200 Harley Street: The Tortured Hero Page 16

  Aidan was good and kind—it shone from his soul. Not to mention smart—laughing a woman into bed was a very good ploy.

  ‘Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.’

  Aidan nodded and they danced for a few moments in silence. ‘I’m just saying,’ he said, pulling back to look into her face, ‘I’d volunteer for the job ’cos that’s just the kind of guy I am.’

  Olivia laughed. ‘You’re a trooper. And I appreciate it.’

  He sighed again. ‘Not going to work, huh?’

  Olivia shook her head. ‘Sorry. If it’s any consolation, I would if...’

  Aidan nodded. ‘If you weren’t head over heels in love with the man who is now pushing his way through a crowded dance floor looking like he wants to make mincemeat of my face.’

  Olivia frowned at him. ‘What?’

  But then an imperious voice, so English compared to the soft burr of Aidan’s accent, said, ‘May I cut in?’

  Aidan looked at a tense-jawed Ethan, then at Olivia. ‘It’s up to you, darlin’,’ he said. ‘You can dance with him or I can take him outside and beat him up.’

  Olivia blinked at Aidan’s joviality in the face of what was a fairly hostile situation. Ethan might be dressed in a tux but that was the only civilised thing about him right now as he glared down at the Irishman in stony silence.

  ‘Just say the word,’ Aidan chirped.

  Olivia did a quick calculation of the body mass difference between the two men and her respect for Aidan trebled. He was going to make some girl an amazing partner one day.

  ‘Thanks.’ She smiled at him and squeezed his arm. ‘You’ve been fabulous, but I think I can take it from here.’

  Ethan relaxed slightly when the Irish nurse bowed gallantly and melted away. ‘May I?’ he asked.

  Olivia’s heart was thrumming against her ribs so loudly she could barely hear him. ‘I didn’t think you danced,’ she said waspishly.

  Ethan grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. ‘I do tonight.’

  Olivia’s arms went around his neck automatically, for stability, and then just because he looked so damn good and smelled a thousand per cent better. He swayed against her, and for someone who battled a limp and maintained he couldn’t dance he managed to get to the end of the song without stepping on her feet or crashing into anyone.

  They pulled apart as everyone else did, and clapped politely, but the whole time he was looking at her with lust and heat and sex in his eyes and Olivia’s belly turned to mush and her legs to jelly. She felt as if they were the only two people in the room.

  ‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said as the band started a new song, taking her hand and leading her to the French doors.

  By the time they’d stepped out onto a terrace that was lit with enough tiny lights to power an entire fairytale castle Olivia was grateful for the cold air on her heated flesh. Her dress was not suitable for a November night in London, but she was so hot and bothered it was a blessing.

  ‘Ethan, what do you—?’

  It was as far as she got before he turned and cut her off with a kiss that was so deep and hard and hungry all she could do was shut her eyes and hang on.

  When he pulled away they were both panting, and Olivia was annoyed at herself for being swept away by the lights and the dancing and his dashing frame filling out a tuxedo as well as he did a pair of scrubs.

  Hell, the man had even shaved.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she demanded.

  Ethan had been rehearsing his speech on the way over in a taxi with Leo, but then he’d seen her dancing with Irish and it had wiped everything other than the urge to break fingers from his brain. And then he’d been holding her, and she looked so damn good and so incredibly sexy there was no way he was ever going to remember the impassioned entreaty he’d worked on with Leo.

  ‘I’ve been incredibly stupid,’ he said.

  Olivia blinked. ‘You have?’

  Ethan nodded. ‘Yes. I have. I love you. I’m in love with you. But I couldn’t admit it to myself. I felt bad even feeling it, and then Leo said—’

  ‘Leo?’ Olivia interrupted as her heart started to beat a little bit faster at the possibilities he was presenting.

  ‘Yes, he came over and we talked, and I told him about Aaliyah, and he made me see that she would never have wanted me to bury my heart and my life with her.’

