Katie moved closer. “I thought the whole point was to not sell Kayven Island to Murdoch. How much…” She peered over Emma’s shoulder. “Holy crap!”

Katie tried to read the letter, but Emma’s hand was shaking too hard. So Katie had to still it.

“He’s giving it back?” asked Katie.

Emma reread the words. “He says we should use Murdoch’s money-” Her gaze went involuntarily to the amount on the bank draft. Holy crap indeed. “-to pay off McKinley’s debts. And then it’s ours. A hundred percent. Free and clear.”

“He’s tearing up the prenup,” said Katie as she continued reading. “What’s this about redecorating his house?”

“It’s a joke.” Emma laughed weakly. “When we were goofing around on Kayven…” When they were goofing around on Kayven, all her dreams were coming true. She’d dared to hope. Now, her eyes stung with the need to give him another chance. Was Alex truly that sweet, funny, sexy man? Or was that man a fraud, contrived to distract her? And which one of them had written the letter.

How would she ever know for sure?

Katie stared at her. “You do know what this means?”

Emma nodded. It definitely meant one thing. “We own our company again.”

Katie elbowed her in the arm. “It means he wants you to redecorate his house.”

Emma scrambled to keep her emotions out of it. She had to thank logically. “That was just a joke.”

“A joke? A guy who’s giving up this many million dollars doesn’t make jokes for the sake of a joke. He wants you. He probably loves you.”

“Then why is he tearing up the prenup? Without the prenup, I can divorce him.” Her voice caught. “He wants me to divorce him.”

Katie squealed in frustration. “He wants you to come to him. Because you want to. Without coercion. He gave you back your money.” She stared at the draft. “And then some. He gave you your freedom. But at the same time he mentions redecorating? Earth to Emma.”

Emma’s mouth went dry, and her heart thudded in her chest. Could Katie be right? Did she have the guts to find out?

“Go to him,” said Katie. “Thank him. Redecorate him for God’s sake. And do it now.”

Emma bit her bottom lip. She wanted this, desperately wanted this. But if Katie was wrong…“You really think-”

“Go! I’m going to the bank.” Katie glanced down again. “Holy crap.”

Emma swung the mansion’s big oak door wide open and strode into the foyer.

“Mrs. Garrison. So good to see you.”

“Good to see you, too, Mrs. Nash. Is Alex in?”

If she was wrong, Emma had already decided to pretend it was all a joke. She’d pretend she’d only stopped by to thank him for his gentlemanly, yet fair, behavior. And the rest was just a big joke.

No hard feelings. No harm done.

Mrs. Nash stepped back, a wry smile on her lips. “He’s out back. Oh, have you had lunch? I can bring out some tea or sandwiches? Philippe has this great-”

“Philippe is here?”

Mrs. Nash laughed, and her cheeks turned slightly pink. “Oh, no. Of course not. Not at the moment.”

Despite herself, Emma grinned. “Is it fair to say he’d be willing to help with future parties?”

Mrs. Nash nodded. “I think that would be fair to say.”

Okay. That was a happy outcome.

Emma would cling to that.

She made her way past Hamilton and the other Garrison portraits, her chest tightening and her pulse increasing.

Oh, please let Katie be right.

Emma cut through the breakfast room, onto the deck, then down the stairs to the pool.

Alex was at an umbrella table, reading the Times. He glanced up at the sound of her footsteps.

“Emma.” He was on his feet in an instant.

She slowed to a stop in front of him, not sure any more what she should say. The moment took on a surrealistic quality and her bravado evaporated. “Hello, Alex.”

The sea breeze whispered through the aspen trees while they stared at each other.

“You got my letter?” he finally asked, his expression giving nothing away.

Emma nodded stiffly. “Thank you.”

He moved forward. “It was just business, you know.”

Her heart sank slowly in her chest, her palm going slick against the briefcase. He wasn’t going to buy that it was a joke. This was definitely going to be embarrassing. “I know.”

“It was nothing personal.”

She flinched. “Of course not.”

“I knew what I knew, and you knew what you knew, and I made the best deal possible for my company.”

She’d been a fool to come here. A fool to think…“So you said.”

“There was no reason to tell you up front.” He gave a harsh laugh. “A guy wouldn’t get very far telling his competition his secrets, would he?”

“Right.” She’d only hoped she could get out of here in time. “Well, I just-”

“But then…” Alex’s tone softened, and the harsh slate look went out of his eyes. “Then I proposed to you. And maybe, maybe that was when the rules changed.”

