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Edward brought up the gun again.
“I would never take another life to ease my own,” Liam insisted before Kris could speak.
“Dougal,” Kris managed, both fear and hope in her eyes. “He said he was the last of his line.”
“Convenient,” Mandenauer murmured.
Liam ignored him. “How could they all be gone?”
“They must be.” Kris lifted her chin to the eastern sky. “You’re you.”
Liam studied his hands, his arms, his legs, as if he expected them still to disappear as he morphed into a seal-skinned lake monster. “I dinnae understand.”
“There is much in this world that is not understood.” Mandenauer put up the gun. “Which is why I find it so remarkable.” He actually winked at Kris. “I may never leave.”
“Is this permanent?” Liam asked.
“I have never known a curse to skip a day,” the old man observed. “Have you?”
“No, sir.”
“You’re mortal now,” Mandenauer said. “Be careful. It takes some getting used to.”
Edward turned and strolled toward the trees. As soon as he walked into their shadows, he seemed to disappear.
Liam stared at the sky. He couldn’t seem to get enough of the sight of the sun.
“I love you,” she murmured, then waited for Liam to repeat that her love wasn’t real. Except she knew the truth.
Love was love. If you felt it, it existed, no matter how the emotion had come about.
He lowered his gaze, and her heart took one large thump, then began to whirl. He gathered her into his arms, and he kissed her, his lips now as warm as his hands. And while she’d liked their chill, she discovered she enjoyed the warmth just as much.
His eyes, too, were different. Certainly they still held sadness, a few shadows, and probably always would, but they were brighter, lighter. They seemed to look forward instead of forever back, and his next words proved it.
“Marry me.” Not a question, more of a command.
“You believe I love you?”
“I do.”
“What changed your mind?”
He indicated the sun with a jerk of his chin. “Ye still feel the same way about me now as ye did when the sun slept?”
“Exactly.”
“That I’m standing here on two legs in its light means I’m no longer Nessie, nor the kelpie that seduced. Any spell ye may have been under is broken. I’m a man. And a man cannae make someone love.”
“No, he can’t,” she agreed.
“Then ye’ll marry me?”
“I’ll think about it.”
Confusion flickered over his beautiful face. “I thought ye loved me.”
“I do. But, Liam—” She took a breath, let it out slow and long. “Where will we live? What will we do? How—?”
