“Believe me, it was my pleasure.”
“And mine.”
His hands delved into her hair as he rained kisses on her cheeks, her brow, her eyelids. “I love you,” he whispered. “You’ll never know how much.”
“No more than I love you.”
“I think I might have gone over the edge if I hadn’t had you with me these past few weeks. You don’t know . . . I can’t explain . . .” He swallowed hard, his arms tightening around her. “If you hadn’t stopped me from killing that man and his family . . .” A long, shuddering sigh wracked his body. “I couldn’t have lived with the guilt.”
Sheree clung to him as images of Derek walking out to greet the dawn flashed across her mind. Horrified by the mere idea, she knew he would have let the sun destroy him if he had killed that baby.
“Don’t think about it,” she said, running her fingers through his hair.
“I can’t help it. I’m afraid of what might happen next time.”
“It’ll be all right. I’ll be with you. And maybe the old ladies’ serum will work a miracle.”
A miracle, Derek mused. Sheree was the biggest miracle in his life. Would Fate be so kind as to grant him another?
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sheree woke from a wonderful dream, only to discover it hadn’t been a dream at all. Derek slept beside her, looking young and vulnerable at rest. Propped on one elbow, she slowly slid the covers down to his waist, letting her eyes drink in the beauty of her new husband.
Husband, she thought. What an amazing word.
If she touched him, would he feel it?
“Depends on where you touch.”
She smiled as she placed her hand in the center of his chest, then slid it down, down, beneath the sheet.
He hissed in a breath. “Oh, yeah, I definitely feel that.”
She laughed softly, then leaned over to press a kiss to his lips. “I need a hot shower and something to eat.”
“They have a word for women like you.”
“Really? What is it?”
He cracked one eye open. “Beautiful.”
“I love you, too. Go back to sleep.”
He caught her hand when she started to rise. “If you need to leave the house, call my mother and have her go with you.”
Sheree frowned a moment, then nodded. She doubted anyone knew where they were, but, better safe than sorry.
After slipping out of bed, she went into the bathroom, which was state of the art, from the self-flushing toilet to the self-cleaning bathtub, shower and sink.
She lingered in the shower—which was big enough for two—for a long time, letting the deliciously hot water ease the pleasurable aches and pains in places she’d never had them before.
Mrs. Derek Blackwood. Mrs. Sheree Blackwood.
She couldn’t believe she had proposed to him on the spur of the moment and he had accepted without a second thought.
What would her mother think?
Her mother!
Sheree turned off the water, wrapped herself in a towel, and ran into the living room, where she grabbed her cell phone from her handbag and quickly punched in her mother’s number. How could she have been so thoughtless as to run off and get married without letting her mother know? Meredith must be frantic.
She answered on the first ring. “Sheree? Thank goodness! Are you all right? I’ve been calling you all morning.”
“I’m sorry, I should have called you last night.”
Meredith’s sigh of relief was clearly audible. “Where are you?”
“I’m in Sacramento.”
“Sacramento? What are you doing there?”
“I came with Derek.”
“I see.” There was no mistaking the censure in her mother’s voice.
“It’s not like that,” Sheree said, her temper flaring.
“Isn’t it?”
“We’re not having an affair!” Sheree snapped. “We got married.”
Her mother’s huff of disapproval came through loud and clear, followed by a loud click as she disconnected the call.
“Well, what did you expect?” Sheree muttered. “Hearts and flowers?” When her stomach growled, she punched in a new number. “Hi, Mara, could you do me a favor?”
Derek’s mother materialized in the living room five minutes later. “Is Derek all right?” she asked, glancing around.
“Yes, he’s fine. I just, that is, I’m hungry and there’s no food in the house.”
Mara regarded her through unblinking eyes, nostrils flaring. “Not very hospitable of him to seduce a young woman and not stock the cupboards.”
Sheree blushed from head to foot. She had planned to let Derek break the news to his mother, but she couldn’t just stand there and let Mara think what she was obviously thinking.