Deadly Pursuit (38 page)

“Yes,” she said again.

“Think about—”

“Yes.”

He gave a disbelieving snort of relieved laughter that lit up his whole face, but then he sobered just as quickly, looking determined to talk some sense into her. “It’s not a good idea. You know that—”

“I know. I don’t care.”

“—and I’m talking about marriage here, because if anything ever happens to me, I want you to have the benefits—”

She raised an eyebrow. “You want to marry me so I’ll get the flag at your funeral?”

“I want you to marry me so you’ll be my
wife.
”

The subtle inflection he put on the word made it
sound like the most precious position in the world, better than queen or empress.

“I’d be thrilled to be your wife.”

They stared at each other and she watched the heartbreaking array of emotions cross his features, the joy warring with the sorrow. “You say that now, but we’ll have to change our names. They’re putting together new passports for us.”

“I know.” This was a solemn, serious decision and she was well aware of it.

“We can’t have children, Amara. There’s too much at risk—”

“Yeah.” She took a moment to be sad for the children they’d never have, but she was pretty sure there wasn’t a maternal bone in her body anyway. “I know.”

He pressed his forehead to hers, and she relaxed into him, savoring the moment. “We’re leaving as soon as they’ve fueled the plane and finished with the preflight stuff. Are you ready for this adventure?”

“I’m ready.”

Cupping her face, he kissed her again and it was slow and sweet, achingly perfect. Then he pulled back and smiled, and it was the wide, happy smile that she never saw enough of. She intended to change that.

“I forgot to ask you the most important question,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“You speak Spanish, don’t you?”

Laughter bubbled to her lips for the first time in a month and she tilted her head back to let it come. “Yeah. I speak Spanish.”