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  “I’m sorry I had to miss your game, darling. Did you win?”

  “No, but we will next time. See you later, Nana. We’re going over to Dad’s townhouse to watch a movie.”

  Tris stepped to the door. “At last we meet, Mrs. Marsden,” he said as Rachel’s mother came in the house. She was blond and hazel eyed. He studied her for a long moment. “Now I know where your daughter inherited her attractive looks.”

  She smiled. “Now I know where Natalie inherited hers. Thank you for the lovely flowering plant you sent me.”

  He took her hand in both of his. “It was the least I could do after the gift you gave me through Natalie. It has filled in the void left by my accident. I feel whole again, and totally indebted to you.”

  “You suffered. I’m sorry.” Her compassion prompted him to lean down and kiss her on both cheeks. “My parents want to meet you. When Alain and I fly back in a few days, we’d like you to come with us.”

  Her eyes twinkled like his father’s sometimes did. “I’ll have to get a passport first. I think maybe I’ll see about that this afternoon.” She looked at her daughter. “I didn’t realize Tris had flown in. Under the circumstances, I’m going to leave.”

  “Don’t go, Mom!”

  Tris heard panic in her voice. Rachel had been on edge since showing up at the rink. Before long he intended to know the reason why.

  “We’ll have plenty of time to talk later, darling.”

  “Then I’ll walk you out.”

  Rachel swept past Tris without looking at him. He watched her accompany her mother to the car parked in front. If she was prevailing on her to stay, it didn’t appear to be doing any good. Vivian got behind the wheel and drove off in short order.

  Much as Tris would have liked to visit with Natalie’s grandmother, he had to admit he was glad she left. He wanted certain answers from Rachel. Now that they were strictly alone, he would get them.

  Once she came back inside, he said, “I get the feeling something else is wrong besides your concern that hockey’s too dangerous for our daughter. Is it because Steve couldn’t come with you?”

  She folded her arms, a sure sign she didn’t like his question.

  “What are you afraid of, Rachel? You’re behaving like you did on the phone when I first called you.”

  Her chin lifted mutinously. “I don’t mean to be rude, but Steve isn’t your business.”

  “He is if he’s going to become Natalie’s stepfather,” Tris retorted. “Last night he couldn’t wait to get you alone. It’s obvious he’s practically standing on his head to get close to Natalie. Which makes me even more curious why you came to the game alone. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “It’s not that simple, Tris. Steve and I haven’t dated that long.”

  “It doesn’t take long when it’s the real thing,” he challenged. “By the time you and I had eaten our first meal together, we knew there was something between us so strong and deep, nothing could have torn us apart except a catastrophe.”

  “That was different.”

  “You mean because we were young and reckless?” he baited her.

  Between dark lashes her eyes flashed like green gem-stones in sunlight. “Yes!”

  “You’ve told me that before. I told Alain the same thing when he found your letter. Nevertheless we both know we fell madly in love and planned our wedding before we ever got off the ship.

  “Now I need to know how close you are to making wedding plans with Steve. I came here with Alain to get things settled. He’s doing much better, but the children don’t need any more upheaval in their lives.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” she cried.

  “Judging by the pain in your voice, I take it you’ve already told Steve yes, and are worried about how this is all going to work out. So I’ll try to make this easier for you.

  “If you’re going to move in with him, I’ll buy the townhouse I’ve rented. But if Steve’s moving in with you, then I’ll purchase a home in Concord. One that’s far enough away to put the children in different schools and give you and your husband privacy.”

  “No, Tris—”

  She’d said no one too many times to him. “Sorry, Rachel, but you had it all your own way for twelve years. Now it’s my turn.”

  “You don’t understand.” She shook her head. “You don’t need to rent the townhouse or buy a house. None of that’s necessary.”

  A tight band constricted his breathing. “Why not?”

  “Because Steve doesn’t want to marry me.”

  “Not according to Natalie!”

  “Our daughter was with you last night. She doesn’t know what happened after you all left.”

  “What did Steve do? Threaten to walk away if I tried to exercise my rights as Natalie’s father? You want me to talk to him? Reassure him that I’ll do everything possible to make this work?”

  “No—” She spread her hands in silent entreaty. “It wasn’t like that. He senses Natalie loves you too much to ever accept him.”

  Tris hadn’t expected to hear that explanation. “She likes him well enough.”

  “Come on, Tris. We both know how she feels about you. Our situation is so unique, no man’s going to try to compete. It just wouldn’t work.”

  Grace a dieu. “So what are saying?”

  “If you want Natalie to live with you in Switzerland forever, then so be it. I happen to know it has always been her heart’s desire. But as we both know, she’ll never be happy without me. Therefore, I—I’m prepared to move there and find a job. Maybe I can talk my mother into moving there, too.

