Page 142 of The Prize

“You too.” He looked thoughtful. “Before I let in everyone I wanted to do this in here. It feels appropriate because these are the paintings that led me to you.” He gestured his sincerity. “This is how I found you.”

There came a crackle of electricity between us.

“Zara.” His face brightened. “Marry me.”

There came a rush of happiness on seeing his enduring smile.

Tobias lowered himself onto one knee and looked up at me. “Zara Elizabeth Leighton. Will you be my wife?” He reached into his tux pocket, removed a black velvet box and held it up to me.

Of all the things I expected to happen today, this wasn’t one of them.

He flipped open the lid and within lay a sparkling princess-cut diamond set in a platinum band. “Promise me we’ll have forever.” He removed the ring from the velvet cushion and slid it onto my left ring finger and it fit so well.

Tobias rose and pulled me into a hug. “Say you’ll be mine forever.” His lips crushed my mouth as he sighed and I swooned against him.

“Yes.” I nuzzled in and held him to me.

“I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you happy, Zara.”

Our love had won out.

“Come on.” He led me out. “I want us to get a blessing.”

Out the door and down the hallway we hurried, soon arriving in the vast room displaying a series of masterpieces from the late 1800s. There, directly in our line of sight was Jean-Jacques Henner’s 1879Madame Paul Duchesne-Fournet.

Tobias stared off down the walkway toward her.

“She’s smiling at us,” I whispered.

“That looks like a blessing to me.”

“It sure does.” I looked up at his beautiful face flooded with happiness and savored these passing seconds.

All these years of being immersed in art had taught me how to live, how to fight and how to love, and I knew with certainty that home would be anywhere this man was.

EPILOGUE

Six months later

FROMTHEBALCONYof Tobias’s Malibu home, I enjoyed the endless ocean view and inhaled the fresh air. When I lowered my gaze another spectacular sight came into view. Tobias was taking his afternoon swim and cutting swiftly through the water in his heated pool. Though it was more fun to watch him climbing out with water dripping off his sculptured torso, and he looked like an Olympian put on this earth to tease. He turned his gaze toward the balcony and threw me a wave while delivering a dashing smile I’d never get over.

Yes, it really was my favorite view.

I’d missed him terribly during his trip to New York just a few days ago and was glad to have him home. I’d lived here for the last six months in utter bliss and each week had flown by with the ease of a sun-drenched life. We’d shared our first Christmas in this house, our first New Year’s Eve, and even now I tried to grasp how much life had changed for the better.

Working at The Wilder meant my hours were filled with assisting in acquiring new art, exploring potential exhibitions that would be a good fit for us and wandering around the museum. Spending time with my beloved paintings and seeing Tobias during my day was my greatest pleasure.

In a month, we’d head off to Italy to tour the city and purchase pieces for the museum. We also planned to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to see the otherMona Lisa, the painting we’d rescued and then entrusted to Huntly Pierre. They’d situated her at the Uffizi after her true owner couldn’t be located but her provenance had ended in Florence. The hunt would go on for those who she truly belonged to. This Tuscan gallery had seen an increase of visitors since her arrival after we’d sent her home.

Each painting was more than a sum of its parts, it felt like a living breathing entity with a history reaching back to its original creator who first breathed life into the canvas. I loved being part of this profession and knew the privilege of seeing art every day.

My world felt even safer since the arrest of Elliot Burell, who’d been deported from Germany and sent back to face justice. His thirty-year prison sentence meant he was never getting out alive. His war mongering days were over. Tobias’s mission was successful and had brought him the kind of peace he desperately deserved.

A boat sailed by on the horizon, drawing me back to the present. My wedding was hours away and I couldn’t remember having been happier about anything. Of course, graduating at The Courtauld was a highlight but nothing came close to becoming Mrs. Wilder.

A view like this was worthy of capturing. I’d encouraged Tobias to bring his paints out here and have a bash at that seascape. I wondered if he missed his English foxes. He’d reassured me his jet was on standby if ever I became homesick and needed my London fix.

My fingers swung the chain of my necklace back and forth across my throat as I watched Tobias stroll over to a lounger. This single emerald was a reminder of how much his father had loved his mother. He’d given her this necklace when she became pregnant with Tobias as though sensing the miracle of the kind of man he would one day be.