Authors: Isobelle Cate

Be Mine (22 page)

BOOK: Be Mine

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He saw Theresa's face change. "Because you love my daughter, and I want her to be happy."

"I know that, but there's something else," he pressed.

She sighed, her eyes glazed at a memory. "I was married to someone who didn't love me. During my marriage, I met someone who did, who begged me to leave my marriage. I didn't. It was what society dictated I do even when my heart said I didn't have to. When I finally had the guts to call it quits, the man I loved became the victim of a hit and run. He had been on his way to meet me. I had the chance to leave a loveless marriage and didn't do so until it was too late. "

Luke went to Theresa to embrace her.

"Oh, dear boy." She hugged him back before she pulled back. Her eyes held a wealth of understanding, sadness, and joy. "It's time Gracie finds happiness. She needs you. Go to her. I'll be fine."

Luke nodded. "Goodnight, Theresa. Thank you."

Theresa chuckled, not bothering to look back at him as she slowly walked towards the guest room.

"No, Luke. It's good nearly-morning and thank you."

Chapter Thirty-One

T
he room was dark except for the soft glow coming from the uplighter across the room. Gracie was dead tired from the emotional wringer of almost losing Flynn, but she couldn't sleep. She couldn't think either. Her mind was a jumbled mess, trying to sort itself out. Her heart nearly burst when she saw an unconscious Flynn lying on Oliver's arms and she sprinted to them believing the worst. But he had only been sleeping. She gathered her son into her arms, relief running down her cheeks in torrents. An ambulance had arrived and had to check on Flynn, but she didn't want to let go until she was told that Flynn might not be feeling well. Just like that, Gracie walked with the paramedic to the back of the ambulance. Just like that. It was as though words had to be simplified for her to understand, as though her brain had ceased to function properly. She knew that Luke was worried, could sense it in the thick silence inside the car. But she couldn't say anything, couldn't find the words to say,
I'll be fine. I just need time.
Couldn't open the door in her personal space to let him in and hold her once again.

Gracie never wanted to go through that again.

She felt the bed dip and soon Luke's arms ensconced her in his embrace. For a while she thought he wouldn't want to be with her because by her body language she had turned him away. Yet he was here, behind her, the heat of his naked body seeping through her cold one. With a sigh, she turned to him and held him tight. She lifted her face to his and took his mouth in a kiss so desperate that he answered with the sweep of his tongue inside to calm her, nestling his body between hers to reassure her. When the kiss ended, Luke laid his head on her chest, and Gracie soon felt the stress of the events disappear. She ran her fingers through his hair, just needing the contact with his skin next to hers.

"How's Flynn?" Luke whispered. "Is he okay?"

She continued to caress his hair absently. "Hmm...he's still sleeping, but I was able to wake him to brush his teeth." Gracie felt his smile against her breast. "What? I just wanted to make sure that he was okay."

He chuckled, lifting his head up. "So you woke him." At her crestfallen face, he became dismayed. "Shit, I'm sorry, baby." He lay on the bed and curled her to his side. "I'm so sorry, Gracie," he whispered as he kissed her hair. He encircled her waist, flushing her closer against him. "Forgive me."

"Oh, Luke, I'm sorry too." She pressed herself closer to him. If she could stay inside his skin she would. "I'm sorry for pushing you away when all I needed was you. The thought of losing my son was—"

"Shhh...it's okay." He continued stroking her back and shoulder. "It would have broken me too if anything happened to Flynn. I love you both to distraction." He tightened his hold on her. "Theresa told me what happened to you and Jonathan."

Gracie stiffened.

"Don't be angry at her."

"I'm not."

Luke raised her chin so that she could look at him. "Don't be angry at me for wanting to know."

Gracie searched his face, melting at the tenderness of his gaze. She took his hand in hers, kissing the centre of his palm and shook her head. "I'm not angry at you either. I know I owe you that but what happened in the past is something I'd like forgotten."

"Consider it done." He leaned in to claim her mouth and for some time only their sighs and the rustle of the duvet were heard.

"You are my heart, Gracie," Luke murmured against her mouth, their breaths mingling. "I love you."

