"I love you," he rumbled. "And I still haven't heard the 'yes' I've been waiting for."
"I agreed. We made a deal."
"I know, but I'm a little more traditional than that. Elizabeth Major, will you marry me?"
She hesitated for a second. Eric Landers had lost the power to keep her a victim. "Yes, Tom Quintan, I certainly will."
He lowered his head to kiss her. When he surfaced, they were both breathing hard and knew it would be a while yet before they got out of bed. He gave the clock another glance. "Around nine," he murmured, "remind me to make a couple of phone calls. I need to cancel the kidnapping plans."
She laughed, and kept laughing until his strong thrust into her body changed the laughter into a soft cry of pleasure, as he turned that relentless focus to the task of bringing them both to the intense ecstasy they found only with each other. She had been so afraid of that part of him, but now she knew it was what made him a man she could depend on for the rest of her life. As she clung to his shoulders, a dim echo of thought floated through her brain: "God bless overloads!"