‘When I found out where you’d gone I came after you as fast as I could. I knew you’d try something like this. Luckily, I arrived in time to spike your guns.’
‘I was only trying to do my best for you,’ Amos growled. ‘You’ve done so well these past few days.’
‘Yes, I’ve put a lot of things right, not everything but enough to survive. And now I’m coming back here to stay. For good. I’m moving my centre of operations here permanently. From now on I’ll operate out of Giant’s Beacon, with the help of my wife.’
‘Your wife!’ Amos snapped. ‘You mean you’ve asked her? Of all the damn fool-’
‘No, I haven’t asked her,’ Darius said with a glance at Harriet. ‘And after what you’ve told her I wouldn’t give much for my chances. But I’m a man who doesn’t give up. When I want something I keep on and on until I get it. You taught me that, and I was never more glad of a lesson in my life.
‘It won’t be easy. Why should any woman in her right mind want to marry into this family? But I’ll keep going until she forgives me for keeping that little matter of her husband to myself, and understands that I can’t live without her. Then, perhaps she’ll take pity on me.’
Harriet tried to speak but she couldn’t. Her eyes were blinded with tears and something was almost choking her.
‘Now go,’ Darius said quietly.
Amos knew when he was beaten. With a scowl at them both, he stormed out of the door and they heard his footsteps thundering on the stairs.
‘I meant every word of it,’ Darius said, coming to stand before her. ‘I love you. I want to have you with me always. That’s why I went to London, to set up the arrangements that would make it possible for me to move here permanently. I suppose I ought to have told you first-asked you first-but that’s not my way. I fix things to suit myself, and then other people just have to fit in. Once I knew I wanted to marry you, you never had a choice.
‘Harriet, Harriet, don’t cry. I don’t mean it. I’ll do anything to marry you. You’ll just have to be a little patient with me. Don’t cry, my darling, please.’
But she couldn’t stop crying. Tears of joy, of hope, of released tension, they all came flooding out, making it impossible for her to speak. Mysteriously, he also found that words had deserted him, so he abandoned them altogether, carried her into the bedroom and revealed his love in other ways. She responded with heartfelt tenderness, and they found that their mutual understanding was once more perfect.
‘I can’t believe the way you stood up to my father,’ he murmured as they lay together afterwards. ‘The world is littered with strong men he crushed beneath his feet, but he didn’t stand a chance against you.’
‘He tried to turn me against you,’ she said. ‘How dare he!’
‘I heard him tell you that he and I had had several meetings while I was in London, but he didn’t tell you what those meetings were about. He tried again to get me to marry Freya, offered me money, all useless. Freya was cheering me on, and actually drove me to the airport. The last thing she said to me was, “Go for it. Don’t let her escape!”
‘Mary said much the same thing. There’ll be a huge cheer when I tell them that we’re engaged.’ Suddenly, he sounded uncertain. ‘Harriet, we are engaged, aren’t we?’
‘I thought you weren’t going to take no for an answer.’
‘I’m not.’
‘And neither am I.’ She drew him close.
‘That old man thought he was being clever when he found out about your husband,’ Darius said, ‘but it just made me angry with him. It only affected me in that I longed for you to confide in me willingly, and when you did-I wanted to tell you that I already knew, but I was afraid to spoil what was happening between us. Say you forgive me.’
‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ she whispered.
‘And we’ll marry as soon as possible?’
‘I want to, of course I do. I love you. I thought I’d never love another man, but you’re different from them all. But can you really give up your old life to come and live here? Aren’t we being unrealistic?’
‘I shan’t have to give it up completely. I’m going to have to downsize, but that suits me. My London home is up for sale and I’ll be selling quite a few other properties. I’ll pay off some debts, reschedule others, and what’s left can be controlled just as easily from here as from London.’
‘But can you do it all alone?’
‘I won’t have to. I have staff who are willing to move here permanently. I couldn’t ask them before because I didn’t know where I’d be myself, but now it can all be arranged. I’ve got plans to create a little village for them.’
‘And they won’t mind leaving London for such a quiet place?’
‘Mind? They were falling over themselves to volunteer. This will be a whole new life for a lot of people. It isn’t going to be the “great financial empire” I once had. It’ll be about a third of the size, but that’s fine with me. Then I’ll have more time to spend with my wife and our children.’
‘Our children?’
‘If that’s what you’d like.’ He was silenced suddenly as she took him into a fierce embrace.
‘That’s what I’d like,’ she whispered at last. ‘Oh, yes, that’s what I’d like, as soon as possible.’
‘Then we’ll have a dozen children, and I’ll spend my time pottering about the house, and sometimes helping you in the shop.’
‘Now you’re getting carried away,’ she warned.
‘So what’s wrong with being carried away?’
‘Nothing,’ she sighed blissfully. ‘Nothing at all.’
‘And I’m going to do my best to make Herringdean glad I’m here. There must be things I can do for the community. I expect they’ll come and suggest them to you soon, and you can tell me. I’m going to have a good look at that wind farm. There may be some arrangement I can make to get a good electricity price for the island.’
‘Do you really think you can?’
‘I don’t know.’ His voice rose to a note of exhilaration. ‘I simply don’t know.’
‘Darling, you’re sounding a bit mad. Anyone would think not knowing was the best thing in the world.’
‘Maybe it is. Maybe it’s better to have things that you know you don’t know, that you’ve got to learn about, because that’s all part of having a new life. There’s so much I don’t know, and I’m going to have a great time finding out.’
‘We’ll have a great time finding out,’ she suggested.
‘Maybe. The trouble is that you already know so much more than me. I’m going to have to learn from you-teacher.’
She regarded him tenderly. She wasn’t crazy enough to take all of this too seriously. Darius was caught in the exhilaration of their love and their new life, and he was celebrating with wild dreams. But he hadn’t completely changed character, no matter how he sounded. Part of him would always be the fierce, dynamic man who’d first arrived on Herringdean weeks ago.
But she knew also that part of him would be this new man coming to life in her arms. And just how the mixture settled would be up to her in the years ahead. He’d put himself in her hands and she was eager for the challenge.
‘You make it sound so wonderful,’ she said. ‘Oh, yes, everything is going to be perfect. No, no, it’s perfect now.’
‘Not quite,’ he said. ‘There’s still one thing I want, although I don’t suppose I’ll ever have it.’
‘Whatever can that be?’
‘You’ve done so much for me. Saving my life was just the start of it. There are so many other ways in which you’ve saved me, I couldn’t begin to count them. If only there was something I could do for you that would mean as much.’
‘But it’s enough that you love me.’
‘Not for me. I want to give you something so precious that it’s like a jewel, but I don’t know that I can. I can’t make it happen-it just has to happen, and maybe it never will.’