He struggled with that, but finally nodded. “Considering that gold is likely in a shark’s belly, I’ll trade it.”
“It’s a good trade. Your share of the profits is a hefty one.” She took a deep breath. “If you want a new ship for your salvaging work, you’ve earned more than enough to buy another one. A new submersible, too.”
“I don’t want to salvage.”
“You’re very good at it.”
“I was good at hauling fish, too.”
He was good at a lot of things. But that wasn’t the question she needed to ask—the question she’d never bothered to ask before. “What will make you happy, Thom?”
“Just you, Georgie. And you loving me even half as much as I love you.”
“I love you twice as much as that.” And her heart was bursting with it. Smiling, she pushed his coat down his arms. “Is there anything you want to do?”
He grinned and rocked up beneath her. “I want to make you my queen.”
“Thom!” She laughed, her face hot. “I’m sure we’ll do plenty of that.”
“Soon.” His expression gentling, he softly kissed her. “You’re the one person I care about proving myself to, Georgie. And yet you make me feel like I don’t have to.”
“You don’t have to. You already have, over and over.”
“And I’m not going to stop now.” And he seemed to be thinking her question over again now, his brow creased in a thoughtful frown. “I do like diving. And I enjoyed working with Ivy.” His hand smoothed down her suddenly tense back. “I’m not saying I want to go off and do it again. I’m saying that I liked tinkering, and putting that submersible together with her. I could make more of them, test them in local waters, sell them.”
“You’d like that?”
“I would.”
Then it sounded perfect to her. “We could build a workshop for you next to the house. Or in town, by my offices.”
“I’d like that, too. And I’ll figure out how to help you take care of our children—and learn to read and write a bit, so that I can send you love notes and make up for all the messages I never sent before.”
Her heart swelled. “I’ll send some to you, as well.”
“And I’ll make a better man of myself.”
“Oh, Thom. You’re the best man I know. You couldn’t be any better.”
He lowered his lips to hers, said softly against them, “You’re wrong, Georgie.”
Smiling, she wound her arms around his shoulders. “You’ll have to stay around to prove me wrong.”
“I will. You wait and see. You’ll never be able to get rid of me.”
She’d never try. “Is that your new promise? Because my new promise is that I’m never going to be separated from you again.”
“It is, Georgie.” His voice roughened. “I swear it.”
“And is there any chance you’ll ever break it?”
“None at all.”
“Then I was wrong, Thom,” she said, and leaned in for another kiss. “Sometimes, no chance is better than some.”
ECSTASY UNDER THE MOON
A Children of the Moon Novella