Incriminating Evidence (44 page)

She propped herself up on her elbows and met his gaze. If only this moment could last forever. If only there was no need for words. No need for him to resume his place in the world. A place in which there was no room for her.

He smiled and tucked a curl behind her ear. “I love you, Isabel.”

She shook her head and set her fingers against his lips, as if she could erase the statement. So they didn’t have to face it.

She loved him too, but that only made this harder. She cleared her throat. There was no better time or way to say it. “I’ve made a decision. I’m going back to Oregon.”

He frowned, but then flashed a tentative smile. “To finish your PhD? I think that’s a good idea but admit I was hoping you’d be able to do the bulk of the work while living in Maryland. I’d assumed your coursework was done.”

“Yes. It’s all done. My dissertation is ninety percent complete, actually. But I’m not going back for school. I’m going for work. It’ll be easier for me to get a job in Oregon.”

He scooted up on the couch, sliding from her body. She remained on his lap but was no longer on top of him. Now they were face-to-face. Equals. “You can get a job in Maryland, and it’s not like you’d have to worry about money if you don’t find anything right away.”

“I can’t, Alec—”

“Give me one good reason why not. I’d have accepted grad school, but not now.”

“I didn’t say it was for the PhD, because I won’t lie to you.”

“Then it can’t be because you don’t love me, because we both know that would be a lie too.”

She stroked his cheek. “I wasn’t going to tell you, because I figured that would only make it harder.”

“Harder for you to dump me? I hope so.”

That was fair enough. She owed him so much more than three words. She wanted to
give him
so much more. Hell, that was what she was trying to do in letting him go. “I love you. And you’re the only man I’ve ever said that to.”

His eyes smiled even as he frowned. “Then why the hell aren’t you coming with me?”

“It was different when I thought you didn’t stand a chance in the election, but now, with the DIA and CIA putting a lid on everything, you have a real chance. But not if I’m by your side. I’m the reminder of everything that could ruin you.”

“You want me to drop out of the race.”

“No! I think you’d be an amazing senator. I want you to run. I want you to win. But how much would you grow to resent me if I’m the reason you lost?”

“If I can’t get elected with you by my side, then I don’t want the job. You could never be the reason I lose.
I’m
the candidate. If I can’t sell myself to the people of Maryland, it’s all on me. It’s not my campaign manager’s fault, not my advisors, not the volunteers. It would be nobody’s fault but mine. It’s like planning an op with the Rangers. If the plan failed, there was no one to blame but myself.”

“I’m scared, Alec.” Even as she said the words, her belly turned. She’d had no idea how afraid she was until she voiced it.

“What are you afraid of, honey?”

“Pretty much everything. Except bears. At this point, bears don’t bother me.”

He chuckled. “It helps that you carry bear spray.”

She smiled and leaned into him, snuggling against his chest. His arms wrapped around her. She could imagine being less afraid if she ended every day like this, and maybe started each day like this too.

With her cheek to his chest, she closed her eyes. “I don’t belong anywhere.”

His arms tightened around her. “You belong with me.”

She wanted to say no. To walk away without looking back. But what would it be like, on the dig bum circuit in Oregon, California, Washington, and Idaho, knowing she’d walked away from Alec?

He’d—hopefully—win his election. She’d see him on the news nearly every night—because she’d scour C-SPAN if she had to.

“If you don’t move to Maryland for me, think of Gandalf. I’ve grown strangely attached to him. Surely you wouldn’t deny me the first cat I’ve ever thought was tolerable?”

She laughed. Gandalf had slept with them last night. She’d had Alec at her back and her kitty at her front as she closed her eyes to mark the end of the third worst day of her life. Nothing could top losing Vin and her parents.

“Two months. I’ll try it for two months.”

“No good. That’ll get us through the election, but if I win, not to the swearing in.”

“Fine. Four months.”

