Chapter Twenty

With his arm around Kit, Jace and she watched as Marvin and his lawyer looked over the papers that the district attorney had just handed over to them. Jace heard Kit drag in her breath and hold it.

A breath she released the moment that Marvin signed the plea deal.

It'd been a long time coming, and a hell of lot of people had died trying to stop this, but it was finally happening. Marvin would get a reduced sentence in exchange for information that would lead to criminal charges against Trevor, Ramsey, Deanna, and some of their business associates.

Of course, Ramsey was facing murder charges, and Deanna was dead and therefore beyond the reach of the law, but Jace figured by ending up dead, she had received ample punishment for her crimes. Now, Trevor and Ramsey would be, too.

And, yes, Marvin would as well.

His sentence had indeed been reduced by four years, but with his hot temper, Marvin would almost certainly do something in prison to get those four years, and more, added to his time behind bars.

"It's done," Jace heard Brandon mutter.

The young man looked as if he hadn't slept in the forty-eight hours since his mother's death. And maybe he hadn't. Kit had certainly had two restless nights, and she would probably have to deal with those horrific images of the attacks for the rest of her life.

Jace hated Deanna for that.

Hated that the greedy witch had set all of this into motion. In doing so, she had come damn close to killing her own son and Kit.

When the cops and CSIs had gone through Deanna's things, they'd found proof that she'd hired Rattler, someone she had met when he had worked for Ramsey. She had also hired Norm Pearce and his brother, Mike, and they were the now dead masked thugs that Deanna had brought with her for that final attack.

It'd been the Pearce brothers who'd killed the cop protecting Marvin. The cops had been able to confirm that with texts that they'd gotten from the dead men's phones. Somehow, the brothers had managed to find the location of the safehouse and had barged in, killing the cop, but Marvin had fled out the back before they could kill him as well.

That part of Deanna's plan had failed.

And so had the incidents involving Brandon.

By hiring Rattler to kidnap and do a fake attack on Brandon, Deanna had hoped to manipulate Kit's love for her nephew. Rattler was supposed to make the threats to Brandon appear real so that Kit would cave and not testify.

However, Rattler had screwed up and had actually hurt Brandon when he'd fired through the window at his apartment. Then, he'd nearly gotten Brandon killed during the ransom drop-off. If Rattler hadn't died that day, Deanna likely would have made the man her next target.

What hadn't been found was any record of Deanna having an actual dirty cop in her pocket. But one of the now-dead hired thugs had once been a reserve deputy in Bandera Bluffs, so that's probably why the second hired thug had referred to him that way in those texts that had been on the burners.

The burners that Deanna had used to try to set up Trevor.

So, a whole lot of planning from her. Planning that had thankfully gone wrong. If Deanna had succeeded, Kit, Marvin, and he likely would all be dead with Trevor holding the bag for their murders.

Jace shoved that thought aside when Brandon moved in front of them and hugged Kit. "I'm so sorry," he told her.

"None of this was your fault," she was quick to assure him. "None," Kit emphasized.

"I know, but it, uh…I just wish I'd realized sooner what Mom and Granddad were planning and I could have stopped them." Brandon squeezed his eyes closed for a moment.

"So do I," Kit muttered, and she sighed. There was plenty of regret in that slight sound.

Jace had plenty of regrets, too. But one of them wasn't getting this second chance with Kit. Still, he wished it hadn't had such a high price for both Brandon and her.

"Kit and I are going back to my house," Jace said to Brandon. "Would you like to come with us?"

The young man shook his head. "I need to get away for a little while. But I'll text you so you know where I am." He paused, sliding glances at both of them. "Will you two be okay?"

"We will be." Again, Kit gave a fast answer, and Jace hoped like the devil it was true.

While he was hoping, Jace added one more thing. That this second chance with Kit wasn't just another of their hookups. That this time, she would stay. But beneath that hope was a bitter taste of reality. A reality that Kit might not want more than those hookups.

Brandon nodded and hugged her again. Then, surprised Jace by hugging him before he walked out of the courtroom.

Sighing, Kit looked up at him. "I really do want to go back to your place. I think we could use some downtime."

They could indeed, and Ruby would give that to him. The past forty-eight hours had been a whirl of police interviews, too many phone calls and reports to count, and dealing with the fact that just outside his gate, there was a crime scene being processed.

For Kit, there'd been the added stress of dealing with medical experts who had basically tossed out her father's insanity claim and had certified him capable of standing trial. Since Trevor and she were Ramsey's next of kin, they'd gotten pulled into that.

Or rather, Kit had.

Trevor had pretty much checked out of life and seemed resigned to his future in a jail cell. That'd left Kit and Brandon to handle the legalities of giving Brandon temporary control of the family estate. Since Ramsey would likely never come out of prison, Jace figured the temporary would become permanent.

During Kit's and the CSI's time in Ramsey's office, one of the CSIs had found a note in the shredder that had been pieced together to get them a lead on who'd help Ramsey with his attack. A tech who'd sold Ramsey the jammer and had also sneaked into the courthouse and installed tiny devices on the doors that allowed Ramsey to double lock them all with just a flick of a controller that he'd had in his pocket. That's why no one had been able to get in or out.

The tech had already been located. And arrested.

Along with the trips to her father's estate and to his lawyer's office, Kit had also gone to her own house and office to tie up some work ends and to get more of her clothes. She hadn't mentioned anything about actually staying at her place, and that suited him just fine. He wanted her with him. Wanted her in his bed.

