Edge looked at Skye’s beautiful face. To hell with it. He’d just tell her and be done with it.
“I love you. That’s what I wanted to say. None of the rest of it matters if you don’t feel the same way.”
Skye’s pretty green eyes welled. He could read the sadness there, and his chest clamped down.
“I love you, too,” she said. “You have no idea how much.”
Edge moved toward her, but Skye held up a hand. “I love you, Edge. But sometimes love isn’t enough. What I want out of life, and what you want—”
“I want exactly what you want. I want to stay in Denver and make a family with you. I want you to marry me, baby. Will you?”
The tears in her eyes spilled onto her cheeks, and Edge’s insides splintered. “Don’t say no. Please. At least hear me out.”
Skye’s voice trembled. “You have a chance to get your old life back, Edge. It’s what you’ve always wanted. Right now, you think you want to give that up, but what if you regret it later?”
Edge reached out and took hold of Skye’s hand, led her over to the sofa, and both of them sat down. He’d been hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but it was time for him to let her in, tell her what had made him the man he was.
“I lost my mom when I was a kid,” he said. “Kade loved the ranch, and that gave him a bond with my dad. Gage was obsessed with seeing the world. I don’t think he needed anyone until he met Abby. I was the youngest. I was the lonely one. I just accepted that I would always be alone and made the best of it. That’s the way it was until I joined the army. In the Green Berets I found a family again. I wasn’t alone anymore.”
He brought Skye’s hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “I’m a different man now. I realized that when I went back to Fort Campbell. I have friends here. I’ve made a life here. I like the life I’ve made. I don’t need the army anymore. This is where I belong. Here in Denver, with you, honey.”
“Edge . . .”
“Say you’ll marry me, Skye. I’ll always be lonely without you.”
More tears washed down her cheeks. “Edge . . .” She went into his arms, and Edge held her, feeling the soft beat of her heart against the nervous beat of his own.
“I need you, baby. I love you so much.”
“Oh, Edge—I’ve loved you for so long.”
Everything inside him seemed to settle and return to the way it should be. Edge eased back to look at her. “Is that a yes?”
Skye gave him a teary smile. “It’s definitely a yes.” She kissed him, then stood and drew him to his feet. “I don’t want you to sleep on the sofa.”
“Are you sure? After fighting those two big goons, you have to be hurting.”
Her pretty eyes sparkled. “I trust you to be careful.”
Edge couldn’t stop a smile. He kissed her softly, then followed her into the bedroom.
Half his life, he had been searching for a home.
With Skye, he had finally found one.
EPILOGUE
Six months later
SPRING HAD ARRIVED IN THEROCKIES. MOUNTAIN SNOWS STILL COVEREDthe peaks in the distance, but a warm sun encouraged the grass to break through the soil, and the trees had begun to bud out.
After a productive day of working with Edge on a burglary case that involved the recovery of a woman’s valuable jewelry, Skye sat next to her husband at a table in the Fainting Goat. Around them at nearby tables, the after-five crowd laughed noisily, the sound echoing off the exposed brick walls, but Skye’s attention remained on the man she had married.
Her husband.The words made her smile.
She glanced down at the beautiful diamond wedding band on her left hand, wiggling her fingers to make the diamonds sparkle, then looked over at the gold band Edge was wearing.
Just weeks after Klaus Mahler and Webb Rankin had been arrested, they’d been married in an intimate ceremony with family and friends in a small, white-steepled chapel. Afterward, Conn had arranged a reception in his lovely old Victorian, the house Skye had grown up in. She and Edge had honeymooned in Aspen, in a suite at the five-star St. Regis Resort.
