„The bastard,‟ Dominic growled, wondering how any sane man could have an affair when he was blessed with the fabulous woman stretched out in front of him. Then he issued a silent prayer to his rival that he hadn‟t felt that way about her after all.

Now he did sit on the bed. „And did you mind?‟

„Mind? That he‟d been playing around behind my back? I wish he‟d had the courage to tell me at the time, but no, I didn‟t mind. I was glad that he‟d found someone, actually. Glad that he wasn‟t going to look at our relationship in retrospect through rose-tinted spectacles, because I know I don‟t.‟

„Don‟t you?‟ He hesitated and then said, the words dragged out of him, „Are you sure?‟

Mattie propped herself up against the pillows, crossed her legs and looked at him with a slow smile.

She was tired of playing games. She might scare him but she would show her cards because she knew now that what he felt wasn‟t just lust. He really liked her. He would never have admitted to his jealousy if he hadn‟t. And from liking could easily grow love. Couldn‟t it?

„There‟s something I want to say to you.‟ Her voice shook slightly and she found that she just couldn‟t bear the way he was staring at her so intently. His body had stilled.

„What?‟ Dominic heard himself whisper.

„When we first met…well, when you first approached me…no…I‟m not saying this the way I want to…‟

„You don‟t have to say anything,‟ Dominic said roughly, scared that what she was going to say he would not want to hear. „Just…just marry me. We can talk after.‟ Begging at this point.

What kind of a man was he? He should have a demand in his voice, instead of this half-baked pleading he could hear.

„All right.‟

The silence stretched between them like electricity, but before he could break it Mattie held up her hand to ward off what he had to say and breathed in deeply.

„Not because I don‟t think I have any choice. I do. Whatever you say, we could have a child and remain unmarried. No, I‟ll marry you, Dominic, because…‟ At this point her resolve began to falter.

„Because?‟ he prompted huskily.

„Because in any marriage, whatever you say, there has to be love, and I love you.

Somewhere along the line, you broke down my barriers and I fell in love. I love you enough for the two of us and if that means that my heart gets broken, then so be it. I just can‟t fight any more.‟ She‟d said it. Mattie closed her eyes on a sigh and lay back down with her legs still crossed.

She felt him edge towards her, but she was too afraid to open her eyes and look at him.

„I‟ll understand if you want to reconsider your marriage proposal, though,‟ she said unevenly.

„Could you…could you repeat what you just said?‟

„You can change your mind about the marriage thing.‟

„No, not that bit. The other bit.‟

Now Mattie did open her eyes to sneak a look at him, to find him grinning at her like the cat that had got the cream.

„It‟s not funny,‟ she said dubiously, afraid to believe what her heart was telling her she should believe. Her heart, as she had learnt from experience, was not to be trusted.

„Yes. Yes, it is funny. It‟s very funny because…‟ He was still smiling like an idiot when he reached to touch her cheek with one finger. „Because I came back here tonight to tell you the very same thing.‟

Mattie wondered whether she had heard properly. „You love me? As in… love? As in… in love…or just maybe like a lot?‟

„As in the big thing. The big thing I‟ve managed to successfully avoid all my life.‟ He lowered his head towards her and kissed her, a long, lingering kiss that seemed to last forever. „I got to the airport and I thought, dammit, no way was I going to hop on a plane and disappear for four days. I kept thinking that I would get back to find that you‟d disappeared, that I‟d managed to frighten off the one woman in the world I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.‟

„You did?‟ Mattie sank happily into the pillows. Now that he had started talking, she didn‟t want him to stop. She framed his beautiful face with her hands and drew him down to her.

Practically fully dressed on a bed with him! A first. „You thought that?‟

Dominic raised one wry eyebrow and then shifted so that he was propped up and looking down at her. „You don‟t want to hear the workings of my mind,‟ he murmured, giving her mouth little kisses.

„Oh, but I do! I‟ve just spent so long thinking that the only thing you wanted from me was my body…‟

„I admit that was the initial pull.‟ He shot her one of those slow, dangerous smiles that could make an iceberg melt. „I‟d been in a hellish relationship. When I saw you at the club, I was bowled over. In fact, I‟d never had such a powerful feeling that I needed to make contact with a woman, wanted to have her. When you didn‟t respond the way I thought you would, instead of just shrugging and walking away I felt as if I was driven to pursue.‟

„My poor Dominic. Feeling driven to pursue a woman must have been a shock.‟

„You‟re enjoying this, aren‟t you?‟ Dominic teased. „Do you like the thought of knowing that I‟m utterly in your power?‟

Mattie nodded lazily and smiled at him. „It‟s a two-way thing,‟ she murmured.

„Oh, I know that.‟ She was just wearing a baggy cotton jumper and he continued looking at her as he divested her of the garment. „No bra.‟ He cupped one of her breasts with his hands, then spread his fingers possessively over her stomach. „I‟m glad I didn‟t know that when I saw you wrapped up with your ex. I really would have sent him flying down those stairs.‟

„And he wouldn‟t have deserved it.‟ Mattie coiled her arms around his neck and arched a little so that her nipples rubbed against his chest. „I think he was a little floored by my emotional outpouring…‟

„When you told him that you loved me?‟ Dominic asked with a trace of smugness in his voice that made her want to laugh. „That he meant nothing to you? That I was the only man you had ever really loved…?‟

„Something like that.‟

„Good.‟ With one hand he began tugging down her track-suit bottoms and she aided him by wriggling her legs free.

„And you‟re not upset about the baby?‟

„Upset?‟ Dominic laughed with amusement at how inaccurate she was. „I was overjoyed.

You were pregnant and that gave me the perfect excuse for getting you to marry me. I figured that once we were married I would be able to make you see that it was the best thing you could ever have done.‟

„I never suspected. I thought you were just taking responsibility and I was unwanted baggage that you felt duty bound to throw into the equation.‟