To Have and to Hold (49 page)

“I thought I had
lost you again.”
 
He murmured huskily,
pressing a soft kiss upon her brow.
 
“I
thought it was bad enough to lose you to death.
 
I stood beside your grave with Peter, and felt a grief that brought me
to my knees.”
 
He was unable to keep his
voice steady as those horrific memories came flooding back.
 
“Despite everything I have experienced in
life, nothing could have prepared me for losing the one woman who held my
heart, my very future in her hands. To stand beside your graveside in the
drizzle, believing you to be far from my reach was unbearable.”
 
His voice turned husky with emotion.
 
“I would have gladly crawled into that tiny
space and lay with you had I been able.”

Isobel slid her
head backwards to look into his eyes, stunned at the moisture she found
shimmering upon his lashes.
 
“I love you,
Dominic.”
 
She murmured, suddenly
emboldened by the certainty of her future, yet desperate to hear him say the
words she so longed to hear
.“
I love you, my
wife.”
 
Dominic murmured reverently as he
slid a whispering kiss upon her lips.
 
“I
love you too.”
 
Tenderly he peppered tiny
kisses upon her lips.
 
There was nothing
passionate about them.
 
Indeed Isobel was
certain it wasn’t a prelude to him exerting his husbandly demands upon
her.
 
They were tender, caring kisses
meant to reassure, to console and seek comfort.
 
Comfort she was more than willing to give.

Her heart soared
as she absorbed the import of his husky words.
 
“Oh, Dominic, my heart.”
 
She
whispered.
 
“I didn’t know if we would
have a future together, not after I left for Hubert’s, but I hope you
understand why I had to do it.”
 
She
couldn’t disguise the plea in her voice.

Dominic leaned
back to gaze into her eyes.
 
“Of course I
understand why you did it, my darling. I cannot blame you.
 
I was desperately worried you wouldn’t want
to come back to me.” The admission of his deepest fears didn’t sit entirely
comfortably with him, but he felt he had to reveal them nonetheless.
 
“Especially given the way I reacted to
Rupert’s production of the fake marriage documents.”

“Can I ask you
something?”
 
Isobel suddenly needed to
know.
 
At his answering nod she laid her
head upon his chest and murmured.
 
“Did
you believe the documents were real, really?”
 

Dominic frowned
up at the ceiling for several moments.
 
“At first yes.
 
As I told you
before, you were so desperately ill when you arrived here, I couldn’t be
certain if you didn’t wish to acknowledge a marriage to DeLisle through sheer
trauma.
 
But it was only for a few
moments.
 
The wisdom of know you soon
made me realise that you would never enter into a bigamous marriage.”

Isobel eased
backwards in his arms until she could meet his steady regard.
 
“I love you.
 
I have from the very moment we met and I shall do so for the remainder
of my days.”

Dominic smiled;
his heart swelling with intense satisfaction as he read the sincerity in her
steady gaze.
 
“I love you, my
darling.”
  
Carefully he captured her
lips in a tender kiss, easing back with mock alarm as her hands stole below his
waistband to caress the growing bulge in his breeches.
 
“My dear, you are not in any position to
enter into
that
game.”
 
He murmured easing away from her searching
fingers.

“Haven’t you
heard?”
 
Isobel murmured teasingly as she
lay upon her back and turned her gaze sideways.
 
“A husband’s duty is to ensure his wife is adequately cared for, and all
of her needs are met.
 
In every sense of
the word.”
 

Dominic groaned
and knew he was lost.
 
“Then of course I
must ensure that my wife’s – needs – are adequately met.”
 
With that he eased himself between the
welcoming warmth of his wife’s thighs with a sigh of belonging and set about
ensuring
all
of his wife’s needs were
met with
complete
satisfaction.
      
 

The End

From
This Day Forward - Book 2 of the Murder, Mystery and Mayhem Series

Coming
Soon................