The man might be struggling with the nuances of a relationship, but he was making a concerted effort. That’s all that mattered. He was on a mission again. Focused. On her.
She smiled and then realized Gabriel was still standing in the doorway.
“Aren’t you going to come inside?” she asked.
“Not yet,” he said. “I have to ask you the question I wanted to ask the first time I saw you sitting there on your quartz throne.”
“You wanted to ask me if I was hallucinating?”
“No.”
Otis chortled and bailed off Gabriel’s shoulder. He stood on his hind paws and looked up at the pizza box. He, too, was focused.
“Sorry,” Gabriel said. “I promised you the pizza, didn’t I?”
He gave the box to Otis, who seized it in two paws and disappeared into the living room.
Lucy raised her brows. “So the pizza isn’t for me?”
“Figured you’d probably had enough for a while.”
“You got that right. You said you wanted to ask me a question that night?”
“Yes,” Gabriel said. “I wanted to ask you to marry me.”
She stared at him, speechless for a few seconds. She finally found her voice. “What?”
“The instant I felt your vibe, I knew you were the woman I had been looking for, the one I wanted to be with forever. Maybe the word marriage didn’t come into my head at that moment, but—”
“Uh-huh.”
“I was too dazzled to follow the logic of the situation all the way to marriage, but I knew I wanted you. I knew I would never be able to forget you. I also knew I had another assignment coming up, so I wouldn’t be able to stick around. Be honest—if I had told you that I wanted you in ways I’ve never wanted anyone else, you would have thought I was weird, possibly dangerous.”
“Well, it would definitely have been a rather startling statement, under the circumstances.”
“Not to mention extremely unprofessional.”
“Extremely.”
“I figured that when I moved to Illusion Town to start a new Guild I would have time to convince you that I was serious. Time for you to get to know me and maybe fall in love with me. But everything went wrong. When I got out of the Rainforest, I discovered you weren’t taking my calls.”
“I wasn’t taking anyone’s calls.”
“It got more complicated, because your father and stepmother told me you were suffering some sort of para-psych trauma and were unable to go back into the Underworld. When I did get to Illusion Town, I discovered you were working for that low-budget tour operation in the Storm Zone. I told myself I’d arrange to meet you there and see if I could convince you to go out to dinner with me. But that’s when the Arcane Museum people showed up asking me to find the clockwork doll. It occurred to me that offering you a contract might be the best way to reconnect with you.”
“Strategic thinking.” Lucy folded her arms and smiled. “I like that about you.”
“You aren’t going to make this easy, are you?”
“Why don’t you just ask me the question?”
“I love you. I’m hoping you might be able to love me.”
She unfolded her arms. “That’s not a question.”
“Will you marry me, Lucy?”
“Yes, of course I’ll marry you.”
Gabriel’s shock stirred the atmosphere. He just stood there in the doorway, his eyes heating with a swirl of intense emotions.
“Lucy,” he whispered.
She took three steps and put her arms around his neck. “Why do you look so surprised? You must have known I fell in love with you down there in the Underworld.”
“You were hallucinating.”
She brushed her mouth against his. “Not that badly. And I’m not hallucinating at all now.”
He caught her close and kissed her with the fierce joy of a man who has been walking through the Underworld for a very long time and has finally found his way back to the surface and into the sunlight.
“You two are a never-ending source of entertainment,” Veronica said from the hallway behind Gabriel.
She was dressed for work in a black corset and black leather pants.
Gabriel took his mouth off Lucy’s and looked at her over his shoulder. “We’re getting married soon.”
Veronica smiled. “No surprise. I could have told you that.”
Dazed and a little giddy, Lucy laughed and grabbed Gabriel’s arm. She hauled him through the doorway and paused to speak to Veronica.