He lifted his head to look at her, eyes bright with self-condemnation. “I almost took your life and Sarah’s, Charlotte. I can’t make love to you as if that didn’t happen. I shouldn’t be here with you; you should have tossed me out the door long ago. God knows, Charlotte, I deserve it.”

Charlotte bit back a smile. Lord, but she had married a man of extremes. When Alex first pulled away, she felt a pulse of alarm, thinking he was going to erupt in a fury. Although, now that she knew with utter certainty how much he loved her, even a jealous rage couldn’t really disturb her happiness.

“Do you love me?”

Alex leaned forward and touched her lips with his. “You know that I do,” he said hoarsely.

“Do you think I love you?”

A wry smile lit Alex’s eyes. “In my more optimistic moments.”

“Don’t you see, Alex?” Charlotte reached out and cupped his face in her two hands, her grasp both sensual and confiding. “Don’t you see how lucky we are? You loved me so much that you were able to save my life—you pulled me back from the edge of death. And I loved you enough that I followed your voice back, even though I had given up.”

Charlotte leaned forward and caressed Alex’s mouth with her lips, sweetly, with all the truth that lay in her eyes. Then she whispered: “Forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him, so long as ye both shall live.”

Silently Alex pulled his wife into his arms, burying his face in her sweet-smelling curls. The silky roughness against his cheek soothed the tightness in his throat, the burning in his eyes.

“I don’t deserve your love, Charlotte. I’m a jealous idiot. I couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else touching you—and the thought made me irrational. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I was cruel.” Tortured guilt strained Alex’s voice.

Charlotte rubbed her cheek against his shoulder comfortingly. “You are an idiot, Alex,” she said. “Why would I ever want any other man to touch me when we make love the way we do?”

But still Alex held back. “You don’t know how stupid I was, Charlotte. I kept praising myself because I was going to forgive you, but you have to forgive me. If … if I promise not to go insane again, will you ever trust me?”

“I trust you,” Charlotte said simply. “In all ways: in bed and out of bed.”

“I wouldn’t ever sleep with another woman,” Alex answered, speaking to the question of beds.