By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс

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СКАЧАТЬ Forde drily. ‘It should be too, considering the price. Remind me to come out of property developing and into cat food.’

      Melanie smiled. It was scarily good having him here. And not just because of Tabitha.

      They ate their own meal at the dining-room table. Melanie was glad she’d cleared it of paperwork a few days before and put a festive centrepiece of holly with bright red berries in pride of place. That, along with her small, fragrant Christmas tree decorated with baubles and tinsel in the sitting room and the cards dotted about, gave the impression she’d made some effort. In truth, she’d never felt less like celebrating Christmas. Or it had been that way until she had heard Forde’s voice.

      Melanie had insisted on having Tabitha’s basket where they could see her while they ate, and after they’d finished the meal she carried their decaf coffee and the chocolate cup cakes Forde had bought through to the sitting room, while Forde brought Tabitha. The little cat looked out serenely from the basket as Forde set it in front of the fire again, apparently quite happy with all the coming and going.

      The cup cakes were heavenly. Melanie ate three, one after another, and then looked at Forde aghast. ‘I’m going to be as big as a house before this baby’s born. Now the sickness has gone all I think about is food. I no sooner eat breakfast than I’m thinking about lunch and then dinner, and Christmas doesn’t help with all the extra temptations of cake and plum pudding and chocolate.’

      ‘Nell, you could never look anything but gorgeous to me.’ He lifted her small chin, licking a smear of chocolate icing from the corner of her mouth before kissing her as though no one else in the world existed. Her lips, as soft and warm as mulled wine, moved against his and she kissed him back, her hands sliding up to his shoulders and tangling in his hair.

      He caught the moan that fluttered in her throat with his breath, his kiss deepening still more and his tongue beginning an insistent probing that brought every nerve in her body to singing life. Before she knew what he was doing he had moved and lifted her so she was sitting on his lap. Now his mouth moved from her lips to trail a burning path to her throat and down into the V of her cleavage.

      Melanie gasped and he lifted her head to look into her flushed face. ‘I want you,’ he murmured softly, ‘all the time. At my desk when I’m working, in the car, at home when I’m eating a meal or taking a shower. There’s not a minute of a day when I’m not thinking about you. You’re in my blood, do you know that? For life. A sweet addiction that’s impossible to fight.’

      ‘Do you want to fight it?’ she asked faintly, his silvery eyes mesmerising.

      His mouth twisted in a bittersweet smile. ‘There have been times when I’ve thought the pain would be easier if I did, but, no, I don’t.’

      This time she kissed him and his body throbbed with the contact. His hands ran over her breasts, the soft wool beneath his fingers moulding to the rounded globes and her nipples hard and engorged. She didn’t object when he tugged her dress upwards, helping him by lifting her arms as he pulled it over her head. Her lacy bra showed her breasts were fuller and her cleavage deeper, the firm mound of her belly making his breath catch in his throat. Her body was changing, to accommodate his son or daughter. The surge of possessive love expanded his chest and made it difficult to breathe.

      ‘Forde?’

      ‘You’re so beautiful, Nell,’ he whispered, his eyes brilliant with unshed tears. ‘So beautiful.’

      They undressed each other slowly and completely, touching and tasting as they did so until they were both naked and trembling with desire. Then she climbed on top of him on the sofa where they were lying, sitting astride him as she lowered herself onto the proud rod of his erection.

      Her body was warm, unbelievably soft and welcoming as it accepted him, and as she began to move he struggled to keep control so she was fulfilled along with him. He could see the pleasure in her face and it was almost more erotic than he could bear, his body shaking as his muscles clenched against the release it was aching for.

      He felt her climax and went with her, their sanity shattering into pure sensation and then reforming in the aftermath of drugged passion. It was a few moments after she had snuggled against him before either of them could speak. ‘Wow,’ murmured Forde huskily. ‘Tell me this isn’t a dream and I’m going to wake up in a minute back at the house.’

      ‘It’s real.’ She shivered as she spoke and he reached for the throw hanging over the back of the sofa, wrapping it round them as she settled her head on his chest. Within moments she was fast asleep, just the odd spit and crackle from the fire disturbing the pine-scented stillness. He glanced at the basket. The cat was sleeping too amid the folds of the blanket, its small striped body barely moving with each breath.

       I owe you, Forde told it silently. And now you’ve got me this far I’m not leaving.

      The room was all dancing shadows, the flickering flames of the fire and the lights on Melanie’s Christmas tree creating a soothing, womblike feeling. Outside the wind continued to moan and howl, and now sleet was hurling itself against the windows with a ferocity that made the room even warmer and cosier in comparison to the storm outside.

      Holding Melanie close, he shut his eyes.

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

      A DISTANT vibration brought Melanie out of a satisfying dream. She opened sleepy eyes to find she was lying with her cheek on Forde’s hairy chest and with her body snuggled into his side like a little animal burying itself into the source of its comfort, his heartbeat still echoing in her head. She didn’t let herself think for a few moments, relishing the feel and smell of him and the fact that he was here, with her. The baby moved, the flutterings the strongest yet, as though it knew its father was close.

      And then she smiled to herself at such fanciful imaginings.

      She raised her head carefully to look at Tabitha, aware she and Forde must have slept for an hour or more, but the cat was still sound asleep. The vet had said the best medicine for her was food and rest; if only they could make sure she had a few days of both before she delivered her kittens they might all make it, along with their mother. Please, please, God, let this be a happy ending, she prayed silently. I want a happy ending for once. She’s only a little cat—don’t take her before her life has really begun. And the kittens, let them live to grow and play and feel the sun on their fur in the summer. Please.

      Forde had said Tabitha knew she could trust them to look after her, that she needed someone to love her unconditionally. She knew now why his words had struck such a chord in her. It was how Forde was with her; from the day they had met he had put her needs before his, in the bedroom and out of it, and his love had been unlimited and without reservation.

      She drew in a shuddering breath, her mind clearer than it had been for months.

      After Matthew had died her guilt and remorse had turned her mind and heart inwards. She’d been so wrapped up in her own culpability and self-condemnation, so convinced she was a jinx and that Forde would be better off without her, that she hadn’t considered she might be wrong. She’d been too self-centred. Wrapped up in her own grief, she hadn’t taken on board he was suffering too, not really, not as she should have. She had learnt a lot about herself over the last weeks with Miriam, and some of it had been hard to take.

      But Forde didn’t see her as she saw herself. He loved her. СКАЧАТЬ