Page 51 of The Tycoon's Ultimate Conquest
Six months later, life couldn’t be better and so much had changed. For starters, the house had no more leaks in need of fixing. It had been renovated to its original splendour but, with all the right planning permission in place, was now a fully functioning office catering for several start-up companies as well as the legal practice which Phil, Rose’s partner, had taken over in its entirety.
Rose no longer lived there but whenever she returned she marvelled at its wonderful transformation.
‘I don’t think,’ she confided to Art a few weeks after she had moved out and shortly before their wedding, ‘that I ever really saw it asmyhouse.Even though, technically, it was. And even though I always, always knew it to be a real blessing. I guess I always somehow associated it with a time in my life that brought back bad memories so, whilst I’m happy it’s renovated, I’m pleased I no longer live in it.’
Where she lived now could not have been more wonderful. Not the sprawling modernist vision in London which Art had occupied but, he also admitted, never actually viewed as anything other than a handy space in a useful location, but a country cottage that was the perfect blend of ancient and modern.
It was just outside London, convenient for commuting both back to London by train and to the centre in the Cotswolds where José would be eventually located.
Rose had fallen in love with the cottage at first sight.
With the husband of her dreams and the house to match, she hadn’t thought that life could get any better but it had.
She started as she heard the front door open and her heart quickened, as it always did at the arrival of her husband.
She rose to greet him and smiled at the naked love and desire etched on his lean face.
He was so beautiful and he washers.She smiled at the thrill of possession that swelled inside her.
Art smiled back, moving smoothly towards her while undoing the top couple of buttons of his shirt.
‘You don’t get to look like that without accepting that there’ll be consequences.’ He pulled her towards him, cupped her rounded bottom and crushed her against him so that she could feel the tell-tale stirring of his desire.
‘Look like what?’ Rose burst out laughing, drawing back and capturing his face between her hands.
‘Oh, you know...pair of jeans, tee shirt, flip-flops...’
‘Oh, you mean myfancyoutfit.’
‘You’ve gone all out on the dinner, I see.’ Art peered around her to see the kitchen table, which was candlelit and set in some style. ‘What have I forgotten? It’s not a birthday and it’s definitely not our anniversary, unless it’s the anniversary of the first time you decided that I was the best thing that ever happened to you, which would have been, hmm, about five minutes after we met?’
‘Time’s done nothing to dim that ego of yours, Arturo da Costa, has it?’
Art burst out laughing. ‘Don’t keep me in suspense. With any other woman, I’d be inclined to think that you’re bracing me for some wildly extravagant purchase, but then, my darling, you’re not any other woman and I thank my lucky stars for that every day.’
Rose tugged him into the huge open-plan kitchen with its granite countertops and its wonderful state-of-the-art built-in appliances.
‘Champagne,’ Art murmured, glancing at the counter. ‘Now I’m really beginning to get worried.’
‘Then don’t. I actually would have dressed up for the occasion but I opted for comfortable over glamorous.’
‘Don’t distract me.’
‘The champagne is for you. I’ll be sticking to mineral water for the moment and for the next, oh, let’s say...nine months or so...’
‘Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?’
‘I’m pregnant.’
Art wrapped his arms around her and held her tight to him for several long minutes. ‘I couldn’t have asked for a better end to my day, my darling. I love you so very much.’
‘And I love you too. Now and for ever.’
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