Deputy Director Davies led her where she wanted to go. They both understood the only way this would work on Sam was to keep things on a professional level. There would be no misunderstanding her all-business tone, despite the sweat breaking out on her face.
“You do understand, Miss Hamilton, Agent Turner shot you.”
Sam’s shoulders slumped and his head went down a few notches. This must be so hard for him, but she’d make it right.
“He did not shoot me, Deputy Director Davies. He shot Chainy. My side happened to be in the way.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Sam turned around. She didn’t look at him, but kept her gaze on Deputy Director Davies and Tyler, who stood in front of her hospital bed, looking professional. They conducted the interview like they’d never met her.
“Agent Turner is, absolutely, one of the best agents the FBI has, and he would never shoot an innocent person. His aim was true. I did my best to get out of the way, but Chainy had quite a grip on my neck. I knew Agent Turner would have to shoot Chainy, and I even yelled for him to shoot him. At no time did I feel Agent Turner wouldn’t make the shot, or that my life was in any danger from Agent Turner, even if that meant he had to shoot through me to get Chainy.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam’s mouth drop and a surprised look took over his handsome but tired face.
“I expect the FBI will honor Agent Turner for the outstanding work he’s done the last two days, as well as Agent Reed. They’ve performed their duties in an outstanding manner and should be rewarded for their bravery and investigative work.”
“So you feel Agent Turner and Agent Reed protected you and solved both cases to the best of their ability.” Deputy Director Davies waited to hear her answer, his only response a slight tilting of his mouth at the corners.
Sam’s eyes went wide, shell-shocked by what she’d already said. She continued, never looking at him. “I assure you the entire Hamilton family, including myself, are grateful for the outstanding job Agent Turner and Agent Reed have performed. Agent Turner not only saved my life last night, but stopped my potential kidnapping by Jarred.” She paused to let that sink in with Sam before she continued. “I understand Agent Turner was not thinking clearly last night after the shooting. No doubt a traumatic incident, even for the most seasoned of agents. I understand he asked you to hold his badge for him.” Deputy Director Davies’s mouth turned up ever so slightly. “I think you’ll want to return that to him, in addition to his weapon. Agent Reed”—she waited for him to nod to her—“I expect you’ll need to take Agent Turner to the shooting range. His aim seems to be about an inch off.” She indicated her arm and side with a nod and a smirk. “Perhaps some practice will get him back on track.”
She smiled at Tyler. Sam’s aim was dead on, and they all knew it. She couldn’t help getting a little dig in at Sam and letting him see the humor in what happened.
Tyler winked. “I’ll be happy to escort him to the range for a proper tutorial, Miss Hamilton,” Tyler teased.
Deputy Director Davies laid Sam’s gun and badge at the foot of her bed, but she wasn’t quite finished yet. “Deputy Director Davies, I hope I’ve answered all your questions satisfactorily.” He nodded yes to her. “Please tell that internal investigator, what was his name, Vernet, I look forward to discussing Agent Turner with him again.” She gave Deputy Director Davies a wicked grin. She did look forward to sparing with that weasel. No one would ever hurt Sam, not if she could help it.
Deputy Director Davies shook his head. “Agent Vernet has been,” he held for a diplomatic pause, “reassigned.”
“Excellent. I’m sure whomever you send to conduct the internal investigation will be fair and open-minded. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to kiss your agent, and I’m sure you don’t want to be present, since getting involved with a witness is frowned upon by the Bureau.” She smiled at Deputy Director Davies and nodded her farewell.
Tyler, always up to something, sure enough started toward her, bent to kiss her, but Sam pushed him away.
“Don’t even think about it, Tyler. It appears I’m armed again, and I can only handle so many shootings in a matter of days.”
Blown away by Elizabeth, Sam hadn’t lost his mind enough to allow Tyler to kiss his future wife. She didn’t know it, but a diamond ring was burning a hole in his pocket. He’d come into her room ready to beg her forgiveness, and beg even more to make her his wife. He loved her. And job or no job, he wanted to make a life with her.
