his to fit to himself and pleasure until she could not
endure that pleasure any more.
She felt the onset of her orgasm gripping her, so
much more intense than what she was already used
to, so very different, and it took her pleasure into a
different dimension that was filled with the feel of
him inside her. She cried out to him, and then cried
out again, as he filled her with his own release, clinging
to him as she murmured words of love and pleasure.
Lorenzo looked towards the bed where Jodie still lay
sleeping, and wondered despairingly how it was possible
for his whole life to have changed between one
heartbeat and the next.
He had looked at her in that English garden, seen
the pain and despair in her eyes, and known immediately
that his savage need to protect her was born
of love.
Love. Had it been there from their first meeting,
unrecognised by him because he had not wanted to
recognise it? Or had it grown as his knowledge of her
had grown? Did it even matter?
Jodie opened her eyes.
'Lorenzo.' She smiled, and then blushed a little.
'Are you okay? No regrets?'
Jodie shook her head. 'No regrets.'
'You Don’t wish that it had been John?' Lorenzo
questioned wryly.
'No. I wanted it to be you.'
'Mmm. Well, since it was me, I think we need to
talk about the future.' He took a deep breath and
looked away from her. 'How would you feel about
us making this marriage permanent?'
When she didn’t reply he turned round, frowning,
only to see the tears spilling from her eyes.
'I can’t say yes,' Jodie wept. 'I want to, but it
wouldn’t be fair to you. Not when…'
'Not when what?'
'Not when I know that I love you,' she admitted,
very softly.
Lorenzo went over to the bed and sat down on it
next to her.
'Would it make any difference if I admitted that
I’ve fallen in love with you?'
'Only if It’s true,' Jodie answered him gravely.
He had reached for her hand and twined his fingers
through her own, and now he was lifting their interlocked
hands to his lips so that he could kiss her palm.
Her heart was thudding heavily, slamming against her
chest wall. She wanted so much to believe him, but
she was afraid to do so.
'I didn’t use a condom,' he told her quietly.
Jodie swallowed. 'You mean you forgot?'
'No, I mean I chose not to. Because I wanted our
pleasure to be skin to skin, with no barriers between
us, and because I can’t think of anything more wonderful
than knowing we could have created our child.'
'You trust me enough for that?'
'Yes, and more than that. I trust you enough to
admit that I love you. I saw the way you looked at
me when Louise was insulting you. I saw that you
were asking not just for my help but for me.'
He leaned forward and kissed her softly, then drew
back from her. Jodie gave a small murmur of protest
and moved closer, pressing her lips to his.
'Tell me properly that you love me,' she whispered.
'Show me.'
EPILOGUE
'LOOK at their faces,' Jodie whispered to Lorenzo as
they stood side by side in the Castillo courtyard,
watching the expressions of the children who were
just being helped from the specially adapted bus that
had brought them from the airport. The first of the
young victims of war to come to the Castillo under
the scheme Lorenzo had initiated.
It was a year almost to the day since they had returned
from England, committed to one another and
their marriage, and to the accomplishment of
Lorenzo’s dream.
In the state apartments the restored paintings
glowed with the richness of their vibrant colours. In
the newly painted and furnished dormitories, beds
waited for the children and trained therapists waited
in the new extension housing the swimming pool,
treatment rooms and gym.
'This is such a wonderful thing you are doing,
Lorenzo,' Jodie told him emotionally. 'You are giving
so much to so many, bringing so much joy to their
lives.'
'No more than the joy you have brought to mine,'
he told her, bending his head to kiss her, and then
laughing as their three-month-old son, whom she was
holding in her arms, reached out to grip his finger.
***
