Only then did Nick realize he was crying, but he didn't care. Male pride and ego melted away as he looked at his bride and saw the same emotions mirrored in her eyes. Raising his hand, he brushed a tear from her cheek with the pad of his thumb. He smiled at her through his own tears as relief and need and a hundred other emotions barreled through him.

"We're lucky," he said after a moment.

"And then some," she agreed.

Cupping her face, he gazed into her eyes. He felt the undeniable connection between them in the deepest reaches of his heart. She was the only woman in the world who could do that to him. Leaning forward, he kissed her gently. "You look really good in that uniform, Mrs. Ryan," he said.

"You don't look too bad yourself, Chief."

"Do you think it's inappropriate for the chief of police to kiss his deputy?"

"Definitely. But you do inappropriate so well."

"You always say just the right thing. I love you, Erin."

"Mrs. Ryan," she corrected, and shot him a smile from beneath her lashes. "While we're waiting for Steph to be taken to her room, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind explaining the police department's policy on maternity leave to me."

The floor dropped out from under him as the words cascaded over him. "You're…" Emotion shook him with such force that he couldn't finish the sentence.

She grinned.

His heart thumped hard against his ribs. "You're pregnant?"

"I'm not sure. You know how unreliable those tests are."

"Tests?"

"The home pregnancy test I took this morning."

Nick held his breath. "What did it say?"

Standing on her tiptoes, Erin brushed her lips against his.

"It told me I'm the happiest pregnant woman in the entire state of Indiana," she whispered.

Joy like he'd never known settled over him like a bright and stunning light. Laughing, he threw his arms around her and swung her in a tight circle, not caring about the tears building in his eyes again. "Just the state?" he managed to ask after a moment.

She smiled at him. "Make that the world."

"I guess that makes me the happiest man in the world."

"I love you-"

Her sentence was cut short when his mouth covered hers, sealing the words he cherished between them, and Nick knew he was not only the happiest man in the world, but the luckiest.

Linda Castillo is a bestselling author of romantic suspense novels for Berkley, Harlequin Intrigue and Silhouette Intimate Moments. She is the winner of numerous writing awards, including the Holt Medallion and a nomination for the prestigious Rita Award for Best First Book.