as he weighed the matter and decided whether he wanted to protest.
Then he looked up at Swanny. “You love my daughter? And she loves you?”
“Yes, sir,” Swanny said without hesitation.
Eddie’s shoulders sagged a bit as if all the air escaped him at once.
“All right. I won’t object to you going into recovery. But I’ll want to see her as soon as possible.”
“There’s another thing you should know,” Swanny said as Eddie took a seat in one of the chairs. “Eden knows everything. I told her the night her vehicle was attacked. I needed her to understand the magnitude of the danger to her, and she deserved to know what the hell was going on when her car was blown up, killing the driver.”
Eddie buried his face in his hands, emotion overcoming him. His voice was thick with tears.
“God, this is my fault. All of it. I swore nothing would ever touch my children. And now Eden is paying for my past sins. I don’t know how she’ll be able to ever look at me now.”
Swanny softened at the older man’s obvious grief.
“Sir, there is one thing I’ve learned about your daughter in a very short time. She has the biggest, most tender, forgiving heart in the world. Yes, she was upset and shocked at the time. But I have no doubt she will not be angry with you, nor will she refuse to see you. She loves you, her entire family, too much. And that’s not who Eden is. She isn’t one to hate. To harbor resentment.”
“You do indeed know my daughter well,” Eddie said quietly.
Swanny jerked around, forgetting all about Eden’s family and the other occupants of the room when his name was called by a nurse who’d just entered the waiting room. He rushed toward her, hoping for news about Eden.
He was greeted by a broad smile.
“Miss Sinclair is out of surgery and in recovery. She’s awake but still a bit groggy and confused. You can come back to see her now. She’ll remain in recovery for forty-five more minutes before we transfer her to the floor. We just want to make sure her pain is under control and she suffers no nausea from the anesthesia.”
“But she’s okay?” Swanny asked, holding his breath until he was light-headed.
The nurse smiled again. “Yes, she’s just fine. Come now. I’ll take you back to see her.”
Without a backward glance at the others, Swanny hurried after the nurse, eager to see Eden for himself. To reassure himself she was okay and awake. Because then he had to address the subject of whether she could ever forgive him for allowing this to happen to her.
The nurse showed him into recovery and motioned toward Eden, who was being monitored by a nurse at her bedside.
Swanny slowly approached the bed, his stomach clenched as he took in all the bandages covering her face.
“Is she awake?” Swanny whispered to the nurse at her bedside.
The nurse smiled and nodded and then gestured for him to take the seat on the other side of her bed.
“Eden? Eden, honey, can you hear me?” Swanny asked in a low voice.
Slowly, Eden turned in his direction, her eyes instantly going warm as she registered his presence.
“I knew you’d come,” she whispered hoarsely. “It was the only thing that kept me sane. I knew you’d come. I was so scared I’d never see you again.”
Tears clogged Swanny’s eyes, and the nurse attending Eden’s vitals discreetly stepped away.
“How can you even look at me, knowing that I failed you,” he choked out. “It’s my fault you were taken. I never should have left you alone. I don’t know that I can ever live with myself.”
Weakly she lifted a hand to his cheek and gently caressed his face with cold fingertips.
“Not your fault. I was too trusting. I should have known but it was too late by the time it dawned on me she shouldn’t be there. You taught me better and I didn’t listen.”
Swanny reached up for her hand, pressing her palm to his lips as tears slid soundlessly down his cheeks.
“I brought you here and insisted on the best plastic surgeon Paris had to offer. I couldn’t allow you to live with constant reminders of what happened to you. I know how important your career is to you. So I made the decision to have the cuts to your face repaired. The surgeon said that in a few months, and with additional procedures, you’ll look good as new again.”
She smiled up at him, so much love in her eyes that it took his breath away. God, she still loved him. Had told him as her last conscious thought when he’d taken her away from the horror she’d endured.
“I don’t care about my face or career, Swanny. I only care about you,” she said, sincerity ringing clear in her voice. “As long as I have you, as long as you love me, nothing else matters.”
He had to take a long moment to compose himself. To try to rid himself of the tears and the emotion knotting his throat so tightly he couldn’t speak—or breathe—around it.
“I love you,” he said brokenly. “I love you so much, Eden. You’re a miracle. My miracle. A gift I never dreamed of receiving. I’m so damn grateful for it. You’ll never know how much you mean to me, but I can tell you every day for the rest of our lives just how much I love you.”
Her eyes widened and her hand slid from his grasp as she stared up at him.
Clearing his throat and understanding why she was staring at him in shock, he made an attempt to repair his completely botched effort of proposing.
“Marry me, Eden,” he said in a husky, tear-laced voice. “Be with me. Stay with me forever. I know we have a lot to work out with our respective careers and I want you to know that I’ll always support your decisions. I’ll never stand in the way of your career. I just want you.”
This time it was Eden who teared up, her eyes going glossy and bright. But there was such a joyous smile on her face that seemed incongruous with their surroundings. She was in recovery just coming out of surgery. She had to be in pain and groggy and yet she lit up the room like sunshine in July over Kentucky Lake.
