EPILOGUE

      IT WAS no good, Sophia admitted. Although she’d wanted to have a natural delivery, she’d had to give in, not so much because Dr Kumar and the obstetrician brought in by him from Mumbai had insisted that a planned C-section was the safest way to deliver the twins now that they were getting so big, but because of the very real fear she’d seen in Ash’s eyes.

      He’d told her that it must be her choice but she’d seen how worried he was, and last night after the medical team had delivered its verdict, she’d woken up to find Ash pacing the floor of the bedroom they now shared, and he’d admitted to her how terrified he was that he might lose her.

      ‘Nasreen died because I didn’t care. I’m so afraid that I might lose you because I care so very much.’

      He hadn’t added ‘as a punishment,’ but Sophia had known that was what he meant, and immediately she’d known that she couldn’t let him suffer the anxiety of her going through a natural birth.

      So now here she was at the hospital, and Ash was pacing the floor nervously once again, as the medical personnel went about the business of preparing her for the delivery of their sons.

      ‘It really is the most sensible option,’ the obstetrician told her. ‘You’ve got over three weeks to go to your natural delivery date and the twins are so big already that I just would not be happy about that, for their sake, as well as your own.’

      Sophia nodded her head, and reached for Ash’s hand as he came to stand at her side.

      ‘I love you so much,’ he whispered to her, and Sophia felt his hand tighten on hers as the operation began, and first one and then the second of their sons was lifted from Sophia’s body and handed to their parents.

      For Sophia, seeing the look on Ash’s face as he held one and then the other of their babies before giving them to her to hold told her beyond the need for any words just how much love their sons would have from their father. They would bond and form a male trio that at times as the twins grew would exclude her, as a woman, but the bond that she and Ash shared would be so strong that it would hold them together for ever, through the birth of other children hopefully, during the growing up of those children and into those years when they would perhaps become grandparents. A bond of the truest kind of love, given from the heart of a man who’d had to overcome so much to be able to make that gift.

      ‘I promise you I will be the father you want for them, Sophia,’ Ash told her tenderly. ‘And the loving husband that you so deserve.’

      THE

      SANTINA CROWN

       Behind the Scandal:

      An exclusive interview with

      PENNY JORDAN!

       AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH PENNY JORDAN

       Who is more scandalous – the Jacksons or the Santinas?

      Definitely the Jacksons.

       Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the sexiest hero of them all?

      My hero Ash of course, so brooding and damaged—so sexy when he reverts to his original potential as a true Mills & Boon hero.

       What secret would make the most shocking tabloid headlines about Ash and Sophia?

      That as a girl, for a handful of mad moments, Sophia was so desperately in love with Ash that she contemplated seducing him and getting pregnant so that he would have to marry her. However, her love for him even at such a young age told her that to do that would mean that Ash would be blamed and she didn’t want that—her love for him was stronger than her desire to have what she wanted.

       Where does Ash take Sophia for their one year anniversary?

      A private island in the Indian ocean—where they can look after themselves and simply be Sophia and Ash and where he can show her, in all the ways there are, how much he loves her.

       We’d love to hear about your writing process, can you talk us through your daily routine?

      I’m at my desk at 8-9am reviewing the previous day’s work—checking that it makes sense, reading the notes I’d left for myself telling me where to take the story next, then it is in to the best bit of my day—working alongside my characters to tell their story—break at lunch time for a dip into my fave magazines, including Scandal! And gleaning info from that that will bring my characters even more to life for our readers (although I never, ever use real characters—I prefer creating my own).

       What do you think makes a good hero and heroine?

      That all-important spark of ‘something’, especially if they are both fighting against it.

       Did you have a favourite character in this novel?

      My heroine, I just love her.

       What is it that you love most about writing your stories?

      Helping my characters to find their happy ending.

       What projects are you working on at the moment?

      I’m about to start work on a trilogy about a trio of brothers.

       We know it’s tricky, but what is your favourite book of all time?

      I haven’t got one. There are so many books I love, but I do remember how I was swept into my first-ever children’s library edition of Pride and Prejudice as a pre-teenager and how much I wanted to be part of that story.