His smile looked bittersweet. “I used to do the opposite. Imagine my mom was happy here instead of somewhere else.”
He’d never told her much about his family. “Where’s your mom?”
“Last I heard, somewhere in Europe. She left when I was about twelve—didn’t want to be a mother or the wife of a small-town cop. We see her maybe once a year now.”
She looked away from his troubled face. “I was never much more than an afterthought to my mom, either.”
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. “I’m sorry, baby. Nobody should have to live that kind of life. We were lucky because Dad stuck around. And he’s a great dad.”
“I survived.” And she had, hadn’t she? She’d faced down a hell far more challenging than life with her irresponsible mother. She’d faced it down and survived. And if she had to face hell again, she’d come out on top, because that was the kind of woman she was.
A woman who’d served her country with honor and strength. Who’d fallen in love with a good man three years ago and, damn it, deserved the chance to spend the rest of her life loving him and being loved in return.
Didn’t she?
She smiled up at him suddenly, making his brow crease with suspicion. His look of wariness only made her laugh aloud.
“I love you, too,” she said aloud.
“Just like that?” he asked, sounding unconvinced.
“I don’t think three years is ‘just like that,’” she pointed out, lifting to her toes to kiss the underside of his jaw. “But, while I may be a slow study, once I get the hang of something, I’m damn good at it.”
He caught her face between his palms. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’m so tired of running away from things that scare me, Rick. That’s not me. I don’t know how I ever let myself get that way.”
“You’ve been through so much—”
“It’s not just that. I’ve been running away a lot longer than that. It’s why I went to work for the CIA in the first place.” She shook her head. “But I’m tired of keeping secrets from people I want to be close to. And I’m tired of pretending I don’t need anyone else. I do. I need you.” The smile in her voice faded, and she felt the prickle of tears behind her eyes, as if admitting her vulnerability had opened a chink in the wall holding back all the fears, doubts and emotions she’d held in check so ruthlessly over the past few years.
“I need you, too,” he admitted, kissing away the tears trickling down her cheeks. “I have no idea what life with me is going to be like, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be boring—”
She kissed him hard, letting the heat of desire burn away the tears of doubt. His arms snaked around her waist, pulling her with him into the house. He stripped off the jacket he’d lent her and started on the buttons of her blouse.
The phone rang, making them both groan.
Rick broke away and picked up the receiver. “Yeah?” He listened for a second, then punched the speaker button on the phone. Maddox Heller’s voice came over the line. “Blackledge just called. The hearing’s on for tomorrow in D.C. Get packed now—you’re flying out tonight on a chartered plane.”
Rick hung up and turned to look at Amanda with wry amusement. “Are you getting as sick of government interference as I am?”
With a grin, she crossed to him, sliding her hand slowly up his chest. “Just a few more days. Then the world will know about Khalid Mazir and we can figure out what to do with the rest of our lives.”
“Any thoughts on that?” he asked as he walked with her into the bedroom to pack.
“Anywhere you are is fine with me,” she said, meaning it.
He stopped in the middle of unzipping his suitcase and turned to her. “Same here, baby.” He kissed her, hard, making her toes curl up.
Then they went back to packing.
SENATOR BLACKLEDGE PUT THEM up at the Watergate Hotel. On his own dime, he assured them when they suggested less expensive accommodations. His smile was damn near gleeful, Rick noted, when he met them in the room the night before the hearing.
“I thought this place would be appropriate for a top-secret meeting,” he said with a grin. “And I suppose you’d qualify as a whistle-blower, Ms. Caldwell.”
“Not exactly,” Amanda demurred. “I mean, I can’t tell you who the mole in the CIA could be—”
“We’ll find out,” Blackledge assured her. “Meanwhile, you’re saving a struggling Central Asian democracy from electing a terrorist mole as their president. For that, you should be given a Presidential Medal of Freedom—”
“No,” Amanda said quickly. “If I could do this anonymously, I would—”
“But you can’t.” Blackledge looked genuinely sorry for her, Rick noticed, although he wasn’t sure he could really trust the old politician’s words or actions. Blackledge had been in Washington a long time, and the place had a way of corrupting even the good ones if they stuck around long enough.
