She was dumbstruck by his proposal. The thought of marriage had never even entered her mind. "What?"
His dark eyes burned into hers. "I know our son had a strange conception, and will most definitely have an odd life, but I want him to be born the old-fashioned way-to married parents."
Cassandra covered her face with her hands as tears welled. "What is it about you that you make me cry all the time? I swear, I never wept until the day I met you."
He looked as if she had struck him.
"I don't mean it in a bad way, Wulf. You just do things that touch me so deeply in my heart that it makes me cry."
"So you'll marry me?"
"Of course, you silly man."
He moved to kiss her. The sword tilted and the rings went rolling across the floor. "Damn," he snapped as they scattered. "I knew I was going to botch this. Hold on."
He got down on his hands and knees and retrieved the rings from under the couch. Then he returned to her and kissed her lips hotly.
Cassandra savored the taste of him. He had given her so much more than she ever hoped for or dreamed of.
Nipping her lips, he pulled back. "In Norse custom, we did things backward. The couple exchanged plain bands at the betrothal. You'll receive your diamond ring when we get married."
"Okay."
He slid her smaller ring on her trembling hand, then handed her the larger one.
Cassandra's hand shook even more as she saw the intricate Norse design of a highly stylized dragon. She slid it onto his finger, then kissed the back of his hand. "Thank you."
He cupped her face gently and kissed her. Cassandra was instantly dizzy.
"I have everything planned for Friday night if that's okay with you," he said quietly.
"Why Friday?"
"My people always married on Fridays to pay tribute to the goddess Frigga. I thought we could combine the customs of your people with mine. Since the Apollites have no set day of the week, Phoebe said it wouldn't matter to you."
Cassandra pulled him back to her lips and kissed the devil out of him. Who knew an ancient barbarian could be so thoughtful?
The only thing that would make this more perfect would be to have her father present, but Cassandra had learned long ago not to ask for the impossible.
"Thank you, Wulf."
He nodded. "Now Kat and Phoebe need you to go shopping for a wedding dress."
He opened the front door only to have Phoebe and Kat spill into the room.
They both gave false smiles as they righted themselves.
"Oops," Kat said. "We just wanted to make sure everything was going as planned."
Wulf shook his head.
"Of course it is," Cassandra said. "How could it not?"
And before she knew it, they had whisked her away to a small shop down in the main part of the city while Wulf stayed in the apartment.
Cassandra hadn't really been back to the city after Wulf's "warm" reception and her horrifying discovery of Phoebe and Urian together.
Rather, she and Wulf had spent most of their time confined to their apartment where she was safe and didn't have to worry about anyone insulting him.