He glanced around them to find Sutton stalking in their direction, a grim expression on his face. “Get up, the two of you. I ain’t kneeling in the splinters.”
Gavin rose and helped Caro to stand as well, belatedly realizing her wrists were still bound. “Christ. Does anyone have a knife?”
Blade stepped forward, revealing a gleaming, sharp-edged dagger. “Happy to aid my future sister-in-law. Assuming you’ll accept his rotten hide, of course.”
Caro flushed prettily, her gaze going to Gavin as she held her arms outstretched for Blade to slice through the linen binding her. “He has to wish to marry me before I can accept.”
He swallowed against a rush of emotion. “I do. I want to marry you, Caro, if you will have me.”
“Damned right you are going to marry her, Winter,” Sutton said, skewering him with a pointed glare. “You’ll make an honest woman of her, or you’ll find yourself no better than Jones.”
He was not entirely certain Sutton was engaging in hyperbole, and he did deserve a sound thrashing for having bedded Caro before marrying her. He could admit as much.
“You do not need to threaten me, Sutton,” he said. “I love your sister.”
“Deuced strange conversation to be having with your future wife’s brother,” Sutton sneered. “Tell her you love her. She’s the one who needs to hear it.”
Duly chastised, Gavin turned back to Caro, whose hands were now free. He took them in his, raising them to his lips for frantic, fervent kisses. “I love you, Caro. My heart has always been waiting to find yours. I knew it before, and I know it now. When I discovered you had been keeping who I was a secret from me, I was angry, and I clung to that anger and my pride instead of to our love. I almost got you killed because of it.”
“No.” She shook her head, clasping his face in her hands. There were calluses on her fingers, and he loved them, loved her strength, her intelligence, her innate goodness. “I should never have lied to you. It was wrong. I wanted to make amends for my mistakes, and that is why I went to Jones. I thought I could pay him to keep from facing you in the match.”
“I loved that desk, you know,” Sutton said, reminding Gavin he was still standing about, along with his own brothers.
“How did you do it?” Dom asked, sounding fascinated as he took in the splintered desk.
Sutton grinned. “I kept a pistol hidden within, mounted and loaded. Through a mechanism I designed with the help of my gunsmith, all I need to do is pull a lever within the desk, and it pulls the trigger.”
“I’ll be needing to speak with your gunsmith,” Dom replied thoughtfully.
Sutton grinned. “For the right price.”
“Come along then, all of you,” Demon said, gesturing toward Gavin and Caro. “We should give the two of them some privacy.”
“Stokes is going to see to Jones?” Devil asked Sutton, ever the practical one amongst them.
“Aye,” Sutton said. “Stokes will handle everything.”
Blade nodded. “Good. Although, I think you’re going to have to see the carpet replaced again, Sutton.”
“Blood is surprisingly easy to remove from dark carpets,” Sutton said as the men left the room, their voices trailing behind them. “Why the hell do you think I chose this pattern?”
When the door had at last closed and they were alone in Jasper Sutton’s office, the smell of gun smoke acrid in the air but the swelling tide of hope and love rising around them, Gavin dipped his head toward Caro. “Will you marry me, Caro Sutton? Will you be my wife and join these two mad families of ours in the greatest truce of all?”
Her arms went around his neck. “I will.”
“I love you, Caro,” he said again. He had spoken the words to her before, but this was different. They were alone. He wanted there to be no doubt between them.
“Oh, Gavin. I love you, too.” She sniffled. “I thought I had lost you, and I would not have blamed you if you had never forgiven me for keeping the truth from you. My loyalty to you should have been stronger.”
“You’ve more than proven your loyalty to me,” he said, humbled by what she had done, all to save him. “You found me that day, and you could have left me. But instead, you saved me. You saved me, and I fell in love with you as I saw what a caring, kind, intelligent woman you are. A gifted healer, devoted to helping others. And then, even after I had turned my back on you, you still tried to save me, putting yourself in grave danger.”
“I would do it again.” Her lower lip trembled, calling to be kissed. “I would do everything again just for the chance to be with you, Gavin Winter. Just for the chance to love you and to be your wife.”
He brushed his mouth over hers once, twice. Her lips were smooth and warm, an invitation he could not resist. It was like coming home. “My God, Caro Sutton. What did I ever do to deserve you?”
“You incited the wrath of a Bedlamite and nearly got yourself killed on no less than two occasions,” she pointed out, sounding like Sutton.
He grinned, drunk on relief and love andher. “From this moment forward, I swear that the only Bedlamite whose wrath I shall incite will be your brother’s. I can only hope Sutton won’t attempt to kill me.”