  ‘Oh,’ she said faintly, noting the bright glow in his eyes as the golden flecks outshone the fairy lights. Did this mean what she thought it meant? Dared she hope? Her pulse tripped at the thought.

  Ethan pushed his fingers into her hair, cradling her cheeks, itching to pull it out of the knot and see it cascade down her shoulders, feel the heavy warmth of it sifting over his fingers.

  ‘I’ve just been so...lost, Olivia. After Aaliyah I felt like I’d lost everything, and I was just existing in this dark, cold, barren place. And then you came back and brought the warmth and the light, and you got under my skin, just like you had the first time, and I tried to ignore that, tried to not want it, but I couldn’t.’

  Olivia fought against the urge to throw herself into his arms. She wanted him to be sure. ‘Because you love me?’

  Ethan nodded. ‘Yes. You were right when you said Aaliyah wouldn’t want me to blame myself for her death, and Leo was right about how Aaliyah would want me to love and be loved again. I guess I needed to open up to the people who love me and let them help me through, because when I did...it suddenly made sense. But you know us Hunters—not big on emotional declarations.’

  Olivia could feel a block of emotion rising in her throat. Why hadn’t the stubborn man had this kind of revelation a bit earlier? ‘Oh, Ethan.’

  Ethan was encouraged by the husky quality of her voice. ‘I know I don’t deserve a second chance. That all I ever seem to do is hurt you, Liv. But—’

  Olivia cut him off with her mouth, raising herself up on her tippy-toes and throwing her arms around his neck. She didn’t care about that. There’d been a decade of hurt between them, but he loved her and they had a lot of decades ahead.

  ‘Yes, you do,’ she said, pulling back after long breathless moments. ‘We both do. So we screwed it up in the past? This is now, and we both deserve this. We’re good people who have had crappy things happen to them—you bet your ass we deserve this. And you’d better be in this forever, Ethan Hunter, because I love you too, and together forever is the only second chance I’m interested in.’

  Ethan smiled, and then he laughed, lifting her off her feet and swirling her around and around, her diamantés dazzling and sparkling. He felt as light as the air he was swirling her in, and more alive than he’d been in a very long time.

  He eased her back to the floor and placed his forehead against hers. ‘For ever and ever, Liv, I promise.’

  And then he kissed her. He kissed her with everything he had, showing her all their tomorrows.

  And it was good.

  EPILOGUE

  IT HAD BEEN a perfect day for a wedding. Not even a frosty October day had stopped the bride from wearing her mother’s immaculately restored wedding dress. The vintage piece from 1950 fell only to the knee, and the cap sleeves bared her arms, but inside the opulent function room of one of London’s swankiest hotels it was warm and cosy.

  The tinkling of glasses caused a hush around the room and the occupants all turned to face the bridal table, draped in filmy white and decorated with sprigs of fluffy yellow wattle to match the touches of the Australian wild flower in the bride’s hair and bouquet.

  Leo Hunter stood up in his place and announced, ‘It’s been a hell of a year.’

  A murmur of agreement ran around the wedding guests. Some laughed. Everyone smiled. Lizzie especially, who slipped her free hand into her husband’s and squeezed. In her other she c
radled their sleeping three-month-old baby girl. Little Francesca was the spitting image of her father and the light of their lives.

  ‘It took a decade to get these two—’ he turned to Ethan, sitting beside him, and Olivia, sitting on the other side of her new husband ‘—together, and another year for them to finally tie the knot amidst their busy schedules, but I think we can all agree it’s been worth the wait.’

  More general agreement and smiles.

  ‘I’m not going to go on. I think everyone here knows that the Hunter men aren’t big on all that mushy, emotional stuff.’

  General laughter now at the understatement. Everyone present knew the Hunter siblings were great at terse exchanges and loaded silences and only reasonably new to the whole brotherly love thing.

  ‘I just wish Ethan and Olivia all the love and happiness I know they both deserve. I also wish them luck in their new endeavour as they set off to Africa to train up local teams at the new facility the Hunter Clinic and Fair Go have jointly funded.’ Leo raised his glass and turned slightly to face the bride and groom. ‘To Ethan and Olivia. Good things always.’

