Without hesitation, he answered, “A lot.”
He saw her shudder and felt his heart squeeze painfully in response.
“I don’t know what to do with that information,” she admitted, her voice loaded with a wealth of meaning, none of it good for Colin.
“Does it matter?” He couldn’t believe he was in the position of having to defend his wealth. Women were normally seduced by it, coveted it, went out of their way to the point of demeaning themselves to get it.
Sibyl, however, was not like normal women.
And this made her all the more precious, and, he feared in that moment, perhaps the only thing in his life that had ever been out of his reach.
She turned to face him. “There are a lot of people who don’t have anything and you have so much.”
“I work hard for it,” he informed her honestly.
“I know,” she whispered, watching him with an expression he could not read as he was too far away to see the colour of her eyes.
“Why are you standing over there?” she asked absently, as if noticing for the first time he had not approached her.
“I think, right now, you need to come to me.”
Her body froze as she realised what he was asking and the importance of it. And he waited with a great deal of trepidation as she made up her mind.
“Halfway?” she suggested.
“No,” Colin stated implacably. He was who he was, he wasn’t going to change. She was who she was, he had no desire to change her. Perhaps protect her from her own good intentions, but not change her.
She nodded, turned back to the window and sighed. It was in that moment, he thought he’d lost and the very idea of it nearly drove him across the room.
But he stood his ground.
He needed her to accept him as he was.
“Do you have time for lunch?” she asked the window, still not moving toward him, her shoulders held straight and tense.
“No,” he answered honestly again.
“I didn’t think so,” she whispered.
It was then she turned and, without hesitation, she walked straight to him. She put her hands on either side of his waist when she arrived and tilted her head to his.
His relief was so great, his arms closed around her with stunning force and he pulled her to his body. Then he buried his face in her neck and smelled the same scent of lilies he’d smelled when he first admitted he wanted her that morning in Lacybourne.
“I suppose I should let you get back to work,” she murmured.
He lifted his head and she smiled, it was not a full-fledged Sibyl smile but it told him everything he needed to know.
It was then, after all their misunderstandings and distrust and across the great expanse of difference in their personalities and upbringing, that he found, finally, she was truly and completely his.
And Colin felt such an immense satisfaction that it overwhelmed him.
Hiding it from her in order not to frighten her, he brushed her mouth with a light kiss and she laid her hand on his cheek.
“At least I don’t feel so guilty about the fifty thousand anymore. Obviously, you can afford it.” Her voice was hesitantly teasing.
He was so relieved laughter erupted from him with the force of thunder.
Outside his office, his London secretary lifted and turned her head at the amazing, heretofore unknown, sound coming from her boss’s office. She had been told that should a Miss Godwin phone, she was to be put through immediately, no matter what. Apparently, after the many before her, this woman had found her way into Colin Morgan’s cold, unyielding heart.
His secretary wasn’t at all surprised, she was a beauty (of course) but she also had the sweetest smile.
* * * * *
The evening was spent in easy, but loud, camaraderie with the Godwins, Phoebe and Mike, Claire, her husband Jack and their two young children, Colin’s brother Tony and his wife, Ellen. Tony and Ellen found Sibyl and the Godwins just as enchanting as the rest of the family seemed to do.
After, Colin took Sibyl and her family back to Paddington Station to catch the last train to Yatton. Before allowing her through the ticket machines, he engaged her in a full-fledged, back-bending, passionate kiss that granted him a gleaming smile of unadulterated approval from her mother.
* * * * *
That had been Colin’s last two weeks with Sibyl.
Now, he pulled up outside her cottage and alighted from his car, seeing around him the flowers of full spring blooming everywhere. He opened the door and entered, responding to easy calls of greeting from Bertie and Scarlett who were both sitting in the living room. Scarlett had given him her full blessing somewhere along the way and her behaviour was no longer sardonic but almost cheery (or as cheery as Scarlett could get). Mallory charged him but skidded to a halt at the last moment, planted his bottom on the floor and licked Colin’s hand in welcome.
Sibyl walked in from the kitchen, holding Bran upside down in her arms, the cat’s feet dangling uselessly up in the air, his tail twitching angrily over her arm. The cat turned a baleful glare at Colin, promising later retribution at this grievous affront to his feline dignity.
Sibyl walked right up to Colin and gave him a brief kiss.
“Hi,” she breathed, her eyes warm with happiness and he completely lost himself in them.
“Hi,” he returned.
“You’re early and I’m running late.” With her attention on him, Sibyl lost hold on her cat and Bran took his opportunity at escape and jumped away. Then she leaned further into him and Colin’s left hand glided around her waist while his right hand cupped her jaw. “I’ve got to finish getting ready.”
He ran his thumb along her cheekbone, dipping it to slide along her lower lip, watching its progress with fascination the entire time.
Then he lifted his eyes from her mouth to her gaze and he whispered, “I’ll wait.”
Regardless of what she said, she didn’t move and they stood there, pressed against each other next to her father’s dining room table as Scarlett and Bertie watched with contented glances and Mallory settled to the floor with an exaggerated dog groan.
And in their sweet, close huddle, staring into each other’s eyes, no one in the room could know that the two lovers were about to enter a battle for their lives.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Talent Show
Marian Byrne paid her one pound and entered the Community Centre for the Talent Show.
The huge Hall was packed, music was playing and the hum of conversation was friendly and welcoming.
The minute Marian entered the Hall, she saw the dim, golden aura that glowed in the air and its presence so startled her, her eyes flew searchingly about the enormous room.