“And thank God for that. It went well though, didn’t it?”
“Thanks to you. We’d be in a very different position now if you hadn’t worked out what Mark was up to.”
“And not just Mark. He was just the puppet. I’m still worried about the Russians.”
“No need,” said Daidan pulling her into his embrace as they walked back to the house.
Taina stopped abruptly and stared at him. “What do you mean, no need? They almost destroyed our new business!”
“I spoke with Nikolai—Vadim’s father.”
“Vadim? Who took Rory’s estate from her?”
“That’s the one. Well, it seems Mark had suggested this little ploy to them and they’d gone along with it. No risk to them. But we’ve come to an arrangement. Or a truce. They have their market, we have ours and we’ve agreed not to encroach on each other’s territories.”
“For now.”
“For now is good enough for me.” They stopped at the long veranda that fronted the house, floating above the water.
“There’s nothing better.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
He grinned. “Just as well we have a few hours before we go to the city to join the others.”
“Just as well.”
She squeezed his hand and she caught a slight wince in the corner of his eye. She held up his hand and inspected it. “That was some punch you gave him, wasn’t it?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Maybe.”
“I’m glad you hit him.”
“What?”
“I’m glad. He had it coming to him.” She paused. “What are we going to do about him? No doubt he’ll still have copies of the video.”
“I’ll contact Amelia and tell her everything. She’ll get someone to check his files and clear them out. She doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore. She’s told me that she’s finished with him. Between the two of us, he’s ruined. He’s no longer of any use to the Russians. They know that a deal with us will be more beneficial than working with someone like Mark, who didn’t do what he’d said he’d do.”
She shook her head and sighed. “It’s the end, isn’t it? The end of all of this.”
“Nearly.”
“Nearly? You don’t still believe I returned to Finland to use you?”
“As it happens, I do, because it’s true. You wanted the company, you wanted the child.”
“No.” She shook her head, frowning, wondering how he could believe that, after everything that had happened. “It’s not like that.”
“It think it is, but it’s okay.”
“Okay? So... you believe I set out to use you and yet you’re still talking to me?”
“I’m here because it wasn’t only the company and the child. You wanted something else from me, something I hadn’t given you enough of in the brief time we were together. Something I’m determined to give you every day of our lives together.”
She smiled and raised an eyebrow. “And that is?”
“You know...” He tugged her to him and kissed her. “You know.”
“Maybe,” she said when she emerged from another kiss. “But I’d like to hear you say it.”
“I never told you I loved you, although I did. I never showed you that I loved you, although I felt it. And I’m never going to stop showing you how much I love you for the rest of my life.”
She wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek against his chest. “I like the sound of that.”
EPILOGUE
The night breeze was warm against Taina’s face as she sat on deck, watching the island grow ever larger. She could just make out a dark silhouette at the window. He was in the lounge, with the fire’s flames flickering behind him. Just as he had been that first night, eighteen months before. It seemed a lifetime away.
Suddenly bright green lights, shot with palest pink, floated up into the sky and she gasped in delight. She never tired of the northern lights—aurora borealis—but tonight, as they unfurled like celestial flowers against the star-studded sky, they seemed extra special as she held her sleepy little girl close, and her new secret even closer. She shivered. But not from cold, from anticipation.
“Papa!” Mirette stuck out her arms as Daidan opened the door and he picked her up with swoop and gave her a big hug before turning to Taina.
“Mustn’t forget your Mama,” he said, brushing his lips against hers.
“I’ll make sure you don’t,” said Taina.
“Sounds interesting,” replied Daidan as he took Mirette down the corridor to her room.