When their laughter calmed down, Lucas took Grace's hands in his and kissed both of her knuckles before looking at her with a playful smile.

"Now, what is that that I hear about my love working as an undercover agent?", he smiled as Grace grinned and pulled his arms back around her waist, holding them there.

"I don't know should I tell you. Mystery adds to attraction and I'd like to keep it that way", she winked at him.

Lucas grinned, tightening his hold on her.

"I see your point. But, you don't need to work undercover to make sure I was attracted to you", he hovered his lips over hers, warming her breath up until she started to breathe heavily.

"Even if that means I would wear the sharpest clothes and go around saving lives?", she quipped and watched as his eyes softened.

The gentleness with which he cupped her face and leaned his forehead on hers made her almost melt right then, right there.

"You saved my life already. Twice", he whispered and gently caressed both of her cheeks with his thumbs.

Grace swallowed hard, placing her fingers on his palms as his eyes caressed hers with a smoldering heat she nearly forgot to breathe.

"I was so scared", she admitted in a barely audible whisper, but he heard her "So scared that I will lose you. I loved you so much already when that attempt of assasination at the Ball happened", a shivering breath escaped her and she mumbled in a broken tone of voice "You were bleeding so much, I tried to stop it…"

"And you did", he said, kissing both of her eyelids, making her sigh "The doctor told me that it would be way more serious if someone didn't hold a pressure on my wound", he kissed her forehead, then her warm cheeks "But, he didn't know that I have my own guardian angel who looks after me", he gave her a soft smile and watched as she gifted him with wobbling smile.

Lucas brushed his lips over hers for a moment then looked at her again.

She watched him with eyes so full of love that he thought he could conquer the world.

Grace smiled softly.

"Well, that was what I was actually doing here these few days", she said as he wrapped his arms around her waist "I was looking after you", she bit her lower lip, suddenly nervous "I didn't

tell anybody about us except for Minnie, I actually acted like I didn't even know you in order to find out what people really think about you and to whom you can trust", she looked down, her nerves getting better of her "I knew that this visit would be hard for you and I wanted to help with at least providing you with those information".

She didn't dare to look up at him, worried that he might be upset with her. She nervously pressed her fingers against each other, waiting for his reaction.

Not even dreaming it would be so heartwarmingly beautiful.

His index finger came under her chin and he gently picked it up, locking his eyes with hers.

She hesitantly looked up at him only to lose a breath at the love, passion and heat that sparkled in his dark orbs.

"Have I ever told you how much I love that good heart of yours?", he gently asked as he took her hand and placed it over his heart "You always think about other people's feelings. Even when you don't feel well yourself, you always take care of me, Lillian, the children… Your heart is one of the things I love the most about you. You went through so many hardships, you were stretched to the limits and yet you never let anyone callous your heart", he gently rubbed his nose against hers "And I adore you because of that".

Grace let out a sigh, her eyes misting with tears. Lucas cupped her face and gently pressed his lips on both her eyelids, causing a few tears to escape her eyes. He gently kissed away the salty drops and placed one long, loving kiss on her lips.

Grace hugged him, her throat tightening with emotion as she buried her face in his chest.

Lucas hugged her and just held her, placing a few gentle kisses on her hair.

As she calmed down and looked up at him with a smile, he playfully pecked her rosy lips and grinned.

"Now, tell me. I'm dying to know what were you up to these last few days, agent Bennet?"

—--

About an hour later Lucas was sitting on a big settee (obviously a new addition, courtesy of Mike Hickham), and laughed so hard that he doubled over, holding his sides, trying to catch a breath.

Grace was up and about, doing a silly little dance as she told him about Robert comparing him to Excalibur and giggled like crazy as she remembered it.

"Oh, the moment he realized what he said! His eyes almost popped out of his head, like this", Grace closed her mouth and her eyes went wide open in shock sending Lucas in hysterics as he collapsed on the settee, holding onto his stomach that ached from laughter. She grinned and added "And then he stammered: 'Uh…don't tell to anybody I said that, please!'", Grace laughed.

Lucas covered his eyes with his palm, laughing.

Grace smiled happily at seeing him so relaxed and decided to keep him that way as long as she could today.

Swooshing her skirt, she glided toward the settee.

"However, that was NOTHING compared to the first poker game I had at the Queen of Hearts", she said.

Lucas moved a palm from his eyes and finally managing to catch a breath, he gasped.

"You played poker?", he grinned as Grace nodded "And?

Grace sighed in false haughtiness and lightly kicked his legs so he would free up a space on the settee for her.

"It's quite a story. A lady would like to sit down as she tells the tale", she shot him a glare that was supposed to be warning, but Lucas noticed her lips twitching.

Quickly he sat up and showed with an outstretched palm at the place beside him.

"My lady", he quipped, giving her his hand. Grace took it and grinned, plopping down beside him quite unceremoniously, making him chuckle at her bubbling energy.

"Oh, I have a feeling I'm gonna like this!", he said, his grin widening "Did you win?"

Grace huffed.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I did!", she smiled smugly.

Lucas felt his heart soar at her playfulness.

He inched closer to her face, a big smile uncovering his dimples and his eyes sparkled.

"How much did you win?", he asked.

Grace pursued her lips and slightly squeezed her eyes as if she was pondering whether she should tell him or not…and then her smile brightened on her face as she leaned in and whispered the amount of payout in his ear.

Lucas' eyes went wide opened and he gasped in surprise.

"Wait…against who were you playing?", he asked.

Grace grinned.

"Well, Bill said that I wasn't playing, but cleaning them out. And Henry almost blew my undercover by saying that someone would think I got lessons from you seeing how I cleaned them out", she rambled on, pretending to be annoyed and pouted "And than he had to come in and say that it's strange to see a woman playing poker".

Lucas thought who would say something like that and his eyes widened.

"No!", he said, holding both his breath and laughter in check.

Grace nodded, a proud smile on her face.

"Oh, yes. Constable Nathan Grant. Bill asked him to join us which he declined at first, but then I challenged him", she winked at Lucas "All I had to do was ask him was he scared that I will beat him and voilà!", she snapped her fingers "He was holding cards in his hands in no time".

Lucas ran his hands against his beard to try to stop laughter as he peered in Grace's eyes.

"Aaaand uuuuuhmmm…how much did he lose?", he asked with a grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Grace put on a thoughtful facial expression and counted on her fingers, looking at the ceiling and mumbling to herself like she was resolving a math problem.

In the next moment she leaned toward Lucas and whispered the amount of money in his ear.

Lucas bursted to laughter and Grace giggled, reveling at pure joy on his face.

"What did he say?", Lucas managed to ask through his laughter.

Grace shrugged as she put a long face on.

"He asked me where did I learn to play like that. And I said that I had an excellent teacher", she grinned widely "And poor judge Avery almost choked on his beer!"

Lucas fell against a settee, covering his face with both of his palms, another fit of laughter hitting him hard.

Grace laughed right beside him.

He removed his palms from his face and glanced at her, completely relaxed.

"So, you are THAT good?", he winked.

Grace smirked playfully.

"Bill says I am a real card shark", she giggled as Lucas grinned and pulled her to his arms.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and caressed her spine with slow, loving momvements.

Grsce sighed, snuggling into his shoulder.

Lucas softly kissed her hair before leaning his cheek against it and whispering in a warm, husky tone of voice:

"Nobody messes with the Queen of my Heart".