The Forbidden Innocent Read online

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t remember. And as pressing and as entertaining as both those proposals are—there’s something which will always take priority, Ashley.’

  It was one of those questions which didn’t really need asking—but Ashley couldn’t resist.

  ‘And what’s that?’

  He smiled again, his fingertip tracing the upward curve of her lips. ‘I’d quite forgotten how well you had learned to flirt. Come closer, my sweet minx—and I’ll show you.’

  She realised that his sightless eyes could still weep, for she felt the wetness which mingled on their cheeks. But as he bent his head and began to kiss her, Ashley’s eyes fluttered to a close to block out everything but the sensation.

  And in that moment she was as blind as he was.

  EPILOGUE

  SHE married him on a soft summer’s day in the little village church, near Blackwood. Their only witnesses were Christine and Julia—one a widow and the other a spinster. Two middle-aged women whose own dreams of love had been cut short or never realised—but who looked with deep affection on the couple who made their vows so tremulously in that small church. Ashley wore a simple gown of white cotton and carried a bunch of cream roses she had picked herself from one of the now-wild bushes at Blackwood.

  Dismissing the two carers with a generous pay-off, they made their home in Ivy House while Blackwood was being rebuilt—because Jack had discovered he couldn’t bear to see the house which had been home to generations of his family simply crumble into the earth. Ashley was charged with overseeing much of the reconstruction—and she determined to use as many local craftspeople as possible to recreate the magnificent manor house which she had grown to love. There would be gleaming floors and sweeping staircases and stained glass just as before—but there would be modern touches, too. More en-suite bathrooms, for a start—and the opportunity to make the huge building more energy-efficient.

  To Ashley’s delight, Jack continued to write the biography he’d been working on before the fire—he dictated it into a machine and she typed it up for him once she’d completed his novel. But the novel was never published—nor even read by anyone else, much to the chagrin and persistent pleas of Jack’s agent. Ashley was no expert, but even she suspected that the explosive and powerful content of the book was enough to ensure a massive global success—and a film was just crying out to be made. She said as much to her husband one evening, when she was lying on the sofa with her head in his lap where she’d just been reading aloud to him.

  ‘I know,’ he murmured as he kissed the top of her head. ‘But I don’t want that kind of success, Ashley. It disrupts. It takes over—devouring what it creates. I have the estates and the farms to provide us with income. In fact, I have everything I want here—with you. Why should I go seeking more?’

  She knew exactly what he meant—she’d read enough celebrity magazines to see how fame could corrupt. She could just imagine the field day the publicists would have: Blind hero writes powerful anti-war polemic! Their lives would be dissected. He would be like a butterfly pinned to a piece of cardboard—trapped and watched over—this fiercely proud husband of hers.

  For a man as independent as Jack, she had thought that occasionally he would rail and protest against his blindness—but he did not. He seemed content to rely on Ashley for support and guidance—maybe because that support and guidance was reciprocal. For Ashley felt she took from him as much as she gave. She was his eyes, yet he was her heart—and never had the marriage vows seemed to be more applicable than in their case. One flesh and one blood.

  Until one bright clear morning he startled her by asking whether she was wearing a pale-blue dress.

  Ashley spun round and stared at him. ‘Why… yes.’

  ‘And some sort of gold necklace?’

  It was the one with the beautiful pearls he had ordered for their wedding day. ‘Yes!’

  Trying not to dare to hope, she made an appointment for them at a top London eye hospital—where, under the care of a brilliant ophthalmologist, Jack’s eyesight began to improve until he gradually recovered the sight in one eye. He would never be able to take up flying—or to read the small print of a book without adequate lighting—but he could see enough to gaze at their first son and to see that he had inherited his father’s brilliant black eyes.

  Ashley was pregnant with their second child when the work at Blackwood was finally completed and the house restored to a glorious and welcoming state. But they never moved into it—because Jack had felt uneasy about the project. Lazy pillow talk had allowed them to discuss the subject at length and he told her that he wanted to turn the house into a respite home for the blind, and for those who cared for them. That he wanted to create a garden for the senses—composed of fragrant herbs and flowers with scented bowers in which to sit and listen to birdsong. The Ivy House was plenty big enough for their growing family and they could always build on if they needed extra space. He wanted Blackwood to become a haven—a warm and welcoming place which could provide comfort and hope for those who needed it.

  A family from London’s East End had left that very morning and the little six-year-old girl whose mother had been blind since birth had left behind a small pot of lily-of-the-valley she’d picked as a thank-you gift. Ashley buried her nose in the fragrant little bell-shaped flowers and felt a great wave of gratitude for all that they had.

  It was quiet and peaceful in the vast hallway now that everyone had gone. She remembered the first time she had seen that hall and how intimidating it had seemed. And she remembered the first time that Jack had led her upstairs to his bed—and how darkly powerful and compelling he had seemed. He still was—her endlessly fascinating partner—her tender and imaginative lover.

  They had experienced many trials and tribulations during their time together—but hadn’t those trials tested them and made them stronger? Hadn’t they helped forge a bond between them which only death could break?

  She glanced up to see him walking into the hall to join her, a soft smile curving the edges of his lips as he looked at her and Ashley gave an instinctive little shiver. All these years down the line and her life with him still felt like a honeymoon.

  His voice broke into her thoughts. ‘And what are you smiling about so enigmatically, Ashley Marchant?’ he questioned.

  She touched her fingers to his raven hair, then trailed them down to the edges of those sensual lips. ‘Oh, I was just agreeing with whoever it was who wrote “love conquers all”.’

  ‘Virgil,’ he remarked as he pulled her into his arms and pushed the hair back from her face just before he began to kiss her—his beloved wife. ‘It was Virgil.’

  He felt the clench of his heart and a deep sense of gratitude for he knew that he was the most fortunate of men. Jack had fought and won many battles in his life—but his marriage to Ashley was his greatest victory of all.

  All the 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 the incidents are pure invention.

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  First published in Great Britain 2011

  Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

  © Sharon Kendrick 2011

  ISBN: 978-1-408-92523-2