Page 74 of Edge of Secrets

Another factoid popped to the top of my mind. “They’re looking for sketches,” I said.

He frowned. “Huh? Who is looking for what?”

“John and Ulf Haupt. Snake Eyes and his handler. The bad guys. Lucia’s treasure. They’re after sketches of some kind. Tell my sisters and Liam, okay? Haupt told me his name and a bunch of other random stuff, just for the fun of it. To taunt me. They were so sure that they were going to kill me, they didn’t even worry about it. Hah. Funny, isn’t it?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Don’t know if funny’s the word I’d use.”

“The Conte de Luca, Lucia’s father, went to school with Haupt’s father,” I said. “Then during the second World War, the senior Haupt came to loot all the De Luca art treasures for the third Reich. But de Luca hid these sketches, whatever they were. Wild stuff. How did you know to come after me?”

“Found a bug in your laptop,” he said. “I knew they had a bead on you. I followed the GPS in the smartphone I gave you.”

“No way,” I whispered. “Saved by a smartphone. The irony.”

He pressed my hand against his cheek. “I couldn’t let them hurt you.”

I stroked his jaw. “You’re cold,” I fretted softly. “Why are you cold? You’re usually so hot.”

“I’m scared shitless,” he blurted out.

My eyes widened, shocked. “Huh? You? Why?”

“I thought I’d lost you.” The words rushed out as if they were under pressure. “Nothing’s worth shit without you, Nell. If they hurt you, that would be it for me. I’d be finished. Dead meat. Worm food.”

I petted his cheek, trying to soothe him. “Duncan. Don’t?—”

“I have to have you in my life,” he said. “Have to. I don’t give a shit anymore about all that crap we argued about. You want me to make a formal declaration of love, fine. You want me to memorize poetry and recite it to you naked and standing on my head, I’ll do it. Any fucking song or dance routine you want?—”

“No,” I said.

He cut off the stream of words, alarmed. “Uh, no in what sense?”

“No, in the sense of no, it’s not necessary at all. You don’t have to stand on your head or do any song and dance routine. You don’t even have to tell me that you love me. Because you already did.”

He blinked. “I did? How do you figure? When?”

“Just now,” I told him. “You were telling me all along, if I’d only listened with my heart. Then you saving me down on Lafayette, and coming to save me from Snake Eyes and Haupt today, that was another big fat clue for me. Then again, you are the heroic type by nature, so maybe I can’t read that much into it?—”

“The hell you can’t,” he said forcefully.

I smiled at him. “Okay, then. You get big points for that. And for the blazing originality in your manner of communicating love and passion. That’s worth some serious extra credit.”

His face cleared, but he still looked perplexed. “Great,” he said doubtfully. “Hold on, here. Points? Extra credit? What’s this? I thought talking in terms of scoring points pissed you off. That it was … how did you say it? Reductionist?”

I laughed softly, petting his cheek again. I couldn’t bear to stop. “There’s something about staring death in the face that helps a girl get over her pet peeves. It cuts through big steaming piles of psychological bullshit like nobody’s business.”

“Ah. So I don’t have to figure out how to get all poetic now? Do I have to tell you your eyes are like stars and your skin like lily petals? And your ass like a ripe, juicy peach?”

I shook my head. “Stars, lilies, peaches, pah. Overdone. Having a guy charge in to save you from torture at the hands of psychopathic sadists? That is deathless poetry, buddy.”

“I think you’re making fun of me,” he said doubtfully.

“Oh, God, no,” I assured him fervently. “I mean every word.”

Duncan laid his head on my chest. His shoulders shook, but I couldn’t tell with what emotion. I ran my fingers through his sweat-stiffened hair, again and again. I didn’t want to break our physical contact for a single second. I wanted to cling to him. I wanted to be fused.

“So. Are we getting married, then?” His muffled voice had a challenging tone. “Is that what you’re saying? Is it a done deal? Can we do it soon?”

I smiled up at the ceiling, euphoric. I was going to float up there and get stuck on the ceiling. “As soon as you like,” I told him. “As soon as we can make it happen. It’s the done-est deal that ever was. You are never getting out of my clutches.”

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