Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“The two of them obviously adore you as much as you do them,” Fergus told Magnus as the brothers cleared away the breakfast things and loaded the dishwasher while Sapphie and Angel went to their bedroom to shower and dress. Angus had trotted after them, the lack of pancakes obviously forgiven. Linus had left to go back to his tech-mancave the moment all the pancakes had been eaten.

Magnus didn’t need to ask who his twin meant by “them.” “What makes you say that?”

His twin snorted. “I think the clincher for Angel was bringing the spider to her, which…kudos to you, brother. I’m not sure I could have done what you did.” He shuddered, just as averse to arachnids as Magnus. “As for Sapphie… I have no idea what magic you perform in the bedroom, Mag, nor do I want to know. But whatever it is, it’s obviously working. She looks at you as if you can do no wrong.”

While that pleased Magnus immensely, they still had the problem of the Carluccis to deal with before he dared ask Sapphie to marry him a second time. Because no matter how she felt about him, he knew she would never do anything that might put Angel in danger of being taken by her grandparents. Which meant?—

“One of us needs to talk to the Carluccis,” Fergus bit out.

Magnus didn’t ask his twin how he’d known what he was thinking. There had been a bond between the two of them since birth, and while they weren’t always attuned to each other’s thoughts and feelings, it happened often enough for it to be more than coincidence.

“I’ll go to see them for you if you don’t want to leave Sapphie and Angel,” Fergus offered.

No way was Magnus leaving Sapphie and Angel. Not ever again if he had his way. “It isn’t your problem.”

“The two of them became family the moment you claimed them as your own. You have claimed them, haven’t you?” Fergus raised a questioning brow.

“In my mind, yes,” Magnus acknowledged. “I’m still working on getting Sapphie to accept it as fact.”

“Good enough.” Fergus nodded. “When I get to the office, I’ll organize taking the company jet to Washington later today?—”

“Why are you going to Washington?”

Both men turned to see a fully dressed Sapphie standing in the open doorway of the kitchen.

“Where’s Angel?” Magnus immediately prompted.

“She’s in the bedroom playing with Angus and Henry,” she answered dismissively, her cheeks deathly pale, her violet-colored eyes accusing. “Why is Fergus flying to Washington?” she repeated rather than waiting for either man to answer her.

“We think someone needs to talk to the Carluccis,” Magnus explained in a calm voice.

She stiffened. “Why?”

“To find out if their intentions are still the same.”

“To find out—” Her glare included both men as she strode furiously into the room, twin spots of angry color in her cheeks. “Their intention has always been to take Angel from me the moment they know where we are. Something a visit from Fergus is going to reveal.”

Magnus took a step toward her. “Sapphie?—”

“Don’t you ‘Sapphie’ me in that patronizing tone!” she snapped accusingly, halting Magnus in his tracks. “I trusted you.” Her voice broke with emotion. “I trusted you,” she repeated fiercely. “Not just with me but with Angel too.” She gave a shake of her head. “Obviously, that trust was misplaced, because your intentions now show you can’t be trusted?—”

“Stop now, before you say something that can’t be taken back,” Magnus warned. He reached out to grasp the tops of her arms when she clamped her lips together. “Think, Sapphie,” he encouraged. “If it turns out the Carluccis are no longer looking for the two of you or still want to take Angel from you, then you might be able to come to some sort of compromise with them. Then you can live a normal life rather than constantly running.”

Sapphie wrenched out of his grasp, uncaring if it left bruises on her arms. Outwardly, she was still furious, inwardly too, but mixed in with that inner anger was an even stronger feeling of betrayal.

Magnus’s betrayal.

She didn’t care why he wanted to do this. His reasons didn’t matter, not when he also knew she wouldn’t want to stir up the hornet’s nest that was the Carluccis’ desire to take Angel from her.

“I trusted you,” she repeated emotionally, feeling the sting of tears gathering in her eyes as her dream of sharing a life with this man crumbled into dust.

He was as bad as Marco. No, he was worse. Because apart from a few weeks when they were first married, Marco had never pretended to be anything other than what he was. Which was a spoiled man-whore who, despite having a wife and then a child, couldn’t keep his dick in his trousers.

Sapphie’s disappointment in Magnus was even deeper than her anger, the heavy weight of the pain of his betrayal threatening to crush her.

“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong,” Magnus stated grimly. “No matter what Fergus’s trip to the States reveals, I will always have your and Angel’s backs. Always,” he reaffirmed. “If that means the three of us, me, you, and Angel, have to disappear, then that’s what we’ll all do. Do you understand? Sapphie?” he prompted when she only continued to stare at him. “I will leave with the two of you if that’s what needs to be done. I will never leave you unprotected ever again.”

