A Past Revenge (20 page)

'Talking of pleasure—'He looked pointedly in the direction of the bed, the two of them having shared the master bedroom in the Andracas house since their return from a month's honeymoon on Nick's yacht.

Danielle never argued with him when he suggested they make love, and after showering together in the adjoining bathroom they became immersed in the pleasure of pleasing each other, passion quickly rising as urgency possessed them.

She felt the usual sense of disappointment as Nick momentarily left her to open the drawer in his bedside cabinet. As he turned back to her she wasn't quick enough to hide the wistful expression in her eyes.

He became suddenly still beside her. 'What is it?' he said sharply. 'Darling, what's wrong?' he frowned.

She forced herself to smile naturally, entwining her arms about his neck. 'What could possibly be wrong?' she said throatily.

Uncertainty flickered in the depths of his eyes. 'For a moment you looked—sad.'

'You're imagining things
—
'

'No,' he spoke with his own haughtiness. 'Danielle, tell me what's wrong.'

She sighed, recognising his determination to have an answer. 'I prefer to make love to you without the interruption of—contraception,' she admitted huskily.

His face became shadowed. 'You know the doctor advised you not to go on the pill.'

'Yes,' she sighed again.

'Danielle?' he prompted gently.

She evaded his gaze. 'It's nothing.'

'If it bothers you then it's something,' he persisted.

She chewed on her bottom lip for several seconds before turning to look up at him. 'I would prefer it if we didn't have to use contraception at all,' she met his gaze unwaveringly.

Nick seemed to pale. 'What are you saying?' he said gruffly.

'Darling, I know we never discussed it before we were married,' she smoothed the rigidity of his cheek. 'And perhaps it's just that you don't want us to have children just yet, but I don't
know
how you feel about it!' she finally spoke of the one thing that had darkened the horizon for the last six months, Nick always careful not to take any risks of their having a child.

'You want children?' he looked at her searchingly.

'Don't you?'

'I
'm more interested in your answer,' he evaded.

She bit her bottom lip to stop it trembling. 'I thought you would want children,' her voice quivered emotion-ally. 'I thought—'

'Darling, I do,' he folded her tightly in his arms. 'But after Nicole I didn't want to put you through that heartache again just for the sake of my male pride."

'Nicole dying was an accident, Nick,' she comforted him in a voice that was beginning to lighten with hope. 'She was just born too early. There's no reason to suppose it would happen with another baby.'

'I couldn't be sure you would want another baby.'

'I want one,
I
want several, maybe half a dozen," she added with a catch in her voice. .

'That's ambitious,' some of the tension began to ease from Nick's face.

'You can do it, darling,' she lightly teased, the shadow fading as she sensed his own eagerness for a child.

'We
can do it,' he corrected throatily. 'Maybe we'll have the first one by Christmas if we start now.'

'That's only ten months away!'

'I'm ambitious too,' he murmured before his mouth captured hers, the two of them soaring up to the plateau of ecstasy they always enjoyed together.