Passionate Harvest (17 page)

He finished his tea. “If you need me for anything, call me.”

“I will.”

She walked with him to the front door. He kissed her gently on the lips as he left. “Promise me.”

“I promise.”

She closed the door behind him, wishing she had the strength to open it again, to call him back.

The days leading up to the funeral passed in a blur of phone calls, visits to various official places and tears. Isabelle and Jo called to see her bringing cake and sympathy. Maggie’s church group offered to pray for her and to cater for the funeral tea in the church hall.

Dominic left her messages via text and on her voice mail. Each one triggering a rush of guilt at her inability to allow him in to her heart. She accepted Jo’s offer to accompany her in the hearse to the large church where Maggie used to worship and where she’d attended Sunday school herself when she’d been small.

Her aunt’s coffin looked surprisingly large for such a small woman, adorned only with the sheaf of white lilies that she’d requested in her will. Lucy didn’t remember any of the words of the service. The interment that Maggie had asked for was a blessed blur. And she was still on auto pilot as she thanked Maggie’s friends for coming and invited all the guests into the hall next to the church for tea and sandwiches.

Dominic had sat in the pew behind her in the church, his nearness a welcome comfort and source of strength. She drew on all her reserves to get through the funeral tea, avoiding Dominic. Right then she didn’t have the strength to cope with her loss and her feelings for him. It wasn’t until almost everyone had gone and she’d thanked all of Maggie’s friends for everything they’d done that she realised he was still there, waiting to take her home.

“Where’s Jo?” She looked around for her companion.

“I told her to go.” He strolled alongside her, hands buried in the pockets of his black suit.

He opened the door of the car for her to get in. She almost stumbled as she got inside, her legs suddenly too weary to raise her foot clear of the sill.

“Here.” He steadied her, placing his hand on her arm to support her.

“Thank you.” Lucy sat back in the seat, sagging against the upholstery. She just wanted to go home now.

He switched the music on as they drove, gentle classical music that soothed her ragged nerves and reminding her of the first time he’d taken her home after a funeral.

They stopped outside the house and Dominic came around to open her door and help her out. The clean fresh lime scent of his cologne teasing her senses as he supported her with his arm.

He took her keys from her at the door, opening it up for her to walk inside ahead of him.

“Would you like me to stay?” he watched as she stepped out of her heels and wandered into the lounge like a lost soul.

He continued to watch her as she sank down onto the end of the sofa. The strength that had been supporting her all day had gone, used up by the welter of mourners.

“I, I don’t know what I want.” She was afraid to be alone but afraid to ask him to stay for the wrong reason. It was as if she stood on the edge of a scary black pit that beckoned her, inviting her to sink in its cold inky depths.

Dominic raked his hand through his hair, messing up the unnatural tidiness.

“I’m scared.” She blurted the words out feeling them roll off her tongue, ugly and out of place.

He crossed to sit by her side. “Lucy, you know I’m here for you.” He covered her hands with his.

“I…” She couldn’t explain, she didn’t even know what it was that she needed to say. She closed her eyes and tried to centre herself. To find the right words. 

“Lucy?” His voice was tender, encouraging in her ear.

Pain knifed through her. She knew she loved Dominic more than she’d loved any man. What she’d felt for Christopher had been nothing compared to what she felt for the man who sat beside her now, holding her hands and waiting for her to explain her feelings.

How could she explain the irrational fear of losing him, of placing all her love, everything she felt in his power? She’d made a similar mistake with Christopher, but then she’d had Maggie and Nick to support her. Now she was alone, with no one.

She knew he cared for her, he’d shown her in so many ways. But they’d never discussed their feelings. Never once had the love word entered any of their conversations. Maggie’s words in her final letter haunted her. ‘Follow your heart.’

“I’m being stupid.” She gave a half laugh, trying to suppress the bubble of nervous hysteria which threatened to surface.

He gave her hands a small squeeze letting her know he’d heard her. She knew he was waiting for her to continue.

“Talk to me.” He encouraged, when she didn’t answer.

Lucy tried to imagine her life without Dominic and the edge of the pit crept closer.

“What do I mean to you, Dominic? Are we friends with benefits? A couple? How do you see us?” The questions burst from her like water from a dam. She had to know the answer. She knew what she felt but if he didn’t feel the same then the pit would surely claim her and she’d no strength left to bring herself back up.

He placed his hand under her chin, gently tipping her head so she was forced to look up into his eyes. The ice blue eyes she’d once thought so cold. Her heart raced with fear at what he might say.

“I love you, Lucy. I fell in love with you the first week I knew you. I didn’t want to admit it. I’d seen with Jake and Sasha what could happen when love at first sight went wrong. I tried to stop myself but the more I got to know you the deeper and harder I fell.”

Her spirits soared at the sincerity she saw written in his expression. Heat flooded through her veins for the first time since Maggie’s death, washing into her heart and driving the steel-cold emptiness away. The blackness that had threatened to steal her soul vanished as if it had never been.

Tears threatened once more, pricking at her eyelids, but this time they were tears of joy.

“I love you too.”

His mouth claimed hers and she tasted him as if for the first time. Male, hot and passionate and Dominic.

“I don’t want you to be scared or alone ever again, Lucy.” He stroked her cheek, wiping away the stray tear that had escaped. She knew then, that as long as he was by her side, she never would be. Maggie had been right in her advice.

He kissed her once more with the sweetness of a vow and the empty hollow space in her heart was filled forever.