  “I’ll have to put the townhouse up for sale in order to buy something comparable in Montreux. That way we’ll be able to share our daughter and you won’t have to uproot Alain.”

  His adrenalin surged. “There’s only one way to do this. That’s for us to get married. We’ll adopt Alain as our son so he feels as much a part of us as Natalie does.”

  Her face paled. “You’re not serious—”

  “Once upon a time we were lovers,” he declared forcefully. “Natalie’s our flesh and blood daughter. Alain needs a mother’s influence. By rights you’re his aunt and the perfect person to fill that role.”

  “Stop it, Tris. What you’re suggesting is impossible.”

  “Why? Because you’re still in love with Steve? I thought you were prepared to put Natalie’s happiness above every other consideration.”

  Her body tautened. “I thought I just did. What we haven’t talked about are your feelings.”

  “You already know what they are. The children are my first priority.”

  “I’m referring to your personal life. Some day the right woman will come along.”

  “I think Alain had it right the first time. The love I felt for you prevented me from falling for anyone else. When you think about it, who else but you already has a bond with Alain? He and Natalie share Monbrisson blood.”

  Hot color streamed into her cheeks. “But we’re not the same people who fell in love on that ship.”

  “No we’re not. We’ve both struggled a great deal since then. We’ve lost loved ones. Obviously we can’t go back and change anything. But we could sure as hell try to make a wonderful life for the children. They’re beginning to like each other.”

  “Alain would never accept me.”

  “You’re wrong.” Tris eyed her through shuttered lids. “That day in Broc, you did something for him that went soul deep. If he hadn’t wanted to come on this trip, he would have stayed with the grandparents.”

  She didn’t say anything.

  As the silence grew, the smell of victory faded.

  It was entirely possible that for once in his life, those gut instincts he’d always relied on were way off. Too late he realized his body had broken out in a familiar cold sweat.

  “Think about it and let me know. I’m going to check on the kids.”

  After Tris walked out, Rachel stood there reeling over what he’d just s
aid.

  That day in Broc, you did something for him that went soul deep.

  It meant Alain had told him about the flies. If that was true—and apparently it was since there would have been no other way for Tris to find out—then Alain did like her a little bit. Enough to come on this trip with Tris of his own accord.

  So that left Tris… He still hadn’t told her how he felt about her. How could she possibly give him a definitive answer until she knew the truth?

  After vacillating for a little while, she couldn’t stand it any longer and hurried over to the townhouse to have it out with him.

  When she entered the living room, she found the kids sitting on the floor in front of the TV talking quietly. They’d turned off the video. Something was wrong.

  She looked around. “Where’s Tris?”

  “He’s upstairs lying down,” Alain said.

  “I made an ice pack for him with a washcloth,” Natalie explained. “He told us to stay here until he’d slept it off.”

  “I’ll look in on him to see if he’s all right.”

  Rachel stole up the staircase. The townhouse was just like hers. She headed instinctively for the master bedroom.

  A soft cry caught in her throat to see Tris stretched out on the bed. His handsome face looked drawn. There were smudge marks beneath his eyes. The dark lashes of his closed lids stood out against the pallor of his skin.

  It was frightening to think a migraine could incapacitate a person so fast. Especially someone as mentally and physically strong as Tris. Within minutes he’d been put completely out of commission.

  Love for him spilled from her heart to fill her whole body. He had an indomitable will, but like Samson who lost his great strength without his hair, Tris lay temporarily helpless from an old injury.

  She climbed on the bed next to him. “Tris?” she whispered.

  “Rachel—” He tried opening his eyes, but she could tell the natural light from the room caused him too much distress.

  “Let me help you. Turn on your side away from me.”

  It took every bit of effort for him to do her bidding. The washcloth fell to the carpet, but it didn’t matter. Once she had clear access, she placed hands around his neck and applied the special thumb massage to the back of his skull.

  Her ministrations had stopped his migraine before. She hoped another miracle would take it away again. Within a few minutes she heard the change of tenor in his breathing. He was asleep.

  She kept a constant vigil in case he needed something. Near the end of an hour, he changed positions and ended up turned toward her. Color had seeped back into his face. The carved lines around his mouth had vanished. No more shadows.

  Rachel was finally able to relax. She rested on her side facing him. What a gorgeous man he was. It was a luxury to feast her eyes on him, but also a pleasure pain because she ached to trace his brows, the sculpted cut of his firm male jawline. His lips.

  She’d done it many times before when they’d lain awake on the cabin’s bunk. He hadn’t been suffering with migraine then. They’d studied each other’s faces, so enraptured by the differences and so in love, the memories moved her to tears.

  While she waited for signs that he was coming around, a drowsiness stole over her, slowly lowering her inhibitions. Her eyelids grew heavier. She fought sleep, but her emotions had been in such chaos, it was a losing battle.

