Much later, in a hotel room around the corner from Ben’s offices, Lia lay sated and blissfully drowsy after reuniting with Ben in a very comprehensive and convincing manner. She was tucked close in to his side, his arm around her. He was not letting her escape—not that she had any intention of doing that.
She trailed her finger up and down his chest, lazily, and after a while lifted her head to look at him. He looked back at her with slumberous blue eyes, a sexy smile making his mouth quirk.
‘You know how you said you’d never ask me to marry you...?’
Now he looked wary. ‘Yes...and I meant it. If that’s what it takes to prove to you that—’
Lia put a finger over his lips, stopping him. She felt suddenly unsure, but forged on. ‘The thing is... I appreciate that...but I’m just...that is, I’m just wondering...if you didn’t feel you had to do that would you want to marry me?’
A look that Lia couldn’t decipher came into Ben’s eyes and then he was putting his hands on her arms and pushing her away from him so he could slip out of the bed. Lia sat up, feeling cold, not liking the insecurity she felt. Maybe it was too soon...
Gloriously naked, Ben was rummaging around in his pockets for something, and then he came back to the bed. He knelt in front of her and she pulled the sheet up over her chest.
He held a black box in his hands. Velvet. She looked from it to him, her throat going dry.
He said carefully, ‘I didn’t show this to you because I didn’t want to push you.’
He opened the box then, and Lia looked down, eyes widening. Nestled against black silk was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen. A rectangular-shaped sapphire flanked by rows of diamonds.
‘The thing is,’ Ben said, sounding uncharacteristically nervous, ‘if you don’t like it we can change it. But I’d like to ask if you’d accept this ring and consent to be my fiancée—for as long as you like. And if you ever decide you’d like to get married, then I’ll be waiting.’
Lia felt emotion rise up to squeeze her throat. Happiness fizzed through her veins. And something else. A sense of freedom from the weight of the past.
She looked at Ben but he was blurry through her tears. She said, half-crying, half-laughing, ‘I love it—and, yes. I accept. Now. I’ll marry you, Ben Carter, if you’ll have me.’
He looked at her for a long moment, stunned, and then Lia threw her arms around him, tumbling their two naked bodies back onto the bed, limbs entwining.
She was soon sprawled over his chest and Ben took her left hand. He looked at her as he pushed the ring
down onto her finger, saying huskily, ‘I love you, Julianna Ford.’
The ring nestled on her finger, fitting like a glove, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, love cracking her wide open. ‘I love you too, Benjamin Carter...now, where were we?’
EPILOGUE
‘THE TEAM ARE on the ground in India now, Lia. We can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing. You and Ben. Your charity has been invaluable in restoring order to the chaos.’
Lia looked out of the window of her office. ‘I’m just sorry I can’t be with you all at the moment.’
The man on the other end of the phone huffed a chuckle. ‘Don’t worry—your expertise is invaluable even from there, and I don’t think that husband of yours will be letting you out of his sight any time soon.’
Lia’s hand automatically went to her distended belly, and she glanced through the glass wall separating her office from her husband’s in his London building, where they were now based.
Ben had agreed to relocate to the UK so that they could be near her father, who appeared to be undergoing a renaissance since Ben and he had merged companies, turning them into a formidable transatlantic company called CarterFord Construction. Her father had taken a long-overdue step back and was currently on a cruise with his new love—his long-serving secretary. For years Lia had suspected her of being in love with her father. They were very sweet together.
She frowned when she couldn’t see her husband in his office and sat up straight, saying distractedly, ‘Okay, Philip, please keep us updated on the development anyway.’
Lia put down the phone and stood up—and then smiled when she realised why she hadn’t been able to see her husband. She went out of her office and into his, leaning on the doorframe, her hand on her eight months pregnant belly.
Ben looked up at her from his vantage point sprawled on the floor, shirtsleeves rolled up and hair mussed. His eyes gleamed and he put a finger to his mouth.
Their three-year-old daughter, Lucy, hadn’t seen Lia yet, and she was saying in a very familiar authoritative voice, ‘No, Daddy—see? We have to build a room for the fire truck ’n all the animals.’
Fierce love and joy bloomed inside Lia—so much so it nearly took her breath away. She blinked away sudden tears, cursing her pregnancy hormones.
Ben sat up and reached a hand up to her, and then Lucy turned around and squealed excitedly, ‘Mummy! Come see what we’re making!’
Lia came in and knelt on the ground carefully, mindful of her extra cargo, and Ben pulled her into his embrace, his arms wrapping possessively around her belly.