"You are mine!" Torquil said fiercely. "Mine, and nothing in the world will stop me from loving you and keeping you with me from now throughout eternity!"

" I... love... you!" Pepita whispered.

He would have kissed her again but she put up her hands.

"Please darling, please... do not make me love you any more. It... frightens me not because I am afraid... but because it is so... perfect... so wonderful!"

As if he understood he took her hands in his and raised them one after the other to his lips. As he did so Pepita realised she was trembling with the intensity of her feelings and that he was too.

"I adore you," he said, "and because I am trying to think of you rather than of myself I will take you back, but somehow I am going to find a solution to this damned mess, as quickly as possible!"

The determination in the way he spoke was inescapable and she knew, although it seemed impossible, that because he was who he was and because love was greater than anything else, that he would find a way....