‘What about you?’ he murmured into the electric silence. ‘How areyouwith challenges?’
‘G-good, thanks,’ she stuttered.
‘Shall I get on with the lights? You’re distracting me.’
Ella blinked like an owl when he raised his hand and dangled the ball of Christmas lights in front of her, although his dark eyes never left her face for a second, not until they dipped to linger on her mouth.
The rest of the morning passed in a blur as they strung the lights and hung the decorations, and it was nearly one by the time her father decided to call it a day, because crops had no respect for Christmas traditions.
‘But stay for dinner, young man,’ he said over his shoulder before he left. ‘Always plenty in this house when it comes to food.’
‘I’ll have to ask your daughter for permission.’ Rocco turned to Ella.
‘So…’ he drawled, when her father had left. ‘Think the tree was the right choice?’
‘Amazing, and thanks for the lights.’
He moved to stand next to her so that they were both gazing at the tree, and again he felt that peculiar hollowness inside him.
‘The decorations…’ he murmured.
‘I know. Most of them are ancient, relics from childhood for me and Conor.’
He listened as she went through them, picking some of them out, smiling and reminiscing about times past and showing him a world he hadn’t known existed because it was one he’d never encountered. The decorations were spread wide, dating back to childish paintings on cardboard with makeshift holes for hanging.
‘So, do you sayyes, Ella?’
Rocco looked down at her upturned face.
They had somehow drifted over to the deep, comfortable sofa by the fireplace. From here, Rocco could see unbroken greynessthrough the window and the stubborn flurries of light snow slanting in the thin afternoon light.
Ella didn’t bother pretending to misunderstand his question.
‘Yes. I’ll marry you,’ she told him quietly. Free to get physically close, she rested the palm of her hand on his chest, as if trying to gauge his heartbeat. ‘I know…it comes with certain terms and conditions…’ She waited a heartbeat for an interruption which didn’t come. ‘No love or romance or any of that other stuff…but you were right. This isn’t just about the two of us now. This is bigger and it’s something that calls for some sacrifice. And besides…’
‘You’re not making a mistake.’
Wasn’t she?Ella couldn’t have said but what she did know was that between a rock and a hard place a choice had to be made, and with this choice came the opportunity for her love to infect him, because they would be around one another, filling the spaces between them with laughter and affection. Those things were only a heartbeat away from love. If she held his hand for long enough, she could surely lead him there?
‘I hope not.’
Rocco stayed the night.
He didn’t know how he managed to make it through the remainder of the evening. He knew that the meal her dad prepared for them had tasted great. He knew that the snow had gathered momentum. He appreciated the Christmas tree, ablaze with light and the dozens of decorations that sat by the window, advertising a spirit of celebration and love that his family’s grand tree never had. And, naturally, he knew that they had talked about marriage, and had been aware of her father’s quiet approval.
He had ached to get to that bedroom, and when they made it there, after what had felt like hours of talking and eating, and eating and talking, he took his time.
No hurried sex with clothes being ripped off and strewn on the floor because desire overwhelmed finesse. He’d undressed her very slowly, removing each layer of clothing with solicitous, painstaking care.
Her body was ripe with their child. Her nipples were bigger and darker, her belly just beginning to show the soft roundness of pregnancy. He had buried himself in the soft down between her thighs, had sucked on her breasts and had caressed every part of her until, when neither of them could take any more, he had come in her.
He hadn’t pushed back against her refusal to marry him. He’d waited. For a man who preferred the immediacy of action, the wait had proved fruitful.
Today, he thought much later, as he lay in bed with her head against his shoulder, had been a good one.
Chapter Eight
Ella would haveliked the honeymoon period to last for more than five and a half minutes but she had to admit to herself that that was never likely to happen.
