He nodded. ‘I’ll settle up.’
He came back to their table a few minutes later and held out his hand. ‘Let’s go to bed.’
Meg’s stomach had flipped. Just hearing him say the words drove away her fear, although she knew perfectly well he meant that they should retire for the night, nothing more. But the gathering heat, the effects of the wine and just being near him all day was making Meg long for more than a chaste night, in her white cotton nightie, between French linen sheets.
‘I think we’d better,’ she said. ‘We’ve had a long day and there’ll be another tomorrow.’
She didn’t add that they might be woken by a storm and she knew she would lie awake in terror, trying to pretend it was only the noise that disturbed her.
In spite of her best efforts to appear calm and practical about the sleeping arrangements, Meg’s nerves were at full stretch.
‘They don’t worry so much about bathrooms in France as we do in England, or at least at Nightingale Woods,’ she said cheerily when she came back to the room having visited it. ‘Lady Fussy-Knickers would have a fit if she had to manage with one several yards down the hall, and the loo several yards further.’
‘Will you manage?’ asked Justin.
‘Of course!’ Just for a moment Meg let herself imagine having to get up to go to the loo in the middle of a thunderstorm, having to walk down that long corridor with lightning threatening to strike her at every step. ‘It’s perfectly all right. Very clean. What are you worried about?’
‘Honestly? That we have to share a bed.’
‘I knew from the moment Madame said she only had one room that we’d have to share. But it’s quite a big bed, don’t you think? ‘She sounded really calm, she thought, pleased with herself.
‘So? Window open for coolness? Or shut against mosquitoes?’ he asked.
‘Let’s have the window open but close the shutters. That limits the way in for the mosquitoes.’ And it might keep out some of the lightning, she added silently.
‘Get in, then,’ said Justin.
She lay down, the sheet pulled up to her chin, knowing she would never sleep. Her eyes were tight shut against the lightning. She felt him get into bedbeside her. Part of her desperately wanted him to kiss her and part of her wanted to become unconscious so she could wake up in the morning, unaware of any storm that may have broken overnight.
‘Do you snore?’ she said, to break the tension.
He laughed gently. ‘You’ll find out!’
She laughed too, but she still felt like a corpse laid out on a mortuary slab, completely incapable of moving. She sensed the heat coming off his body but didn’t know if it was real or her imagination.
She tried to breathe deeply, telling herself that she was bound to fall asleep eventually. However tense she was, she wouldn’t stay awake all night.
She could hear Justin’s breathing and could tell he wasn’t asleep either, or even near it.
Eventually she did find herself getting drowsy and might have actually been asleep when there was a crack of thunder so loud it was deafening and a flash of lightning lit the entire room.
She screamed and sat bolt upright.
‘What’s the matter?’ Justin sat up too, obviously startled. ‘Are you all right?’
She gave a little sob. ‘I’m just so frightened of thunder!’
He had his arms around her before she’d stopped speaking.
The feel of his warm skin and being held was instantly comforting. His chest was bare and she laid her head on it, hearing his heart beat comfortingly slowly. Although it was so hot, she felt soothed by his warmth. She closed her eyes.
To begin with, he just held her and then he gently stroked her back. A little murmur escaped her and then his mouth was on hers, kissing her as if he would never stop. She didn’t want him to.
But he did stop. He was panting slightly. ‘Meg! Darling! We’ve got to think. Is this what you want? You have to be sure.’
‘Yes,’ said Meg, knowing she was sure, that she would face any repercussions. Just at this moment she was about to make love with the man who had filled her heart and mind for so long. It was the right thing to do.
There was no more thunder and lightning that night, only the storm of passion they made together.
