Girl Behind the Scandalous Reputation Page 18
Lily swallowed and looked down at their enclosed hands, then slowly back up to reconnect with his eyes. ‘Why?’
Tristan leaned forward and kissed her. A kiss filled with all the love and tenderness he had been afraid to show her until now. He pulled back and waited for her eyes to flutter open. ‘Because I love you, Lily. I think I always have.’
Lily shook her head, her expression dazed. ‘You love me?’
‘With all my heart. And the more I say it, the more I want to say it.’
‘But you never approved of me…’
‘Partly true. I disliked your lifestyle because I was always worried that Jordana would go the way my mother had, but really what I resented about you the most was how protective I felt towards you. Whenever I heard you were at one of your stepfather’s parties, and I was in the country, I always came and got you out. I even did it once when Jordana wasn’t with you. Remember?’
‘I assumed you thought she was with me.’
‘No. I knew she was home safe—and that’s just where I wanted you to be. But it wasn’t until Jo’s eighteenth that my feelings for you changed. As soon as I saw you in that silver mini-dress I knew I couldn’t deny that my feelings for you were more than just protective. I wanted you so much that night it hurt. But you were too young, and I was too closed to my emotions, and then when I came across that private party it was easy to blame you. It gave me an excuse to turn my back on the way you made me feel. But you changed me that night. I haven’t been able to look at a woman since, be with a woman, without imagining she was you. Crazy, I know…’
‘Not so crazy.’ Lily reached up and almost reverently cupped his face. ‘I fell so deeply in love with you that night I’ve compared every other man I’ve ever met to you and found him lacking.’
‘Lily, does that mean what I think it means?’
Lily smiled and blinked back the tears blurring her vision. ‘That I love you? Totally. Completely. How could you not know?’
Tristan felt such a deep surge of joy well up inside him he thought it would burst out. He grabbed Lily off the chair and hauled her onto his lap, crushed her mouth beneath his.
When he finally let her up for air he felt a sense of rightness with the world, but he could see by the way she gnawed her top lip that she still had questions.
‘What is it?’
‘I was just remembering yesterday morning, when you came out of the bathroom. You looked…you looked unhappy…and then you told Jordana—’
‘Oh, Lily,’ Tristan said on a groan. ‘Please forget that. I woke up that morning with such a sense of well-being it scared the hell out of me. Honestly, I just wanted to get away from you. I’ve never woken up with a woman before and—’
‘Never?’
He shook his head. ‘Never. And then Jordana cornered me and guessed how I felt before I did and it drove me deeper into denial. I didn’t want to let you in, Lily, but of course you were already there, and I was fighting a losing battle. It wasn’t until Oliver told me how he felt about Jordana and the reasons he was marrying her that I finally realised I felt the same way about you. And I didn’t want to fight it—you—any more. I’d do anything for you, Lily, and after we’re married we’ll—
‘Married!’
‘Of course married. Where did you think this was headed, sweetheart? A picnic in the park?’
‘I…I didn’t think that far ahead. I’m still reeling from the fact that you love me.’
‘I know neither of us has had the best role models when it comes to marriage—’
‘Well, my father never actually asked my mother to marry him,’ Lily said.
Tristan nodded and cupped her face between his hands. ‘I’m not your father, Lily. I’ll never cheat on you or leave you. And I don’t believe a marriage has to be full of conflict if a couple are equally committed and willing to work through any issues together.’
Lily’s smile was tremulous. ‘You really love me?’
‘Haven’t I just said that?’
‘It just seems like a dream.’
‘It’s not. At least I hope it’s not.’
Lily sighed and let Tristan gather her close, revelling in the feel of his hands moulding to her torso and fitting her against him. She could hardly believe this was happening, and knew Jordana would be ecstatic when she found out.
Then a thought struck, and she pulled back a little to look up into his beautiful face. ‘You know I knew nothing about Jordana setting me up with Oliver’s cousins last night?’
Tristan smiled. ‘I know. I figured that out some time between the first and second bottle of Scotch I consumed last night.’
‘Oh.’ Lily laughed.
‘It’s not funny.’ He grinned back at her. ‘You were the reason I saw the bottom of both of those bottles. But I have a feeling that my sister has been playing a little reverse matchmaking between us.’
‘I did wonder about that myself…’
‘And it worked. I nearly locked you in a tower last night after she said you’d told her you were just cutting loose with me.’
‘I did say that.’
‘What?’ he asked, stunned.
‘I didn’t want her to know how deeply I had fallen for you and after overhearing how you felt. I…I have my pride, you know.’
‘I know you do.’
‘And, anyway, you don’t have a tower.’
‘I’d have built one for just that purpose,’ he growled, his hands exploring the fitted bodice of her gown with increasing fervour.
‘I love you,’ Lily sighed.
‘I never knew those three little words could sound so delicious.’
‘Oh, I’ve just remembered. I’m supposed to be flying to New York tonight. I’ll have to cancel the flight.’
‘Damned straight. But when do you have to return to New York? For work?’
‘I don’t have any films lined up until next year. I was planning to take some time off.’
‘Perfect.’
‘Although…’
‘Although?’
‘I’m thinking of taking the role of my mother in that play I was telling you about.’
Tristan kissed her. ‘I think that’s a wonderful idea. You’ll slay them. As you do me. Now, let’s go upstairs.’
‘Upstairs?’
‘I organised a room.’
‘But the Abbey is only two miles away.’
‘That’s two miles too far if I’m going to be able to make love to you with any level of skill and control.’
‘I’m quite partial to what we’ve done so far,’ Lily whispered, feathering the silky hair at his nape between her fingers.
‘And I’m quite partial to you, my darling Honey Blossom Lily Wild.’
He bent to kiss her again but Lily dodged him. ‘We have your sister’s wedding to finish first.’
‘Believe me, after the way we exited the dance floor nobody is expecting to see us back any time soon.’
‘But I need to catch the bridal bouquet,’ Lily protested as Tristan gathered her up in his arms and strode for the door.
‘Why do you need a bouquet when you’ve got your groom right here?’
‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ she admitted provocatively. ‘Good thing you’re here.’
Tristan stopped and caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger, raising her eyes to his. ‘I’ll always be here for you,’ he said, capturing her lips in a sweet, searing kiss.
Lily’s mouth trembled with emotion as she stared into Tristan’s loving green gaze, happier than she had ever been in her whole life. ‘And I you.’
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2012
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Michelle Conder 2012
ISBN: 978-1-408-97395-0
Table of Contents
Cover
Excerpt
About the Author
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Copyright