Witching Hour (31 page)

your time with her.'

'And you spent most of yours with her brother,' he said ruefully.

'The reason I accepted her blatant overtures in the first place was

to try and find out just what the situation was between you and

Rob. I was terrified that you might genuinely be in love with him,

although I was ready to swear that you weren't. The way you

responded to me convinced me of that, yet you seemed so

determined to push me away. The day after Hallowe'en, I intended

to get rid of Elaine and then tell you the truth—that I'd been in

love with you almost from the first time I saw you, casting your

lunatic spell to get rid of me, that I wanted to marry you, and all

that contract nonsense was just to keep you near me. And then the

bombshell of your engagement blew up in my face, so I went on

seeing Elaine, because I wanted to watch you with him, and see if I

really had anything to worry about. And what I found, of course,

was you sneaking looks at me with Elaine.'

'O—o—h!' Morgana pummelled his chest with mock fury, and

laughing, he caught at her wrists.

'Well, do you blame me?' he demanded. 'You gave me some bad

moments over Donleven. The fact that you seemed jealous of

Elaine was a hopeful sigh.'

'I wanted to kill her,' she admitted, smiling now at the memory of

it. Then, suddenly remembering, 'Oh, my God! She phoned the

house asking for you, and I left her hanging on while I went to

look for you.'

'I expect she's hung up by now,' Lyall said unfeelingly. 'Either

way, who cares? After what she's tried to do to you, I feel like

throttling her with the cord.'

Morgana hesitated. 'Perhaps she was in love with you,' she

ventured.

'Elaine is in love with Elaine,' he said rather grimly. 'Don't waste

any sleep worrying over her broken heart. She's a very determined

lady. She won't have too much difficulty in finding someone else.'

His voice altered slightly. 'Her brother is a different matter. You've

treated him badly, Morgan le Fay, even if he did ask for it. He was

a fool to let you get away with that sham engagement. If he'd

really wanted you, he should have dragged you into bed and made

sure of you.'

'As you would have done,' she teased.

'As I intend to do,' he said, and kissed her again, his mouth moving

sweetly and sensuously over hers. 'We'll be married as soon as I

can get a licence, and my mother and Lindsay can fly over for the

wedding. They can't wait to meet you.'

'Oh,' Morgana digested this. 'But isn't Lindsay a friend of Elaine's?'

'I don't think so,' he said. 'I mentioned her name once, and Lindsay

said, "Who?" I told you, she has a wide circle of acquaintance and

a lot of people go to her parties.' He paused. 'Now, do you want to

make any more wishes, or shall we go down to the house and tell

your mother our news?'

'She'll be so happy,' Morgana said dreamily. 'She liked you from

the very first, even when I was trying so hard to hate you.'

'And I like her—but that doesn't change anything, Morgana. I

meant what I said. I don't intend to live at Polzion, and I'm not

leaving you here either. I want you with me everywhere I go, day

and night. I've made Donleven an offer for the Home Farm so that

we'll have somewhere to stay when we do come here—but it will

be flying visits. Can you accept that? I knew how much this place

means to you.'

'Ah,' she said, and smiled up at him in the starlight. 'But you don't

know yet how much you mean to me. I'll go with you, Lyall,

wherever you want to take me.' Her arms slid up round his neck,

drawing him down to her with new confidence. 'Just love me,

darling. I don't wish for anything else but that.'

'Your wish is granted,' he whispered against her lips, and above

them, unnoticed as they kissed, the great stone rocked gently, then

was still.