“I’ll marry you, Swanny. I love you so much. And you’re right. We’ll work it out in time. But for now, all I want is to go home with you. Spend a few months recovering and regrouping. Then we can tackle our careers and make compromises. That’s what love is all about.”
He leaned over and gently kissed her lips, one of the few places she didn’t have a bandage covering her face.
“I don’t have a ring—yet. But you can be damn sure when you leave this hospital you’ll be wearing my ring. And then I’m taking you home to Tennessee. I’ll buy you the perfect house on the lake and you can sit out on the deck and enjoy the water and do nothing more than rest and recover while I wait on you hand and foot.”
Her smile broadened and she slipped her hand into his, squeezing.
“My dad will want to give me away and my brothers will want to be there. But otherwise I don’t want a big fuss. No paparazzi, no public announcement of our engagement or marriage and certainly no damn pictures of the event plastered all over magazines. It will be our day and I want to keep it that way. Intimate and private.”
“Speaking of your family, they’re all here. They arrived just a short while ago and they’re worried sick about you. When you get moved to your room I’ll let them know it’s okay to see you. But for now? I don’t mind being selfish and keeping you all to myself until they move you.”
Her eyes sparkled despite the grogginess from the anesthesia and the pain he knew she had to be feeling.
“I’m on board with your selfishness, because trust me when I say I’m going to be very possessive of you and spending time with you, just the two of us. I can’t think of a better way to recover than to spend it with you, in our home, with someone I love more than I ever imagined loving another person.”
Swanny’s heart filled to bursting. He didn’t even mind the tears that once again crowded his eyes. This woman lying in a hospital recovery room was so strong and yet infinitely gentle and so very loving and giving.
He whispered a th
anks to God for seeing her safely back to him. Where she belonged.
And he was already envisioning the perfect house on the lake. With a perfect deck and a dock overlooking the water, not far from the KGI compound, but he had no desire to sequester himself and Eden behind the walls of the compound. He wanted a special place of their own. Their sanctuary where they could focus on each other and a future that was brighter than the sun.
EPILOGUE
EDEN stretched lazily on the lounge chair situated on the sprawling wood deck that was just yards from the water’s edge. Sunshine warmed her, spreading comfortable lethargy through her body.
She felt like a satisfied cat sunning herself.
It was a lazy day. The best. Contentment settled over her and she eyed her laptop sitting on the little table next to her chair.
Eh. It could wait.
She focused her gaze on the water, a shimmering sheet of glass catching the sun’s rays, sparkling like diamonds scattered liberally across the surface. She sat there several more minutes and then reluctantly checked her watch.
With a sigh she reached over to retrieve her laptop. Swanny would be home soon and she needed to be apprised of the details so they could discuss the situation when he arrived.
He was at the compound for a meeting to give the rundown of his team’s latest mission to the older Kelly brothers.
A surge of pride washed over her as she thought of Swanny and his job. Though he expressed reluctance to leave her for the first time since that awful time in Paris, she’d encouraged him to go. It was a righteous mission, a word she’d quickly picked up by being around the members of KGI. Swanny’s family. Now her own extended family as well.
She was closer to her father and brothers than ever. They had come for every surgery she’d endured since the first in Paris. They’d been there at Swanny’s side, supporting her—and him—through every procedure as her face slowly resumed its normal appearance.
Now? There was no sign of the slight scars that had been present after the first surgery. The first surgeon had done an impeccable job of meticulously keeping the scarring minimal. And the ensuing surgeries had been performed by the top plastic surgeon in the US.
Each time, Eden had been flown out on a KGI jet to California, where she’d quietly been checked into the hospital to undergo the process of making her appearance flawless once more.
She hadn’t minded the scars, but Swanny had been adamant that she never be permanently disfigured, as he was. Ruefully smiling, as she always did when she considered his adamancy on the subject, she’d allowed him his way because he’d been so determined.
He loved her. And she knew that because he loved her, he wanted the absolute best for her. He wanted her to have choices. He supported her in returning to her career, just as she supported him in keeping his own.
Yes, it was dangerous. Yes, she lived with the fear that he may not return from a mission, but it was a fear that every single wife of the KGI members shared. It was a bond between them, one that had drawn Eden close into the ranks of the Kelly wives, and the wives of the other team leaders as well.
Maren, the wife of one of the other team leaders, was a top-notch physician who practiced locally, and she checked in on Eden often, always ensuring that Eden was recovering well from each of her surgeries.
All the wives had accepted her without hesitation. They embraced her, and it was obvious that Swanny was held in high esteem and that Eden was loved if for no other reason than the fact that she accepted Swanny as he was and saw him for the wonderful man he was beneath the surface.
Eden opened her laptop and then went to her email to look for the message from her agent regarding Eden’s return to modeling. Ironically enough, for Aria.
They wanted to do a second campaign. This time for yet another new product. The last campaign had been a huge success—although Eden was certain all the press coverage over the attempts on her life certainly hadn’t hurt. But they wanted her for their next launch. And, well, she was ready.