“That’s not enough either. Life would be in transition, not normal—or whatever normal would be if I’m a senator. I want an eight-month commitment. If I win, that would give us time to settle in to a routine, to find out if we’d really work as a team. Give us until next April.”

“You do realize that except for grad school, there are few places I’ve lived for eight months straight?” He couldn’t possibly guess what a big commitment this would be for her.

He kissed her nose. “Yes.”

“How do you know that?”

“The background information we gathered on you. I have every address you’ve ever listed on a government form.”

“That’s not even all of them. You’ve probably lived in the same house your whole life.”

“No. I bought an estate right before I left the Army.”

“Most people buy houses. You bought an
estate
?”

He shrugged. “Originally, I thought I was going to make it into some sort of military training ground—but then Raptor became available, and I bought that instead. So now I have a big old house on acreage in rural Maryland, and no one to share it with. Just think, Iz, Gandalf will love the forest.”

She laughed. “Well, okay, then, since Gandalf will enjoy it, I can try Maryland for eight months.” Her belly dropped at just saying the words. It was crazy how much this scared her. But at the same time, it was a good sort of scared. Exhilarating. Like a roller coaster.

But mixed with that exhilaration was trepidation. “People are going to talk about how we met—the
Sun
article made sure of that.”

“We’ll reframe it for them until our version eclipses the tabloid version.”

“How will we do that? Tell everyone I zapped you with bear spray?”

“No. We’ll point out your brother set us up. It just took a while for us to finally meet.”

Warmth flooded her, telling her that she was making the right choice in Alec Ravissant. He’d given the perfect politician’s answer, but she knew it wasn’t the politician speaking. It was the man. He’d said the smart thing, the right thing, and the truth.

Epilogue

Maryland

April

I
sabel stood on the upper veranda and looked out over the garden. It was a show tunes sort of day, crisp and sunny. Cherry blossom time was a little late this year, and Alec’s Maryland estate was in full bloom, making it the perfect day for a wedding. If she didn’t know it would scare off the guests gathering below, she might belt out a song.

The event had been thrown together in less than a month, but then, once Erica finally agreed to bring their long engagement to an end, Lee wasn’t about to give her time to change her mind. Alec offered the estate for the ceremony and party, and surprisingly, Isabel enjoyed helping plan the celebration with Erica. The task had filled the long gap between temporary field projects.

She’d been offered a full-time job at Talon & Drake not long after she moved to the city, but had turned it down, afraid of the commitment. Now, eight months later, she knew Alec expected her final decision.

She’d known her answer for weeks but had yet to tell him. She was waiting for the right moment.

She left the veranda and returned to Alec’s bedroom suite, where Erica and her four bridesmaids, Mara, Trina, Undine, and Alexandra, were gathered, putting the final touches on Erica’s gorgeous hair.

“At least half the guests have arrived,” Isabel said.

The ceremony and celebration were relatively small, less than fifty guests, which seemed about perfect to Isabel. She’d accompanied the new junior senator from Maryland to dozens of political events in the last months, none with fewer than two hundred guests. After that, fifty was downright cozy.

Erica stood, and her gown unfurled. Simple and elegant, she was the perfect picture of a glowing bride. Lee was going to melt when he saw her.

There was a knock on the door. Trina jumped to her feet. “That’s probably Cressida. She’s bringing champagne for a preceremony toast.”

Sure enough, Cressida Porter was at the door. She’d been an intern last summer at Navy History and Heritage Command, where Mara, Trina, Undine, and Erica all worked. Isabel had first met the underwater archaeologist yesterday, but she’d heard a lot about her, especially given the legal troubles she’d had a month ago thanks to a rotten ex-boyfriend.

Accompanying Cressida was Alec. He nodded his head toward the guest bedroom across the hall. “I need to talk to you,” he said to Isabel.

She excused herself from the group and followed him into the room. He closed the door and pressed her against the panel.

“You’re going to ruin my lipstick,” she said right before he kissed her.

