His One-Night Mistress(35)

A satisfied sigh emanated from the crowd. Lia was now blushing. "You've fallen in love with me-you're sure about that?"

He grinned, shifting his knee. "I'm as sure that I love you as this  sidewalk's hard. Try not to keep me in suspense too long, huh?"

"You deserve to be kept in suspense," she said severely. "I've been very unhappy ever since I agreed to marry you."

He reached for her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing it with all  the love in his heart. "I swear I'll do my utmost to make you happy  every day of my life."

Her blush deepened. "What made you realize you loved me?"

"My mother came for a visit this morning. She was all shook up … different  than I've ever seen her. She actually said she was sorry for what she'd  done, she had tears in her eyes … and when she left, she was planning to  buy my father a yellow rose. If she can do that, I can smash the  barriers I've been hiding behind. I have smashed them. But then when you  phoned, I thought something terrible had happened to you, and that I  was too late. That I'd never be able to tell you I love you."

An elderly woman in a long black dress, a black headscarf over her hair,  sighed softly, "Te amo." A young man put his arm around his heavily  pregnant wife. Lia gave a sudden rich chuckle. "The audience is on your  side, Seth."

"I need all the help I can get."                       
       
           



       

She pulled him to his feet. "I long to be your wife, querido. To be your beloved."

"Finally we've got it right," Seth said, kissing her passionately and at some length.

It was Lia who broke free. Her eyes were blazing with happiness, her  hair swirling in the wind. "I think they deserve an encore," she said,  and launched into a fierce flamenco dance. As the elderly woman lifted  her arms, clicking imaginary castanets, Seth began to dance with her.

Had he ever been as happy as he was right now?

The dance ended as wildly as it had begun. Seth bowed to the black-clad  woman. Lia said breathlessly, once the applause had died down, "This  gentleman had bought my violin from the pawnshop, for his daughter."

The little girl was gazing up at Seth with big, dark eyes that were very like Lia's. "We'll buy her another violin," Seth said.

"And I'll give her lessons," Lia promised.

"In the meantime, dearest Lia, I have a cab waiting to take you home," Seth said. "I wish it was a pure white steed."

She put her violin back in its case, gave the little girl's father her  card and wrote down his phone number. Then, hand in hand, she and Seth  started off down the sidewalk. Lacing her fingers with his, Lia said, "A  cab is fine. A steed of any color would take longer."

"Are you in a hurry?" he said innocently.

"Yes," she said, "I want to go to bed with you."

Abruptly he turned to her, tracing the soft line of her lip with his  fingertip. "I'm so sorry I caused you pain-I was so convinced I couldn't  fall in love."

"Just as well," she teased, "at least it kept you from falling in love with anyone else."

"Maybe, deep down, I knew you were waiting for me."

"Oh Seth, we're going to be so happy!"

"I suspect my mother and my father will come to the wedding. Together. I'll warn her not to call you a fiddle player."

"If she does, she might find out that I'm more than her match. You've forgiven her, haven't you?"

"Forgiven her. Let go of that night in the library. Opened my heart to  the most beautiful woman in the world. It's been quite a morning."

Lia laughed. "Here's the ultimate test-Marise's idea of a flower girl  seems to involve throwing daisies and snapdragons at all the guests.  With Suzy egging her on. Can you handle that?"

"Sounds like fun. How about in the fall we host a very big party at the hotel in Paris where we met?"

"That sounds like fun, too."

"But first things first," he said firmly. "Bed."

The cabbie was still behind the wheel, snoring loudly. Seth took the  opportunity to kiss Lia again. Then he tapped on the window, and they  climbed in the back seat. Seth gave his address. "No rush this time," he  said. "I found her. The woman I've been waiting for all my life."

"I should get an extra big tip for that," the cabbie drawled.

"You will," Seth said.

Twenty minutes later, the cabbie drove away looking very pleased with  life. Seth unlocked his front door, then picked Lia up, violin and all,  and carried her over the threshold. "Getting in practice," he grunted,  locking the door behind him.

"So that's why you want to take me to bed-just to stay in practice?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"I'm taking you to bed because it feels like forever since I've had my  arms around you. Because you're gorgeous and sexy and I love you to  distraction."

She laughed, a cascade of pure delight. "I love you, too, darling Seth. And you know what they say-practice makes perfect."

Seth cupped her face in his palms, such a wealth of love in his eyes  that Lia's heart melted in her breast. "You're perfect already," he  said.