That admission permeated her mind over and over again, painstakingly erasing the doubts that clung to the edges of her mind. As it did, every cell in her body rejoiced, absorbing his words like a balm that healed even the scars left behind. Her entire being felt like a beacon. Gracie felt like flying and telling everyone that there was a man who loved her. At that very moment, she realized that everything was really going to be all right, but when Luke didn't come up right away, she thought he might have left. It was only when she had left the room to go to the bathroom to clean up that the voices of Luke and her mother filter through the hallway. Relieved that he hadn't gone, she had waited for him, unable to sleep.

"I'm sorry."

"Shhhh...it's all right, Luke," she said softly. "There's nothing to forgive."

"I never realized Cilla and my father...I didn't know she would—"

"Stop it, Luke." She looked into his eyes, a soft smile playing on her lips. "She's gone now. And for whatever hurt she caused us, in a way I'm thankful she stayed with Flynn, protected him even though she wanted to leave. I am grateful for her altruism at a time when Flynn had no one to protect him. It makes me believe that there is good in Cilla and I hope that happiness finds her."

Luke lay on his back and sighed. Gracie leaned up on her elbow. She could see the tiredness etched on his face. She placed her fingers under his chin, making him turn to look at her. Inching her way up, she bent down and planted a soft kiss on his mouth before slowly covering his face with kisses to straighten the tired lines. With a groan, Luke pushed her back on the bed and covered her mouth with his. Gracie's palms moved eagerly across every hard dip and plane of his body, sighing at the pleasure of the tactile sensation.

"I thought I lost you," he said against her mouth. "I thought I would have to drag you out of your cave again."

"That cave is gone," she said, trailing her finger down his nose to his jaw. She grinned when he captured her finger and sucked on it, his tongue against her finger, strumming the direct line to her clit. "Not even Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves can open it."

Luke's chest rumbled. Gracie could see the stress and strain of the past few hours begin to roll away from him. He drew her to his side, his arm a steel band around her waist as though he'd never let her go. That thought brought warmth to Gracie's cheeks. For the moment, she was content to just hold him.

Luke turned to look down at her. "It is true, Gracie. I have loved you for a long while. I think from the moment you left me standing in the street after I helped you with those folders. And I will love you even while we sleep and love you when we wake." He looked up at the ceiling once more. "I'm a bastard, Gracie, in every sense of the word. I've screwed women left, right, and centre, leaving them at the wayside and it nearly cost Flynn's life and your heart. I didn't love anyone until you. Bloody hell, I didn't believe in it until one woman bumped into me to scatter files on the pavement and to allow me to see through her eyes how beautiful she was for me. You righted my topsy turvy world and gave me a place to land my roving heart. I have no intention of taking off and flying to a place where I will never find peace. Will you have me, Gracie? Will you accept this hardened heart of mine and make it yours?"

Gracie's eyes gleamed with happiness and her heart swelled at Luke's admission.

"Luke, do you think I'd let you into my life if I didn't love you too?" she asked softly.

Gracie squealed when Luke covered her body with his. She grinned, and then shivered at the sensual heat that entered his eyes.

"Say it again, babe." His deep voice sent shivers over her chest and stomach. "Please."

"I love you, Luke Bryce. I love you with all of what is left in my heart. So keep it safe and make it whole, and once it's whole, I'll have more love to give you."

Luke claimed her lips with a fiery kiss that took her breath away, before blazing a trail down the column of her throat to the racing pulse on her neck. The burning fires in the pit of her womb flared to life as Luke worshiped her body, running his hands over her breasts, her waist, and her hips before caressing her thigh, his fingers dipping in and out of her core. The need to have Luke, body and soul, claimed her, and she opened up for him. Luke removed his fingers and positioned himself against her opening. With one thrust, Luke entered her, seating himself to the hilt even as he swallowed her cry with a searing kiss.

"Be mine, Gracie," Luke whispered.

She smiled against his mouth.

"I already am."

The End

About the author

Isobelle Cate is a woman who wears different masks. Mother-writer, wife-professional, scholar-novelist. Currently living in Manchester, she has been drawn to the little known, the secret stories, about the people and the nations: the English, the Irish, the Scots, the Welsh, and those who are now part of these nations whatever their origins. Her vision and passion are fuelled by her interest and background in history and paradoxically, shaped by growing up in a clan steeped in lore, loyalty, and legend. Isobelle is intrigued by forces that simmer beneath the surface of these cultures, the hidden passions, unsaid desires, and yearnings unfulfilled.

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