A Man To Tame - Rachel Lindsay (Roberta Leigh) (23 page)

Kate no longer had any doubt that
she was delirious and she went on staring at him. 'I was hoping you would be
willing to end my contract with you and let me, return to London.'

‘I’ll take you to London when
you're better,' he said promptly. ‘You can shop for your trousseau there or you
might prefer to do it in New York. I have to go to the States and I thought
we'd combine it with our honeymoon.'

'If this is your idea of a joke…'
She choked on the words and in two strides he was beside
her, bending low to catch what she was saying,

'I was never more serious in my
life. I love you, Kate Gibson. I think I must have loved you the moment I saw
you standing in front of me like an angry butterfly.'

'I was just about as effective,'
she sniffed.

‘You would be surprised at how
effective you were. Those delicate wings of yours gripped me like steel and from
then on I was powerless.’

She tried not to be swayed by what
he was saying, but his words made her tremble and she longed to feel his arms
around her. Yet still the memory of Felicity persisted and it gave her the
strength to stop the hands that reached out to touch her. 'Is it because of the
fire?' she asked. 'Because you're grateful for what I did?
Is that why I'm going to be the wife instead of Felicity?'

‘Felicity was never going to be my
wife,’ he said clearly.

‘Never.’

Kate's eyes grew even bigger and
Joshua lowered Ms huge frame gently on to the side of the bed.

‘I feel so big in this room,’ he
said fretfully.

‘You
are
big,’ she
whispered, and was overwhelmed with tenderness for him.

Sensing the change in her voice he
caught hold of her forearm, careful not to touch the bandages. His hand was
gentle and the fingers surprisingly soft on her skin. 'I have never asked
Felicity to marry me, nor have I given her the impression that I would. In fact
I made it clear at the start that we could only…’ He put her arm gently back
on the coverlet and though he did not stand up from the bed he gave the
impression of withdrawing, as if what he had to say was embarrassing to him and
he needed to be isolated before he could do so. When I met Felicity again—after
all the years she had been away—I was bowled over by her likeness to Janine. I
suppose for ; that reason alone I started an affair
with her.'

‘You loved your wife very much?'
Kate could not help asking.

'I loved her as a young man loves
the innocent young girl with whom he grew up. It was a summer love, Kate, and I
doubt if it would have filled the autumn or winter of my days. I was beginning
to suspect it when she was killed. That's why I felt so guilty at her death,’

'But it wasn't your fault. It was a
riding accident,’

'It was my horse she was riding at
the time. I had made her promise not to do so, but she was headstrong
that——-'

‘Like me,’ Kate murmured.

‘Not a bit like you. Janine was
headstrong because she was foolish, whereas you know exactly what you are doing
and are determined to do it. You are also obstinate, self-willed and—where I'm
concerned—incredibly blind!' His hand came out to catch her arm again. ‘You are
the only woman with whom I want to share my life and when you turned me down, I
couldn't believe it I was so sure you loved me and I couldn't make any sense
out of your behaviour. If I'd been unemotional and had used my mind instead of
my feelings, I'd have known straight away that something had happened to make
you misunderstand me. It wasn't until I spoke to Dermot that I found out what
it was. That's why I came in search of you.'

'And then the laboratory exploded,’
He gave a rueful shake of his head. 'I guess my fury must have sparked it off!'

Kate lowered her eyes and stared at
his hand resting on her arm. Everything seemed to fall logically into place yet
she was still afraid to believe him, not sure if his proposal was prompted by
relief that she had not been injured and gratitude for what she had done. ‘What
exactly did Dermot tell you?' she asked. That you didn't love
him. That made me wonder why you wanted me to think you did. If you had
been an . ordinary woman I'd
have said it was from pride, but you were too intelligent for that, and the
only logical assumption was that you did it to hide your real feelings. It
wasn't until I spoke to Janey last night—trying to reassure her you weren't
going to die—that she burst into ears and begged me not to marry Felicity. That’s
when I realised Felicity must have made mischief between us,’ His voice was
grim and Kate glanced at him and then looked away. 'It seems Felicity told Janey
she was going to marry me and that was why I was sending her to Switzerland. So
then I thought that if Felicity could say this to a child, she could as easily
have said it to you and once I started to think along those lines then
everything else fell into place.' His fingers caressed her skin. 'You see how
simple everything is if you think things out?'

Her eyes dropped lower still. 'I
loved you too much to be able to think at all,’ she whispered. 'Felicity was so
plausible that I never doubted her.'

‘So she did talk to you the way she
did to Janey ?' ‘Very much so.
She said you were going to marry her this summer. She said——-'

'I don't want to hear any more.
She's made us waste enough time. We won't talk about her again. You are my only
concern, Kate; you and Janey.'

Carefully he drew her into the
circle of his arms. She felt their tremble and knew how strong was his urge to hold her tightly. She buried her face
against the warm column of his Heck.

'Our marriage won't be easy,
Joshua. A wedding ring won't make either of us change.'

'I should hope not. There'll be
times when I'll resent your work and there will be times when you will resent
my bossiness! But we'll have a marriage that is alive. Alive and growing better
all the time.'

She gave a little murmur and his
hands moved away from her shoulders and down her back. She was aware of the
flimsiness of her nightdress and knew from the sharp intake of his breath that
so was he. But he still kept his control, though the rigidity of his muscles
told her the effort it was costing him. Gently she drew back from him, though
their eyes remained interlocked.

'I won't go on working at the
factory,' she said softly, ‘but I would like to keep the rest of my practice
going.'

'I wouldn't have it otherwise,' he
replied. ‘You are a doctor and a woman and I love both aspects of you.' He bent
forward and rested his mouth on hers, his lips moving backwards and forwards in
a tender motion. It’s agony for me to be so close to you and not make love to
you. How soon will you be well enough for us to
get
married?'

'A couple of weeks,' she hazarded.

He groaned. 'Fourteen days of
torture!'

‘I’ll prescribe something for you,'
she teased. 'An antidote to love.'

He shook his head. There is no
antidote for my love for you, darling Kate. I'm afraid my illness is
incurable.'

'So is mine for you,’ she said
huskily, and raised her mouth. ‘Kiss me, Joshua. It won't cure the ache but it
will help to make it bearable.'

With a soft chuckle he obeyed.