Josie Metcalfe - Her Long-Lost Husband

Explain yourself, sir, snapped the unctuous voice of the celebrant, and Olivia saw Gregor blink slowly, almost as if he needed to close his eyes to break the link between them.

Not that it worked.

As soon as he lifted those thick dark lashes the connection was made again, and it seemed as if neither of them could look away.

Despite the distance between the opposite ends of the aisle she could see the shadows in his eyes, and saw too the way his chest expanded with the steadying breath he drew in before he spoke the unavoidable words.

This ceremony cannot continue because the lady is already marriedto me.

There was utter silence for several seconds, before pandemonium erupted around her. It seemed as if every single one of the guests had something to say about the shocking turn of events, but Olivia found it hard to carenot when her overloaded emotions were finally giving up under the accumulated strain of two devastating years.

The last thing she saw before her knees refused to support her any further and the darkness overwhelmed her was Gregors arms reaching towards her, the helpless frustration in his eyes telling her better than words that he wanted to be the one to catch her as she fell.

Josie Metcalfe lives in Cornwall with her long-suffering husband. They have four children. When she was an army brat, frequently on the move, books became the only friends that came with her wherever she went. Now that she writes them herself she is making new friends, and hates saying goodbye at the end of a bookbut there are always more characters in her head, clamouring for attention until she cant wait to tell their stories.

Recent titles by the same author:

A FAMILY FOR HIS TINY TWINS
A WIFE FOR THE BABY DOCTOR
SHEIKH SURGEON CLAIMS HIS BRIDE
THE DOCTORS BRIDE BY SUNRISE
TWINS FOR A CHRISTMAS BRIDE
A MARRIAGE MEANT TO BE

Neonatal duet

Brides of Penhally Bay

THANK you, Gregor said distractedly, grateful that the usher had come to hold the door open for him when hed struggled with the weight of it, but he barely heard his own words over the frantic beating of his heart.

Hed been so afraid that hed arrive too late, and even now as his eyes adjusted to the comparative gloom inside the church, the familiar traditional organ music died away and he heard the sonorous tones of the celebrant echoing over the heads of the couple standing before the altar.

Dearly beloved

The first words silenced the soft sibilance of whispers as the whole congregation concentrated on the time-hallowed words.

We are gathered This time they would probably all be gathered in the serried ranks of pews, he thought wryly, her genteel collection of Mannington-Forbes uncles, aunts and cousins on one side, all with that noticeably supercilious air that seemed to come with a hint of blue blood. The grooms side, too, would be filled with the overfed scions of old money and even older titles, with long thin noses and barely a normal jawbone between them.

Not that he bothered to spare a look for any of them.

The only person who filled his gaze was the slender wraith of a woman whose delicate ivory dress made her seem almost as insubstantial as dandelion fluffa far cry from the fun-filled, captivating woman hed once known.

Even from this distance he could see how much shed changed, the differences even more obvious in person than theyd been in that artfully posed studio portrait hed seen just this morning, but were the changes all physical? Was there anything left of the joyous, passionate woman whom he had once known? any reason why they should not be married, let him speak now or for ever hold his peace.

The words were obviously spoken by rote, a challenge that was thrown out at every such ceremony with little expectation that anyone would ever stand up to make a declaration.

Well, no-one would be standing up this time, either, but only because he was completely incapable of getting out of his wheelchair unaided. That didnt mean that the objection wouldnt be made. He had no alternative, so he drew in a sharp breath.

This ceremony cannot continue, he announced, surprised by the way the acoustics in the vaulted space seemed to magnify the words until it almost sounded as if hed shouted.

Perhaps he had. It was difficult to be certain while he was in such turmoil. All he knew was that his heart was beating so fast that it was shaking his whole body while he waited to see what would happen, and his eyes never left the slender figure at the foot of the altar steps.

The congregations response reminded him of the time hed seen a hive of bees disturbed but, of course, these were very upper-crust bees that did little more than gasp and glare in the direction of the intruder; bees whose mutters and murmurs were easily subdued by the celebrants testy demand.

Why should I stop this ceremony? On what grounds?

Hed been focusing on that slender back and knew from her sudden unnatural stillness that she must have recognised his voice.

He regretted the fact that things had happened this way. It had been sheer chance that had put that magazine article in his hands this morning or he would never have known what was happening until it had been too late. Obviously, it would have been so much better if hed had time to contact her earlier, then she would have been saved this embarrassment.

As it was he was left sitting there, his eyes almost dazzled by the rainbow of colours thrown across the skirt of her delicate dress by the sun pouring through the stained-glass windows. Then, moving as slowly and stiffly as though she were a mechanical automaton, she turned to stare at him, wide-eyed with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

There was a strange ringing sound in Olivias ears.

Unfortunately, it was nothing like the joyous peal that was due to sound from the bell-tower at the end of the ceremony.

And that voice!

The unforgettable husky edge to it and the so-sexy hint of an accent that had always been able to turn her knees to water, right from the very first time shed met him.

It could only be Gregors voice.

But that was impossible.

Gregor was dead.

She shuddered with the dreadful finality of that thought, and guilt flooded through her anew that she would never be able to forget the first manthe only manshed ever loved.

Was it guilt that had her imagining that she could still hear his voice; guilt that she was even trying to pretend that she was over her loss?

She hadnt needed to turn around to know that Gregor wouldnt be there. She had done just that so many times before when wishful thinking had had her convinced that she could hear him. Shed lost count of the number of times shed thought that she recognised him in some tall dark-haired man with an almost impatient stride and quicksilver eyes.

But in the end she couldnt resist turning to look.

In spite of the fact that shed been standing beside Ashley, the man her mother had always intended as the ideal husband for her stubborn daughter, she hadnt been able to stop herself turning to look back down the length of the flower-decked aisle.

Her breath caught in her throat and her heart nearly stopped beating altogether when she didnt find Gregor standing there as lean and powerful as the day shed last seen him, but seated in a wheelchair with those unearthly pale eyes sunk into a face that was a mere shadow of the handsome man shed once known.

It was Gregor.

He was alive!

Alive, butdear God, he looked dreadful! So pale and grey and