When they touched down at JFK, Allyson expected to find an army of police in the terminal waiting for her. Along with the news and reporters. Luckily, none of the uniformed officers in the airport were there to arrest her, but that didn’t stop the flood of paranoia.

After they landed they took a taxi home to their apartment, with Lester insisting they all meet to go over what to do next.

Lester whipped out his phone to read his messages. “Your father will be in New York within the next four hours. He listened to the recording, and it sounds like we have some compelling evidence.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and flopped down on the sofa in the living room. Maybe this nightmare would be over soon. Then she and Dane could get back to living their lives. Finally move in to their dream house.

It felt like the day Dane had bought the house was years and years ago. She had been so happy. So ready to start a new chapter of their lives together.

Dane tossed off his jacket and sat down beside her. “So, what now?”

Lester glanced at his watch. “It’s after 8 o’clock, so it’s too late to call the judge or the prosecutor tonight. I’ll contact them first thing in the morning to set up a preliminary hearing. If your father’s testimony is good enough, we might be able to get the charges dropped as early as tomorrow afternoon. I hope we can just end this in the morning.”

“What about Nicholas going to the police?” she asked. “He didn’t seem too happy about my husband punching him in the face.”

Dane shot her a look. “I’m only sorry that I got only one punch in.”

“Dane!”

“What? It’s obvious he framed you. Which means he attacked you or sent someone to beat you up. A punch in the face is him getting off light,” her husband muttered. “When we get the charges against you dropped, I’m going to destroy Nicholas for attacking you.”

“The London police will be looking over everything having to do with Mrs. Prescott’s attack,” Lester said. “Let them deal with that while we keep our focus on getting Mrs. Prescott free.”

“Thank you, Lester, for being the voice of reason once again,” she said pointedly.

Dane scoffed, but didn’t say anything.

They spent the next half-hour going over strategy for the potential hearing until Lester finally said his goodbyes and left.

“Look, I’m sorry for putting you in this position after going after Nicholas,” Dane said. Suddenly, he reached down to hook his arm up around her knees and draped her legs over his lap. Her head was up against the armrest of the sofa, and it felt so good to lie back and relax like this. He slipped her shoes off and expertly started massaging her aching feet.

A moan escaped her lips. His hands on her was indescribable. Wonderful. “If you keep touching me like that, I think I can find it in me to forgive you for punching Nicholas in the face,” she said breathlessly.

Dane laughed, working his strong hands, releasing the tension in her legs and feet. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get back in your good graces.”

“You really do spoil me, you know?”

“A beautiful woman like you should always be spoiled.” He flashed her that dazzling smile of his, and her heart just about melted. “Not to mention you’ve had a trying twenty-four hours. I’m going to make sure you get all the rest you can.”

“This might all be over soon,” she said. Nicholas might try to go after them for getting punched, but after facing a potential thirty years in prison she could handle whatever Nicholas threw at them.

She watched him as he kept his hands on her legs and feet, rubbing firmly, massaging all the pressure out of her muscles.

This ordeal had been so terrifying. And it would have been so much worse without Dane. Life without her husband seemed impossible. He was everything to her. Love made her heart swell so much it nearly ached. Just the thought of the charges being dropped made her feel lighter. More at ease than she had been in days. “I could kiss you,” she said.

He arched an eyebrow. “Why don’t you?”

“I don’t think I have the strength to get up and reward you with a kiss,” she murmured. “But Dane, you hurt your hands. You must be in pain.”

“It does hurt a little,” he admitted with a wince. “But that’s nothing compared to what I felt when I was stuck in the car and couldn’t get to you. That pain will never heal.”

She had put him through something horrible. Allyson didn’t regret trying to go to jail to keep him free and safe. But she did regret putting him through an ordeal like that. “I’m sorry for putting you through that. I do love you, you know.”

“I know.” There was a glint in his eye. As if at any moment he might do more than just massage her. His hands wandered away from her legs, up her skirt, to caress her thighs.

Desire heated her skin. Made the place between her thighs throb with need. 

“If you’re too tired, I can stop,” he said, his voice a low rumble. “But you won’t have to do anything other than lie back.”

Her lips twisted into a coy smile. “Well, in that case, I’m not that tired.”

She should have been exhausted from the flight, but something about the attack had left her reeling. Left her vulnerable and raw. There had been a moment before she blacked out when she really thought she was going to be killed. Leave Dane behind. Or worse, be killed and then have her attacker go after Dane.

Her entire body ached to have him touch her. She needed to share her body with him to feel whole again. To feel alive.

Dane’s hands trailed up her thighs until they stopped the waistband of her panties. Face heating, she lifted her skirt and propped up her legs, the anticipation of what he was going to do to her making her heart pound. He tugged at her panties and she lifted her hips, helping him as he peeled off the lacy fabric.

He stared down at her sex, and the lust in his eyes made her wet. Turned her on like nothing ever had. They had been married all these months, been through hell, and yet he still looked at her with hunger burning in his eyes.

As he pressed his mouth against her inner thigh, she shivered. Delight coursed through her. With his lips still against her skin, she felt his mouth curve up into a wolfish smile.

“You’re in for it now,” he said.

