Magnus rushed forward, and a shot whizzed by him, piercing the wall and taking his older cousin out. A wave of movement crested behind Magnus as he reached Rachelle and pulled her off the floor. Erwin grabbed a gun and got off a shot at Magnus before he was also taken down by a sniper.
Hugging Rachelle to his chest, Magnus sheltered her from the sight of his men, ensuring neither cousin would ever be a problem again. He looked her over quickly. Her face was bruised, and she was probably in shock, but otherwise she looked unhurt.
He dropped to his knees and unbound her legs and arms. Once she was freed, he pulled her into his arms again and held her tightly, rocking her back and forth as he blinked back tears of relief. Only now that she was safe did he allow himself to face how close he’d come to losing her.
Delinda appeared beside them, her face wet from her tears. She touched Magnus’s arm in a silent request. He stepped back.
“I love you so much, Rachelle,” Delinda said as she wrapped her arms around her granddaughter and wept. “I’m so sorry.”
Rachelle burst into tears then. “I know, Grandmother. I love you, too.”
His father ordered the men to clean up the area while Phillip guided Magnus, Delinda, and Rachelle away from the scene. SUVs pulled up to whisk them away.
Phillip stood beside Magnus. “Do you want me here or at the hospital?”
“Hospital?” Magnus asked, looking over Rachelle again, this time noticing blood on her dress and face—more blood than he remembered.
“You’ve been shot, Magnus. Your arm.” Phillip called to a man to bring a roll of bandage over.
Only when Magnus looked down and saw the blood running down from a hole in his upper arm did it begin to hurt. It also made him unsteady on his feet. He’d never been good with the sight of his own blood.
“Is he okay?” Magnus heard Rachelle ask as if from inside a tunnel. He knew he should look away from his wound, but the world around it became dimmer and dimmer until he saw nothing at all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The scare of being taken and nearly killed, followed by the frightening sight of Magnus dropping limply to the ground, sent Rachelle into a fog. She dropped and hugged his head to her chest, begging him not to die.
Phillip rushed to assure her that Magnus was suffering from nothing more serious than a small flesh wound and a lifelong inability to deal with the sight of his own blood. She didn’t believe him, couldn’t believe him, until Magnus shook his head and came to.
“Don’t ever do that again,” Rachelle scolded. “You scared me.”
His answer was to pull her head down and kiss her deeply, passionately—a kiss they both needed and one that held more promise than words ever could.
When the kiss finally ended, Rachelle sat there, cradling his head to her. Someone began wrapping his arm in a bandage, but Rachelle didn’t look away from Magnus. “This was my fault,” she said. “I walked off by myself.”
He winced. “You should have been safe anywhere on our property. I failed to protect you. We all did.”
She kissed his lips again softly. “If you failed, why am I still here?”
He sat up, leaning on his good arm. “Because there is no life I want to live that doesn’t have you in it.”
She kissed him again. “I love you, Magnus.”
“I love you, too, my little Rachelle.”
She smiled. She was no longer offended by that term because she heard the love behind it.
A helicopter touched down on the grass beside the cabin, and several armed men along with one woman exited it. The royal guards trained their weapons on them.
“She’s with me,” Delinda called out, approaching them. “She’s late, but at least she’s alive.”
Delinda hugged the woman and looked as if she was lecturing not only her but the man at her side.
“How did you find me?” Rachelle asked, turning her attention back to Magnus.
Magnus rose to his feet, then helped Rachelle to hers. “Reggie was in the woods when you were taken. He came and told us everything he saw and heard.”
Rachelle looked around. “Is he here?”
Magnus nodded toward the driveway.
Phillip said, “The car is ready to take you to a private wing at the town hospital. We can fly you back to the city, but I thought you’d rather get patched up first.”
“Good thinking, Phillip,” Magnus said, and started to guide Rachelle toward the car.
“Wait,” Rachelle said. She walked over to Reggie and wrapped her arms around his thin frame. “Thank you, Reggie. Thank you for looking out for me. I’ll tell Eric what a good friend he has in you.”
Reggie hugged her back awkwardly, then reached into his pocket and pulled out her phone. “Hey, you dropped this in the woods. I figured you might want it. It’s not easy to get a new phone, and sometimes you have photos you haven’t yet uploaded. It can be a real bitch.”
Rachelle laughed even while wiping away tears. “I love you, Reggie.”
“Oh, now, don’t go saying that. My wife is already asking a lot of questions like, ‘Why are we following her around town? Why are we hiding in the woods?’ I told her I’m doing it as a favor, but you know how women can be weird about their man stalking another woman.”
Magnus put his good arm around Rachelle’s waist. “Reggie, I owe you a debt I could never repay. Is there anything you want?”
“Yeah,” Reggie said. “Can we come to your wedding? My wife would shit herself if we got invited to something like that.”
Magnus exchanged a look with Rachelle, then said, “You will be our honored guests.”
“Awesome. Hey, can you also dub me a knight? You know, touch a sword on my shoulders or something.”
“That’s not—”
Rachelle finished for him, “Possible unless your wife and kids attend the ceremony. Would you like that?”
“They’d love that. I can’t wait to tell her she’s going to be Mrs. Reggie the Knight of Vandorra Land.” He walked off to call his wife.
As she and Magnus made their way to the car, he said, “Knights are a thing of the past in Vandorra.”
“He doesn’t know that,” Rachelle said. She slid into the car and cuddled against Magnus as they made their way to the hospital. The whole day felt unreal, but the man whose arm was protectively holding her to his side did not. Simply because she didn’t want to burst into tears, she joked, “And he saved my phone. You know how hard it can be to replace photos.”
Magnus kissed the side of her forehead and said dryly, “Yes, thank God, we didn’t lose those.”
There was so much Rachelle wanted to say, but it could all wait. She was alive. He was alive. “Oh, shit,” Rachelle said, and took out her phone. “I need to text Alisha. I told her I was lost in the woods.” She paused, deciding she couldn’t handle retelling what had happened yet. “I’ll just tell her I found my way back.”
Magnus hugged her tighter. “We will marry as soon as my arm has healed.”
Rachelle melted against him. “Yes.”
He raised his head. “No argument?”
“Nope.”
“No suggestion on how I could have said it better?”
She arched an eyebrow, glad to see that despite what they’d been through, it hadn’t broken either of them. “Well, maybe just one.” She put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled his face closer to hers. “You could shut up and kiss me.”
“Gladly,” he said, and gave her a long, tender kiss that curled her toes and warmed her heart. She was still shaken from what she’d been through, but Magnus had risked his life to save hers. He was her hero, her lover, the home she’d been searching for.
Being with him had taught her to have faith not only in him but in herself as well. Life would throw challenges their way, but she now trusted that they would overcome anything—together.
The next morning, in a private hospital suite, Magnus paced, impatient to leave. Rachelle was seated on a couch on the other side of the room, speaking to members of her family on the phone.