Alice had nearly said, ‘But Kerensa is so beautifully slim.’

Clem turned her round, putting his hands firmly on her waist. Alice liked it when he was attentive, when there was desire in his handsome fair features. Sometimes she couldn’t get over the fact that he was her husband; many other women found him attractive and would remark, ‘You’re some lucky woman to be hitched to someone like he,’ and ‘What’s he like?’ – meaning, ‘What’s he like in bed?’ But he was her husband, and right now there was desire in his eyes and the desire was for her. Still, she could not get Kerensa and what she meant to Clem out of her mind.

Clem would not have been surprised if he’d known what was going through her mind. He had not missed the new look of hurt in her eyes when he’d come down from Kerensa and the baby. But Alice need not have worried. No matter how badly Oliver Pengarron treated Kerensa, or how long he stayed away, she would always love him passionately. Clem could only ever claim a small part of her, and he was content with that. At one time he would have thought it impossible, but time and circumstances had changed, and here he had a woman who loved him, cherished him and who would always be faithful to him. Alice wasn’t a dream he would ever have to chase. And now, after nine years of marriage, he realised he needed her, and Alice deserved to be told that no one else could take her place as his wife. They were joined not only by sacred vows, but by their own special kind of love.

So he said softly, ‘I love you.’

She could not hide her shock. He had given her a few endearments down the years, but not once had he proclaimed he loved her.

‘Do… do you?’

‘I really do love you,’ and he said each word slowly and evenly.

Alice could hardly take it in. He had spoken the words she never thought he’d say to her. Exhilaration filled her soul.

In a voice that sounded as if it was coming from eternity, she said, ‘I love you, Clem. I always have.’

‘I know you have, my dear, wonderful Alice.’

The depth and tone of his voice chased tantalising tingles down her neck and spine and sent them spinning outwards to tease her flesh. Alice had never spurned Clem’s advances and found them quite pleasant. They had never been numerous, never passionate. More of a not-unwelcome duty he sought to perform every few nights.