She laughed. “Am I about to be punished?”

“Oh, I’m going to enjoy tormenting you,” he growled against her skin. He kissed his way up her thigh, and she quivered beneath his perfect mouth.

When he finally kissed the place between her legs she let out a muffled cry. Pleasure, so intense it almost unraveled her, shot through her core. Just one kiss was enough to almost undo her. His tongue swirled into her wetness. She moaned, squirming beneath him as he gripped her thighs.

Arching her back she pressed against his mouth, desperate for more friction. More contact. He stroked her with his tongue, the rhythm achingly, tortuously, exquisitely slow.  

Her body was suddenly molten. Weightless as pleasure radiated through her. “Yes.” She dug her nails into the sofa, the ecstasy he was giving her already making her lose control.

His tongue swirled into her furiously now, hungrily, like he was enjoying this as much as she was. She whimpered, already on the edge of ecstasy. His hot mouth tormented her. Gave her the sweetest torture of her life.

When she climaxed her body was trembling, the force of her orgasm overwhelming her.

Her husband pulled his mouth away from her and grinned devilishly. Then, he planted hot kisses up and down her thighs. Finally, when she caught her breath, she gave him a small smile.

“You’re the most talented man I have ever met,” she said.

That made him laugh, and he pulled away to look at her. “You are so beautiful.” His hand lazily caressed her inner thigh. “So perfect.” The heat in his gaze suddenly gave way to tenderness. “I love you.”

She knew that, with the danger that lay in front of them, it was dangerous to hope. But she did just that. Hoped. Because, in this moment, she didn’t know how she could possibly survive years without the man she loved.

 

~~*~~

 

He held Allyson’s hand as they walked into the courtroom, muscling his way through the throng of reporters. It took everything in him to resist the urge to start shoving journalists away from Allyson. Right now, his wife couldn’t afford any more negative press.

The media hadn’t gotten wind of his fight with Nicholas, so he wasn’t about to give them something to run with now.

Lester walked ahead of them, towards the front.

Allyson turned to press a quick kiss to his lips. “Thank you for coming with me.”

Pulling her into his arms, Dane said into her ear, “Trust Lester. He knows what he’s doing. I’ll be right here. I won’t leave you.”

He should have been at work, but he wasn’t going to let Allyson suffer this hearing alone.

“I love you.” She kissed him again, then slipped away from him and headed to sit with Lester at her place before the judge’s bench.

He sat down in the back and waited for the hearing to begin.

When the judge entered the courtroom, Dane recognized him. Tyrone Caldwell was a stern man in his early sixties, who ran in the same circles as his parents. Judge Caldwell wasn’t exactly a family friend, but Dane remembered him from a golf outing or two in the past. Caldwell wasn’t the type for backslapping, and didn’t put up with bull. Which was probably why he had been so quick to mercilessly revoke Allyson’s bail.

Proceedings began with Lester asking to have the charges against Allyson dropped. Then witnesses were called up to testify, starting with Dane’s father. His father handled the questions well, giving an account of the recording he had heard of Nicholas. When the prosecution had the chance to pepper his father with questions he held his own, never cowering.

The last witness called was Francesca Barnes, his father’s assistant. Fran had been the one to transcribe the recording of Nicholas, and she could back up his father’s account with testimony of her own. Her account was crucial if they wanted to make suspicion of Nicholas credible.

Lester approached her, holding a piece of paper in his hand. “Ms. Barnes, I’d just like to establish that you transcribed this while you were in London. You wrote this transcription while listening to a recording of Mr. Nicholas Handel discussing his financial troubles. Is that correct?”

“No comment,” Fran replied.

A low murmur filled the courtroom.

Dane leaned forward in his seat.

Judge Caldwell turned his stern gaze on Fran. “Ms. Barnes, this might not be a trial, but at this hearing you do have to answer. And you have to answer truthfully.”

“I did answer truthfully,” Fran said. “I cannot comment. I can’t very well testify against my own husband, can I?”

“Husband?” Lester approached her. “What are you talking about, Ms. Barnes?”

Fran pursed her lips. “It’s not Ms. Barnes. It’s Mrs. Handel.”

“Mrs. Handel?” Judge Caldwell crossed his arms. “You mean to tell the court that you’re married to Nicholas Handel?”

Dane felt his insides churn. Fran had played them. He didn’t know how or why, but somehow his father’s assistant was about to ruin their lives. His balled up his hands, and in his anger he ignored the pain shooting through his hands.

“Yes,” Fran replied. “I can show you our marriage license if you’d like.”

An audible gasp rippled through the courtroom and Judge Caldwell banged his gavel. “Order! Can the prosecution and the defense approach the bench?”

Lester quickly headed over to the judge, a bewildered expression on his face.

Allyson turned in her seat, her eyes searching. When their eyes met, Dane saw them widen with fear. This had completely blindsided her. The same way it had blindsided everyone else. If Fran really was married to Nicholas Handel, there was no way she could testify against her own husband. Dane was no lawyer, but he knew enough to know about spousal privileges. If Fran couldn’t back up his father’s testimony they were sunk, and Allyson would go back to jail.

Fran was Nicholas’ secret wife?

They were screwed. Royally.