her wound with her local doctor.”
“Will do.”
The doctor left, and Josie smiled at Daniel. “You think Wolf will fly me back to Portland?”
“No, but he’ll fly you to my home.”
She’d love to see his house. “Do you think you’ll have a better chance of keeping me immobile on your own turf?”
He shook his head, his expression not reflecting her humor back at her. “I think I’ll have a better chance of convincing you to marry me.”
She wasn’t going to need much convincing, but his reasoning intrigued her. “Why?”
“I’m more than a soldier there, and I hope seeing my house will make you realize I can be something other than a warrior.”
“I’ve always known that.” She was going to cry again. “I thought you wanted to stick with the soldier’s life.”
“That was before I had a better one to go to.”
“Being with me is a better life?”
“Yes.”
“This isn’t about you feeling guilty because I got shot?” she asked, needing to know, hoping desperately it wasn’t.
He sat down on her bed, putting his hands on either side of her and hemming her in so the rest of the hospital ceased to exist for her. “This is about me not wanting to live the rest of my life without you.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I realized you were right about my mom. She chose to stay with Thunder.”
“Like I chose to go on a mission.”
“If I’d been physically present in either case, I would have done anything I could to prevent you being hurt.”
“I know that, but your mom chose to be with your dad, and I chose to go on the mission.”
“Will you choose to spend the rest of your life with me?”
Her heart twisted at the emotion in his voice and the warmth in his eyes. “You don’t have to give up being a soldier for me. I don’t need you to change who you are to want to spend the rest of my life with you. I only have to know you love me.”
“I do love you.”
“I love you, too, Daniel. The man you are, not a man you think you have to be to make me happy.”
“I don’t want to raise my daughters to be soldiers. I don’t want my sons to feel that’s their only alternative in life. I’ve been a mercenary for a long time, and I’m ready to give you the normal life you want.”
She cupped his face, her heart in her eyes. “Life with you will be normal for me.”
“I’ve already talked to your dad. He’s ready to shut the school down. He doesn’t want to rebuild.”
“But what will he do?” Her dad didn’t know anything but being a soldier.
“He’s going to move to his house in Nevada and get to know that woman on the plane. They’ve talked on the phone every day since we’ve been here. She knows more about you than I do. She runs a garden nursery, and your dad has developed a sudden interest in plants and how to grow them.”
It was too much to take in all at once, but the idea that her dad might have found something to live for besides training other soldiers was a nice one.
She smiled. “He’s not going to get blown up growing flowers.”
“I talked to Wolf and Hotwire. I want to do more than design high-level security alternatives. We could work together on some projects, but our businesses would be separate. They think I could make it as an architect.”
She knew that like her, he probably had enough money in savings to last a lifetime, but they’d both make lousy lounge lizards. “I know you can.”
“So, will you take a chance on me?”
“You were so against marriage, so sure you didn’t want kids and all you ever did want was to be a soldier. Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Yes.” He kissed her, his mouth warm and possessive on hers. “I needed that. Look, Josette, I spent most of my life afraid that underneath all the self-discipline I was a man just like my father. But then I realized that the self-discipline was what made me different.”
“But you’re nothing like your dad. Even when you had a temper, you didn’t take it out on people smaller than you.”
“You’re right, but I’d spent so much of my life being told I was the image of him, I had this belief deep down that meant more than just physical appearance.”
“But—”
He kissed her again. Quick and hard. “Shh…I know. I’m not like him, and I will never hurt you or our children. I’ve spent too many years learning to control myself, but when that little boy shot you, I knew.”
“Because you realized you loved me?”
“Because even though he had hurt the person I loved most in the world, and I was so furious I could have spit nails, I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to take my anger out on him.”
“Oh, Daniel…”
“He’s starting trauma counseling, did his mom tell you?”
“Yes.”
“Anyway, if I didn’t hit that kid, I’ll never hit one of my own.”
“According to his mom, you were really careful with him.”
“He was just a little child, doing what he thought his daddy would want him to.”
“His daddy probably did.”
Daniel shrugged. “His mom doesn’t, and she’s the one that’s going to be raising him for the next few years. His dad is one of the society’s members who is facing a long prison sentence.”
“She’s got to be hurting so much right now.”
“She married the wrong man.”
“And now she’s paying for it.”
“Like my mom did, but, Josette, I’m not the wrong man for you.”
She curled her arms around his neck and moved until her lips were brushing his. “I know that, Daniel. I’ve known that since the night you made me your woman. You were so gentle, so careful not to hurt me and to make it special. I’ve been in love with you a long time, Daniel, but that night it became irrevocable.”
“It took me forever to realize what I felt was love.”
“I wasn’t that quick on the uptake myself.”
“At least you said it.”
“So did you.”
“But I waited so long, you had a hard time believing me.”
“I believe you now.”
“I love you, Josette.” Then his lips molded hers in a kiss that sealed the words in her heart forever.
They were married four weeks later. Josie finally got to meet Daniel’s sergeant major, and she understood why her new husband respected the older man so much. Claire was her single attendant, wearing the first dress Josie had ever seen her in and her grandmother’s locket.
Hotwire had found it in a drawer in the office and brought it back to her.
Her dad brought his new wife with him. He’d married the woman he met on the plane a scant week after his return to Nevada. He’d told Josie he was too old to waste time like Daniel had. She’d laughed, unable to believe the difference in her father since he started training plants instead of soldiers.
But the difference in her own life was even more phenomenal. Daniel had asked her if she wanted to run the business side of his new venture into personal home design, and she had agreed. She was going to finish her degree remotely, and she and Daniel had decided to start a family right away.
She’d thought that staying with Daniel would mean giving up her dreams, but instead he was making each and every one of them come true. She’d given him a new name in the language of his people—Dream Maker, because Angry Warrior did not fit him any longer.
