“You are in so much trouble once the doctor has finished stitching you back up,” Cara warned. She and Adam were in the medical wing at Kingston Manor, Adam lying down, Cara sitting beside him on the bed, the doctor standing on the other side of him.
She would never forget the absolute heartbreak of thinking Adam had been shot again earlier when he fell onto his back in that basement, his breathing ragged, the front of his T-shirt covered in far too much blood.
As it transpired, the blood was a combination of Adam’s from where his stitches had burst open when he jumped and James’s, because he was the one who had been shot in the chest. Fatally.
Sinclair had been the one to talk to the police and persuade them to come to the estate tomorrow to take all their statements. For now, the policemen had accepted the report given to them by Coleman, the man in charge of the tactical team. He had confirmed Adam had acted in self-defense and that James Langley had been shot during Adam’s attempt to disarm him after he’d threatened to shoot Cara and Rosie.
All that mattered to Cara now was that she had Adam back safely, James was dead, and the nightmare of his desire for vengeance for his father’s death had died along with him.
Cara hadn’t felt a moment of remorse for James’s death when it happened, and she didn’t now, several hours later. She stood by her earlier comment to Rosie: James was emotionally damaged and would never have stopped being a danger to all of them.
The relief of knowing it was over was immense, but nowhere near as much as knowing that Adam hadn’t been shot a second time. Although the doctor wasn’t too happy with him for ripping out his original stitches.
Nor was Cara. “I can’t think what the hell you thought you were doing jumping from the top of the stairs like that.”
He shrugged. “I might have hit you or Rosie if I’d tried to shoot him from there. I’m a good shot, but Darius is the sniper in the family, and he was still at the warehouse.”
“Which didn’t have any explosives in it,” Cara said thankfully.
“Which didn’t have any explosives in it,” Adam echoed wryly.
“Bastard!” Cara muttered. “Not Adam,” she assured the doctor when he looked taken aback by her comment. “The man who did this to him.”
“No doubt that is a fitting description,” the doctor accepted. “But I think we can both agree Mr. Kingston is also his own worst enemy.” He straightened. “All done.” He nodded his satisfaction, then turned to remove his gloves and wash his hands. “I would advise no further strenuous physical activity for the rest of today and tonight, but we both know how much you heed my advice.” His blue eyes twinkled merrily as Cara blushed and Adam grinned unrepentantly. “That’s what I thought.” He picked up his medical bag. “If you need me again this evening I’m out to dinner.”
“He won’t,” Cara assured firmly, waiting until the doctor had left and they were alone to speak again. “I thought I’d lost you earlier.” Tears stung her eyes just remembering that hollow feeling inside her when she’d thought Adam was going to die. “Which is why I’m going to tell you right here and now—before anything else happens that might take you away from me and I never have the chance to say it. I love you. You might not feel the same way about me yet,” she rushed on. “But we have time—”
“I love you so much already, I almost went insane knowing Langley had you in his clutches again,” Adam stated forcefully. “Of what he might do to you before I was able to get to you. My heart stopped beating altogether when I realized he wasn’t one of the men we’d taken prisoner upstairs.” His jaw clenched. “Casper was the one to realize that the building is one of those old London townhouses from the Regency time that had a servants’ staircase from the living quarters on the first floor down into the room at the back of the house that was once the kitchen. Once we realized that, we knew the reason we couldn’t find Langley was because he’d escaped that way down to the basement, where he was keeping the two of you prisoners.”
Cara smiled. “And then you and Max came to save us.”
“Thank God.” Adam shuddered. “Although I’m pretty sure that right now, Rosie is suffering the consequences for having left the estate when Max asked her not to,” he added sternly.
Cara looked up at him through thick lashes. “Does that mean I’m going to suffer too?”
“I don’t know. Would you like to?”
She chuckled. “To be honest, I’m really not sure. Rosie says she enjoys being spanked, but I’m reserving judgment.”
He reached up to cup either side of her face with his large hands. “I love you, Cara. Whatever we do or don’t mutually consent to do together, I will always love you. I love you so much, I really don’t care anymore whether or not I’m good enough or suitable for you. I know to the soul of me that no one could possibly love you as much as I do or protect you the way I will.”
“By jumping from the top of a staircase and bursting all your stitches?” she choked out.
“If necessary, yes.”
The tears escaped hotly down her cheeks. “You love me?”
He nodded. “With every particle of my being. I have since the moment I saw you again a year ago. Ten years ago, I thought you were the bravest fourteen-year-old I’d ever met. Now I know you’re definitely the bravest twenty-four-year-old I’ve ever met too.” He brushed his lips softly against hers. “I love you so much, Cara.” His dark eyes were ablaze with the emotion as he lifted his head and held her gaze. “Will you marry me? Stay with me forever? Be my wife?”
“Yes,” she choked. “Oh God, yes!” She threw her arms over Adam’s shoulders and held on tight as he pulled her down onto the bed beside him and claimed her lips with his own.
Adam was thankful to have a living, breathing Cara in his arms. Knowing she had accepted his marriage proposal too meant he couldn’t stop kissing her and touching her, caressing every inch of her.
“I saw the doctor on his way out, and he told me he’d advised no more strenuous physical activity for his patient tonight.”
Adam gave a groan as he lifted his head and turned to look at Sinclair standing in the doorway, the older man’s expression mocking. “It can’t be classed as strenuous if I’m enjoying it.” His arms tightened about Cara as she buried her heated cheeks against his bare chest.
“I’m sure sumo wrestlers wouldn’t agree with you,” his eldest cousin dismissed. “Or weight lifters. Or—”
“I get your point.” Adam sighed. “Now, could we have a bit of privacy here, please, as you’re embarrassing my fiancée?”
“You finally got around to telling her how you feel, hm?” Sinclair chuckled. “Then my advice is that you take this to a more comfortable bed. Other than that, congratulations to both of you.”
“Thanks,” Adam answered him distractedly. He placed a finger beneath Cara’s chin so he could raise her face up to look at him. “Was that okay, me telling Sinclair you’ve agreed to marry me?”
Cara didn’t like the underlying note of uncertainty she could hear in Adam’s gruff voice. “It was more that okay,” she assured. “In fact, how do you feel about making it a double wedding next week?”
Adam’s arms tightened around her. “I would love it. If you’re sure?”
“Very sure.” Cara could imagine nothing more wonderful than the two of them sharing a wedding day with Rosie and Max.
She knew the four of them would always share a special bond, forged ten years ago in the midst of death and chaos. Both couples sharing a wedding day would bring that despair and heartbreak full circle to a shared joy and happiness.
A slow smile tilted her lips as an idea occurred to her. “Do you know the old joke, ‘How do hedgehogs make love’?”
“Very carefully?”
“Exactly.” Her smile widened. “I suggest, after we’ve made our way over to the main house, your bedroom in particular, because we need to take care you don’t rip out your stitches again, that we do the same.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea, future Mrs. Adam Kingston.”
Which is exactly what they did.
Book 3 in the series is also my 275th book!
Kingston’s Redemption (Kingston Security 3)