Manchez tossed back his head. “I’ll get out,” he said quietly. The smile started to spread. “I’ll get out.”

The spear shot out and plowed into the deck between Manchez’s feet. Liz saw the smile freeze on his face an instant before one formed on Jonas’s. “I’ll be waiting.”

* * *

Could it really be over? It was all Liz could think when she awoke, warm and dry, in her own bed. She was safe, Jonas was safe, and the smuggling ring on Cozumel was broken. Of course, Jonas had been furious. Manchez had been watched, they had been watched, but the police had made their presence known only after Liz had been held at gunpoint.

But he’d gotten what he’d come for, she thought. His brother’s killer was behind bars. He’d face a trial and justice. She hoped it was enough for Jonas.

The morning was enough for her. The normality of it. Happy, she rolled over and pressed her body against Jonas’s. He only drew her closer.

“Let’s stay right here until noon.”

She laughed and nuzzled against his throat. “I have—”

“A business to run,” he finished.

“Exactly. And for the first time in weeks I can run it without having this urge to look over my shoulder. I’m happy.” She looked at him, then tossed her arms around his neck and squeezed. “I’m so happy.”

“Happy enough to marry me?”

She went still as a stone, then slowly, very slowly drew away. “What?”

“Marry me. Come home with me. Start a life with me.”

She wanted to say yes. It shocked her that her heart burned to say yes. Pulling away from him was the hardest thing she’d ever done. “I can’t.”

He stopped her before she could scramble out of bed. It hurt, he realized, more than he could possibly have anticipated. “Why?”

“Jonas, we’re two different people with two totally separate lives.”

“We stopped having separate lives weeks ago.” He took her hands. “They’re not ever going to be separate again.”

“But they will.” She drew her hands away. “After you’re back in Philadelphia for a few weeks, you’ll barely remember what I look like.”

He had her wrists handcuffed in his hands. The fury that surfaced so seldom in him seemed always on simmer when he was around her. “Why do you do that?” he demanded. “Why can’t you ever take what you’re given?” He swung her around until she was beneath him on the bed. “I love you.”

“Don’t.” She closed her eyes as the wish nearly eclipsed the reason. “Don’t say that to me.”