Page 44 of Edge of Secrets (The Edge Trilogy #2)

Chapter Thirty

Nell

I gazed up, so happy he was there. Both of us, still alive.

How marvelous—and improbable—was that? My heart was swelling.

So soft and full, it felt like a supernova in my chest. I was exhausted, limp.

So soft. Just a fuzzy glow of light lying in the bed.

Probably it was whatever they’d drugged me with. Nice stuff, whatever it was.

Duncan lifted my hand and leaned forward, elbows on the bed, rubbing my knuckles against his cheek.

His beard stubble was a delicious cat’s-tongue rasp of pleasurable friction against my skin.

He didn’t look good. His eyes were shadowed, and his mouth was grim.

I tried to speak to him, but my muscles wouldn’t respond.

“Don’t talk,” he ordered, frowning. “Rest.”

I finally got words out, letting them ride on the outbreath. “Did I thank you for saving my life?”

A smile softened the grim cast of his face. “Not in the last thirty-six hours.”

“Ah. Well.” I squeezed his hand. “For the record. Thanks. You always come through for me.”

There was so much to say to him it was bottlenecked inside me. Then suddenly, my memories coalesced—and with them, a clutch of fear. “Elsie?” I asked. “Wesley?”

“They’re okay,” he assured me. “Elsie was treated for shock and a knock on the head—your sisters told me—but she’s already getting a huge charge out of being a local celebrity.

She’s in hog heaven, giving interviews to the local paper from her hospital bed.

Wesley’s pretty bad, but he’s in stable condition.

The bullet missed his vital organs. He lost a lot of blood, but he should be okay. ”

“Thank God,” I murmured. My eyes drifted closed again. I felt like a radio, tuning in and out of the frequency of consciousness, but Duncan was always there, like a rock coming in and out of view in the mist. So comforting.

Another factoid popped to the top of my mind. “They’re looking for sketches,” I said.

He frowned. “Huh? Who is looking for what?”

“John and Ulf Haupt. Snake Eyes and his handler. The bad guys. Lucia’s treasure.

They’re after sketches of some kind. Tell my sisters and Liam, okay?

Haupt told me his name and a bunch of other random stuff, just for the fun of it.

To taunt me. They were so sure that they were going to kill me, they didn’t even worry about it. Hah. Funny, isn’t it?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Don’t know if funny’s the word I’d use.”

“The Conte de Luca, Lucia’s father, went to school with Haupt’s father,” I said. “Then during the second World War, the senior Haupt came to loot all the De Luca art treasures for the third Reich. But de Luca hid these sketches, whatever they were. Wild stuff. How did you know to come after me?”

“Found a bug in your laptop,” he said. “I knew they had a bead on you. I followed the GPS in the smartphone I gave you.”

“No way,” I whispered. “Saved by a smartphone. The irony.”

He pressed my hand against his cheek. “I couldn’t let them hurt you.”

I stroked his jaw. “You’re cold,” I fretted softly. “Why are you cold? You’re usually so hot.”

“I’m scared shitless,” he blurted out.

My eyes widened, shocked. “Huh? You? Why?”

“I thought I’d lost you.” The words rushed out as if they were under pressure. “Nothing’s worth shit without you, Nell. If they hurt you, that would be it for me. I’d be finished. Dead meat. Worm food.”

I petted his cheek, trying to soothe him. “Duncan. Don’t?—”

“I have to have you in my life,” he said.

“Have to. I don’t give a shit anymore about all that crap we argued about.

You want me to make a formal declaration of love, fine.

You want me to memorize poetry and recite it to you naked and standing on my head, I’ll do it.

Any fucking song or dance routine you want?—”

“No,” I said.

He cut off the stream of words, alarmed. “Uh, no in what sense?”

“No, in the sense of no, it’s not necessary at all. You don’t have to stand on your head or do any song and dance routine. You don’t even have to tell me that you love me. Because you already did.”

He blinked. “I did? How do you figure? When?”

“Just now,” I told him. “You were telling me all along, if I’d only listened with my heart.

Then you saving me down on Lafayette, and coming to save me from Snake Eyes and Haupt today, that was another big fat clue for me.

