“Mikhail looks like he’s in his forties. She was fifteen. He’d probably groomed her starting when she was thirteen or fourteen. Planning to use her to get to her father’s money. She was a victim. I’m sure she was terrified of being returned to her father. He’d realize she was in cahoots with Mikhail and had been for a long time given how far along she was in her pregnancy. I gathered she hadn’t been showing yet at the time of her abduction.”

She’d been a victim, and he’d had to shoot her to save himself. But it had been too late to save the others. “When I think of what Mikhail did to her, I’d like to go shoot him again.”

“And I wish I’d taken a shot too.” She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. Her voice was low and raspy when she spoke, and again, he wanted to mangle a corpse. “I’m sorry I worried you. I just…had a moment there. But I’m fine now.”

“Sweetheart, you don’t need to apologize for that.”

“Okay. But really, I want you to know I’m fine now.” She leaned back. “It’s over now. All of it.” She threaded her fingers through his. “Over. Really and truly over. I don’t need to worry about sleeping alone anymore.”

“Too bad you won’t be alone.”

She smiled. “No. Not too bad at all.”

Xavier extracted himself from her and tossed another log on the fire. He glanced around the room. It was a bit the worse for wear, but they were all alone in the very room where they’d first met. When he’d first fallen under her spell.

He reached into his pocket as he lowered himself to one knee before her. “I doubt we’ll ever have a chance to be alone in this room again, so I’m not going to waste my shot.”

She looked at him in confusion as he reached for her hand and pulled it to his lips.

“Dr. Audrey Kendrick, you are the most amazing woman I know, and from the first moment we met, you pretty much stole my heart. I want to be with you for the rest of my days. Will you marry me?”

Tears tracked down her cheeks. She leaned forward and kissed him, then said, “Yes. Yes. Yes. I love you.”

He presented the ring box. “This was my grandmother’s ring. If you don’t like it, we’ll get you something you do like. I want you to love your ring because it’s yours, and not settle for something because it’s mine.”