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 thanks 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