Mistletoe Magic. Кэрол Мортимер

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СКАЧАТЬ bit her lip painfully to stop it trembling. ‘I was never in love with James, either,’ she told him huskily. ‘And I certainly didn’t have an affair with him,’ she added firmly.

      ‘I know that.’

      She nodded. ‘Crys will have told you—’

      ‘No,’ Gideon cut in determinedly. ‘Crys didn’t tell me anything.’

      Her eyes widened. ‘But—’

      ‘She didn’t have to,’ he continued evenly. ‘Molly, I know that I owe you an apology for—for the things I’ve said to you over the last few days.’ He gave a self-disgusted shake of his head, thrusting his hands into his pockets. ‘I saw you in James’s apartment that morning and I—’

      ‘Drew your own conclusions?’ she finished heavily.

      Gideon shook his head. ‘No, that isn’t what happened at all.’ He gave another strained smile. ‘I looked at you that morning, your hair all tousled, your face sleepy, your long legs bare beneath that ridiculous shirt, and I—’ He drew in a harsh breath. ‘You were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen!’ he told her gruffly.

      Molly’s eyes widened incredulously. ‘I looked awful! My hair was a mess, my face all puffy, and James’s shirt was the only thing I could find to pull on when I needed to go to the bathroom. You can’t possibly have… Did you really think me beautiful?’ She looked at him dazedly.

      ‘Really.’ Gideon nodded self-derisively. ‘But it appeared you belonged to my brother,’ he added hardly.

      ‘But I didn’t,’ Molly told him exasperatedly. ‘I never did. How many times do I have to tell you that?’

      ‘You don’t,’ he assured her heavily. ‘You see, it made no difference; I fell in love with you anyway that morning—’

      ‘You couldn’t have done!’ Molly gasped disbelievingly.

      ‘Oh, yes, I could.’ Gideon nodded. ‘And I spent the next few months telling myself what a fool I was—that just being attracted to you was dangerous, that falling in love with you was an act of madness, that it would be better for everyone if I just forgot I had ever seen you. I almost succeeded in believing that, too.’ His mouth twisted ruefully. ‘Until I saw you again the morning of the christening…’

      ‘You were so horrible to me,’ Molly reminded him breathlessly, that faint glow of hope she had known when talking to Crys now starting to explode inside her.

      Had Gideon really just told her that he had fallen in love with her more than three years ago?

      ‘I know,’ he accepted flatly. ‘Deliberately so. I simply couldn’t believe that I still felt the same way about you, that those years might just as well not have been. Your relationship with James, what the knowledge of it might do to Crys—’ He gave a self-disgusted shake of his head. ‘In spite of all that I was still in love with you.’

      Molly gave a pained frown. ‘But you said just now that you believed me when I said I didn’t have an affair with James…?’

      ‘No.’ He sighed. ‘What I actually said was that I know you didn’t have an affair with him. And I know that because over the last few days I’ve come to know you, Molly. You’re not only the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, you are also the kindest, most compassionate woman I’ve ever known. Your loyalty to Crys and Sam is unmistakable, your love for them, too. Your compassion for David is only to be admired. And as for your gentle caring for Peter… Molly, you would never have allowed yourself to have an affair with James even if you had been in love with him!’

      ‘No,’ she acknowledged. ‘But I wasn’t in love with him. I did think myself in love with someone else, though,’ she hurried on, as Gideon would have spoken. ‘A man separated from his wife. The night before you saw me at the apartment he had gone back to her,’ she confided evenly. ‘Not my finest hour.’ She grimaced.

      ‘But don’t you see, Molly? It doesn’t matter,’ Gideon said forcefully. ‘Unless you’re still in love with him, of course,’ he added uncertainly.

      Uncertain? Gideon? It certainly wasn’t a feeling that Molly would normally have equated with him!

      But hadn’t he just told her that he had fallen in love with her at first sight? That he’d only had to see her again over three years later to know that he still loved her?

      She moistened dry lips. ‘No, I’m not still in love with him, Gideon,’ she told him quietly. ‘How could I be when I’m in love with you?’ she added almost shyly.

      His eyed widened, emotion blazing in those dark blue depths. He took a step towards her, then stopped, hesitating.

      Molly was the one to take the two last steps that took her into his arms; in fact she almost threw herself into them, her arms about his waist as she held him tightly to her. ‘I love you, Gideon,’ she told him forcefully. ‘I love you so much.’

      His hands moved up to cup either side of her face. ‘Will you marry me?’ he asked emotionally. ‘Will you? I swear I’ll love you until the day I die!’ He looked down at her intently. ‘Molly, I only wanted to protect you by not telling you about Rachel Gibson. I’ve never thought of you as less than you are, and I never will,’ he promised. ‘I just want to protect and love you for the rest of our lives!’

      ‘Yes,’ Molly accepted chokingly, wanting to laugh and cry at the same time. ‘Oh, yes, Gideon, I’ll marry you!’

      As he moved to kiss her with infinite gentleness, with all of the love he felt for her in that loving caress, Molly knew that she had at last found the man she truly loved, and who truly loved her.

      ‘You look adorable,’ Gideon assured her lovingly. ‘Although I’m not sure it was a good idea for me to suggest you put on one of David’s shirts.’ He frowned darkly. ‘It just makes me want to throw you on the bed and make love to you!’

      Molly laughed huskily. ‘Not here, darling.’ She looked around pointedly at the crowded studio, at the director and technicians all on the Bailey set, and David already in the bed, waiting for her to supposedly appear out of an adjoining bathroom.

      ‘Later, then,’ he promised gruffly.

      ‘Later,’ Molly echoed throatily.

      The two of them had been married for three months now. Crys had got her wish to be chief bridesmaid, with Sam acting as Gideon’s best man.

      It had been three months of pure happiness as far as Molly and Gideon were concerned. The two of them were working together a lot of the time, too, as Gideon had turned out to be the new designer of all the sets for the Bailey series. Neatly answering Molly’s question of how an actor, David, and an interior designer, Gideon, could possibly have met before they had all spent Christmas together.

      But it was because of Gideon’s involvement with the new Bailey series that he had been able to have some input into the nude scene that had been mentioned over Christmas. Knowing of Molly’s aversion to it—and having certain objections of his own concerning his wife appearing nude on public television—he had come up with the suggestion of Molly undressing off-set and coming back wearing David’s shirt.

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