Then again, you are the heroic type by nature, so maybe I can’t read that much into it?—”

“The hell you can’t,” he said forcefully.

I smiled at him. “Okay, then. You get big points for that. And for the blazing originality in your manner of communicating love and passion. That’s worth some serious extra credit.”

His face cleared, but he still looked perplexed. “Great,” he said doubtfully. “Hold on, here. Points? Extra credit? What’s this? I thought talking in terms of scoring points pissed you off. That it was … how did you say it? Reductionist?”

I laughed softly, petting his cheek again. I couldn’t bear to stop. “There’s something about staring death in the face that helps a girl get over her pet peeves. It cuts through big steaming piles of psychological bullshit like nobody’s business.”

“Ah. So I don’t have to figure out how to get all poetic now? Do I have to tell you your eyes are like stars and your skin like lily petals? And your ass like a ripe, juicy peach?”

I shook my head. “Stars, lilies, peaches, pah. Overdone. Having a guy charge in to save you from torture at the hands of psychopathic sadists? That is deathless poetry, buddy.”

“I think you’re making fun of me,” he said doubtfully.

“Oh, God, no,” I assured him fervently. “I mean every word.”

Duncan laid his head on my chest. His shoulders shook, but I couldn’t tell with what emotion. I ran my fingers through his sweat-stiffened hair, again and again. I didn’t want to break our physical contact for a single second. I wanted to cling to him. I wanted to be fused.

“So. Are we getting married, then?” His muffled voice had a challenging tone. “Is that what you’re saying? Is it a done deal? Can we do it soon?”

I smiled up at the ceiling, euphoric. I was going to float up there and get stuck on the ceiling. “As soon as you like,” I told him. “As soon as we can make it happen. It’s the done-est deal that ever was. You are never getting out of my clutches.”

He raised his head and fixed me with a narrow gaze, as if daring me to contradict him. “And we’re having our honeymoon in Italy. Right?”

“Sounds amazing,” I said softly. “Great idea. I’ve always wanted to go.”

He hugged me tighter. “You are so beautiful,” he muttered. “And by the way. Your ass really is like a ripe, juicy peach—smooth and downy and perfect.”

“Thank you,” I told him. “A lovely sentiment. I’m so touched.”

“Oh, you will be,” he promised. “At great length, as soon as you’re up for it. But I’m not done with my spiel. I know you’re tired, but I have to get all this out.”

“Duncan—”

“Just let me say it,” he said. “I know I’m stubborn, and resistant to change, and I tend to always order the same thing in restaurants.

But the flip side is—I know what I like.

Once I make up my mind, I don’t change it.

I’m talking about until the fucking end of time, Nell.

I’m talking about to the ends of the earth. You get me?”

“I do now,” I told him. “And I love that about you. I love the way you say it. To the ends of being and ideal grace. I’m melting. Keep going.”

He looked worried. “Keep going? Oh God. You mean, I have to keep being poetic? Long term? Fuck me! I can’t keep that shit going indefinitely!”

I giggled. “Oh, so that’s the hard part? And the mortal combat was easy?”

“Maybe not easy, but mortal combat is more or less straightforward,” he said. “You get killed or you don’t. But love, man … that shit’s complicated. I didn’t know how to give you what you want. I’m still not sure I know. But I want to learn.”

Love. He’d said it. He’d put it out there. Not that I had any more doubts, but still. It was nice to hear the word come out of his mouth, in that soft tone.

I traced his stern, sexy mouth with a fascinated finger. “I think we fixed it,” I told him. “I think we were talking about the same thing all along. But now I see it. It took getting my ass properly kicked, but I see it very clearly now. We met halfway.”

“Uh, thanks.” He looked bemused. “So this is the halfway point?”

“Yeah.” I pulled his face down and kissed him. “It’s nice here, isn’t it?”

“Best place in the world.” He touched his lips to my forehead, as gently as if I were a newly opened flower. “Let’s stay there forever.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down. “Forever works for me,” I whispered, as our lips met.

If you want more of the saga of the D’Onofrio stories, don’t miss Edge of Ruin , Book 3 of The Edge Trilogy!