Page 81 of Cuckoo (Kindred)

“Yeah, I guess,” he said, focused on his hands. “And yours.”

Opening his hands gradually, he kept them hovering over the item he had left sitting on her stomach for half a second before pulling both hands away. Resting on top of her was a small, red leather box.

“What is that?” she asked, but she knew what the cube shape looked like.

“It was my mother’s,” he said. “And I went in to talk to your father to tell him I intended on giving it to you. Open it.”

Her hands were shaking, but it was contrary to her nature to refuse his orders. So with the bottom in one hand, she pulled until the hinge gave, and she was looking at the most beautiful vintage ring of diamonds set in platinum with a single princess cut diamond in prominence at the front, held in place by four corner prongs.

“This is a… it’s a…”

One corner of his lips rose a fraction. “Bet you never thought I’d ask you to make it official.”

She hadn’t, but she tore her eyes away from the ring to fix on him. “Official means paperwork.”

“The world already knows Brodie McCormack isn’t dead. He just inherited the family firm, remember?” He reached over to stroke her face. “Signing my name next to yours isn’t something I’d be ashamed of doing. You are the one who brought me back to life.”

Curling her lips around her teeth, she didn’t want to get emotional because she knew it hurt him to see her upset, but tears escaped anyway. “Beau,” she whispered. He slunk up onto the bed and lay on his side, propping his head on a hand.

“Yeah,” he said, still wearing a typical scowl. “I’m asking. You gonna make a big deal about this?”

Brodie didn’t like big shows of emotion, so he wouldn’t appreciate her gushing. But being proposed to by the man she loved was a massive deal, in any woman’s book.

Clutching the ring box in her cleavage, her smile split her face. “Zara McCormack,” she said. “I think I like that.”

Taking the ring box from her hand, Brodie opened it to remove the ring. He tossed the box aside and took her hand to put the ring on her finger. “Sounds sexy as fuck to me,” he said. Sandwiching her hair against her cheeks, he pulled their mouths together, as eager to take control as she was to relinquish it to him.

No amount of danger could extinguish their love. No secret, no person, no aspect of their past could change the love that had grown between them. Brodie wasn’t a typical prince. But these days, when Zara pictured her future, the only thing she was certain of was him. This heirloom was his promise that nothing would shatter their bond.

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