I unfastened the button of her jeans, then lowered her zipper. “Ever been skinny-dipping?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Hey, you might actually enjoy it.”
“That isn’t what I meant. Of course I’veskinny-dipped, Bishop. I’m European.”
We madegood use of the stateroom on the return trip to the States. On the drive to the camp, I brought up an idea I’d been thinking about all week. “If the weather holds, and it’s supposed to, I want to get started on Orenda.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
“You were?”
Katarina nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it all week.”
“Seriously?” I reached for her hand and brought it to my lips.
“What is that for?”
“Because you are the perfect woman.”
“I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are.”
Katarina smirked. “Bishop, I’m only the perfect womanfor you.”
Truer words had never been spoken.
EPILOGUE
—BISHOP—
When the door of Orenda opened and Katarina stepped out on Anna’s arm, all those here to witness our wedding ceremony gasped.
Was it because they saw her aura the way I did? How her glow had nothing to do with the sun’s rays shining on her?
The woman who would soon be my wife was so many things. Brave enough to refuse to leave a collapsing building while there were still others inside who needed to be rescued, even after dragging herself from under a beam, knowing damn well that her arm was broken and her leg wasn’t strong enough to hold her.
Her loyalty knew no limits. She stood up the next day and told those in front of her that no matter what the enemy brought to her door, she’d continue to fight in honor of every person she’d loved and lost. That she’d march into battle alone to save the lives of all those left standing if that’s what it took.
She moved toward the people she loved. Every time. It was the first thing I learned about her, and she’d proved it over and over again in the days, weeks, and months that followed.
Katarina was funny. A smartass. Dry and fast and merciless. She gave me shit from the first day I met her and hadn’t let up since, and God help me, I hoped she never would. She could land a line that leveled a room. She’d done it to me more times than I could count, and every time she did, I fell more in love with her.
Lyra had told me once that she’d never in her life seen Katarina reach for something she wanted for herself. Until she met me. She was a woman who’d spent her entire life always giving, never taking, and yet had opened her hand to me.
It was that softness that truly won my heart. She let so few see it, but she had me. She’d let me in, and I understood what it had cost her to do it. She’d set her pride aside, her fear of asking for help, because she trusted me. I would spend the rest of my life being worthy of it.
She and Anna came down the steps of the porch of the home we’d built together, to the lawn where ourceremony would take place. Her cheeks flushed when her eyes met mine. Did she doubt her beauty? I let my gaze travel from her long dark hair, down her elegant neck, to the ivory dress that hugged the curves of the body I’d worshiped with every part of mine. When my eyes met hers a second time, she blushed again at the desire I felt for her and would never hide.
Anna leaned close and whispered in her ear, but Katarina didn’t look away from me as they walked across the grass toward me, to the place where Henry would pronounce us man and wife.
I grinned.
I couldn’t not.
—Katarina—