Emma stood frozen to the ground.

“And then I married you. And that definitely meant the rules had changed. And then…” He took her left hand, rubbing his thumb over the Tudor diamond. “Then I fell in love with you, and any right I’d ever had to treat you as a business adversary was gone.”

The aspen trees rustled into the silence.

“Emma?”

She couldn’t help smiling. It was going to be okay. It was really going to be okay. “You fell in love with me?”

“Yeah, I fell in love with you. What did you think I meant by ‘saying it’?”

“That you were in love with me.” At least that was how it had seemed in the moment.

“Damn straight.”

“Or that it might only be part of the game.” She had to admit, the thought had crossed her mind.

“You thought our time on the beach was a game?”

She shook her head, her chest tightening with joy. “No. Not the beach.”

On the beach, she’d believed him. On the beach, she’d dared to hope they were starting a glorious life together. Kind of like she did now.

“The beach was real,” he rumbled. “That beach was the most real moment of my life.”

Emma’s, too. Oh, Emma’s, too. She felt moisture heat the insides of her eyelids.

“I love you, Emma,” Alex whispered, lifting her hand to place a gentle kiss on her knuckles.

Her mouth curved into a relieved smile.

Alex loved her.

He loved her.

“Well?” he asked.

“What?”

“Do I have to make you say it?”

She gazed into his dark eyes, her smile turning impish. “Yeah.”

“Later,” he whispered with a nod to where Mrs. Nash emerged onto the deck. A stream of people trailed out behind her.

“Hello?” Alex’s brow shot up.

“I hope Mrs. Nash doesn’t have anything against Italian decorators,” said Emma, as the troop rounded the sun umbrella.

There was an unmistakable grin in Alex’s voice. “We’re redecorating?”

“I took a chance,” she admitted. “And I mentioned your name. They have swatches and flooring samples.”

He chuckled and he shook his head. “In that case, you don’t have to say it.”

“Why not?”

He took the case from her hand. “Because you just proved it.”

She playfully elbowed him in the ribs. “Oh, make me say it anyway.”

Alex leaned down and kissed her mouth. It was a warm, tender kiss, full of love, full of hope, full of the promise of a lifetime.

“I love you,” she whispered on a sigh.

He drew back only slightly. “See, that was way too easy.”

She leaned her cheek against his chest, enjoying the feel of his strong arms around her. “When it comes to you,” she crooned, “I’m always easy.”

He snorted his disbelief. But his fingertips sent a different message, trailing lightly along her spine. “You know, we have a honeymoon to finish.”

“I guess we do.”

“The Island Countess leaves for Fiji tonight.” He paused. “And I know a guy who can get us a suite.”

She pulled back. “I’ve seen those suites. They’re fabulous.”

“I have fond memories of them myself.”

By the time the Island Countess blew her horn and pulled away from the dock, Emma was naked and wrapped tight in Alex’s arms. The sounds of the late-night launch party tinkled up from the aft sundeck pool.

She buried her face in the crook of Alex’s neck and inhaled his masculine scent. “I love you,” she sighed.

He kissed the top of her head. “Wonder what else I can make you do.”

“Pretty much anything at the moment. As long as it doesn’t require movement. Or thinking. Or staying awake, actually.” She stifled a yawn.

“You hungry?”

She shook her head. “Not hungry.”

“Thirsty?”

“I’m fully satisfied, thank you.”

He chuckled against her hair. “That’s what I like to hear from my wife.”

She smiled.

The phone on the bedside rang.

“Uh-oh,” she said.

“Nothing else can go wrong,” he assured her.

Then he picked it up. “Garrison here.”

He listened for a moment. “So it’s done?”

Another pause.

“It’ll be public?”

Emma came up on her elbow to watch his expression.

He smiled. “Yeah. Thanks. I owe you one.”

Then he hung up the phone.

She waited.

“So, who was it?” she asked.

Alex closed his eyes. “Nathaniel.”

“Oh.” She waited again. “Well?”

He opened one eye. “What?”

“Is it a secret?”

“No.” He opened the other eye and a smug grin took over his face. “Turns out, when the local government heard Kessex Cruise Lines had some concerns with the Kayven Island dock, they decided to move it.”

Emma sat up. “What?”

“To another island, about five hundred miles east.”

“You didn’t.”

“I didn’t do a thing.”

Emma leaned in closer, pasting Alex with an openly skeptical look. “You just told Nathaniel you owed him.”