  Ethan and Olivia rose from their seats as people toasted them. Ethan held his hand out to Leo and they shook. ‘Thank you,’ he murmured as myriad glasses clinked together. ‘It means a lot to me to have you by my side today.’

  Olivia watched as Ethan and Leo embraced, tears pricking the backs of her eyes. She looked at Lizzie, who smiled and winked at her through suspiciously bright eyes.

  Ethan waited for his brother to take his seat, clearing his throat from a rush of unexpected emotion, then turned to Olivia, who was glowing for more reasons than one. A surge of pure male pride flooded him at knowing that he was responsible for that look on her face, that he was the one going home with her tonight and every night.

  He squeezed her hand as he turned to address the room and said, ‘I think we can all agree that I’m the luckiest man in this room tonight.’ Then he turned back to Olivia, dipped his head and kissed her very thoroughly to a resounding chorus of applause, cheers and hoots.

  When he finally released her it was gratifying to see the way her dark brown eyes had melted into two thick, sludgy pools of sticky-sweet lust more desirous than any chocolate from Sirmontane.

  Collecting himself from his own libido spike, he turned to speak again.

  ‘As Leo said, we’re not known for our emotional monologues, so I’m going to keep this brief too. I’d like to thank everyone for coming and helping us to celebrate our day. It has been a hell of a year, and it’s great to look out at you all and see how many of us from the Hunter Clinic family have found happiness in that time. There must be something in the water.’

  Everyone laughed and he waited for them to quiet down before he continued.

  ‘For a long time I’d resigned myself to not ever being happy. Truly happy. And then along came Olivia...again...and she has made me happier than I ever knew I could be.’

  He looked down at her and smiled as the room filled with coos and wolf-whistles.

  Ethan faced their guests again. ‘Up until last night I didn’t think it could get any better than this—which just goes to prove you can get to thirty-six and know nothing, because now it appears I’m going to be a daddy and I’m no longer just happy, I’m whole.’

  For a moment there was stunned silence, and then the room erupted in wild applause as the grinning parents-to-be were treated to a standing ovation.

  ‘And now, if no one objects,’ Ethan said as he hushed their guests with a raising of his hands, ‘I’m going to dance with my pregnant wife.’

  Hoots and hollers met his proclamation as he took Olivia’s hand and gestured for her to accompany him.

  Olivia looked at her brand-new tuxedoed husband. ‘We don’t have to dance, Ethan,’ she said over the din.

  Ethan smiled. ‘Yes, we do. I’ve been taking lessons.’

  ‘Lessons?’

  ‘Trust me,’ he said, kissing her again. ‘I’m a doctor.’

  But their path to the dance floor was littered with well-wishers and it was a slow trip.

  Lizzie and Leo were the first to embrace them.

  ‘Welcome to the club, Ethan,’ Leo said, and both Lizzie and Olivia were surprised when the brothers embraced again.

  Iain and Lexi were next in line. Little Bonnie, recently adopted from China, was alert in her father’s arms and smiled at the newlyweds in a way that melted Olivia’s heart.

  ‘She’s such a cutie,’ Olivia said.

  Lexi smiled. ‘Just like her father.’

  Kara and Declan stopped them next, Kara giving Olivia a huge hug. They were both brown and relaxed, having not long returned from their honeymoon on the Great Barrier Reef.

  ‘You know I’m taking total credit for this, right?’ Kara said. ‘If I hadn’t badgered you to go to the ball...’

  Ethan laughed. ‘Okay, you can take the credit for the wedding, but I’m taking credit for the baby.’

  Declan laughed. ‘I’m sure Kara will give you that one.’

  Marco and Becca were the last ones to catch them before they got to the dance floor.

  ‘Zorro,’ Ethan said, offering his hand to the other man, not remotely concerned to be addressing the second in line to the royal throne of Sirmontane so casually. ‘So glad you could come and add a touch of royalty to our humble wedding. Not quite as spectacular as your marvellous celebration last year.’

