“Sibyl,” he murmured.
She shook her head but didn’t dislodge his hand as it slid into her hair, lifting some of its massive weight away from her shoulder.
“I was sure, after that dream, that you were the man I’d been looking for all my life, even though I’d never met you. But it was terrifying because, Colin, in my dream, your throat is slit.”
His hand gently fisted in her hair, he leaned into her and rested his forehead against hers. “You never told me that.”
“It’s true,” she whispered. “I called Mags the minute I dreamed it. She thought it meant I desperately needed a lover.”
She watched his lips turn up.
“Then I met you, Colin, and you were so angry with me, you hated me and I didn’t know why, all I wanted to do was see your house.”
His lips turned down, his hand moved from her hair to glide down her back and pull her to him but she resisted, leaning slightly away, she tilted her head further back to look at him.
“The next time I saw you, you were lovely, you were… wonderful.”
The smile came back but froze at her next words. “Then you offered me fifty thousand pounds to sleep with you and I lost all faith that I’d ever find that man.”
“God, Sibyl,” he groaned, his voice full of regret and she felt tears begin to prick the backs of her eyes.
“And all that time and after, I dreamed of Royce. He was Beatrice’s true love, her soulmate, he looked at her as if the world shined through her. I wanted that for me and, in the dreams, I had it. And in the Summer House that afternoon, I saw it in his eyes as he looked at me.”
This time, his whole body froze, as did the hand at the small of her back. Then, she felt it clench into a fist.
Still, she kept speaking. “It was our private moment, his and mine, the only one we’d ever have and, even though he wasn’t kissing me but the memory of Beatrice, it was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever experienced and I was happy to have that fleeting moment than nothing at all. And that’s why I didn’t share it with you, because it was mine… his and mine.”
He stared at her, his face and frame barely controlling some emotion she couldn’t fathom and then he looked away as if he couldn’t bear the sight of her anymore. His arm moved away from her and she felt his awful retreat and the first hint of panic.
And she realised that now was the time, perhaps the only time, and no matter what his response, she had to take it. Anything but have him pull away.
Her voice so low, so quiet, it was hardly even a whisper, she said, “Then I fell in love with you.”
His head snapped back around and she took a fragmented breath and looked him in the eye.
“If you can believe, it was that damned minibus,” she said on a shaky grin. “I watched you dealing with the driver and your… you… it was just magnificent. Maybe it was before then, I know it started before then but it was then when I knew. And everything since clicked into place, piece by piece. I realised after every moment I spent with you, you were the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life, not some long-dead warrior.”
When she told him he was the one she’d been waiting for, the rest of her words were said through his swift, gentle, violent snatching of her into his arms. A movement that nearly stole her breath and, as she finished speaking, he shoved her roughly back on the bed.
And then, Colin made love to her and it was like nothing they’d ever shared. It was full of fierceness and pounding intensity as if he wanted to use his hands, mouth and body to brand her as his, as if, since he couldn’t make a physical mark on her body, then he’d make one on her soul.
And he did.
Proving her right, moments before they both cl**axed, he growled, “You’re mine.”
She nodded, lost in her love for him and the desire throbbing through her body.
“You belong to me.” His body pounded deeper inside her than he’d ever been and tears of love sprang to her eyes.
She nodded
“Yes,” she breathed then she said it again as the pleasure he was giving her washed over her, crying it into his ear as she heard him topple over the edge with her. “Yes, Colin, I’m yours.”
Then after they both came down and she felt Colin’s breath against her neck, the weight and warmth of his body on hers, him still planted deep inside her, knew she loved all of that too.
* * * * *
Later, when he’d pulled her to his side, his arm came around her like a steel band, she realised he didn’t tell her he loved her in return. He made love to her with a ferocity they’d never experienced but he hadn’t said the words.