“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.
She found Colin easily; he was head and shoulders above most people in the room. Definitely head and shoulders above the elderly lady standing beside him, holding his hand in a grip so strong, it looked like she was attempting to leech the youth, power and vitality out of the handsome man.
And when Marian saw him, she saw Colin’s golden aura was not as dim as the one that glittered in the air for it shown around him with nearly blinding clarity.
Marian smiled contentedly to herself and approached him as she thought with unsuppressed glee, Nearly there.
She was waylaid by the Godwins who were standing in line for tea.
“Mrs. Byrne! What a pleasure. I didn’t know you were coming tonight,” Marguerite Godwin greeted and kissed Marian’s cheek.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Marian informed the delightful woman she found (not surprisingly) she liked very much and accepted greetings from Albert and Scarlett.
Then Marian noted, eyes sliding to the tall man, “I see Colin has an admirer.”
“Ah yes, she latched onto him the minute we arrived and hasn’t left his side,” Marguerite explained while Albert placed their tea orders, thoughtfully adding one for Marian.
“How are… things?” Marian asked even though she didn’t need to after her glance at Colin. She turned her attention to him again and saw him dip his head politely to listen to whatever the older lady was telling him.
He was relaxed and at ease, seeming in his element casually wearing his expensive suit and standing in the decrepit, old Hall. Colin Morgan seemed to own every space he occupied, she knew, but since Marian met him, he’d always been coiled as tight as a spring. Now he seemed content.
“Things are brilliant,” Mags enthused, putting Marian’s thoughts into words, adding. “Sibyl’s around somewhere but she’s crazy busy.”
It was then, as if on cue, Sibyl entered the Hall through sliding doors at the side. Wearing a wraparound, red dress that hugged her generous curves, a pair of open-toed, black high heels, her hair pulled back in a clip at the nape of her neck, she approached Colin.
Her aura was different, astoundingly so. It was golden but shot with white hot sparks some of which glittered nearly blue.
Marian felt the world come closer together.