She liked that he didn’t really give a damn about things like lipstick.

She ran her fingers down his lapels, feeling very sorry that she couldn’t rip open his shirt, but it would ruin the tux. He looked great in a tux, and he even knew how to tie his own bow tie, a skill he’d probably learned when he attended Richie Rich’s school for loaded boys. It was a good thing, because as a senator, he’d had to don one more than once in the last few months.

Entering his world had been quite the culture shock, but she’d been adapting.

There was less sex in the kitchen than she wanted, because an estate of this size actually required a housekeeper and gardener. Every time she saw the marble counter, she seriously considered the need for downsizing.

“You look gorgeous,” he said.

“Thank you. You look pretty hot yourself.” She straightened his bow tie. “How are things with the groomsmen?”

“JT is moping because Alexandra wouldn’t talk to him, and he’s trying to hide how he feels from Lee.”

“Alexandra’s doing the same thing. I think Erica knows, but she’s too happy to let it bother her.”

“Lee’s the same way.” He pulled Isabel tighter against him. “All this wedding stuff is giving me ideas. You know, it’s been eight months.”

She smiled. “Has it? I hadn’t noticed.” The lie was so blatant, Alec laughed.

The first few months had been a struggle. Not being with Alec—that was never a struggle. It was the spotlight, the constant attention. That and every forest for a thousand miles appeared to have poison ivy, slapping a high price on long hikes to clear her mind.

Alaska might have bears, but the state didn’t have poison oak or poison ivy. And there was no old growth here. Nature somehow didn’t feel quite as…
wild
.

She’d also struggled with nightmares. Alec helped her through those long nights, waking her and holding her.

For his part, he’d remembered everything by the time they left Alaska, and he hadn’t suffered a single nightmare. He figured knowing he’d killed Godfrey had freed him from being haunted by dreams.

He’d made certain all but one copy of the videos of her being tortured had been destroyed. The remaining copy was on a USB drive in a safe, reserved for if she decided to view it in the hopes it would put an end to the nightmares. For now, she wasn’t ready and didn’t know if she’d ever want to watch it.

Per her promise, she’d settled in and begun to build a life here, for the first time not planning her exit as she unpacked her bags. When Alec wasn’t busy learning his new role as US senator, time with him was her reward for living in this strangely foreign part of the country. She’d learned how to smile for cameras and even occasionally step up to a microphone and introduce him at public events. Since he’d taken office, she’d added talks about archaeology to elementary and middle school students to her repertoire of public outreach activities. But she’d made Mara join her for one of those talks—after all, the woman was married to the US attorney general, while Isabel was a mere girlfriend to a US senator.

The students were far more excited to meet Mara Garrett, and that was just fine with her.

“It’s been eight months to the day, in fact,” Alec added.

“I’ve been thinking… It seems like Gandalf really likes it here. It would be a shame to uproot him when he’s finally settled in.” Even though Isabel had an apartment in the city—a concession to voters who might’ve had a problem with Isabel moving in with Alec without exchanging vows—they spent more time at the estate, so Gandalf lived here.

Alec’s smile lit his topaz-blue eyes.

“And today, JT told me the job at Talon & Drake is still open.” She cocked her head. “What do you think? Should I take it?”

“I think it’s a great opportunity.” He frowned. “But there’s one thing left to be settled.”

“What’s that?”

“Your apartment. I think we should offer it to Chase Johnston when he starts his job at the DC office next month.”

She smiled, pleased Chase would be returning soon. She’d gotten to know him well during the months he’d been in the DC area working with the CIA to deconstruct what Godfrey and Westover had done to him. A month ago, that work had been completed and he’d been given a clean bill of both physical and mental health. Alec had sent the young man to his Kauai beach house for much needed recuperation prior to Chase starting his new job at Raptor’s home office. “I thought, because you’re a public figure, as long as we aren’t married, I need to maintain a separate address.”