And not temporarily either.

But he had to do it right this time. No rush to get married. No pressure for anything more than what they had right now.

He frowned and called himself on the big-assed lie he'd just told himself. If there was no pressure, then why the hell were the rings in his pocket?

Her rings.

The ones he'd taken that very morning from the little box in his desk. A box he'd carried from assignment to assignment until his move back to the Texas Hill Country.

Several days ago, when she'd asked him what he had done with the rings, he'd asked her if it mattered. He'd tried to blow off their importance. But they did matter because those rings had been symbols of what they once had.

And what he wanted again.

No, he wasn't mentally taking things slow at all.

Jace slid his arm around her and got her moving toward the door. They paused though when Marvin turned in their direction. Jace expected the man to smirk or shoot them a scowl, but he only shrugged. Marvin probably wasn't jumping with joy over going to jail, but he knew it could have been a whole lot worse. If Deanna or Ramsey had been able to get to him, he'd be dead.

Kit and he walked out and then stopped again in the hall. She glanced around, no doubt thinking of the carnage that had gone on here just two days ago.

"I'm surprised the building wasn't closed longer than it was," she muttered.

So was he, but then nearly every city office was in this courthouse, and the cops had moved quickly to get it cleared and cleaned up so that business could resume. Other than some temporary patches on the bullet holes, there were no other visible signs of the attack, but he got them walking anyway. Away from the front entry where Ramsey had started his rampage.

Jace led her to the back exit where they'd gone in the last time they'd been here, and this time, she was the one who stopped outside the door of what had been the Justice of the Peace.

"It's apparently a classroom now," she said, testing the doorknob and opening it when she discovered it wasn't locked. Kit flicked on the lights.

And made a garbled sound of surprise while she staggered back.

Jace had to admit he nearly belted out some profanity since for a moment it looked like some kind of crime scene with two bodies on the floor. But he soon saw they were dummies used for CPR practice.

Kit laughed, a full-out belly laugh that was probably fueled by a whole lot of relief. He was relieved, too. Kit had seen enough real bodies to last her for a lifetime or two.

They stepped into the room, and Jace glanced around, looking for anything left over from the days when it'd been a Justice of the Peace. The wide podium where the JP had stood to administer the vows was gone. Ditto for the plaques and city emblems that had been on the wall behind it. Still, Jace led Kit to the spot where they'd once stood nearly two decades ago.

"I remember standing here thinking—God, just don't let Kit change her mind," he muttered.

She looked at him. Smiled. "I remember thinking—hurry up, Mr. Justice of the Peace, so I can haul my husband off to bed."

Her smile stayed in place, but then she must have recalled the days that followed these vows. The day when her father had torn them apart.

But Jace soon realized he hadn't quite got that part right.

If she had indeed been thinking about the annulment, then she must have gotten over it damn fast because she said something that he'd been waiting a very long time to hear.

"I fell in love with you all over again." But then, she had his heart stopping when she shook her head, waving that off. "I should have said I'm still in love with you because I never stopped. Jace, I never stopped loving you."

"Good. Because I never stopped loving you either."

There it was. All spelled out. The heart secret he'd been holding onto all these years.

"I'm going to want to hear that a whole lot of times," she said, and she reached into her purse to take out something.

A ring.

His ring.

"We stood right here," she said, "and we said vows before I put this on your finger. Do you remember?"

Not trusting his voice, he nodded.

"Do you remember the actual vows, what we said to each other?" Kit asked. She laughed again. "Judging from the look in your eyes, you weren't expecting that particular follow-up question. No worries. I don't remember exactly what he said either."

His next breath was one of relief. He hadn't wanted Kit to think he'd blown off any part of what'd happened that day. Including the part about them being in a rush to haul each other off to bed.

Jace reached in his pocket and took out the rings. Her rings. Shifting them to the palm of his hand, he held them out for her to see.

"Jace," she muttered, and tears sprang to her eyes.

Hell. He hoped those were the happy variety, and he got confirmation they were when she leaned in and kissed him.

And then took the rings.

Blinking back more tears and smiling the biggest smile he'd ever seen, Kit studied them. "As beautiful as ever."

"I was about to say that about you." He hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her to him for a long, slow kiss.

It was probably very similar to the one he'd given her after they'd said I do.

Once he had her, and himself, a little breathless and lightheaded, he eased back and met her gaze. "It doesn't have to be now. You can take all the time you need, but eventually, I want to buy you something better. Something with a much bigger diamond."

She blinked. Frowned. "No."

That felt like a punch to the gut. Yeah, he'd moved way too fast, and Jace was about to take a huge step back when she caught onto his arm, dragged him back to her and kissed him as if there were no tomorrow.

Correction: as if there were a million tomorrows.

Because this didn't feel like a goodbye. Especially not when she pressed her body to his and looked up at him.

"You can't buy me something better," she spelled out. "Because there's nothing better than these. Nothing better than you, Jace."

She kissed him again.

And he kissed her right back.

"This had better be a marriage proposal," Kit muttered with her mouth still against his. "But if it isn't, I'll make it one."

That was music to his ears. "Let's do this together," he insisted.

That added yet even more dazzle to her smile. And they did indeed say the words together.

"Will you marry me?"

Their responses came at the same time, too.

"Yes."