made her heart still within her breast. Her Luke… Please, still her Luke.
‘Was that a thank-you kiss?’ he asked in a voice that was none too steady. It was a husky whisper, and it was laced with pure desire.
‘No.’ She shook her head, her eyes devouring him with love. ‘It was an
Silence. He took it in-he took all of her in-and the silence went on and on.
And then…
‘I might well buy another sports car,’ he said, eyeing her speculatively as if the thought had just come to him out of left field.
She grinned at that. ‘Do you have any money left?’
‘Not a lot.’ He sighed. ‘I’ll just have to make more. I need a quiet room where I can concentrate though-a farm, maybe-and a nice, peaceful family environment…’
‘Family?’ She chuckled, a lovely, joyous sound that rang over the foreshore. ‘I think I can manage family. I have a baby at hand. Also a five-year-old, a half-grown basset pup, the odd hundred or so cows and, as of last week, twenty new point-of-lay hens.’ She chuckled and her eyes devoured him with all the love in the world. ‘How does that sound?’
‘I have another leather jacket in my baggage,’ he warned her. ‘All the way from Fifth Avenue.’
‘How very suitable,’ she said, and her loving gaze didn’t falter. ‘In case we get another crow for you to rescue.’
‘And if we don’t?’
‘You wear it and I’ll love you wearing it,’ she told him. Her smile faded. ‘Luke, I’ve been really, really stupid…’
He put a finger on her lips, but there were still tests for her to pass. He gazed around the parking lot at the shining cars lined up for sale. ‘There’s a beaut little red roadster over there,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘I think I fancy it- right now.’
‘I thought you said you were broke.’
‘Comparatively,’ he said, and took her into his arms and nestled his chin into her hair. ‘Compared to yesterday.’
‘So if you really wanted that little red roadster…’
‘I guess it wouldn’t break the bank.’ And then he put her away from him for a little and gazed at her. ‘How about you? How would you feel about me buying it?’
‘I love what you love,’ she said simply. ‘Now and for ever. You want a roadster, you buy a roadster. Luke, until that moment in the office when you just said calmly, “You can have the car, too,” I never believed…’
‘That I wasn’t like Adam?’
‘That you were nothing like Adam. That I could trust you always, with whatever I had.’
‘With you?’
The words were simply said, and they came from the heart. Around them, their audience was growing by every appreciative minute. Bay Beach was seeing a romance at its best here, and they were soaking up every minute of it.
There were those here who knew Wendy and who wished her joy, but there were those who were strangers and knew they didn’t have to wish for anything. Joy was plainly written on two wondering faces. Here was a happy ending-or a truly wonderful beginning.
‘I’ll trust you for ever,’ Wendy said, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. ‘Oh, Luke, how could I have been so blind?’
‘A minor error of judgement I’m prepared to overlook,’ he said expansively. ‘Did you sign your mothering agreement? Do you have legal rights to Gabbie?’
‘Yes.’
‘And I signed my car away. It’s a day for signing if ever I saw one.’
‘I guess…’
‘What’s the legal timeframe for getting married in this country?’ he demanded suddenly, and his eyes glinted with love and laughter.
‘A month is the minimum. If we sign our intentions now.’
‘Then, that’s what we’ll do,’ he said softly, and he took her hands in his and he kissed her again so deeply that all the world knew they were seeing a marriage-right at this very moment. From now on, these two were one. ‘Right now, while we’re in a signing mood, we’ll sign our intentions to stay together for ever. What do you say, my love?’
And there was nothing she could say-not for quite a while until that sealing kiss came to an end. When finally he released her-but not very far-she stood back and smiled and smiled and smiled.
‘Yes, love,’ she told him. ‘I’ll sign anything you want. And then?’
‘And then we concentrate on living happily ever after,’ he told her solemnly. ‘Just you and me and Gabbie and Grace and Bruce…and whoever else comes along.’
‘Whoever…?’
‘You’ve no objection to expanding our family just a little?’ he asked. ‘You can get some very big sports cars these days.’
‘Oh, yeah, with dinky baby seats and the works. I’ll bet.’ But she was laughing.
‘If you pay enough you can get them specially made.’ His eyes held hers in the sunlight and they didn’t leave her for a moment. ‘But a baby would be perfect, I think. We started this whole deal with a baby bargain, my love. What better way to seal it-but with a baby.’
‘Or six?’
‘Or whoever comes along,’ she said serenely. ‘Let’s just wait and see, my love. Let’s just see what love brings.’
Marion Lennox
