Chapter 92

"It's terribly convenient for you, Marcus, that your paramour owns an entire villa for you to move into at the drop of a hat," Liam grumbles the next day as he helps us wheel our suitcases to the elevators. "Some of us are going to be in this bloody hotel for the next decade, if the fire department has anything to say about it."

"It's not the fire department's fault that Nicole's ex-boyfriend is a psychotic arsonist," Marcus responds, shooting me a wicked little grin. I whack his arm playfully.

"No, but it is their fault that they won't approve the mansion for habitation again until a full reconstruction is completed," Liam says. "Really, Marcus, I should put in some sort of complaint with the…employment department."

"What's the 'employment department'?" I ask.

"Oh, I don't know what it's called," Liam says, punching the button for the lobby. "Surely I should get extra holidays for this, at least. And perhaps a pay raise. And some kind of workman's comp."

"You weren't injured in the fire," I point out.

"No, but I have to deal with living in a hotel and managing all the repairs through the contractors," Liam sniffs. "I should be eligible for some kind of emotional damages restitution."

"Why isn't Claire handling the contractors, anyway?" I ask.

"Claire is taking early retirement," Marcus tells me. "And I don't blame her. The last few months have been terribly hard on her, and she's decided to retire early to help out with her grandchildren more often."

I give a genuine smile at that. "She deserves it," I say. "I'm happy for her, though I'm certainly going to miss her."

"She won't disappear," Marcus promises. "Claire is basically part of the family, and she's already offered to still work one day a week to handle some of my father's smaller, more intimate affairs. But the majority of her duties will need to be reassigned."

"I have no idea how your father is going to replace Claire," Liam says. The doors ding, and he grunts as he lugs one of Marcus's suitcases into the lobby. "My god, man, what do you have in here? Bricks?"

"I don't, either," Marcus says, ignoring the suitcase comment. "And we're going to have to replace Charles, too."

"Oh, well that has already been taken care of," Liam says. Marcus looks surprised.

"It has?" he asks. "That's strange. I wonder why I wasn't informed."

"Because it was only just settled about half an hour ago, when your father offered me the position," Liam says. "Hefty pay raise, or I wouldn't have even considered it."

Marcus grins and claps Liam on the back. "Liam! You rascal. That's fantastic news. My god, it's also a huge relief, to be honest. What a weight off of everyone's shoulders."

"Yes, well," Liam says with false modesty. "I might not be able to fill Claire's shoes - no one could - but I do flatter myself that I can do a better job than Charles."

"Start with avoiding embezzlement and end with not trying to kill off the entire family," I advise. "Everything in-between should fall seamlessly into place."

Marcus and Liam both laugh, and we turn our suitcases over to the chauffeur, who is waiting to take Marcus and I back to my beloved villa. To take us home.

"I know Liam was just winding me up," Marcus says once we're settled in the back of the car, watching the city zip by us as we go. "But it is terribly convenient that you have an entire villa waiting for us to move into, Nicole."

I smile at him triumphantly. "I think you'll find you're not the only one with perks to add to this relationship, Marcus."

He laughs. "I never thought I was," he says. "But I think I love you for the villa above all else. I hate staying in hotels - it's one reason I've always avoided traveling for the family whenever possible."

"Does your family's business require much travel?" I ask, curiously. "I've never noticed that."

"That's because it's been heavily curtailed in the past several years, due to my father's health," Marcus answers. "But yes, he and mother used to travel quite extensively, mostly on diplomatic-type excursions to other prominent families."

"Will we do that, once you take over?" I ask.

"Would you like to do that?" he asks.

"Well, I certainly wouldn't say no to traveling the world," I say slowly, thinking it over. "But I'm not sure how much of a help I'm going to be as a society wife, Marcus. I wasn't brought up in that world, for one thing, and for another, I want to get my medical license reinstated - for real - and keep practicing medicine."

"I have always assumed you would," Marcus reassures me instantly. "It's one of the things I love most about you, carina. We're going to get that license reinstated, and I'll support you in anything you want to do with it."

"I'm not sure yet," I say honestly. "I miss the hospital setting in so many ways, but I've also really enjoyed my time as a private physician, as my own boss."

"What about setting up your own private practice?" Marcus suggests. "God knows we have the money for it, and you'd be excellent at it, I think."

"Really?" I ask. "You'd do that - support me in that?"

"Of course I would!" Marcus exclaims. "My god, woman, you're the most incredible person I've ever met. I'd never want you to ignore your skills and your desire to help others. I think you're going to be a much better society wife and diplomat than you think you will, but I also don't think that's all you can - or should - be."

"Your mother," I begin, but Marcus gently cuts me off.

"My mother comes from a different generation," he says. "And, in her own way, she's actually helped people quite a bit, too. She has spent decades on charity work. There's no reason you can't skip the charity work and focus on being a doctor instead."

I'm silent for a long moment, and then say, not even realizing I'd felt this way until just this moment: "I think it would be wonderful to open a clinic. For people like that little girl at the soup kitchen, the one we helped on the first day we met."

Marcus squeezes my hand. "I think that's a wonderful idea, carina. Between us, we can make anything happen."

We arrive at the villa shortly afterward, which Kent had texted to tell me he'd had professionally cleaned, with all the locks replaced and new ones added to the windows after the break-in that had made me flee it in the first place.

The chauffeur helps us carry our bags inside and then leaves, promising Marcus that they'll work out a new system now that he won't be at the mansion or hotel anymore.

"The bodyguards should be here soon," Marcus says, trailing after me as I make a beeline for my precious kitchen and - by extension - the coffee machine. "We'll work everything out on a more permanent basis later, but for now, they're happy to stay in the guest rooms."

"Perfect," I say. I'm measuring coffee into the machine. "Coffee?"

"Yes, please – good god, Nicole, what is that thing? It looks like it belongs on the International Space Station."

"It's my very fancy, wildly expensive home espresso machine," I laugh. "It's basically the true love of my life, sorry."

"No wonder you were so resistant to living at the mansion," Marcus says. "I can't believe I persuaded you to leave this thing behind at all." I laugh.

Marcus turns slowly in the kitchen, taking it all in. The cheerful yellow walls, the curtains, the worn-smooth tabletop where I'd saved two of my friends' lives not long ago. He smiles, fondly.

"I haven't even seen the rest of the house, and I can already understand why this is your favorite room," he says softly. He comes up behind me, slipping his arms around my waist and hugging me close to him.

"I love this place," he murmurs. "I love you, and I love your home, and I love that you love your home. I can't wait to share this with you - to share my life with you. I'm the happiest man in the world, Nicole."

"And I'm the happiest woman," I say, turning in his arms to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. "Not in the least because I can finally stop wearing these contacts all goddamn day."

Marcus throws his head back and laughs.

"That really is the main perk," he agrees. He runs his fingers through my short curls. "I love the hair, too, though I wouldn't mind seeing a return of your natural brown. It was so pretty - the color of Christmas chestnuts."

"I think I will go back to the brown," I agree, tossing my head. "But I think I'm going to keep the curly bob. I've grown rather attached to it."

"I've grown rather attached to you," Marcus says, leaning down to kiss me again. I feel his arm move as he reaches into his pocket. "In fact, I've grown so attached to you that I think this is the perfect moment to ask you a very important question."

"Oh, yes?" I say. "And what's that?"

Marcus moves away from me just far enough to sink down on one knee. He opens a ring box to display a beautiful, glittering emerald surrounded by diamonds.

"Nicole, would you do me the very great honor of becoming my wife?" he asks.

My eyes fill with tears, the happiest tears I've ever cried.

"Yes," I say. "Yes."