Edith Layton (28 page)

Her response fed his. He found he could take his own pleasure again and add to hers. She was very impressed.

“Damon?” she asked, much later. The sky had gone from old gold to a violet evening. She was propped on an elbow, smoothing her palm over his chest. He’d been almost drowsing, sinking into luxurious content,
but something earnest in her voice made him pay attention, and he listened closely.

She dropped a kiss on his chin, and said, her voice so low that if she hadn’t been that close he mightn’t have heard her, “I’m so glad you forgave me.”

He grinned, as one hand made slow circles on her silken back. “I thought we’d been through that. You’ll regret saying this when we have our first real argument, you know.”

“Be sure, I’ll forget it then,” she said impishly. “But truly, Damon, I am glad.”

“Then I’m glad, though I don’t see it. What was there to forgive?”

“You know,” she said. “Don’t pretend you forgot. I never will.”

“Oh. Because you weren’t sure you wanted me? I could never blame you for loving too well. I hoped you’d see what kind of love it was—in time. In time for us, I mean. I was going to devote myself to making sure of it. I’m only thankful you saved me the effort. I hope you’re still convinced.” But his voice sounded a bit unsure at the end, and he waited, his hand paused, for her answer.

She didn’t seem to notice, she wriggled even closer to him and sighed. “You know,” she said, her voice filled with wondering delight, “it would have been a tragedy if I’d settled for my dreams. I never knew there was something better. I’m so glad I didn’t have all my dreams come true when I wanted them to. I’m so very grateful life made me wait for the reality of you.”

“Oh, Gilly,” he said tenderly, drawing her down beside him, “but I never dreamed there was such a wonderful reality as you.”

“Then aren’t we lucky to have had so little imagination and such bad luck?” she murmured mischievously.

She hadn’t known a person could make love while laughing, she told him later when they’d done and the bright and newly risen moon showed them each other’s smiling faces clear.

“We will make everything while laughing, my love,” he promised her. “You’ll see. Everything from now on.”

He was a man of his word. And she was the woman who made it impossible for him not to keep it.