Gwenyth made an indelicate snort. “Apparently good ole Larry wasn’t as dumb as I thought. The police said that the former senator was very aware of the fact that his brother’s connection to NAM would hurt him in the polls so he convinced Devin to go by a different last name.” She glanced up at her husband and shook her head. “What a lying coward. It wasn’t that he disapproved of his brother’s connection, it was that he knew he wouldn’t get reelected if it was found out.”
“Which is exactly what happened,” Marc pointed out pragmatically.
Candy giggled. “Thank God.” She raised her wineglass toward Marc for a toast. “And may Devin Coltrane Green stay behind bars for the rest of his unnatural born life!”
“Hear, hear.”
Candy clinked glasses with Marc then turned to face Gwenyth and Sam. “Does anyone mind if I use the events of this night as the basis of my next book?”
The others groaned.
“Oh come on,” Candy protested, “I can see it now.” She raised her hand as if reading from a flashing neon sign lit up on Broadway. “The handsome, dashing hero rushes out into the night to save his beautiful, beloved heroine…”
“You think I’m handsome and dashin’?” Sam cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter. “I can see where you’d believe that.”
Gwenyth rolled her eyes and groaned. “Let’s not get carried away.”
Sam quirked a pompous brow. “Oh? And you don’t think I’m handsome and dashin’?”
“Well,” Gwenyth teased, “you have potential.”
“Potential?”
Gwenyth threw back her head and laughed. Just teasing Sam felt good. It was, after all, something she never would have gotten to do again if he hadn’t saved her from Devin’s clutches in time.
Gwenyth wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck and smiled brilliantly. Gazing into the eyes of the man she’d loved for over two decades, the man she knew she’d love for the rest of her life, she admitted without a qualm, “I can’t imagine a more perfect man to base a hero on.”
Epilogue
“Merry Christmas, Sis.”
“Merry Christmas, Bro.”
Gwenyth kissed Harry on the cheek, then waved him inside where the others were gathered. She noticed immediately that he had enough presents with him to put Santa Claus to shame. “Where’s Monique?”
“Monique?” Harry shook his head, wondering why his family always asked after her, much like one would a lover. “She couldn’t come along this year. Her family is spending the holiday in Europe.”
Gwenyth nodded as she took her brother’s coat. She still held a hope that Harry would eventually see Monique as more than just an ever-efficient assistant. “The gang is in the family room. Go on in there and I’ll join you in a minute.”
“Who all is here?”
“The usual.” Gwenyth shrugged. “Sam, Candy, Marc, Granddad and Grandmama.” She grinned. “I wanted Brian to come, but he had prior obligations.”
Harry snorted. “Is he still hunting Candy?”
“Relentlessly. She hasn’t been caught yet, but I can feel her resistance chipping away daily.”
“Good.” Harry chuckled. “They deserve each other.” Turning the topic, Harry gestured toward the family room where he could hear animated laughter and boisterous singing coming from. “So is my nephew in there too?”
“Of course.” Gwenyth smiled, the way she always did whenever the subject of her son came up. Sam teased her a lot these days, insisting that she had turned into one of those annoying parents that whips out pictures of their kids and shows them to everyone they meet.
Not that Sam was any better. They had both fallen head over heels in love with their little boy the moment they’d laid eyes on him. And whenever Sam teased his wife too mercilessly, she would simply remind him of the time in France when he’d whipped out a picture of the inside of her uterus and showed it to anyone who cared to see, and quite a few that didn’t. “I believe Sam and Granddad are showing Jackson the finer points of Christmas cookie eating.”
Harry made a show of licking his lips. “I think I can be of some assistance.”
Gwenyth shook her head in amusement as she followed her brother into the family room. “I’ve got presents!” Harry shouted. “Lots of them!”
Everyone cheered. Sam stood up to give his brother-in-law a great big bear hug. “We miss you around here, Bro. Marc and I are almost hopin’ you lose the next election so you’ll be back in Tampa in time to open up the restaurant with us.”