“I wanted to give her a kiss goodbye—on the cheek. Man, you are so uptight. Relax. Elizabeth is fine.” He leaned down to her. “I will miss your home cooking though. I’ve never eaten so well in my life.”
“You’re welcome at Decadence any time. I’ll have you to the house for dinner often. Once the new restaurant is open, you’ll have a seat whenever you like. You’ll be my guest at both restaurants. I mean it. I better see you there. Often.” She brushed her hand down his arm in a friendly gesture. Grabbing his shirt, she pulled him down and kissed him on the cheek as he’d wanted to do to her.
Tyler followed Deputy Director Davies out the door. Sam ran a hand over the back of his neck, overwhelmed. “Elizabeth, I . . .”
“Not so fast, buster. I don’t want to hear you say you’re sorry for what happened. You don’t owe me an apology. I made the decision to go last night and catch that evil bastard.”
She got up on her knees on the bed. Her head and side probably hurt like hell. In pain, she winced, but didn’t let it deter her from facing him and looking him right in the eye.
“Elizabeth, get back into bed. Listen . . .”
“Not one more word until you get over here and kiss me and hold me.” Her voice cracked.
Desperation laced her voice. She’d managed to get through talking with Davies with boldness and confidence, as if she’d been conducting a business meeting, but she’d used up all her stores of courage and needed him. He took the few steps to her and gathered her in his arms. She clung to him fiercely. He leaned down and kissed her like she’d asked. Gentle with her, he brushed a soft kiss against her lips, then pressed harder and drank her in. He pulled back but kept his arms around her, feeling the bandage around her breasts and ribs. The suffocating guilt overwhelmed him.
“Sweetheart . . .”
“If that sentence has the word sorry in it, I don’t want to hear it. As far as I’m concerned, this whole episode is over, and I’m closing the book on it.” Her voice turned serious. “I owe you my life, Sam. Thank you for what you did. Not only for last night, but for Jarred too. I can finally breathe easy knowing no one is out there trying to hurt or kill me.”
She held his face between her hands and leaned in and kissed him. “I love you,” she said against his lips, then took it deeper.
Sam couldn’t get enough of her. He wanted to lay her down in bed and make love to her. He remembered the ring in his pocket and brought the kiss to an end with a nibble at her soft lips before he leaned away. She wouldn’t leave this room without making him a promise.
“I love you.” He kissed her gently again. “I have one problem. I’m tired of you calling me your fake fiancé.”
“No problem. You took care of my stalker fiancé. There’s no reason to carry on with the whole fake fiancé bit. I promise, I won’t make jokes about that anymore.” She crossed her heart with her index finger and leaned in to kiss him again.
He leaned back and dodged her lips. He needed to get this out. “That’s all well and good, but you see, I do like the fiancé part.”
“What? What are you talking about?” she asked, confused.
Anxious and feeling mischievous, he pushed her back onto her heels. The surprised look on her face helped ease his nerves. He kneeled beside the bed and took the ring out of his pocket. Holding it up to her with one hand, he held her other hand in his and said, “I love you, Elizabeth Hamilton. I want to make a life with you. I want to have a family and grow old with you. I can’t live with
out you. Will you marry me?”
She never took her eyes from his, even though he held a gorgeous diamond ring up to her. She couldn’t care less, and that said everything about her priorities.
A brilliant smile bloomed on her lips when she said, “Yes. Oh, yes, Sam, I’ll marry you.”
He let out a deep breath, slipped the ring on her finger, and stood and gathered her into his arms. Last night his future looked bleak and dark, and now he saw a bright and happy future with this woman, with his Elizabeth. He kissed her forehead and both her eyelids even as tears spilled down her cheeks. He wiped them away with the pads of his thumbs, careful of the swelling around her right eye. Kissing her cheeks, he finally found her mouth.
“Ellie Girl, your ass is hanging out the back of your gown.” The Judge covered a laugh with a cough.
Elizabeth didn’t care whether she was buck-naked standing on the Embarcadero in front of Pier 39 at that moment. She and Sam were getting married.
