“Now, I’ve heard that women fancy diamonds, and I’ll go back and get you one if you desire it, but…” He shook his head a little, his brows furrowing as he took her hand in his. “I saw this ring and thought, ‘That is us.’ ”

Mary bent forward to see, and when she did, a happy laugh broke from her. Coiled around each other to form a ring were two stylized golden snakes, their little heads tucked close to form the ring’s face. Prince Albert had given Queen Victoria something similar. Snakes for immortality and eternal love. “It’s perfect,” she whispered.

Slowly, and with a bit of difficulty, for his hands shook, Jack slipped the ring onto her finger. The light caught it, and the tiny emerald and topaz stones that made up the respective snakes’ eyes flared. Another wave of giddy laughter surged through Mary, and she wrapped her arms around Jack.

He pulled her close, rising and then settling back on the chair with her in his lap. The cabin dipped and swayed as the airship changed course. And Mary’s heart felt buoyant. Together they watched London roll away, all dark shadows and hard angles. Ahead of them lay an expanse of green with the blue sliver of the English Channel just beyond.

“It’s all right, then?” Jack asked after a moment.

Still worried. Dear man. She glanced down at the little gold snakes on her finger. Cold-blooded creatures whom most thought unable to love. And yet there they were, coiled about each other in perfect contentment. Stronger together than apart.

“It is us, Jack. To a T.” Mary cupped his cheeks. “I love you.” She kissed his nose. His chin. “I love you, John Michael Talent.” She kissed his mouth. “I love you, Jack.”

He let go of a long breath. “Don’t ever stop.” He kissed her back, softly lingering.

“Never.”

Jack’s hands slid to her shoulder blades, holding her against him. “Don’t ever stop telling me,” he demanded softly against her mouth. “Tell me today, and tomorrow, and all the days after.”

She sighed into him, taking his breath, giving him hers. “You’ll grow weary of hearing it.”

His hand eased down her back. “You’ll have to test the theory and see.” Then he flipped her, so quickly and easily that she could only squeak before she was on the chair and he was blanketing her with his body. She loved the size of him and that he could move her about as he willed.

“And what of me?” she asked, wrapping herself around him. “Am I not to receive such verbal admiration?”

Smiling, he kissed her. “That and more. I’ll tell you until you think it your name.” His lips found her neck. “And every look I give you will say the same: I love you. Wholly. Utterly. Completely.”

She chuckled, nuzzling closer. “But those words mean the same thing.”

“Precisely. That I love you.” He raised his head to glare at her, though not very effectively. “Stop trying to distract me, Chase. I have an objective here.”

“Which is?” A silly question. She could feel his objective rather insistently nudging her thigh.

A low, pleased growl rumbled in his throat as she shifted her leg, and he nipped her shoulder. “Demonstrative proof.”

Epilogue

He died. He remembered that clearly. Died in pain and degradation, his body taken and torn asunder. He remembered the pain, how the jagged blade had carved into his chest, and how they’d ripped his heart out and replaced it with one of metal. Strange that the pain hadn’t left him. He’d fancied that once dead, one would feel no pain. Apparently that was not to be. You’re in it now, mate. Unending agony that he couldn’t get away from, couldn’t catch his breath between.

Should he be able to breathe if he was dead? He stopped to think about this and realized he didn’t know his name. Didn’t know who he was or what he’d been. Panic surged, and he tried to focus. But there was only that heart, so heavy and unwelcome, clicking and whirring within his breast. And blackness. All-encompassing. Black. Pitch. Tar. Raven. Wings…

Words bounced about in his mind like water over a rocky path. Focus. He would remember. And when he did, the one who had hurt him would pay.

Jet. Sable. Ebony. Night…

His eyes snapped open. “Evernight.”