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“I finished my plate. Did I do good?” I teased Declan.
“Such a good girl. You deserve a prize.”
I grinned. “What kind of prize?”
“Hush, curious cat. Later.”
We moved to the other side of the patio, sitting near the pool while the staff cleared up the after-dinner mess. We were served coffee—no more booze—as we lounged on rattan daybeds under the clear night sky. As the last of the staff dismantled the table and hauled everything away, Declan got up and talked to Nyoman. He signed something and tipped him and the others.
Silence blanketed us as Nyoman quietly withdrew from the patio. Declan turned to me. His smile was ever so wicked. My heart quickened with a thrill. Declan never failed to do that to me each time he looked at me.
Standing almost seven feet tall, Declan looked like a young god of Asgard. His fair hair was cut very short and clean. I always saw him in immaculately formal suits so it was refreshing to see him dress casually. Tonight he was wrapped in a white cotton shirt and a pair of khakis. Very sexy. Of course, he could be clad in rags and still look breathtaking.
Declan took his smart phone out of his pocket and selected some music. Soft jazz tunes filled the air. Not too loud, but serenading intimately for us. He held out a hand to me. I got up from the daybed and went to him.
“May I have this dance?” he asked.
“Yes,” I whispered. He was such a gentleman.
He curled an arm around my waist and we danced cheek to cheek under the moonlight. For the first time since I’d met Lorenzo, I felt young again and carefree. All my worries melted away. I felt protected and secure. Cherished and loved. I’d never had a man do so much nor go to these lengths just to be with me. I felt flattered. Wanted. Worthy. My chest constricted with a thousand silent emotions.
Declan stroked my cheek with such tenderness. “Do you know, in our family we mate for life?”
“Your family doesn’t believe in divorce?”
“Divorce is an unknown word. An unacceptable concept. A Cairne man chooses his woman carefully. Once he soul bonds with her, they are inseparable till death do them part.”
I wanted to say ‘No shit’, but that would have ruined the mood. So I settled for something neutral. “Really?” I found his statement rather odd, with the ‘soul bonding’ and the ‘till death do us part’ thing. Maybe I’d had too much to drink. But who would do that in this day and age? Everybody I knew had either gone through a divorce or changed spouses like they changed underwear.
Falling in love was easy. Staying in love was hard.
“When I first saw you walking through my office door,” Declan continued, “I knew you were the one.”
“That was just your cock doing the thinking,” I joked.
“Maybe.” His lips quirked into a grin. The arm on my waist tightened. “But I’m a man who knows what I want.”
“How did you know? That sounded so clichéd.”
“Because I’m a Cairne and that’s how is it is done in our family.”
“Your parents, too?”
“Yes.”
“Your uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces?”
“Cairnes always sire boys. Our line has been unbroken for seventeen generations.”
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“Always boys?”
“Always boys. One mate for life.”
I was dizzy. I blamed it on the champagne.