Before? No, she hadn’t been. She’d thoroughly enjoyed her solitude with Swanny. The two had been married on Kentucky Lake, behind the walls of the KGI compound where they could be assured absolute privacy.
Her father and brothers had attended, and as Eden had wanted, the ceremony was small and intimate. No photographers, paparazzi, long guest list, etc. Just the other members of KGI, their wives and children, her family and, of course, Swanny.
She still smiled when she remembered her wedding day. She’d insisted on someone taking a photo of her and Swanny, despite the fact that her face hadn’t completely healed at that time and the faint lines were evident in the photo.
But she and Swanny had both been smiling so hard that they glowed. She wouldn’t trade that picture, that moment, for anything in the world.
“Hey, beautiful.”
A shadow fell over her, right before warm lips covered hers and even warmer hands slid up her bare legs to the hem of the shorts she was wearing. She smiled. Her husband was home.
“Hi there yourself, handsome.”
Eden got a kick out of the lengths Swanny went to in order to reassure her she was still beautiful. As beautiful to him as he was to her. What a pair they made.
“How are you feeling?” he asked as he plopped into the chair next to her.
She drank in the sight of him. He was dressed in fatigues and a white muscle top. It made her want to climb on him and have her wicked way with him right out here on the deck, and damn the outside world.
“I’m fine,” she assured him. “Was just looking over the email Nigel sent me about the Aria account.”
“Ah,” Swanny said. “And? You going to do it?”
No displeasure. No judgment. Just encouragement in his voice. Nothing to register what he thought she should do. It was one of the things she loved most about him. He wasn’t remotely threatened by her career and he’d gone to great lengths to ensure she would still have a career.
He was leaving the choice solely up to her, but she didn’t fool herself for a moment by thinking her choice wouldn’t affect him. He’d made it abundantly clear that he supported her unconditionally and that she was free to pick and choose her assignments. However, he insisted on going with her to every one. He would act as her personal security, along with Micah and David.
She wasn’t sure he’d ever truly move past that awful day in Paris when she’d been abducted and subjected to the torture she’d endured. Though he might not hinder her in any way in continuing her career, he’d arrange to take a leave of absence for all of her shoots no matter how short or long they might be. He still lived in terror that she would be taken from him, and he made certain that he would be with her every step of the way when she did choose to go back to her career.
She studied him lovingly a moment and then, because she could and because she could never say it enough, she blurted, “I love you.”
His eyes warmed, catching the sun and the reflection of the water in his green eyes. “I love you too, honey.”
“And yeah. I’m going to do it,” she said decisively.
“Good. I’m proud of you. I know it took a lot of courage to make that decision.”
Her heart swelled. How well he understood her. In the short time they’d been married, they’d spent virtually every minute together, learning, growing. Already so far ahead of most couples with only a few months behind them.
He well understood her hesitancy. Her self-consciousness when it came to wondering if the scars were evident. He understood that only too well, having lived it for the last few years. He was her rock. Her support. And her biggest cheerleader. Always telling her how beautiful she was.
“When do we leave?” Swanny asked.
Just like that. So simply laid out. No questions. No reservations. Just a solid reminder that he was with her every step of the way. God, she loved this man.
“Next week,” she murmured. “Is that enough time to give your team notice that you’ll b
e out of action for a bit?”
He nodded. “Yep. Already have all that down. When I’m with you, they either don’t draw a mission or, if they absolutely have to, then one of the Kelly brothers fills in for me. Nathan and Joe are considering taking on another teammate anyway. We’re smaller than the other teams and we could use a sixth for times just like this. And, well, when I am in action, an extra teammate at your side never hurts.”
Eden pondered Swanny’s words and then glanced over at him.
“What’s on your mind, honey? I know that look. You’re thinking something.”
“Have y’all ever considered talking to Ryker about joining your team? You served together and he’s still sort of in action with what he does.”
Swanny grinned. “Is my girl psychic? Or maybe you’ve been listening in on our conversations.”
She lifted one eyebrow. “No. But now you’ve got me curious.”
“We have considered it actually. Depends on how rusty he is and how much he’s kept up his skills, but yeah, we’ve talked about it. It all boils down to how much training time we’d have to devote to him.”
Eden sighed. “I feel like a dumbass for even suggesting it, regardless of whether you all have already talked about it. I must be a masochist for even thinking about adding another person to worry about when your team does draw a mission.”
Swanny gave her a tender smile and then reached across to take her hand, squeezing it before lacing their fingers together.
“I’ll always come home to you, beautiful. You give me a reason to come home. Every damn time.”
“Just like I’ll always come back home to you,” Eden returned, her smile as tender as his. “No matter that you go with me. We’ll both always come home to Kentucky Lake.”
He leaned over her just as she herself was leaning in, but that didn’t surprise her. They were both so in tune with each other. Their mouths met in the sweetest of kisses. Bathed in the sunshine dancing off the lake, they sat there, hands twined. Knowing that no matter where life or their careers took them, that they’d always have “home” to come back to.
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