“John. That’s our daughter you’re talking about,” Rachel laughed out. “Elizabeth, darling, please cover yourself. Hello, Sam. How are you today?”
Sam held her face and kept his forehead to hers. Elizabeth settled back into bed. After covering her and making her comfortable, he brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her palm. “I’m perfect, now.”
“Dad, Mom, Sam and I are getting married.” Her parents’ eyes lit up, and they both came to the bed and held her close.
“Congratulations, Elizabeth. I knew you two were perfect for each other,” Rachel said, beaming.
“Are you sure, Ellie Girl? I can have him locked up for something if you’d rather,” the Judge teased in a serious voice. “I’m sure I can frame him for something.”
“I’m sure, Dad. Sam is my future. We’re getting married, I’m going to open a new restaurant in his sister’s building, and soon we’ll have babies.” She smiled at Sam as he smiled back at her.
“Well, those are some big plans. We’ll get started on the wedding as soon as you’re well.” Rachel’s eyes went misty thinking of her little girl walking down the aisle.
“Dad, will you do a couple of things for me?”
“Sure, Ellie Girl, anything.”
“Go use that wonderful Hamilton clout and get me out of here. I’m going home with my fiancé.” She ran a hand over Sam’s hair and down his cheek. She wasn’t about to spend another minute without him, and she certainly didn’t want to spend another day lying around a hospital room.
“Elizabeth, you’re seriously injured, and you have a concussion. You can’t leave the hospital,” Sam said, worried about her.
“He’s right. If they won’t let you go home in a few days, I’ll spring you,” her father said lovingly. “What else do you want me to do? You want something else very much, and I can tell by the light in your eyes it’s a doozy.”
“You know me so well. I want you to marry Sam and I next Saturday at his family’s ranch in Colorado.”
“Elizabeth, we can wait until you’re feeling better,” Sam said, shocked she wanted to marry him immediately. “You have time to plan the wedding you want.”
“That is the wedding I want. I want to be married on the ranch you love with your family and my family. I don’t want to wait to be your wife.”
Her mother smiled down at her. “Elizabeth, a wedding on the family ranch is a splendid idea, but you haven’t considered a few details. Darling, you can’t be serious about doing it next Saturday. We have to get you a dress and order flowers and food, not to mention getting permission from Sam’s family to use the ranch and setting things up.”
“I’m sure between you, me, Jenna, and Summer we’ll get everything done. Sam, your family won’t mind, will they?”
“Hell no. They’ll be thrilled. I’d marry you anywhere, but the ranch is perfect. I have a house at the lake. We can stay there before and after the ceremony. Jack and Summer both have spare rooms for your brothers, and there’s the cabin for your parents. There’s plenty of room for everyone.”
“Sam, I love your enthusiasm,” Rachel chimed in, “but Elizabeth, you’ve forgotten something important. Your face. You don’t want all of your wedding photos to show your bruised and swollen face. I don’t think a week is enough time for it to heal.”
Elizabeth wanted to marry Sam right away, but she didn’t want to look back on their special day and have any of the past few days’ ordeal mar any part of their wedding.
“All right, make it three weeks, but not a day longer. I’m going to be Mrs. Sam Turner by the end of the month.”
Epilogue
* * *
SAM AND TYLER arrived at his home in Colorado. Expected to join Elizabeth there in another week, he and Tyler had closed their case early, thanks to the help of Tyler’s psychic ghost, Morgan. The racket from his family rolled all the way out to the porch. When he stepped into the house, the sweetest family scene greeted him. Toys littered the floor, the smell of good food cooking, including his wife’s baking, wafted on the air, and the noise that only a family can make.
His sister, Summer, rocked her baby by the huge stone fireplace. His newest niece, Rose, lay on Summer’s chest sleeping with her little mouth open. Lily and Jacob, Summer’s other two children, sat at the long farm table in the kitchen with their father, Caleb, decorating cupcakes with Jenna’s boys, Sam and Matt. Jenna was supervising the children from the head of the table with Jack sitting beside her, helping little Sam put candies on his cupcake in the shape of a happy face. Jenna was decorating a cupcake, a comical sight because at eight months pregnant she barely reached the table while she sat in the chair. Beautiful in her pregnancy, she glowed.
