Escape Out of Darkness (Maggie Bennett 1)

“If you’re amenable. I figure we should give Hamilton and his buddies enough time to clear things up before we go back. And I thought you’d like Venice. You seem to have developed a taste for intrigue, and Venice is the most intrigue-ridden city in history.”

She just stood there, looking at him. “Don’t you think I might have had my fill of intrigue?”

“That’ll only last a day,” he said, his voice full of confidence. “Venice is also the most romantic city in history. Seems like a good place to spend our honeymoon. As long as there’s not a Holiday Inn on the Grand Canal.”

“Honeymoon? Wasn’t two times enough?”

Mack grinned, that dear, warm smile that he seemed to reserve just for her. “Not when I kept marrying the wrong women, dear heart. I’d love to get down on one knee and propose, Maggie May, but I think we ought to get away from the chalet before it turns into matchsticks.”

“You can get down on one knee in Venice,” she said. “I’ll give you my answer then. Are you sure you aren’t planning to marry me just to get close to my mother?”

“Screw your mother.”

“My point exactly. I want to make sure your intentions are pure—” She was silenced quite effectively by his mouth on hers, a kiss she returned with complete enthusiasm. “You’re right,” she said when she emerged. “We’d better get out of here while we still can. Lead me to the damned Jeep.”

At 5:01 exactly there was a loud rumbling in the valley. Maggie and Mack were already out of sight of the chalet, but they heard the explosion, and their eyes met. “Do you suppose Willis made it out all right?” she asked.

“Do you care?”

She thought about it. “No.”

“Neither do I.” He leaned back in the driver’s seat and shut his eyes.

“Come on, Mack. Drive on. I want to make it to Venice by tomorrow night.”

“Maggie May, we have the rest of our lives together,” Mack said, his raw voice low and sexy. “What’s your hurry?”

“Pulaski, a lifetime isn’t long enough for you and me,” she said. “Step on it.”

And Mack stamped on the accelerator, taking off into the cool evening air with a spurt of gravel. A lifetime wasn’t enough to hold them, Maggie thought. But it was a start, and a damned good one. And with their backs turned on the fiery death and destruction that had dogged them for so long, they headed out into the sunset. And into life.