  Marco grinned at the familiar jovial banter. ‘Nowhere near as many people to potentially offend either,’ he said good-naturedly. ‘Weddings, my friend, are just the icing. The cake,’ he said, smiling down at Becca, ‘is always the best bit.’

  Becca rolled her eyes and clutched playfully at her heart. ‘Such poetry, my darling.’

  ‘Are you going to be okay, Clavo, with your limp and your two left feet?’ Marco teased. ‘If you need me to do the honours...?’

  Marco, known for his ability to tango, had been Ethan’s go-to man when he’d considered taking some dance lessons so he could wow Olivia in their first dance as husband and wife. The royal Prince and fellow war veteran had set him up with some exclusive lessons from a friend who ran a Latin dance club in Soho.

  ‘You take care of your own wife.’ Ethan winked. ‘I’ll take care of mine.’

  And with that Olivia was finally alone with her husband on the dance floor. The strains of something soft and sweet filled the room as he swept her along in a dance that was slow and simple and sexy and all she had to do was follow his lead.

  They didn’t talk, because clearly the world’s most competent surgeon was concentrating too hard on not screwing up, but Olivia’s heart almost exploded in her chest at his willingness to go so far out of his comfort zone for her.

  His limp was barely discernible these days, due to his strict adherence to regular physio—something which he demonstrated ably as the song came to an end and he dipped her dramatically, following through with a searing kiss to cat-calls, applause and wolf-whistles.

  Another song struck up as Ethan righted Olivia and other couples joined them on the dance floor. Ethan moved into a slow shuffle. The scent of wattle and happiness suffused his senses as he pulled her closer.

  ‘You look very sexy, Mrs Hunter,’ Ethan murmured in Olivia’s ear, even though he knew his independent wife was not changing her name.

  ‘You’re not bad yourself, Mr Hunter,’ she murmured. ‘Of course scrubs would have worked just as well for me.’

  Ethan chuckled. ‘I have some in the hotel suite.’

  Olivia pulled her head off his shoulder swiftly, looking up at him. His cheeky grin let her know he was teasing. She shook her head at him.

  ‘Oh, look, Ethan,’ she murmured as the cutest sight caught her attention over his shoulder.

  She danced them aroun
d slightly so they could both witness it. Their two flower girls were dancing with the page boy, holding hands in a circle. Mia, the eldest, was six and was Mitch Cooper’s daughter. As they watched Mitch and Grace cut in. Mitch picked up Mia and all three of them danced together, their arms around each other. Olivia even heard Mia call Grace Mummy and her heart swelled in her chest. She knew how much Grace had wanted to hear that word from the little girl she loved like her own.

  That just left Ella and Isaac dancing together. At two and a half, Ella looked the picture of health after her risky experimental cancer treatment in the US over a year ago had been more than successful.

  Olivia glanced over at Rafael and Abbie, whose marriage had almost disintegrated under the strain of their daughter’s illness. They were watching Ella like the two proudest people on earth, and their four-month-old son, Stefano, with dark curls just like his sister’s, was proof that things were very good between them.

  Isaac, who was five, was dancing with Ella a bit like the way Ethan had danced with her, his little tongue stuck out in concentration as if he was trying to be all grown up and not step on her toes. Olivia located Charlotte and Edward up amongst the band. She’d hired the band on Edward’s recommendation and watching him now, seated at the baby grand piano, his fingers tinkling the ivories, she was glad she had. Edward was obviously familiar with the guys and they were happy to have him up with them, playing the piano like a professional musician instead of a microsurgeon.

  Charlotte was sitting beside him, enjoying the show, but Olivia noticed her glancing frequently over at Isaac, keeping a watchful eye on him. As a single mum to Isaac for so long, Olivia knew that Charlotte found it hard not to hover, but Edward’s love and commitment had made her more secure. Charlotte looked blissfully happy. They both did.

  Seemed it was the night for it.

  ‘How long do you think,’ Ethan asked, nuzzling her neck, bringing her attention back to the tight circle between them and the heat that was building with every rock and sway, ‘until we can leave?’