“Here’s how it will go. You’ll testify before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. I’m on the committee—so I’ll guide you through it. All you have to do is tell the truth. What you went through three years ago and the recent attempt on your life. You can do that, can’t you?”
Amanda nodded.
“Okay, then.” Blackledge sat back in the chair and looked them over. “You’ll want to dress up—look a little more put together than you do now.”
Amanda slanted a quick look of amusement at Rick. He stifled a smile and asked Blackledge, “What about Barton Reid? Can we pin any of this on him?”
“Unfortunately, Salvatore Beckett seems to be the only one who knows who hired them, and he’s not talking. The others were hired by Beckett, and they only knew that he was paying them well to track down Ms. Caldwell and procure her cooperation.”
“Her cooperation? They were trying to kill her.” Rick’s voice rose in anger.
Amanda closed her hand over his arm. “You don’t expect them to admit that, do you?”
“What about the shooting and arson in Thurlow Gap?” Rick asked the senator. “I imagine the locals probably want some answers—”
“They’ll get them. I’ve already discussed the matter with Senator Douglas of Tennessee. He’s handling it for you even as we speak.” Blackledge stood. “I don’t want to be accused of tampering with a witness, so it’s time I go.”
Rick walked the senator out, then returned to where Amanda stood by the window, gazing at a misty view of the Potomac River. “Soon, the whole Tidal Basin will be lined with blooming cherry blossoms,” she said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. She leaned her head back against his shoulder.
“Know what cherry blossoms are good for?” he asked.
“What?”
“Weddings.” He kissed the side of her throat.
She turned to look at him, a little frown between her eyes. As she started to argue, he silenced her protest with a kiss.
Sooner or later, baby, you’re going to see that we belong together,
he thought.
Sooner or later.
He just didn’t know how soon.
“YOU ELOPED?” ISABEL STARED at Rick and Amanda in disbelief. “No big Cooper wedding?”
“We’re not the big-wedding sort,” Amanda said in apology, accepting Isabel’s quick kiss and turning to look at Rick. “Besides, I’m pretty sure he got me drunk.”
“Liar,” Rick said, grinning at her and feeling a rush of sheer joy at the sight of the happiness shining in her blue eyes. “We finished up with the hearing around midday, so we decided to rent a car and drive ourselves home. She’s the one who spotted the chapel in the mountains on the drive back and said we should get hitched.”
“Luckily, Virginia’s licensing laws allow same-day weddings, or he might have had second thoughts and run,” Amanda answered with a laugh.
“We need a party!” Isabel said, clapping her hands together. She hurried over to the phone.
“I knew we shouldn’t have told her first,” Rick murmured, wrapping his arms around his new wife’s waist.
“I wouldn’t mind a little shindig,” Amanda admitted, turning to kiss him. A few mind-reeling seconds later, she drew her head back and looked up at him. “Happy?”
“Delirious,” he admitted. “You?”
“Not bad at all,” she said with a wry chuckle. “Did you ever get through to Jesse about what we were talking about?”
“Jesse wants to talk to you,” Isabel interrupted, holding out the phone.
Rick took the receiver. “Hey, Jesse.”
“You always were the impulsive type,” Jesse said, though there wasn’t a hint of censure in his voice. “Congratulations. Amanda’s a remarkable woman.”
“Yes, she is,” Rick agreed, smiling down at her. She arched her eyebrows in response.
“And as for what you called me about yesterday, yes. We have the budget for it, and I’ve already seen firsthand what an asset she’ll be.”
“You’re hired,” he told Amanda. She grinned back at him, clearly pleased. “She accepts,” he told Jesse. “And now, get your butt over here to Isabel’s and grab you a few Coopers on the way out. We’re having a wedding party!”
He handed the phone back to Isabel and turned back to his wife. “Are you sure you really want in on this? The Coopers can be a rowdy bunch to deal with.”
“I’m sure,” she said firmly, wrapping her arms around his waist. “But are you sure you really want to work with your wife? That’s a whole lot of togetherness....”
He’d already spent three years without her. It had felt like an endless lifetime.
No way on earth he’d ever get enough of her.
“Sounds like a dream job to me,” he murmured as he bent to kiss her again.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459223455
Copyright © 2012 by Paula Graves
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