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  “Why?” Jed asked, too cynical now to believe it was possible.

  “You served three years for crimes you hadn’t committed,” Erica said. “You shouldn’t have to serve any more time.”

  Jed stared at his sister. “Did Rowe have something to do with this?”

  “No,” she said. “The D.A. is using you as his star witness against the warden.”

  Jed chuckled. He’d been right to be cynical. Nobody was selfless except for the woman in his arms, who had willingly put her life at risk for his. “I take it that he doesn’t want me showing up in court to testify in an orange jumpsuit.”

  “Who cares what his motive is?” Erica asked. “You’re a free man, Jedidiah Kleyn.”

  “I don’t want to be a free man,” he said with sudden realization.

  “But, Jed,” she said, her eyes wide with shock, “you served three years already—”

  “No.” He dropped to one knee on the cold concrete. “I don’t want to be a free man. I want to be your man, Erica. I don’t just want to be Isobel’s father. I want to be your husband…if you’ll have me. If you can trust me…”

  For the first time since he had pulled her into the nightmare that had been his life, she cried, tears streaming down her face. “I trust you, Jed. I trust that you’ll be a gentle, loving father and a loyal, protective husband.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. “I will marry you.”

  Her acceptance meant more to him than finally clearing his name. That had been all about his past. She and their daughter were his future. “Now I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

  Finally the promise of their first meeting and that instant connection was fulfilled. That promise had been tested and strained and had nearly broken over the past three years. But now it was a promise that they would keep for the rest of their lives.

  Epilogue

  “You better get used to that side of the bars,” Drake Ketchum taunted him. “You’re never getting out now.”

  Jefferson had already heard the news. The district attorney definitely had a star witness in Jedidiah Kleyn. No one would doubt his testimony now.

  “And you’re not getting to Kleyn before the trial. There’s no bounty—no amount of reward you can offer for someone to risk hurting him. He’s well protected.”

  And damn near impossible to kill, Jefferson had already discovered. But with all his time alone behind these damn bars, he had figured out who wasn’t protected—who was so damn cocky that he thought he couldn’t lose.

  But it wasn’t just the trial Ketchum was going to lose. It was his life.

  * * * * *

  ISBN: 9781459226340

  Copyright © 2012 by Lisa Childs-Theeuwes

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