She moistened her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. “You would do that?” She glanced at Fergus and then back at Magnus. “Leave all your family behind and just…disappear?”

“If it’s with you and Angel, yes,” Magnus bit out.

Sapphie’s searching gaze roamed freely over his face: his unwavering green gaze, thinned but determined mouth, and his stubbornly clenched jaw.

And she knew, without a single doubt, that Magnus meant every single word he said. He really would leave his family and the life he had here and in New York if Sapphie should decide she and Angel had to disappear again.

She could think of only one reason he would ever be willing to do that. “You love me.” It was a statement, not a question, because she knew there could be no other reason why a man as strong and honorable as Magnus would so willingly and drastically change his life.

“I do, yes.”

“It’s the reason you asked me to marry you?” she added incredulously.

He nodded. “It is.”

“You loved me even then?”

“Even then.”

“But we’d only met the day before.”

“Hell of a thing, huh?” he acknowledged wryly. “One minute, I was happily living my life the way I’d deliberately designed it and wanted it to remain, and the next I’d been hit by the four-by-four that is Sapphie Jones and her daughter Angel.”

She gave an emotionally choked laugh at his obviously sincere admission. “I should be telling you it’s too soon. That you can’t possibly have fallen in love with me in such a short time.”

Magnus eyed her curiously. “Why aren’t you?”

Another incredulous laugh escaped her lips before she managed to speak. “Because I’ve fallen in love with you too!”

“And I’m out of here,” Fergus announced. “Call me as soon as you’ve decided what you would like to do next. I’ll fall in with whatever that decision is.” He squeezed Magnus’s shoulder in passing. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Sapphie,” he told her gruffly.

Sapphie hadn’t taken her eyes off Magnus. The man she loved. The man who loved her enough he was willing to walk away from everything else in his life so that he could be with her and Angel.

Fergus’s comment told her he would respect and uphold whatever his twin’s decision might be. Even if that decision took Magnus away from his twin and the rest of his family.

She couldn’t let Magnus do that.

“Stop.” She turned to prevent Fergus from leaving. “I’ve changed my mind. I think you should fly to Washington. But I also think that Magnus, Angel, and I should accompany you.”

“Absolutely not!” Magnus put in forcefully.

“Absolutely yes,” she disagreed as she stepped forward to press one of her hands against the side of his face to gaze up at him with what she knew would be love in her eyes. “I love you, Magnus. But it’s time I took control of my own life, and that means I need to be the one to talk to Marco’s parents. I want to look them in the eyes and try to help them understand that what they’re trying to do, taking Angel from me, is not only monstrous, it’s unwarranted. Because I’m a damned good mother,” she added decisively.

“You are,” he agreed. “But what if they can’t be reasoned with?”

“Then I have absolute faith in your ability to ensure that Angel and I leave there unscathed. That we will both be safe.”

“You can and you will, yes.” He looked at her searchingly for several seconds before nodding at whatever he read in her expression. “You really love me?” Uncharacteristic uncertainty now underlined his voice.

She was responsible for that uncertainty, Sapphie realized. Magnus had done nothing but prove himself to her, time and time again, as being a true and honorable man. Her doubt in him a few minutes ago had succeeded in crushing his innate belief in himself and that decisiveness that made him who he was.

She dropped her hand to link her fingers with his before turning to face Fergus. He was scanning through the notifications on his cell phone, no doubt in an attempt to look as if he wasn’t listening to their conversation. “Would you mind staying with Angel while Magnus and I go back to his bedroom for a few minutes?”

“Of course, no problem. We’ll be fine, as long as she only brings Angus with her and leaves the spider in the bedroom.” He shuddered.

Sapphie chuckled. “Good luck with that.” She gave a shy glance to Magnus. “Ready?”

“Always,” Magnus assured her as he followed her out of the kitchen.

The moment they reached Magnus’s bedroom and the door was closed and locked behind them, she threw herself into his arms.

Those arms closed around her like metal bars, keeping her inside that shield of protection and everyone else out. The hunger in Magnus’s kisses told her that was exactly what he intended doing for the rest of their life.

“Marry me?” he murmured long minutes later, the two of them now lying on top of the duvet, their legs entwined as they faced each other on the pillows.

“Yes.”

His brows rose. “Just like that? No more questions or protests or doubts, just yes?”

“Yes,” she repeated. “I love you, Magnus, and I truly am sorry that I ever doubted your intentions, even for a moment.”

“You’re forgiven,” he came back immediately. “But just so that you know, I would never have agreed to Fergus going to Washington to speak with the Carluccis without discussing it with you first.”

Sapphie believed him. She loved him. She was going to marry him.

And somehow, some way, the two of them, along with Angel, were going to find their happy ever after. In whatever shape and design suited them.