Her Impossible Boss (13 page)

‘You love me?’ She repeated it with wonder, trying it out on her tongue for size and liking the way it felt. Too good to be true. But when she looked at him she knew that he meant every word of what he had said. ‘I love you,’ she whispered. ‘I slept with you because I loved you. You were everything my head told me I shouldn’t want, but you crash-landed into my life as well…’

‘I want to marry you, Tess. I don’t want to marry you because you’re having our baby. I want to marry you because my life isn’t complete unless you’re in it. I want to go to sleep with you beside me every night, and I want to wake up in the morning with you right next to me.’

With a sigh of contentment, Tess crawled onto his lap and closed her eyes, happy to be enfolded in his warmth and to feel his fingers gently stroke her hair.

‘I’ve never been so happy in my entire life,’ she confessed. ‘I think I might cry, given half a chance.’

‘Will you marry me as soon as possible?’ he breathed. ‘I know you probably don’t want to take the attention
away from your sister, but I don’t know how long I can wait. I want you to flash my ring on your finger so that every man out there knows that he’s not to come within ten feet of you unless specifically given permission.’

Tess laughed into his shoulder, and then wriggled so that she could look up at him.

‘That’s ultra-possessive…’

‘I’m an ultra-possessive man,’ he growled, ‘and don’t ever forget it.’ At last he felt free to touch her, to feel the wonder of her body that was slowly going to be transformed with his baby in it. He pushed his hands up under her tee shirt and groaned as the rounded curves of her breasts filled them. He stroked her nipples, and the familiar feel of them hardening under his touch was beyond erotic.

‘Is there any chance that a family member might surprise me in the middle of making love to you?’ he questioned in a shaky undertone. ‘Because if there is, then we’re going to have to get to your bedroom quickly. I love you and I want you and I need you. It feels like it’s been years…’

Upstairs, on her small double bed, they made love with sweet, lingering slowness. To Matt it really did feel as though it had been years since he had touched her, even though it had been only a matter of a couple of weeks.

He touched her everywhere. He kissed and nuzzled the breasts that would enlarge over the months, and suckled on nipples that would darken and distend. When he came into her, her slippery sheath brought him to an almost immediate orgasm. Never had making love been
such a liberating experience—but, then again, never had a woman unlocked him in the way she had…

They were married less than two months later. It was a quiet and very romantic ceremony, at the local church where her parents had been members of the congregation for ever. Matt’s parents and a handful of close friends made the journey, and of course Samantha was the centre of attention and as excitable as it was possible to be.

Tess had never doubted that her parents would embrace Matt as a member of their family, and they did. She was more surprised and thrilled that his parents were just as warm and welcoming towards her. Maybe it was because they could see the devotion on their son’s face whenever he looked at her, and the love on his daughter’s face at the prospect of Tess becoming her stepmother.

Small but subtle changes took place over the ensuing months. They continued to live in Matt’s vast penthouse apartment, which was convenient for Samantha’s school, but they also bought a country house of their own, and spent most weekends there. Tess hadn’t abandoned the prospect of a career in teaching, although she was now going to wait until the baby was born and then take everything slowly and in her stride. The fact that both Matt and Samantha had one hundred percent belief in her was a huge encouragement.

Tess had never thought that such happiness was possible, and her feelings of contentment must have transmitted themselves to her baby, for little Isobel was born without drama. Eight and a half pounds of
apple-cheeked, green-eyed, black-haired, good-natured little girl.

She could only smile and agree when Matt, as he was fond of doing, told them that at long last he was where he had always wanted to be—surrounded by beautiful females who had finally succeeded in domesticating him.

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 2011
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

© Cathy Williams 2011

ISBN: 978-1-408-92587-4