The real beauty, though, stood in the kitchen with a baby held in one arm nursing under a blanket and a pie in the other hand she’d just taken out of the oven. The Muffin Man rubbed at her legs and purred loudly, hoping for a treat.
Elizabeth looked up when the screen door at the front of the house banged shut. She’d been staying at their home in Colorado on her maternity leave, and she was enjoying a day of baking and playing with all the children. All six of them. She put the pie down to cool and smiled at her husband and Tyler, who came in behind him.
“You’re home. You weren’t due back for at least a week.” Happy to see him, her heart quickened.
Everyone in the house shouted one kind of greeting or another at Sam and Tyler as they made their way into the house. Sam headed straight for her.
“Morgan helped us tie things up faster.”
“Tyler, what are you doing here?” Elizabeth loved seeing him. He came to the new restaurant at the Merrick International building in San Francisco often.
“You said you’d feed me a home-cooked meal any time I wanted. I was hungry, so I came along with Sam.”
“You eat at the restaurant all the time.” Elizabeth had made sure Tyler always had a seat, no matter how busy things were, and never got a bill. He was family.
“Sam said he was taking his family leave, and I had a few days’ vacation coming to me, so I thought I’d tag along and see my best girl.” He stepped away from Sam before he got jabbed in the ribs by an elbow. Elizabeth smiled. Some things didn’t change. Those two were always joking with each other.
“I think Tyler’s in love with Morgan. He came here to hide out from her, if that’s even possible. She’s got him all tied up in knots.” Sam winked at Elizabeth. She waited for Tyler’s denial, though it had become very obvious something was brewing between Morgan and Tyler.
Jack almost dropped his cupcake. He coughed to cover the smile on his face. Tyler had come to the ranch to hide from Morgan. Jack wondered what Tyler would say if he knew Morgan was their neighbor.
Jack wanted to tell them he’d seen Morgan, had actually run into her that very day. He’d promised her he wouldn’t tell them and hated lying, but it was important. Her prediction correct, Sam and Tyler had arrived unexpectedly.
“She won’t tell me where she is, or how she knows
how to get in touch with me,” Tyler grumbled. “It’s like she’s invaded my head and knows my every thought. It’s getting downright creepy. Sometimes all I have to do is think about her and she calls me.”
Sam chuckled, “It’s getting creepy? It’s been creepy since the beginning.”
Tyler shrugged and headed for the table to shake hands with Jack. “Might as well decorate a cupcake and play with the kids. I’m not thinking about Morgan anymore,” he said, mostly to himself.
“Sure you’re not,” Sam teased. “Give it up already. We all know she’s all you think about.”
Sam laughed when Tyler opened his mouth to say something nasty back to him, but Jenna stuffed a cupcake in his mouth. All the kids laughed along with the adults. Tyler good-naturedly ate the cupcake and swallowed the comeback.
Sam finally made it into the kitchen and greeted his wife, “Hello, sweetheart. How are my girls today?”
Elizabeth kissed him for a long moment. He hadn’t been gone that long, but she’d missed him every moment he was away, like he’d missed her.
“We’re good. Grace is not living up to her name, however. She’s a little piggy and has been nursing non-stop. I think it’s her way of protesting your absence.”
Sam lifted the blanket to peak at his daughter. Sure enough, she sucked away at her mama. Her little fist rested on Elizabeth’s breast next to her mouth. Her eyes were closed, completely content against her mother’s skin.
“Who could blame her?” Sam bent his head and kissed the swell of his wife’s breast above his daughter’s face. He kissed Grace on her forehead. When he met his wife’s eyes again, he gave her a look, telling her she would be all his tonight when they were alone. She blushed and he leaned in and kissed her lips, holding her and their daughter in his arms.
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