Page 76 of Taylor’s Warrior

The subtle shift in his expression, from intrigued curiosity to subtle appreciation, told her she’d never regret asking him for that.

“Wnei di fy mhriodi i, fy nghariad?”

Taylor took a deep breath, hoping her pronunciation would be close enough to what she wanted to say and wouldn’t sound too absurd.

“Ie, gyda’m holl galon, gwnaf.”

She could never have said what possessed her to learn the words before their trip, but it was worth it to see his reaction when she accepted his proposal.

As he stood, she stepped forward and into his arms, tears of happiness streaming unchecked down her cheeks.

“How on earth did you learn that?”

Laughter mixed with the tears. “You understood me? Thank goodness. I learned it with a lot of trial and error, and a massive amount of hope that it wouldn’t sound like complete nonsense. And that one day, I’d actually have the chance to say it. I love you, Rhys.”

“Fy nghariad, ‘rydw i’n dy garu di gyda’m holl galon, hefyd.”

Taylor chuckled. “Sorry, but you’re going to have to translate that for me. I mean, I recognize about three words, I think, but the rest of it…”

“You know three words because you used them, so I think you can probably guess the rest.” He brushed strands of damp hair away from her cheek, then guided her into the right position for a deep kiss. “To avoid any doubt, though, it means ‘My love, I love you with all my heart, too.’”

He cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “There is one thing, though.”

“What’s that?” Whatever it was, there was no way it could spoil her happiness.

“The small matter of an engagement ring…”

EPILOGUE

It was Monday evening, and for once they’d been able to switch off completely to enjoy some personal down time. From the gentle stirring beneath his arm, Nick had a feeling his wife was waking up from her nap.

“Have you heard from Tay at all? I’m assuming, since we haven’t heard anything to the contrary, that they haven’t killed each other yet.”

Charity swung her feet to the floor and stretched, temporarily robbing him of her body heat until she slid closer to him on the enormous leather sofa. “I’m assuming no news is good news. Let me check.”

She leaned over him to retrieve her cell phone from the table beside him, and the next thing Nick heard was the kind of delighted squeal that could have meant either the best news ever, or the worst. “Well, come on—tell me. Put me out of my misery.”

Charity chuckled. “You know what you said about running a dating agency?”

Not again. Nick rolled his eyes and sighed. “Break it to me gently.”

“Rhys proposed earlier today, and Tay said yes.”

The excitement in Charity’s voice was infectious, and though he was threatening to project his grumpy image, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. “I knew it. The lady doth protest too much.”

Charity snorted. “Hey—to the best of my recollection, so did the man. Tay says they’re shopping for an engagement ring for her and wedding rings for both of them while they’re over there, because he wants her to have Welsh gold rings. Wait—they have gold in Wales?”

“Uh-huh. Traditionally, all the royal wedding rings have been crafted from Welsh gold. It’s very rare.”

His wife sighed happily. “That’s so romantic. Do you think they’ll stay in Wales?”

Nick groaned. “Oh God, I hope not. I need both of them back here. We have more work in the pipeline than I ever anticipated, and the new builds will be ready soon. We need Tay’s organizational skills to make sure they’re ready in time for the new recruits.”

Charity fired a judgy look at him. “That’s your priority? Getting her to work on the new cabins? I need my friend back for the sake of my sanity. The testosterone around here is off the charts. Which reminds me—when are you going to do what Ros has done and recruit more female operators?”

His wife had walked in on a Zoom meeting he’d recently had with Spectrum’s director of VIP Protection; she’d refused to walk out when she’d realized they were discussing the budget requirements for a business proposal for the recruitment of such a team in the UK. Charity had been particularly amused by Ros Northwood swearing him to secrecy while she prepared her case to present to the big boss, Alex Lombard.

“She hasn’t recruited them yet,” Nick reminded her. “It might not happen. Alex has the final veto on an exclusively female team of close protection officers.”