The way he hadn’t even considered hiding or tossing aside Jennifer’s gift opened Kate’s eyes in a way nothing else had. Like someone had taken off the lens cap, she saw him, really saw him for the first time. And in that flash she saw so many things clearly. “You didn’t distribute my photos,” she said, her voice soft. “You didn’t try to lash out at me for revenge.”
He stroked back her hair with lingering, delicious attention to her sensitive earlobe. “I did not betray you, but I understand how it could be difficult for you to trust me.”
What she’d realized—after seeing the key chain, hearing him say the words, witnessing the honesty in his eyes—felt so damn good. The love she’d only just found took root and began to flourish again. “Thank you for being the calm, reasonable one here. I don’t even know how to begin to apologize for assuming the worst of you.”
What it must have taken for a proud man like Duarte to overlook her accusation and come for her anyway. Regret burned right alongside the joy until she promised herself to make it up to him.
“Kate, I realize your father hasn’t given you much reason to have faith in men or trust a man will be there for you.” His palm sought the small of her back, drawing her closer. “I want the chance, I want the time to help you put that behind you. Most of all, I just want you.”
Gripping the lapels of his wool coat, she brushed her lips over his. “I have one question for you.”
The hard muscles along his chest tensed, bracing. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Can we spend a lot of that time making love?”
“Absolutely.” He slanted his mouth over hers, familiar, stirring, a man confident in the knowledge of exactly what turned his lover inside out.
Five breathless heartbeats later, Kate rested her fore head against his. “I can’t believe you bought the Intruder.”
“I had to figure out a way to fire Harold Hough.”
“You fired Harold?” Thinking of her boss’s threat to expose Jennifer to the harsh light of the media, Kate didn’t bother holding back the downright glee at hearing he’d gotten his just deserts.
“Inside that envelope you’ll also see some of the proof Javier put together showing how Hough is responsible for selling all those photos to other media outlets. He pocketed the money for himself. He accessed your computer through a virus he sent in an email. After a, uh, discussion with me, he decided it was prudent to step aside and avoid a lawsuit.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this the second we got in the car together?”
“It was nice having you decide to trust me on your own. Although if you hadn’t, I would have still pulled the plug on Harold for what he did to you and our family.”
Our family.
He’d said it without hesitation, and she couldn’t miss the significance.
“I want you to help me house hunt.”
Now that declaration surprised her. He spoke like a man ready to put down roots, a man coming to peace with his past.
“You’re really ready to give up the cushy hotel living?”
“I was thinking of something on the outskirts of Boston, large and on the water. Big enough for you to move in when you’re ready, Jennifer, too.” His accent thickened as it always did when emotion tugged at him.
“I love you, Kate. While I’m willing to give you all the time you need, I don’t need more time to be sure of that.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out her ruby-and-diamond engagement ring. “This is yours now. Even if you walk away, no other woman will wear it. It will always be waiting for you.”
The beauty of his words, his whole grand gesture in coming here and presenting her with the Intruder, offering to buy a house calmed any reservations. She peeled off her glove and offered her hand without a second thought. He slid the ring back in place and she knew this time, it would stay there.
Duarte closed his hand around hers and rested it over his heart. “Did you notice the car?”
“Your vintage Jaguar…” How far they’d come since that night she’d scaled the outside of his resort.
“I told you I would pick you up in it for our first date. Do you remember where we would go?”
“The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.” How could she forget?
“And before you can protest, remember you own the Intruder so you can give yourself at least twenty-four hours off to regroup. If it’s okay with you, I would like Jennifer to meet us at the plane. And lastly, you can bring your cat. It’s my plane, after all. And—”
“No more details.” She covered his mouth with her hand playfully. “Yes, I trust you completely with my life, my sister, my heart.”
“Thank you.” His eyes closed for a moment, the sigh shuddering through him telling her just how much her rejection had wounded him. She vowed to show him how dear he’d become to her in such a short time, and could only imagine how much more he would mean to her in the coming years.
His eyes opened again and he pressed a tender kiss into her palm. “So what about that trip to Chicago? Are you ready to leave?”
She slipped her arms around his neck and her heart into her eyes. “Yes, I will go to Chicago with you and house hunt after we return. I will wear your ring, be your princess, your wife, your friend for the next thirty days, thirty years and beyond.”
Epilogue
Wind whipped in off the harbor, slapping the green bathrobe around Kate’s legs. Her cold toes curled inside her slippers as she stood on the balcony of Duarte’s Martha’s Vineyard resort.
The lighthouse swooped a dim beam through the cottony-thick fog, Klaxon wailing every twenty seconds and temporarily drowning out the sounds from an early Valentine’s party on the first floor.
A hand clamped around her wrist. A strong hand. A masculine hand.
Grinning, Kate turned slowly. His fingers seared her freezing skin just over her newest braided bracelet made by her sister. A good luck charm to celebrate her engagement. And Kate certainly hoped to get lucky in about five more minutes.
Nestled against the warm wall of her fiancé’s chest, she savored the crisp chest hair, defined muscles and musky perspiration. Oh, yeah, she was more than a little turned on. Kate stared her fill at the broad male torso an inch from her nose. A black martial arts jacket hung open, exposing darkly tanned skin and brown hair. Her fingers clenched in the silky fabric of his ninja workout clothes.
Kate looked up the strong column of her ninja’s neck, the tensed line of his square jaw in need of a shave, peering into the same coal-black eyes she’d photographed many times.
“You’re not a ninja,” she teased.
“And you are not much of an acrobat.” Prince Duarte Medina didn’t smile. But he winked.
The restrained strength of his calloused fingers sparked a welcomed shiver of awareness along her chilled skin.
“We should go back inside before you freeze out here.”
“The moonlight on the water is just so beautiful.” She leaned into the warmth of his chest, now plenty toasty thanks to the heat he generated with just a glance her way. “Let’s stay for just another minute.”
There hadn’t been many seconds spent standing still over the past couple weeks. After returning from Chicago, they’d gone by the island to visit his father. Seated around the dinner table, Enrique had announced he intended to go to a mainland hospital for further assessment. A hospital in Florida.
If she’d put her mind to it, she probably could have guessed the Medina island was off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida, given the weather. And while the island sported a mix of English, Spanish and even a little French…her journalistic instincts said the place carried an American influence. But admitting that to herself then would have been more knowledge than she was comfortable having.
Knowledge that had far-reaching safety implications for the Medinas.
And now that she was a de facto Medina by engagement, she had a whole new perspective on the PR angle. No doubt, handling publicity for the Medina family would be a full-time job. She had retooled the Global Intruder into Global Communications.
Arching up, she kissed her fiancé, who also happened to be the proud new owner of a sprawling Boston mansion on the water, a forever home with room for Jennifer and any future little princes and princesses. “I love you, Duarte Medina.”
“And I love you.” He swept her up, sporting real strength to go with those ninja workout clothes. Strength and honor to count on for life.