Unexpected Pleasures (27 page)

EPILOGUE

Nine months later

T
HEY
HAD
DECIDED
not to hold the christening at the London church where they had been married shortly after Christmas, but here in Sardinia instead. The words of the service, spoken both in English and Italian, had been simple but well-chosen, and now they were back at the newly converted house, where five-month-old Celestine was the centre of attention, the guests cooing over her while the twins looked on with brotherly watchfulness.

‘She’s chewing her sleeve again,’ Nico warned Sasha. ‘I think she might be hungry.’

‘No, she’s not hungry. She’s teething,’ Sam corrected him scornfully. ‘She wants to come out. She doesn’t like lying there doing nothing, and it’s my turn to hold her.’

‘No, it’s not. It’s mine.’

‘Actually, it’s my turn,’ Gabriel told them both firmly, deftly removing his daughter from her basket and expertly cradling her against his shoulder in a way that still left him free to slip his other arm around the boys.

Watching them, Sasha couldn’t resist reaching for her camera.

‘She’s going to wind all three of you around her little finger,’ she warned, as she smiled lovingly at her daughter and discreetly slid her hand down Gabriel’s shirt-clad back.

‘If that’s an invitation for later, then the answer is yes,’ he murmured softly. ‘Pity we’ve got such a houseful, though...’

‘There’s always the beach,’ she reminded him teasingly as she leaned closer for his kiss.

Life could not give him another gift to rival that which he now held within his arms, Gabriel thought to himself: Sasha, the twins, and now their daughter.

‘I think when he made me the boys’ guardian Carlo wanted this to happen and for us to be together,’ he told Sasha quietly.

‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘He knew how much I loved you, and perhaps he sensed that you loved me—even before you acknowledged it yourself.’

‘I can acknowledge it now,’ he said, looking from his daughter and the twins to Sasha. He bent to kiss her. ‘Now and for ever, Sasha.’

* * * * *

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ISBN: 9781459249653

Copyright © 2006 by Penny Jordan

The publisher acknowledges the copyright holder of the individual works as follows:

YESTERDAY'S ECHOES
Copyright © 1993 by Penny Jordan

MASTER OF PLEASURE
Copyright © 2006 by Penny Jordan

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