by Elle James
“You won’t for long if Ivy gets her way. And you’ll be retiring before you know it.”
Ivy’s mother continued to frown, then shook her head and replaced the frown with a smile. “I’ll leave you two alone while I arrange for the car to pick you up at the exit.”
Ivy held onto her mother’s hand a little longer. “I love you, Mom, and I’m proud of what you do.”
Her mother nodded. “I love you, too. And if running a gift shop is what you want to do, I’m all for it. Life’s too short to be in a job you hate.”
When Ivy’s mother left the room, Duff bent and kissed her lips. “I have more where that came from,” he said.
“Good, because we have a lot of catching up to do. If I’m going to have half a dozen kids before I turn forty, we have to get cracking.”
He chuckled. “It’s not a race,” he reminded her. “You’re still recovering from a gunshot wound.”
“I’m thirty. Forty is just around the corner.” She frowned. “Wait. Am I scaring you?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. What scared me was seeing you lying on the seat of that boat, bleeding, knowing I hadn’t stopped that bullet from hitting you.”
“Oh, sweetie, you did the best you could. I didn’t jump fast enough. And it was a lucky shot. If he’d been aiming, he would have missed.” She winked. “Get me home, now, will ya? I think we can start work on that litter of babies we want tonight.”
Duff kissed her long and hard, careful not to bump the cut on her temple or the stitches in her back.
If making babies was what Ivy wanted, he’d be happy to oblige. “I’m game on one condition,” he said.
“And that is?” she asked.
“You marry me before the first one is born.”
Ivy’s eyes filled with tears. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
He tilted his head, a frown pulling at his brow. “The words marry and me were strung together in the same sentence. I’d say that was what I was doing. But wait. Let me do this right.” He winked and sank to one knee. “Ivy Fremont, will you make an honest man out of me and become my wife?”
Her brow puckered and more tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. “Are you sure that’s what you want? You’re not just asking because you feel sorry for me since you let me get shot?”
He sucked in a breath and let it out. “I’m on one knee. I just asked you to marry me, and I don’t do anything I don’t absolutely believe in. So, what’s it to be?”
“Yes!” her mother said from the doorway. “She says yes.”
Duff and Ivy looked toward the senator.
Her mother had the grace to blush. “I’m sorry. Of course, my daughter needs to be the one to agree. You agree, don’t you, dear?”
Ivy turned to Duff. “You know when you marry a girl you inherit her mother, don’t you?”
He nodded.
“Do you want to retract your offer?” Ivy asked.
“Ivy Nicole Fremont,” her mother exclaimed. “Don’t give the boy an out. He’s asking, for the love of God. Say yes.”
“Waiting,” Duff prompted.
“You haven’t changed your mind?” Ivy asked.
“No.”
Her face split in a grin. “Yes!”
Duff rose from his knee and carefully gathered Ivy in his arms. “I love you, Ivy.”
“I love you, too, Magnus McCormick.”
He had the woman he loved, she’d agreed to marry him and have six children. Life didn’t get any better than this.
The senator crossed the room and wrapped her arms around the two of them. “You two make me believe in love again.” She wiped a tear from her eye and straightened. “Just so you both know. I got word, the DEA in coordination with the Limón police force captured the kingpin and a dozen members of the cartel orchestrating the transfer of drugs coming from Columbia to Costa Rica into the United States. The kingpin was the man who put the hits out on me and Ivy for stopping the sale of arms to him. He’s being extradited to the States as we speak.”
That’s good news,” Duff said.
She smoothed her hands over her skirt suit and squared her shoulders. “So, Ivy, you’re safe.” She clapped her hands like a high school football coach. “Now hurry up and get well. We have a wedding to plan and grandchildren to produce.”
Epilogue
Beau “Jangles” Talbot sat on the edge of his bed, looked down at the long, wavy brown hair splashed across the pillowcase, and the area around his heart constricted.
“Babe?” he called and watched as she stirred but did not wake.
I need to end this.
He knew it, but he wasn’t going to.
“Hope, baby, wake up,” he tried again, and swept the heavy fall of hair off her bare shoulder.
The pads of his fingers skimmed over her warm, smooth skin. Hope opened her pretty brown eyes and Jangles fought the urge to crawl back into bed.
“Call out?” she mumbled.
“Yeah.”
“Damn.”
Damn was right. Since Jangles and his team had transferred to Texas, they’d gone out frequently. Such was the life of a Special Operations Group. Terrorists didn’t have a set schedule of operation. Extremist groups didn’t limit their bombings to the hours between nine and five. And kidnappers and guerrilla forces didn’t give the first fuck he was being pulled from his bed in the middle of the night. Further, they didn’t care Jangles was leaving a sexy, hot, willing woman in that bed.
“You got Buster?” Jangles asked.
“You know I do. Go save the world.”
No whiny complaints he was rolling out of bed. No bitching about where he was going or when he was coming back. No questions—period.
Just easy acceptance.
That was why he needed to end this.
Whatever this was, Jangles had to put a stop to it. He should’ve done it months ago. Hell, he never should’ve started it with Hope in the first place.
“I’ll text you when we get back.”
Hope’s hand came up, her fingers stroked the side of his face, and her eyes gentled.
“Be safe, Beau.”
That was why he hadn’t ended it. Jangles was addicted to her gentle eyes and soft pleas for his safe return.
“Always am, babe. Go back to sleep.”
Jangles leaned forward, kissed her shoulder, then her forehead, and lingered just long enough to breathe her in.
Then he grabbed his bag and walked out the door, leaving Hope naked in his bed.
He did that, secure in the knowledge she’d be waiting for him when he got home. So he wasn’t going to end it—proving he was a selfish prick, but not a stupid man. He knew Hope Mitchell was the best thing that had happened to him since he’d joined the Army.
*
Be sure to pick up the fifth and final book in the Delta Team Three series, Hope’s Delta by Riley Edwards.
And if you haven’t read the rest of the books in the series, I’ve included the links for all five stories.
Nori’s Delta by Lori Ryan
Destiny’s Delta by Becca Jameson
Gwen’s Delta by Lynne St. James
Ivy’s Delta by Elle James
Hope’s Delta by Riley Edwards
Afterword
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About the Author
ELLE JAMES also writing as MYLA JACKSON is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of books including cowboys, intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edges of their seats. When she’s not at her computer, she’s traveling, snow skiing, boating, or riding her ATV, dreaming up new stories. Learn more about Elle James at www.ellejames.com
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Or visit her alter ego Myla Jackson at mylajackson.com
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There are many more books in this fan fiction world than listed here, for an up-to-date list go to www.AcesPress.com
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