Unknown (21 page)

She was suddenly very tense, eyes enormous in the small face. 'You aren't?'

'Any more than you're going to marry McAllister,' he said firmly. 'Henry would never allow it.'

The black labrador, sitting quietly on a clump of rock and waiting patiently until his master should be ready to walk on, heard the mention of his name and uttered an affirmative bark.

Gillian smiled through sparkling tears of happiness. 'Does Henry have the last word on everything?' she demanded, her heart lifting at the promise in his eyes and voice, feeling herself surrounded by the warmth of his love. Her despair and heartache had been short-lived, after all. But it had taught her to value even more the precious gift of their mutual and lasting need.

'Absolutely. He runs my life for me. He doesn't like Louise but that's only one of the reasons why I didn't ask her to marry me as everyone expected. Including you, it seems,' he added, very light, giving her a little shake of tender reproach. 'You might have trusted me more!'

'You never said a word to me,' she reminded him, reproachful in her turn. 'How could I know what you meant to do?'

'I didn't think it was necessary. Louise didn't seem to have anything to do with you and me.' He stroked a strand of soft hair from her small face with a great deal of tenderness in his touch. 'You mean that I didn't say that I loved you,' he said quietly. His arms tightened about her and he pressed his lips to her hair. 'I'm saying it now, Gillian. I love you very much. I've waited a long time for you and I need you in my life.' He smiled down at her, suddenly warm. 'Come live with Henry and me and be our love ...' His voice was low, persuasive. His grey eyes were filled with the smile that had captured her heart long before she was ready to admit it.

He kissed her hair, her cheek. She turned her face to him and their lips met in a kiss that sealed the promise for the future and stirred them both to new heights of loving and wanting.

So much more than the bright and dangerous flame of sexual desire leaped between them as they kissed on that sun-soaked beach with the seagulls soaring and swooping overhead and the tide turning on the shore.

Out of that trio of doctors, Gillian had followed her destiny and chosen the one man who was capable of loving her with all the passion and the power and the glory of a deep and lasting emotion to match that in her own
heart ...