinet in your bathroom. So don’t bother to lie.’
For a moment he was silent, his brows drawn together in a frown. That had stopped his fairy tale of love and marriage, Sally thought cynically.
Then suddenly he threw his head back, a broad grin lighting his face. ‘So that is why the last night we were together you changed from my Salmacis, my dream lover, to a cold-eyed witch,’ he declared. Taking her cup from her hand, he placed it on the table, and with his other around her waist tugged her towards him.
‘What…?’ was as far as Sally got as he kissed her with a hungry, driven passion that knocked the breath from her body. The suddenness of his action gave her no time to build a defence, and she reacted with helpless hunger to the pressure of his mouth, welcomed the thrust of his tongue with her own.
Her instinctive response was all the encouragement he needed to continue, with a heady sensuality that drove her almost mindless. He groaned and lifted her bodily onto his lap, his arms like steel bands around her. The swiftness of his action, the tightness of his hold, the sudden awareness of his intensely aroused body, brought her back to her senses, and she flung back her head.
‘Stop it, Zac,’ she gasped, pushing at his chest. ‘Let go of me.’
‘Never,’ he said.
But surprisingly, he did slacken his hold on her, and jerkily Sally slid back onto the sofa. But one arm remained gently yet firmly around her waist, preventing her moving any further away.
Breathless, she brushed the hair out of her eyes and glared angrily at him. ‘What did you do that for?’
‘I had to.’ He grinned: a broad smile, revealing his perfect white teeth. ‘Because you gave me the first glimmer of hope I have had in months,’ he said, totally unrepentant.
‘Me?’ She was confused, and still shaken from the assault on her senses.
‘Yes. I realised you were crazy jealous because you thought I had made love to Margot.’
‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ she huffed, but without much force.
‘I wouldn’t dare with you,’ he said dryly. ‘You have the ability to chop me off at the knees with a glance. But I was telling you the truth before, Sally. And as for the stuff you found in the bathroom cabinet, Raffe and his very attractive black-haired wife were using the apartment while he worked on the transition at Westwold. After I arrived he went back to Italy on the Monday, and I moved in. It is a company apartment—not only for my use.’
‘Oh.’ Sally felt a fool. ‘I didn’t know Raffe Costa was married.’
‘He has been for five years, and they are desperate for a child.’ This time his smile was rueful. ‘I think he will be pleased for us, but hardly ecstatic given the circumstances.’
‘There is no us,’ she said automatically, but now she wasn’t quite so adamant. If she had known what she knew now that night in the apartment, would she have been so nasty to Zac?
‘Oh, yes, there is, Sally,’ Zac assured her in a husky tone. And, turning towards her, he ran his long fingers through the silken fall of her hair to cup the back of her head in his strong hand. ‘And you are going to marry me,’ Zac told her in a firm voice. ‘After we parted I spent the most miserable few months of my life, worrying about what you were doing and who you were with. I had the most dreadful nightmares. I’d wake up in the night sweating, imagining you with another man. Or I’d dream you were in my arms and wake up devastated to be without you…I am not going through that again, and I am not going anywhere until you promise to marry me.’
Sally looked at him uncertainly. Had he really suffered so much without her? She saw the strain in his face and lifted a finger to trace the deep groove from his nose to his mouth. She looked into his eyes and saw he was deadly serious.
‘You once told me you wanted three children while you were young enough to enjoy them. Think about it, Sally. Do you want this baby to be an only child, like you and I were, or to have a few siblings to play with?’
‘I did not mean that. I was only trying to put you off.’
‘You didn’t succeed.’ And, taking his arm from her waist, he tilted her head back against the soft cushion. He withdrew his hand and stood up. He stared down at her, as though searching for words, and then slipped his hand into his pants pocket.
‘I know you, Sally, and I’d bet my life it never occurred to you to get rid of this baby—though plenty of women would.’
‘You’d win that bet.’
‘I also know that with your father as an example marriage might scare you.’ To her utter amazement he dropped down on one knee and, taking her hand in his other hand, he produced a small square box. ‘Sally, my Salmacis, please, will you marry me? I love you, and I swear I will never betray you.’
He opened the box to reveal a brilliant sapphire and diamond ring.
‘I am not asking you to love me, but to let me love you, as your husband, and who knows…?’
Sally looked into his eyes and saw the glimmer of moisture that could not dim the blaze of love and sincerity in the dark depths. Suddenly the defences she had built around her heart for years cracked wide-open, a flood of emotion pouring out, and she said, ‘Yes.’
With an Italian sound of exultation, Zac grasped her hand and slipped the ring on her finger, then pulled her down beside him and kissed her with deep, profound tenderness and a love that touched her soul.