Page 140 of Don't Look Back

Rand entered the room. “Whatcha got there?”

She held it up, so happy, she might burst. “The State Department sent it by express mail.”

He grinned. He knew exactly how desperate she was to receive a new passport to definitively confirm her citizenship.

Decades ago, the CIA had cut a deal with Conrad and Anna and provided a false birth certificate for Kira, giving her fake citizenship. This had been confirmed by the CIA officer who’d been Conrad Hanson’s handler for the last decade of his life. The man had attended Conrad’s funeral but left when he recognized Freya from the scandal that ended her career with the agency.

The deal to give Kira citizenship had been signed off on by the State Department, who’d appreciated the intel her mother had provided and understood the risk to mother and daughter should they be sent back to Russia.

Kira could have continued using the passport she got last May, but her birthdate was three years and two months off. And so, with the help of Freya, the CIA, and NSWC, they’d appealed to the State Department. Like her mother before her, she’d done the US a service in gathering intel.

The result was in her hands. She opened to the laminated page with her photo and passport number and checked the date. She grinned and held it to her chest. “I get to remain thirty-six for another month.”

Rand pulled her to him. “This might be the longest anyone has ever been thirty-six, then. Four years and two months since your first thirty-sixth birthday?”

“Well, technically, I was also thirty-seven, thirty-eight, and I spent ten months at thirty-nine before the clock set back.”

“Talk about your daylight savings.”

“I have savedso much time.”

“I think we should waste a little.”

“Oh, what do you have in mind?”

He took the passport from her hand and set it on the table, then scooped her up. “What do you say we spend the rest of the weekend in bed?”

“It’s Wednesday.”

“But you’ve banked a lot of weekends.”

“Fair.”

He carried her up the stairs to their bedroom and set her on her feet in front of the bed. He stood before her, smiling down. “In Malta, I suggested that if we couldn’t sort out your citizenship, one solution was to marry me.”

“I’m not sure that would have worked.”

“But it would have been fun.” He grinned and nipped at her shoulder. “I guess I have no reason to propose now except the most important one.” He dropped to one knee and pulled something from his pocket.

Her stomach fluttered as she took in the solitaire diamond on his open palm.

“I love you, Kira. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please marry me. If not for citizenship, then for love?”

She dropped to her knees and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply.

He ended the kiss and looked into her eyes, waiting for her answer.

She laughed and said, “Okay.”

He slipped the ring on her finger.

She studied the princess-cut stone that sparkled and flashed. Holy crap. She was going to marry Rand. But not because she had to.

“How long has this been in your pocket?”

“Since I saw the delivery confirmation text on your phone.”

“You spying on my phone again?”

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