Sea Fever (31 page)

come for her when she was hurt and bleeding, held her when she

desperately needed his embrace.

Now she could give him something in return. Something he wanted.

Needed.

His freedom.

“That’s not necessary,” she said gently.

His shoulders stiffened. He turned around, his eyes black. “What are

you talking about?”

She raised her chin. “I don’t want you to feel you have to stay with

me because I might be pregnant. That pill I took two days ago can take

several weeks to work. For you to hang around waiting . . . It’s not fair to

you. Or . . . or to me, either.”

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His gaze narrowed. “I’m not staying because you’re pregnant.”

Her heart thudded. But she knew him. She knew herself. She knew,

at last, what she wanted and what she was worth. “Dylan, I love you, but

I don’t need you to do me any favors. I don’t want you be with me out of

obligation or guilt or—”

“Responsibility?”

She hurried on as if he hadn’t spoken, afraid if she stopped she’d

lose her courage. “It’s not going to be with us like it was with your

parents, me trying to keep you here against your will and you resenting

me.”

“I don’t resent you.” He stepped away from the window, took her

hands. “I couldn’t resent you. Regina, I love you.”

“Oh.” Tears stung the back of her eyes, burned the back of her

throat. The temptation to take him at his word, to take advantage of his

love, was an arrow in her heart. She swallowed. “I love you, too. I love

you for who and what you are. I don’t want you to be anything different. I

don’t want you to be anything less.”

He shook his head impatiently. “You don’t get it. I didn’t understand

it myself until tonight. With you I can be more. If I leave you, I leave the

best part of myself.” He kissed her fingers, held between his hands. He

pressed his lips to her hair and made her tremble. “Every bit of courage

and commitment, everything I know of love or loving, my heart, my life,

my soul, I owe to you.”

He kissed her forehead, her eyebrow, her cheek. “Don’t make me

leave you,” he murmured. “Don’t make me leave. You’ll rip my heart

out.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, bowing her head over their joined

hands. Heard his heart beat, wild and strong.

And let herself believe.

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THE NIGHT OF FRANK IVEY’S SIXTY-FIFTH birthday party,

Regina accepted a bottle of sparkling cider from a grateful Jane Ivey and

poured herself a glass.

Champagne would have been even better, but she was nine weeks

pregnant and she wasn’t drinking anything that wasn’t good for the baby.

The cider bubbled up and over her fingers. Laughing, she snatched

back her hand.

“Careful,” warned a deep masculine voice behind her.

Her heart beat faster. She turned, her lips already curving in a smile.

Dylan, tall, dark, and hot, lounged in the shadows of the picnic

shelter, an answering smile in his eyes. “Let me.” He caught her wrist and

kissed her wet fingers, making her shiver with desire.

She chuckled and leaned against him. “What are you doing here?”

“You need help loading the van.”

“I have help. Your sister’s here.”

At the other end of the shelter, Lucy scooped chocolate ice cream for

the youngest Ivey grandchild. Competent and unobtrusive, she had

everything under control.

Regina surveyed the kids and grandkids running around the blue-checkered tablecloths, the pitchers jammed with daisies, the laughing,

relaxed adults, and sighed with satisfaction. “Nice party.”

“Beautiful,” Dylan agreed.

She glanced over her shoulder. He wasn’t looking at the picnic. Her

heart soared and sailed into the sky like an escaping birthday balloon.

He held out his hand. “Walk with me.”

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“Where?”

“The beach.”

Her toes curled inside her practical flat shoes. She knew what he was

offering. They hadn’t had a lot of time alone these past few weeks. But

tonight her work was done and Nick was settled safely at her mother’s.

Regina had a clean bill of health from the new clinic doctor, and Dylan

was looking at her as if she were the sun and the moon and his entire

world wrapped up in one.

She slipped her hand into his. “Isn’t it a little cold out for a . . .

walk?”

Dylan lifted an eyebrow. “I’ll see what I can do to keep you warm.”

Hands linked, they wandered down the grassy slope and over the

shale. The sound of the children’s shouts and laughter blended with the

surf. The land shimmered and shifted like the sea, glowing red and gold,

as if a giant box of watercolors had spilled over the sky and dripped over

the landscape. The kind of golden evening when the promise of fall

charged the air and even a cynic could believe in happy endings.

A burst of foam ran up and faded at their feet.

“You know I love you,” Dylan said abruptly.

She did know. But hearing it still had the power to make her heart

dance. “Yes.”

He stopped and cupped her face in his hands. His eyes were dark and

direct. “It’s not enough.”

She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“You told me once that you had a life before I came, and you’d have

one when I’d gone. A life that includes Nick and your mother and the

restaurant. You don’t need me, Regina.”

The blood rushed in her ears, louder than the surf. “Now, wait a

minute . . .”

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“You don’t need me,” he repeated, a glint in his eyes. “But I need

you. You, Nick, all of it. I need you now.”

He kissed her. Almost dizzy with love and lust and relief, she kissed

him back, her hands flexing on his arms.

“Um . . .” Oh, God, that felt good. “Here?”

His gaze, hot and intent, narrowed on her face. “Yes. This will do.”

He dropped to his knees.

Regina caught her breath, reminded of their first meeting on the

beach. She stared down at his dark head. Before she could point out to

him that they were practically within sight of Frank and Jane Ivey— and

their daughters and all the little Iveys— Dylan reached into his pocket.

Something gleamed in the golden light of the sinking sun. A coin.

No, not a coin, a . . .

Regina trembled. A ring.

“This ring was lost at sea, and now it’s found. The way I was lost,

without ever knowing it, for years.” Dylan took a deep breath. “But now

I’ve found the life I want. The love I need. With you. Because of you.”

His dark eyes shone. “Marry me, Regina.”

Joy sluiced through her. She tugged him to his feet and threw her

arms around his neck. “Yes! Oh, yes.”

He caught her close, sliding one strong hand beneath her hair.

And there at the water’s edge, he kissed her.

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