“He would never,” Caro said, smiling back at him. “Believe it or not, Jasper has a good heart.”
Gavin would have laughed at that—more proof that Caro was an angel among mere mortals—but he had to admit that Jasper Sutton wasn’t as much of a ruthless arse as he had once supposed him to be.
“I don’t think he likes me much,” he said mildly, because he had his arms full of Caro, and that was an excellent armful indeed. All his cares had seemed to fade away, his mind suddenly making sense of the wild moments before Sutton had fired his hidden weapon earlier. “You pretended to fall when Jones released you. You knew your brother was going to fire the hidden pistol, did you not?”
She nodded. “We all know about the secret pistol in his desk. The knock is our sign. Jasper has always said we can never be too prepared to meet our enemies.”
“In that, he was not wrong,” Gavin acknowledged. “I am so damned relieved you are safe, Caro.”
“I feel the same.” She rose on her toes, pressing a kiss to his lips that was slow and tentative at first, but then deepened.
Their tongues tangled. Desire sparked to a steady fire. Somehow, the rawness of the day, the danger and the relief and the love, all blended together. They became frantic. Caro clutched him to her as if she feared he would disappear should she hold him any less tightly. He held her snugly close.
They kissed until his lips ached. And still they kissed some more.
Another rap sounded at the closed door.
“No more of that until you are married, Winter,” Sutton called.
Well, bloody hell.
“When can I marry you?” he whispered to Caro.
“Not soon enough,” she told him, and then she pulled his head back to hers for another kiss.
Sutton knocked again, but they both ignored the sound.
Epilogue
Three months.
That was how long it had taken for Gavin’s life to forever change.
In that time, he’d almost met his end. He’d been saved by a guardian angel who’d stolen his heart along the way. He’d lost his memory, then regained it. He’d lost sight of what was truly important, and then he’d caught it before she had slipped through his fingers. He’d married Caro Sutton.
And now, today, he had opened Winter’s Boxing Academy.
He returned to the modest home he and Caro were keeping not far from some of his brothers’ Mayfair townhomes to find Caro awaiting him at the door. It would take some time to get accustomed to this new life he was living, a far cry from his early days in the rookeries. But there was one aspect which required no time at all, one aspect which was natural and instinctive, fitting and so very right.
Caro.
She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he drank in the sight of her—auburn curls framing her lovely face, an ivory gown that showed her bosom and lush curves to perfection, and a smile on her lips. But that did not mean he expected her to greet him at the door when he returned from working at the academy each day.
He drew her in his arms and stole a swift kiss, all he would allow himself for the moment. “What have you done with the household, Mrs. Winter?”
He could not lie.
He loved that she was his wife, that she wore his name, that she washis.
Hell, he just lovedher.
Desperately. More with each day, in fact.
“I have given them the evening to do as they wish,” she told him, her smile turning secretive. “I was hoping we might celebrate the opening of your boxing academy alone together.”
He was not accustomed to having a housekeeper, a footman, a cook, and a maid. He suspected in time he would ease into the novelty. But Caro, in typical Caro fashion, knew what he needed before he did.
She helped him with his coat, hat, and gloves, the moment wonderfully intimate. He pulled her back into his arms and stole a kiss, groaning when her tongue teased his.Damn it, he could not make love to his wife in the entrance hall.