  “Oh, Tris…”

  She could still see him through her lashes. But his brown eyes were open now. They didn’t fight the light. Clear and free of pain, they looked into hers, finding a conduit all the way to her soul.

  “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?”

  “As long as I’m beautiful to you, nothing else matters. I love you, Tris.”

  Instincts older than time drove her to seek that familiar place in his arms. She slid her hands around him to close any space left between them. Her lips sought his compelling mouth.

  “Love me all night long like you did last night. Don’t ever let me go.”

  “As if I would, mon amour.”

  His mouth fastened hungrily over hers in an explosion of deepest need. He pressed her down against the pillow. Their bodies and limbs entwined with such gratifying pleasure, they both moaned.

  One kiss followed another. At first they took their time, pacing themselves to go slowly in order to relish the taste and feel of each other. But their insatiable craving started to get out of hand, creating a firestorm.

  Tris infused her with a mounting ecstasy until she lived for nothing but his mouth. She couldn’t contain her joy over being with him. Her emotions sought an outlet before they erupted.

  “You’re my life, Tris.” She buried her face in his neck. “I don’t ever want to get off the ship,” came her feverish cry. “I couldn’t live without you now.”

  “You won’t have to. We’re going to be together forever.”

  “That’s what you promised, but you broke it. You broke it—” she sobbed.

  “Rachel—wake up, mon coeur. You’re having a bad dream.”

  She was dreaming?

  The strong arms clutching her felt very real. She opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was waiting for Tris to wake up.

  To her amazement he was very much awake and molding the back of her head while he attempted to comfort her. His face was wet. So was hers. It came to her she’d been caught in the thrall of past euphoria with him.

  “I—I was dreaming about us being on the ship,” she stammered.

  “I know. I was right there with you in living color. Once and for all I know how much you loved me and I loved you. We love each other now with even more intensity, so don’t you dare deny it.”

  She started to tremble with excitement. “I won’t.”

  He rocked her back and forth. “We’re going to get married as soon as possible, just the way we planned. And then we’re going to spend the rest of our lives making up for lost time by loving each other into oblivion. Tu compris, mon amour?”

  “Yes, darling. I understand.”

  “Much as I’d like to pretend this bed is our old cabin bunk, and we have a whole week together before we have to come up for air, I don’t dare stay here with you any longer. Papa would have my head if I got you pregnant again before we’d said our vows in church.”

  “I’m afraid my mother would be shocked, too.”

  Somehow she managed to disengage herself from his arms and slide off the bed. He steadied her so she wouldn’t fall.

  “Wooh—To be honest, I feel like I’m back on the ship.”

  He got to his feet and reached for her. “That was quite a journey we took. After what I experienced with you just now, I’ve stopped feeling cheated that you know something about our lovelife I don’t. Well…maybe one or two details are still missing,” he added in a wry tone.

  Fire entered her cheeks, but she was no longer afraid to let him see the love that burned for him. When Tris was in a smiling, teasing mood like he was now, light illuminated her universe.

  “I want to fill in that final memory for you. I’ve wanted it twelve years longer than you. You can’t even imagine…”

  “Rachel—” His dark head descended. Then he was crushing her mouth with his own. They clung to each other in their desperate need for assurance that this wasn’t a dream.

  “I was never complete without you,” he whispered against her lips some time later.

  “Neither of us was. In the children’s own way, I think they both knew it.”

  Tris sucked in his breath. “We owe everything to Alain.”

  Her eyes moistened again. “I love him so much.”

  “He feels it. Speaking of the children, we need to tell them our news.”

  “You do the honors, darling. I know you’re dying to.”

  His white smile dissolved her bones. He tucked a finger under her chin. “How is it you understand me so well?”

  “At nineteen or ninety, certain things about you, Yves-Ge
rard Tristan de Monbrisson, will never change, thank heaven.”

  A solemn expression broke out on his handsome face. “I swear I’ll never take our love for granted, Rachel.”

  “You think I don’t know that?” She proceeded to kiss every arresting male feature. “Why do you imagine I fell in love with you in the first place?

  “I may only have been eighteen, but when I looked into your eyes, I knew you were the crème de la crème. I’m never going to let you forget it,” her voice trembled.

  “Mom?”

  “Uncle Tris? Is everything okay?”

  “Let them wait,” he said in a hushed, almost savage tone, pressing a hot kiss to her lips. “I don’t want to leave this room yet. Hold on to me, Rachel. Pretend we’re in that hurricane and all we have is each other.”

  “I don’t need to pretend anything. Can’t you see you’ve got me where I’ve always wanted to be? I’m not going anywhere.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7830-5

  THEIR NEW-FOUND FAMILY

  First North American Publication 2005.

  Copyright © 2005 by Rebecca Winters.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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