But somehow, between their first meeting and today, he had forgotten Ellie was still young and not forty-three and jaded like he was. That her one bad relationship hadn’t robbed her of her dreams the way it had him.
It was perfectly normal for Ellie to want to have children of her own.
Beautiful babies, possibly a boy and a girl, with her gorgeous aqua-blue eyes, lovely blonde hair, and that killer smile.
Knox wanted that so badly too, he could envisage Ellie, still hot and sweaty from hours of childbirth, but utterly radiant as she held their child in her arms.
Millie Rose had been born with red hair and eyes as dark as his own. The red of her hair had deepened as she got older, and there had been freckles on her cheeks and nose, but her eyes had remained that dark brown.
She had been beautiful, and Knox had loved her with a fierceness that had almost killed him when she died.
He had promised himself then that he could never go through such a deep loss ever again.
But now he was in love with a woman who was young enough to want children of her own, and Ellie shouldn’t, for any reason, ever have to settle for less than the fulfillment of those dreams she had for her future.
He could see her now, abdomen swollen with their child and a contented smile curving those pillowy lips as she looked at him with love in her eyes.
He could almost taste that same feeling of contentment within himself.
Fuck it!
He wanted Ellie, loved Ellie, and whatever she wanted, if it was within his power, he would willingly give it to her.
Including babies?
Hell, yes. Now that the idea was growing, exploding inside him, he was finding it difficult to think of anything else. He wanted that, hungered for that, as long as Ellie was the mother of those children. Because whatever heartache the two of them did or didn’t encounter, he had absolutely no doubt they would get through it.
Together.
He needed to tell Ellie that. To?—
His cell phone began to vibrate in the pocket of his jeans.
What the fuck…?
A glance at the caller ID told him he needed to take this call.
Knox glanced longingly up the stairs to where Ellie was currently soaking naked in the bath. He had heard her running it half an hour ago but hadn’t heard the release of that water telling him she had got out of the bath.
Damn it, he’d just ignore the call. If it was important, Linus would call again.
Right now, it was more important that he speak to Ellie.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ellie luxuriated in the wonderful hot bath scented with some of the perfumed crystals from the bottle she had found in the bathroom cabinet.
They smelled of sandalwood and bergamot, Knox’s scent, rather than anything floral. But as the label on the bottle also said they could be used to soothe aching muscles, Ellie had thrown some of them into the bathwater.
Whatever their other properties, the crystals had allowed Ellie to relax enough to think rather than just respond.
She wanted Knox.
He made no secret of the fact that he wanted her.
That mutual attraction didn’t have to lead to a permanent relationship between them.
This was the twenty-first century, she was twenty-nine years old and had been tied down in a relationship for almost ten years that in the end had left her unable to trust. She wasn’t even sure she wanted another permanent relationship right now. Maybe she never would. Which meant she might never have babies either.