Page 80 of Married to My Master

He just looked at her, then sighed and looked away. “Just . . . fuck it. Whatever, Emily.” He turned and walked away, but stopped just outside the front door. “Jas, I'll be in the car if you need a ride back to the hotel for your clothes.”

Both women watched him go, pained looks on their faces. Jas quickly swung her attention back to Emily. “Oh my God, Em, you look like a porn star. You slut.”

Emily stifled a laugh with her hand, but still grinned knowingly at her friend. “I know.”

“And on your wedding day? Jesus.”

“Jas,” Emily said after a moment of calming down, “I need you to do me a huge favor again. Bigger even than being my maid of honor.”

“Oh, God,” Jas replied, clearly knowing where this was headed. “You want me to . . .?”

“Please?” Emily cajoled. “I'll love you for life if you tell everyone for me.”

Her assistant rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she huffed. “Fine, whatever. I'd kiss your cheek and wish you happiness, but I don't know where you, or Dane, have been.”

“I'd hug you,” Emily said with a laugh, “but you're probably right. It's for the best that I don't.”

Jas headed out the front door. She turned around just as she was about to close it, mouthing the words “slut” one more time at her boss.

“That went better than it probably should have,” Dane said, as he came up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist and his fingers through the opening in her shirt.

“Mmhmm,” Emily agreed as he brushed her neck with his lips.

“But, as well as it went,” Dane whispered in her ear as he grabbed her by both arms, “I still have some talking to do with you.”

# # #

Dane

“No, really,” Dane said, as he yanked her back down the hall toward the bedroom, “I do.” He shut the door behind him them as he tossed her on the bed. “Look,” he began. “I love you. I've loved you since the first moment I tried to break you, and you just bent and bent. Like when you spat in my face, or taunted me as I trying to prove how weak you were.”

Emily went to say something, but Dane hushed her. “Let me finish,” he said. “You have such an unbreakable spirit, Emily West. An indomitable will, poise, self-assurance, and confidence. But, still, you can admit that not even you know everything, and that you're sometimes wrong. You can face your mistakes and the truth that you made them, then own up and try to fix them. I know I can't offer you the same kind of life Ian could. I'm never going to contribute to your way of life financially, like he could, but I want to be the man you come home to after a hard day at the office. I want to be that man for you.”

Emily beamed at him as he spoke.

He swallowed hard, more terrified of this than any sortie he'd flown over Iraq back in the war. He dropped to one knee in front of her and took her tiny hands in his. “I want to be the man who builds a life beside you, together, as equals. I know you want a career, and I want you to have one, too. I'd never take that from you, or try to lock you up in the house all day. I love you, Emily West. You're my match, and I'm yours. I just know it.”

“Are you . . . ?” she asked.

“Am I?” he asked, before swallowing again and nodding. “Yeah, of course I am. Of course I'm asking.”

She took one hand from his and touched his cheek. “Then ask.”

“Would you marry me, Emily West?”

Emily leaned forward and kissed him, her lips like lines of burning hot coals as they pressed into his. She bit his lips hard, producing a sharp groan from him as she flicked her tongue across his. She pulled back, both of them gasping, and rested her forehead on his. “Of course, Dane Bishop. That would make me the happiest woman alive.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Dane

Their wedding came soon after. They managed to convince Geraldine to stay in town for the next few days as they got Emily's backyard in order and as Dane and Benton had their tuxedos fitted.

Now, Dane stood there, his hands folded in front of him, Benton on his left as his best man. Both men faced the backside of the house as the string quartet began to play, “Here Comes the Bride.”

Dane realized he was grinning so widely that his face had begun to hurt. His heart felt full, like it would burst from his chest at any moment and try to dance a jig down the street. But, even as he watched her approach, he could feel the world swimming in front of him, his eyes already watering at just how wonderful this moment felt.

Benton nudged Dane as Emily, even more beautiful than the first time he'd seen her on TV, came down the grass towards them. Dane glanced to him, grinning like a lovesick idiot, then went back to watching his lovely bride.

---