[Montacroix Royal Family Series 01] - Guarded Moments (26 page)

"Drew and I are setting up a private security firm. Nothing dangerous, just surveillance—sweeping offices for electronic eavesdropping devices, that sort of thing." As nervous as he was, Caine managed a smile. "Fortunately, everyone in Washington is so paranoid about bugs, we've already got more jobs than we can handle."

"I'm pleased for you."

"Thanks."

Silence settled over them. "Why did you come here, Caine?" she asked finally, looking up at him, her eyes wide and vulnerable.

She'd already been hurt more than any one person deserved. Caine vowed that he'd never allow anything, or anyone—himself included—to hurt Chantal ever again.

"To ask you to marry me." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Chantal. And I want to have a family with you. Kids, dogs, a station wagon, the whole works."

"The big, sprawling house in the country," she said softly, remembering their conversation.

"With the wide front porch for watching our neighbors. Rose bushes in the front yard and a big tree in the back for a swing. And something I forgot to mention—a studio, with lots of high, wide windows and skylights for the family's resident artist." He framed her uplifted face in his palms. "No one has ever made me want those things. No woman until you."

A shimmering golden joy coursed through her. "There's something you need to know, Caine, before I give you my answer."

"What's that?"

"We are a little old-fashioned here in Montacroix. Although I realize that the rest of the world might consider it an anachronism, it is traditional to ask the father for his daughter's hand."

It was going to be all right. They were going to be all right. "I know. Burke warned me before I arrived."

"And?"

"And your father insists on the wedding being held in the palace chapel before I take you home with me to Washington. Your mother, as we speak, is planning the reception menu with the kitchen staff, Noel has been put in charge of floral arrangements and musicians, and Burke is on his way into town to bribe the parish priest into forgoing the usual four-week posting of the banns."

"My brother would never bribe anyone, let alone a priest."

"Correction, my mistake. It's not a bribe. It's a donation to the church building fund."

"My, my," she murmured. "Everyone certainly sounds in a hurry to get me married off."

Caine grinned, that rare, wonderful smile that Chantal knew would still have the power to thrill her when she was ninety.

"I think they're all anxious for me to make an honest woman of you," he said, lowering his lips to hers. Cupping the back of her neck, he lingered over the kiss. "So what's your answer, Princess? Are you going to make your family—and the man who loves you—very, very happy, or not?"

"I'll marry you, Caine, on one condition."

Caine didn't hesitate. "Name it."

As she twined her arms around his neck, the brightness of Chantal's smile rivaled the dazzling Montacroix sunset. "I won't darn your socks."