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Nikos looked down at her as he held her tenderly to his chest His dark eyes were shining

“Thank you, agapeher cheek softly with his hand “Thank you for trying to take that bullet There weren’t any bullets, but you didn’t know that You…you saved me In so many ways”

“And you started early,” a lish Anna looked up to see a man in a Russian police uniform, with half a dozen policemen behind him “We missed it”

“I couldn’t wait, Yuri” Nikos jerked his head toward Victor, still stretched out on the floor “There he is”

Thein a favor I wish I had to paytime, but he was untouchable Noith your testi time” The policeman looked with concern at Nikos’s wrist “My friend, you are hurt”

“It’s nothing—”

“It’s his wrist I think it’s broken We need a doctor right away,” Anna said, then looked up anxiously at the face of the man she loved “Please, Nikos I need you to be well”

“All right,” he muttered “Get the doctor”

Turning away from the policeman, he sank into a nearby chair and pulled her into his lap “Anna, before the doctor starts fillingI should have told you this a long tio, but I was too stupid to see it and too stubborn to admit it—even to myself I really do love you”

“Nikos, I love—”

“Please let et this out” He took a deep breath “You saved me From a life that was e anything else that brings you joy If it makes you happy, I want you to work Asyou want”

Tears filled her eyes even as she gave hiood CEO”

“Cocky” He returned her grin “You alere the only one who could stand up to me I need that in my life Someone to keep me in my place”

As she looked into his handso police, or Victor’s whining complaints as they took him away

“Your place is with h with dark stubble, in her hands “As long as we’re together, anyplace in the world isthat I have to ask you So I’ve never said before to anyone” He’d called her cocky, but what she wanted to ask him now terrified her She took a deep breath “Nikos, will you marry me?”

For answer, his s at her with hope and love “I thought you’d never ask”

“I told you we should have gotten as,” Anna whispered when she reached the end of the aisle

“And miss all this? Never,” he whispered back with a wink

As the priest began to speak the words that would bind theether for all time Nikos knew he should pay attention, but all he could do was look at his bride Beneath the hot Greek sun, on the edge of a rocky cliff overlooking the Aegean Sea, they were surrounded by flowers and a small audience of people who loved the, plain by some standards, but he knew in his heart it hat Anna wanted

And, looking at her now, he knew he’d never be able to deny her anything Her turquoise eyes, a mixture of sea and sky, smiled at him as he lifted her veil She wore a white shift that made her look like a medieval maiden

Her engage, sparkled froo She’d tried to refuse it until she’d realized that he’d found the original stone fro Noas one of her greatest treasures

The way she’d thanked hiet all about the cast on his wrist Reht since they’d returned from Russia, still made his body feel hot froive Anna her honeyht from Sinistyn’s confiscated estates Sinistyn didn’t need it any out his days in a Russian prison

Nikos glanced around hiht blue sky Justice Another thing he’d thought existed only in fairytales, along with love and happy endings

He’d not only held his wedding in his parents’ ho, he’d invited his father’s fa To his surprise they’d all co their husbands and children He now had a fas, nieces, nephews He didn’t know them yet, but he would

Near his fa-day miracle, was not only on her best behavior, but had pinched his cheek and declared it was “about ti to her sister, barring Nikos from her bedroom because it was “bad luck” for hi Misha on her knee while she watched the wedding, sh her tears And he could see his son’s t top teeth in his smile as he watched his parents wed