‘Completely and madly.’
He buried his face in her hair and muttered, ‘Thank God for that,’ and then he was kissing her like a man starved and she was clinging to him and kissing him back just as fiercely.
When they broke for breath she could feel his heart jackhammering against hers and she held him close. ‘God, I wish I could undo what I did,’ she said huskily.
‘I don’t,’ he said to her surprise. ‘What you did wasn’t any worse than what I did when I refused to let you go the night of your reunion. I made you face your demons, and you made me face mine. You’re a brave woman, Zoe Montgomery.’
‘You’re no coward yourself.’
‘I know.’ Dan shot her a quick grin. ‘I ripped up the confidentiality agreement, you’ll be pleased to hear. How brave is that?’
‘Are you sure?’
‘One hundred per cent. I’ve no doubt that we’ll both let each other down repeatedly in the future, and on occasion drive each other nuts, but isn’t that all part of a relationship? The highs and the lows? The good times and the bad? Wouldn’t it be rather dull to just trundle along without any of the soaring happiness and the deep despair along with all the other bits in between?’
Zoe compared the way her life had been before she’d met Dan, and the way it had been after and figured there was no contest. ‘I think it would.’
‘I’m glad you say that because I’ve been thinking that our relationship might have briefly started out as a charade, but the irony is that you are the east to my west and the north to my south.’
‘Weren’t you the east to my west and the north to my south?’
He thought about it for a second then grinned. ‘Does it matter which direction we’re going in as long as it’s the same one?’
‘Not really,’ she conceded and then took a deep breath. ‘Are we? Going in the same direction, I mean.’
‘I hope to God we are.’ He looked deep into her eyes. ‘Because I absolutely adore you.’
As he lowered his mouth to hers she slid her arms around his neck and kissed him with everything she felt. She was so deliriously happy, so caught up in the kiss, in him, so barely able to believe that things had turned out this way, that she didn’t hear the clock strike twelve. She didn’t hear the cheers and the clapping and she was hardly aware of the loud drunken rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ being sung around them.
It was only when she felt something flutter against her face that she opened her eyes and pulled away.
Looking up and around at the glitter that was floating down from the ceiling, Zoe laughed. ‘We’ve had the song and the grappa, and look, now we have the snow.’
‘So we do.’
She kissed him again and then murmured against his lips, ‘Happy New Year.’
‘I think it will be...’ He paused then took a deep breath. ‘Especially if you married me.’
Her heart skipped a beat and then began to race. ‘Is that a proposal?’
‘Yes.’
A surge of brilliant happiness burst through her and Zoe felt her mouth break into a wide delirious smile. ‘My second in three months. A record.’
He brushed a silver star off her nose and shivers ran through her as much at the look in his eye as at his touch. ‘Well, what would you say to trying it for real this time?’
‘I’d say your mother’s going to be thrilled.’
* * * * *