Chapter One Hundred and Nine

'I had work commitments and I couldn't see a place for you in the schedule I had planned. But it was worse this time. I couldn't keep you out of my mind. You haunted my nights.'

Days and nights for me, she recalled, especially after learning a baby had been conceived.

'Jasmine... look at me!' he commanded.

Her head snapped up. The angst in his eyes begged her belief.

'The women I took to the award ceremonies... they were just window-dressing. I didn't have sex with them. Didn't want to. In fact, it was after barely tolerating the model I was with at the BAFTA Awards that I called you to meet me in L.A. You were the one I wanted to be with.'

A wave of sadness rolled through her at the memory of her miscarriagein Los Angeles. It had thrown a black cloud over everything. Though before she'd told him she was pregnant...

'You still didn't see a place in your life for me, Collins. It was just for a week.'

'That was the plan,' he conceded heavily. 'I don't know that it would have stuck, given a whole week together.' He fell silent.

Jasmine knew instinctively he was remembering—mourning-—their lost child. As she did.

He heaved another deep sigh. 'I'm sorry I...' he began

'You did everything you could,' she rushed out, not wanting the grief of that time recalled. When she'd needed his help, he'd given it unstintingly. That was the important thing to remember. And what Collins had been telling her rang true. But what it would mean for her in the future, she still didn't know.

'I was wrong not to make a place for you, Jasmine,' he said gruffly. 'I don't know if you can forgive all I haven't done where you are concerned, but I swear I'll do my best to make it up to you, if you'll give me the chance.'

She understood the vision he had for his work. It was a big part of him. He'd never rest, never feel satisfied, until it had all come alive. The conflict she'd represented in Collins mind had been real and enduring. There was no longer any basis for the bitterness she'd nursed. It ebbed away.

'Where would I fit, Collins ?' she asked, looking at him now with very clear eyes.

The murk of the past had been dissipated by his honesty, but the same honesty showed her that any path ahead for them was crowded with other factors that could take their toll on any relationship.

His mouth quirked into an appealing little smile. 'I thought we could create our own fishbowl.'

She shook her head, not comprehending what he meant.

‘There'd be a very busy world going on outside it, Jasmine, but it needn't touch what we have together. If you're willing to be Scarlet to my Rhett, we could swim around, side by side...'

'All the time?' she asked incredulously, not having dared to hope for so much.

'That's what I'd like.' He searched her eyes for any objections. 'But you must tell me what you want. I'll try to accommodate...'

Her hand lifted, pressing soft, silencing fingers to his mouth. 'I want to be with you wherever you go,' she said, letting him see the truth of her heart shining in her eyes.

He covered her hand with his, pressed a long, lingering kiss of warm promise on her palm. Jasmine's heart turned over.

Before she dared think it, he said, 'I love you Jasmine Leclaire,' Then... 'Will you be my wife?'

'Yes,' she whispered.

His smile was dazzling—-relief, joy, intense pleasure in her. Still holding her left hand, he reached into the pocket of his jacket and drew out a small jeweller's box. Jasmine stared in utter amazement as he flicked it open to reveal a huge diamond solitaire ring.

'Diamonds are forever,' he said with relish, and slid it onto the third finger of her left hand.

'We're going to do this right,' he stated, determined purpose pouring from him as he swept on. 'We'll visit your family tonight, announce our engagement, plan a wedding...'

'A wedding?' Jasmine repeated dazedly.

'You'd like Favour to stand by you and I'll ask Leonard to be my best man.

Tomorrow we'll visit my mother. She'll want to be in the thick of things, too. In fact. .'

'Collins...'

'Have I said something wrong?' he asked anxiously.

'No...' She laughed, bubbling over with so many happy emotions she couldn't begin to express them. 'You really were going to storm the barricades,' she finally spluttered out.

He grinned. 'I certainly didn't plan to leave without you this time, Jasmine' She sobered, remembering the last time he'd proposed marriage..

'I'm thirty-two, Collins. If we're going to have...other children...'

The twinkle left his eyes, too. He gently stroked her cheek. 'No waiting. And when you do fall pregnant again I'll be right beside you all the way, looking after you as best I can.'

Neither of them would forget the one they'd lost, yet perhaps its brief innocent life had bonded them more deeply together.

'I can promise you I won't make the same mistakes with our children that my father made with me,' Collins said with considerable feeling, then made a wry little grimace. 'But I'll probably make others. It'll be your job to correct me, Jasmine. And I'll listen. If Dad had ever listened to my mother...'

He shook his head. 'My mother's a great person. You'll like her.'

'I hope she likes me.' Jasmine said

'I know she will. You're both great people.' Collins rose from the bench seat, drawing Jasmine to her feet and wrapping her in a tender embrace. 'Let's make this a new start,' he murmured.

'Yes,' she agreed, her heart swelling with the same need to get it right this time. 'I love you, too, Collins . That's a good place to start.'

They kissed.

And the connection between them went soul-deep.

There...in a garden full or roses.

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Jasmine slowly knocked on Favour and Leonard's door and patiently waited for it to be open. She was happy. She was with the man she loved and she was engaged to him, but her joy couldn't be complete until she talked to her sister.