Page 46 of Magnus
“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong,” Magnus stated grimly. “No matter what Fergus’s trip to the States reveals, I will always have your and Angel’s backs. Always,” he reaffirmed. “If that means the three of us, me, you, and Angel, have to disappear, then that’s what we’ll all do. Do you understand? Sapphie?” he prompted when she only continued to stare at him. “I will leave with the two of you if that’s what needs to be done. I will never leave you unprotected ever again.”
She moistened her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. “You would do that?” She glanced at Fergus and then back at Magnus. “Leave all your family behind and just…disappear?”
“If it’s with you and Angel, yes,” Magnus bit out.
Sapphie’s searching gaze roamed freely over his face: his unwavering green gaze, thinned but determined mouth, and his stubbornly clenched jaw.
And she knew, without a single doubt, that Magnus meant every single word he said. He really would leave his family and the life he had here and in New York if Sapphie should decide she and Angel had to disappear again.
She could think of only one reason he would ever be willing to do that. “You love me.” It was a statement, not a question, because she knew there could be no other reason why a man as strong and honorable as Magnus would so willingly and drastically change his life.
“I do, yes.”
“It’s the reason you asked me to marry you?” she added incredulously.
He nodded. “It is.”
“You loved me even then?”
“Even then.”
“But we’d only met the day before.”
“Hell of a thing, huh?” he acknowledged wryly. “One minute, I was happily living my life the way I’d deliberately designed it and wanted it to remain, and the next I’d been hit by the four-by-four that is Sapphie Jones and her daughter Angel.”
She gave an emotionally choked laugh at his obviously sincere admission. “I should be telling you it’s too soon. That you can’t possibly have fallen in love with me in such a short time.”
Magnus eyed her curiously. “Why aren’t you?”
Another incredulous laugh escaped her lips before she managed to speak. “Because I’ve fallen in love with you too!”
“And I’m out of here,” Fergus announced. “Call me as soon as you’ve decided what you would like to do next. I’ll fall in with whatever that decision is.” He squeezed Magnus’s shoulder in passing. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Sapphie,” he told her gruffly.
Sapphie hadn’t taken her eyes off Magnus. The man she loved. The man who loved her enough he was willing to walk away from everything else in his life so that he could be with her and Angel.
Fergus’s comment told her he would respect and uphold whatever his twin’s decision might be. Even if that decision took Magnus away from his twin and the rest of his family.
She couldn’t let Magnus do that.
“Stop.” She turned to prevent Fergus from leaving. “I’ve changed my mind. I think youshouldfly to Washington. But I also think that Magnus, Angel, and I should accompany you.”
“Absolutely not!” Magnus put in forcefully.
“Absolutely yes,” she disagreed as she stepped forward to press one of her hands against the side of his face to gaze up at him with what she knew would be love in her eyes. “I love you, Magnus. But it’s time I took control of my own life, and that means I need to be the one to talk to Marco’s parents. I want to look them in the eyes and try to help them understand that what they’re trying to do, taking Angel from me, is not only monstrous, it’s unwarranted. Because I’m a damned good mother,” she added decisively.
“You are,” he agreed. “But what if they can’t be reasoned with?”
“Then I have absolute faith in your ability to ensure that Angel and I leave there unscathed. That we will both be safe.”
“You can and you will, yes.” He looked at her searchingly for several seconds before nodding at whatever he read in her expression. “You really love me?” Uncharacteristic uncertainty now underlined his voice.
She was responsible for that uncertainty, Sapphie realized. Magnus had done nothing but prove himself to her, time and time again, as being a true and honorable man. Her doubt in him a few minutes ago had succeeded in crushing his innate belief in himself and that decisiveness that made him who he was.
She dropped her hand to link her fingers with his before turning to face Fergus. He was scanning through the notifications on his cell phone, no doubt in an attempt to look as if he wasn’t listening to their conversation. “Would you mind staying with Angel while Magnus and I go back to his bedroom for a few minutes?”
“Of course, no problem. We’ll be fine, as long as she only brings Angus with her and leaves the spider in the bedroom.” He shuddered.
Sapphie chuckled. “Good luck with that.” She gave a shy glance to Magnus. “Ready?”
