“You were protecting the people you loved,” he gently corrected. “And yes, he’s here. I expect he’ll be in at the top of the hour when they allow the next visitor back.”
She swallowed nervously and he squeezed her hand, kissing her knuckles.
“Baby, he isn’t angry with you. None of them are. They just want to know you’re going to be okay. That’s all any of them want, especially Dane. Well, and I think he’d very much like to have his partner back. As long as he understands that you are no longer exclusively his.”
He smiled as he said the last and delighted in her returning smile.
“I think he already gets that,” she said ruefully.
“So, are you going to put me out of my misery and make an honest man out of me?”
She stared inquiringly at him. “Was that a rhetorical question? Because I’m pretty sure this is the first time the subject has been mentioned, or at least an actual question has been asked.”
Damn but that was his Eliza. Sassy and sharp-tongued. Never missing a beat or an opportunity to bait him.
“You know damn well I want forever,” he said gruffly. “And that means you and me having a ceremony with everyone who means anything to us in attendance that will make me want to crawl out of my skin in discomfort but will suffer through because the end result is you. You being mine in every way possible. Forever.”
“I want forever too,” she said, an ache to her voice. “I love you so much, Wade. I think I’ve loved you for a long time, but you scared me. I was scared to love you.”
“Me too, baby. Me too. We can be scared together.”
“And yeah, I’m going to make an honest man out of you. In more ways than one,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t think I don’t know about some of your ‘business practices.’ You’re about to clean up your act, Wade Sterling.”
He threw back his head and laughed. God, it felt so damn good when he thought he’d never laugh again. Never have reason to be happy. When the most precious thing in the world to him had nearly been taken from him.
When he stopped laughing, he leaned over and brushed his lips over hers, tasting her sweetness, inhaling it, absorbing it into every part of him. So she became the air he breathed.
“As soon as you’re out of this place, I’m taking you home and we’re getting married. I don’t care if I have to carry you down the aisle. I’m not waiting.”
She lifted one brow. “You in a hurry?”
“Hell yes, I’m in a hurry. I don’t want to give you any time to change your mind and back out. The sooner I get my ring on your finger the better I’ll feel.”
“In that case, I guess I better set my mind to getting out of this damn hospital as fast as I can,” she said teasingly. “That way you don’t have time to get cold feet and change your mind.”
“That will never happen,” he said fiercely. “You’re stuck with me forever. Every rotten, bad tempered, impatient part of me.”
Her smile lit up the entire room and she slowly pulled his hand to her mouth so she could kiss his palm.
“Guess it’s lucky for you that I’m wildly in love with rotten, bad tempered and impatient.”
EPILOGUE
ELIZA eased down in the comfortable chair, careful not to wrinkle her wedding gown. She still wasn’t fully recovered and had only been out of the hospital for four weeks, four weeks where Wade hovered and refused to allow her to lift so much as a finger. As adamant as he had been in the hospital that they marry the moment she was released, he’d done a complete one eighty and argued that they should wait until she was stronger.
She was just as determined they marry as soon as possible. She belonged. She was loved. And she was deathly afraid that one morning she would wake up and it would have been just a dream.
She gazed at her reflection in the mirror, stunned that the pretty, feminine face looking back at her was really her. She’d asked Gracie, Ari, Ramie and Tori to give her a moment alone. The women had overwhelmed her, sharing in the excitement and joy of the day. Gracie had teased her and said that only Eliza ever had a hope of taming Wade while Ari had dryly commented that only a man like Wade ever had a hope of taming Eliza.
The preparations had exhausted her, though she’d never admit to it. Wade would have called off the wedding, or worse, he would have had her in bed and brought in a justice of the peace to marry them so Eliza wouldn’t overexert herself. This was her wedding day. A day she’d dreamed of since she was a little girl fantasizing about a fairy tale ceremony and marrying her knight in shining armor. There was no way she was forgoing something she’d resigned herself to never having.
A soft knock sounded at the door and she called out a come in. She slowly turned, surprised to see Dane enter the bridal chamber. She swallowed hard. She and Dane hadn’t had the opportunity to really talk since she’d been shot a month ago. Wade had surrounded her, ensuring her every comfort and need and any visits from her coworkers were light and brief.
She couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze, guilt heavy in her heart.
“You look beautiful, Lizzie,” Dane said quietly. “Just as a bride should.”
She lifted her head, tears obscuring her vision. “I’m so sorry, Dane.”
His expression immediately became one of concern. He crossed the distance and sat down in the chair across from her. He collected her hands in his, squeezing in a comforting manner.
“Why are you sorry?”
“For deceiving you. For lying to you. For not trusting you and coming to you from the start. For not being honest with you from the start. You are my dearest friend, but I haven’t been a friend to you.”
“Lizzie,” he said gently.
She refused to look at him.
He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Lizzie, look at me.”
Reluctantly she once more met his gaze and her heart squeezed when she saw the camaraderie, the unconditional support, the friendship reflected in his eyes.
“Do I wish you had come to me? Do I wish you had told me about your past when we started working together? Absolutely. But I understand. You need to know something, though. Never. Never have I thought less of you. You are one of the strongest persons I’ve ever met. And there is no one I’d rather have at my back than you and nothing will ever change that.”