“I’m afraid I cannot accept such an honor.” Dom shook his head. “That’s not the title I want.”
The world dropped from beneath her feet.
…
The crowd gasped, but Dom ignored them. They didn’t matter to him. Only Elle mattered. She was the only one who really ever had, and she looked like she was about to faint or chop off his head with the sword in her white-knuckled grip. He needed to get talking fast, or she just might pick the more old-school route of the two choices.
“You see, I’m in love with a girl who wants me to wear casual clothes and likes to challenge my every move. She’s stubborn and impulsive and even tried to shoot me.”
Her lips twitched, and her death grip on the sword loosened and she sheathed it. “It was just the once, and you deserved it.”
Soft chuckles from the glitterati surrounded them.
“You see, I’m not in love with the queen.” He took her free hand in his, that familiar spark whenever he touched her turning his dick to stone. “I’m in love with Elle.”
Realization dawned in her eyes, and her cheeks turned that distinctive rose that was all Elle. “And she’s in love with you.”
“You always have choices, Elle, even now that you’re queen.” He dropped down to one knee not because she was his queen, but because she was the woman he loved, worshipped, and adored. “Will you, Elle, choose me, Dom, not as a member of the Resistance, but as the man you love?”
For too long his life had revolved around revenge, around keeping control. He’d had no idea it could be different, it could be more until he’d kidnapped the woman who’d turned out to be the love of his life. She’d changed everything.
“Elle, I have billions in the bank, people at my disposal, and countries I can influence, but the only title I want is husband—to be your husband. Will you marry me?”
Tears made the blue of her eyes brighter, but her smile was anything but sad. “Yes.”
Dom stood and wrapped his arms around her, aligning their bodies, and brought his mouth down to hers in a kiss that promised she’d never be alone again. It wasn’t the beginning for them. It was forever.
Epilogue
Two weeks later Major Lucas Bendtsen got out of his BMW roadster parked in front of the three-story manor house and surveyed his new home. The title of Earl of Moad had come with a country estate on one hundred acres of prime land. The manor house stood on a fjord overlooking the North Sea crashing against the rocks. It wasn’t the bright lights of Harbor City or the constant crush of people in London, but he could get used to it. After growing up on the streets of the capital and doing whatever it took to survive, he’d learned the hard way that he could get used to anything and rise above it. The millions in his bank account proved that.
A gentleman spymaster, that’s what the addict’s son had grown into, with a country house and a title. An aristocrat. His mother would have died of surprise if the needle hadn’t gotten to her already.
His phone vibrated in his suit pocket, a reminder that while he might be lord of the manor, he was also the head of Elskov’s silver knights, an elite intelligence and fighting arm answerable only to the queen herself.
He took out his cell and glanced at the caller ID. It was the agent heading up Operation Family Jewels. Whoever had picked that name deserved a kick in his.
Lucas pressed the talk button. “Yes.”
“Sir, we have her. She’s on her way to you now.”
Adrenaline spiked in his system, and he began pacing in front of the manor house. “Does she know why?”
“Negative. She thinks you are interested in having her design a jeweled family crest befitting of your new station in life.”
God. That made him sound like a total knob. People actually did that? He shook his head. “And the brother?”
“He’s in custody.”
“Good. Don’t let him go.” The scumbag deserved a nice long stay behind bars for bringing two kilos of cocaine into Elskov, but the asshole was still useful, so instead he was sitting in comfort in a safe house on the isolated south shore. “He’s our best leverage to get her to do what we need.”
“Are you sure this is the best plan? There are risks in blackmailing the daughter of one of Europe’s most notorious crime bosses with a side business
as an arms dealer.”
Lucas stopped in his tracks. This wasn’t the best plan. It was the only plan. They had one shot, and he wasn’t about to let the sexy little jewelry designer get away without agreeing to his terms. The number of men who ended up the victims of jewel theft, murdered during a robbery, or never heard from again after tangling with the mobster’s daughter was in dispute, but fifty was probably in the conservative range of possibility. The only question was did the bombshell lure the men into her father’s web or do the dirty deeds herself?
“You’ve read the same reports as I have,” he said, not bothering to keep the icy clip out of his voice. “Walther Henriksen’s son came out of hiding just long enough to put the word out that he wants to buy enough weapons to take over a small country. Three guesses about which country that is. Forcing Ruby MacIntosh to be our mole in her father’s operation means we can stop an attack before it happens.”