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“Yeah,” Chay said, “but isn’t he going on vacation next week?”
“Hello,” their waiter said cheerfully. “I’m Joe. I’ll be your server tonight. Have you had time to look at the menu?”
They ordered Chianti, antipasti, and four different kinds of pasta—but nobody’s attention seemed on the food. Chay and Bianca kept looking at each other in a way that said Do you remember that night? Dec and Annie couldn’t stop sneaking little kisses. When their waiter came to clear away the food they’d left untouched and asked if they wanted dessert, Chay and Dec said “No!”
“No, thank you,” Bianca and Annie added, because they were inevitably polite, even when each woman couldn’t wait to be alone with her guy.
They parted company at the door. Bianca and Chay went in one direction; Annie and Dec headed for his cottage on the beach where they’d been living together ever since Dec had brought her home from Qaram.
They kissed when Dec turned off the Trans Am.
Kissed again on their way to the front door.
Kissed again inside th
e dark cottage.
Dec took a deep breath. “Anoushka. I have to talk to you.”
She nodded. “I have to talk to you too, Declan.”
His heart sank. What did that mean? He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t work up the courage. Firefights were easier than this.
He raised her chin, kissed the tip of her nose.
“Okay,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound as worried as he felt. “How about I open a bottle of wine and we take it outside? Take a walk on the beach? How’s that sound?”
“Sure. That sounds great.”
He nodded.
She nodded.
Then he thought, okay, enough was enough.
“Annie,” he blurted, “my Anoushka, I love you. I adore you. I know there are a hundred reasons you could say no, but—but—”
“Are you asking me to marry you, Lieutenant?”
Dec was finding it difficult to breathe. “Yes,” he said. “I am.”
Annie smiled into his eyes. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Dec swallowed hard. “Was that a yes?”
“It was absolutely a yes,” she said gently. “Why would you have any doubts?”
“Anoushka.” Dec cupped her face in his hands. “I have a job that’s kind of crazy.”
“You have a career, my love, that makes me proud to know you and love you.”
“That’s nice. I mean it. But—but you’re accustomed to a different kind of life.”
“Yes,” she said softly, “I am.” She turned her face and kissed his palm. “I’m accustomed to the life I led when I was Annie Stanton. I want that life again—and I want it forever. You. Well, you and two kids. A dog. Maybe a couple of cats…”
Declan grinned as he gathered his princess into his arms.
“How about we plan the wedding first?”
