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“Come here,” he said, reaching for her.
She leaned over and kissed him, letting out a tiny squeak of protest when he pulled her onto the bed. The sharp lance of pain in his side was nothing compared to the feel of her beside him, where she belonged.
“Liam, you’ll hurt yourself,” she said, struggling to back away.
“Only if you keep fighting me,” he said, grinning into her neck as he breathed in the familiar scent of her. How he loved this woman. “Indulge me. Please.”
“But your wound,” she insisted, pushing against the pillow with both hands.
Liam refused to let her go. “It won’t kill me to hold you for just a few minutes.”
“It may not, but there’s a drill sergeant of a nurse in the hallway out there who will. Have you seen her? Normally, I can hold my own, but she’s got biceps to rival Bear’s. Do you really want to get on her bad side?” Cora finally gave up and sank beside him, careful not to jostle his bandage.
“I can handle her.” He nuzzled the soft skin on her neck.
“You overestimate your charm,” she said primly, though her voice was tinged with humor, and she tilted her head to give Liam more access. “That nurse’s sour disposition could curdle milk. I’ve been tiptoeing around her all week.”
“I’ll have her eating out of my hand like a wee lamb in no time,” he said, chuckling at her dubious snort. He kissed the sensitive spot between the base of her neck and shoulder. Her soft sigh of pleasure sent a flare of heat spiraling through his body. “Let’s get out of here. I need to take you home so I can do wicked things to you.”
“Absolutely not.” Cora squirmed and finally managed to slip off the bed. “As much as I like the sound of that, you’re not going anywhere until the doctors say it’s okay. You almost died.”
He reached for her again. “Aye, and it will surely finish me off if I have to wait one minute longer to have you all to myself.”
“Liam.” Her eyes filled with sudden tears. “I thought I’d lost you.”
He wanted to wrap his arms around her and tell her everything was going to be okay, but instead he settled for holding her hand. “You’ll not be rid of me that easily,macushla. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me from now on.”
“For how long?” she asked in a tremulous voice.
“For as long as we both shall live.” He squeezed her hand tightly to remind himself that she was really there, and this was real. “If you’ll have me.”
Cora’s breath escaped in a whoosh, and her eyes flew wide. “What exactly—”
“Marry me,” Liam said, just as a hatchet-faced nurse bustled into the room. The woman was built like a barrel with stocky arms and blunt features. Her default expression was a pinched frown as she began checking Liam’s drip line along with the machine near the bedside. Cora hadn’t been kidding when she said the woman was intimidating, but Liam couldn’t bring himself to care. He was too intent on Cora’s answer. Staring at her from underneath his lashes, he murmured, “Will you?”
Cora shifted uncomfortably, and a small fissure of alarm rippled down his spine. He couldn’t lose her. Not after all they’d been through. Why was she hesitating? He swallowed hard and added, “Please?”
Shaking her head in disbelief, Cora leaned forward to whisper, “I can’t believe you’re asking me thisright now.” She tilted her head toward the nurse. “She can hear you.”
Liam glanced at the dour-looking matron, then back at Cora. “I don’t care if the entire world hears me. I’ll shout my love from the rooftops. I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen for the rest of my life.” He gave the nurse a roguish grin. “You don’t mind, do you, lass?”
“Mmph,” the nurse grumbled, though her razor-thin lips twitched.
“See?” Liam said to Cora, jerking his thumb in the direction of the woman. “She’s overcome with happiness for us. Can’t even find words to convey her joy.”
With a scoff, the nurse’s face cracked into something that may actually have passed for a smile, before she marched out of the room.
“She’s only charmed because your Irish accent just got thicker,” Cora said with a laugh. A rosy blush stained her cheeks. “You’re crazy, Liam.”
“For you, yes,” he said with absolute sincerity, gripping her hand in his. “Please marry me, Cora. This isn’t a snap decision on my part; it’s not some whim based on oversentimentality or a confusion of emotion. I’ve loved you across time and oceans and continents. My soul was yours from the moment we met. I love you with everything that I am. So much that I ache when we’re apart. I know I’ll never be as good as you deserve, but I promise always to try. If you can find it in your heart to accept me, I will spend the rest of my life proving to you how very precious you are, and how grateful I am just to walk alongside you in this wild, wonderful world.”
Cora was so still, the only movement was a tendril of hair that hung over her forehead. It fluttered with every exhalation as she stared at Liam in open astonishment.
“Please say yes.” He watched her, waiting for her answer with his heart beating in his throat. Because there was a God, she didn’t keep him waiting long.
Her lips curled into a soft smile. “Well, when you put it that way, how could I possibly refuse?”
Then they were holding each other and grinning and whispering sweet words that had the stodgy nurse rolling her eyes and the doctor chuckling to himself, but Cora and Liam were too filled with happiness to notice or care.
