Lucy had watched the helo disappear over the dark Andes hills and wondered how she would bear the wait to see him again.
“Uh, before we go in,” her little brother cautioned, his hand on the doorknob, “I should probably warn you that Mom and Dad invited a few people over. So don’t have a heart attack and try to look surprised,” he added, smiling ruefully as he swung the door wide. Delicious aromas wafted from the dark interior. Drake reached for the light.
“Surprise!” Despite her brother’s warning, Lucy was startled to see so many people crammed into her living room.
“Lucy!” Her mother and father rushed at her, sweeping her up into a joint embrace. In the circle of warmth, Lucy relaxed. Talking on the phone with them had been a healing experience, but their touch was what she really needed.
Over her mother’s shoulder, she spied Gordon Banks, her supervisor, standing with a red plastic cup in one hand and tears in his eyes.
Her gaze strayed to the other faces, folks from the office—secretaries and analysts who had taken the time to welcome her back. Everyone was here but Gus, who had a job to do.
She couldn’t blame him for that. Somehow, they’d work around the demands of their professions to see each other.
“Come on in, sugar,” said her father, throwing a protective arm around her as he guided her around the room to greet each guest.
Her mother rescued her, passing her a plate of hors d’oeuvres and drawing her into the kitchen.
Seated on a bar stool consuming shrimp tempura, Lucy wondered if she would wake up tomorrow to find she was still chained on La Montaña. The panicky feeling was a familiar one.
Aware that her brother was hovering protectively, she sent him a reassuring wink. Her gaze went past him to the enormous potted plant gracing her glass dinette table. What on earth?
Her mother was the green thumb, but this looked nothing like the colorful flowers Karen Donovan favored.
Pushing off the stool, Lucy wandered over for a closer look. The plant’s broad leaves brought back memories of the jungle.
Half cautious, half intrigued, she reached for the envelope and extracted the message inside, a tremor in her fingers.
To Lucy, my love. Keep it alive.
With a startled glance at the sturdy-looking plant, she recalled what she’d said to him on their last day at the casita. People like us don’t do relationships. I can’t keep a houseplant alive.
Stroking a dark leaf, she found it silky to the touch and oddly comforting. She’d do better than just keep it alive. A determined smile touched the edges of her mouth.
Glancing up, she caught Drake’s thoughtful gaze and grinned at him.
Cell phones weren’t allowed in the CIA’s new headquarters building. While debriefing her boss and attending meetings that had anything to do with South America, Lucy stored her phone in the glove compartment of her new SUV, a Toyota Land Cruiser. Checking for missed calls was the first thing she did at the end of each day. Today, she eyed the number of her single missed call with a prick of hope.
A shiver of anticipation rippled through her as she accessed her voice mail. At the sound of Gus’s velvety baritone, she closed her eyes in relief. Finally! He had kept his promise.
“So, Luce,” he said, sounding hesitant and excited at the same time, “how about that date you promised me? Call me back,” he said succinctly.
Good thing she wasn’t expecting hearts and flowers. Hitting the TALK button, she started up her vehicle, prepared to drive whatever distance was required to see him.
“Is that you, Ethel?” he answered with a smile in his voice.
“Hey, Freddy,” she replied, her heart leaping with joy. “You wanted to see me?”
“Hell, yes, I want to see you.” His urgency was reassuring. “Can you make it to the Mellow Mushroom in Tyson’s Corner in an hour?”
He was here in northern Virginia? Lucy glanced at her car clock. “I can make it in fifteen minutes,” she told him, her heart pounding.
“I’ll be waiting,” he said, hanging up.
With a glance over her shoulder, Lucy peeled out of her parking place, laying rubber on the asphalt as she raced for the exit. Speeding along the George Washington Parkway, she glanced at her reflection and grinned.
Life was good. Two weeks in civilization had put some badly needed flesh on her bones. Her skin, once ravaged by insect bites, looked smooth and clear. Vitamin supplements had put the sheen back in her dark hair. She would have liked to have worn something sexier than this lavender linen suit, but it would do for a first date.
Twelve minutes later, she exited the Beltway at Tyson’s Corner. The Mellow Mushroom, a new restaurant, stood adjacent to the shooting gallery where she’d qualified as an expert markswoman seven years straight. With a minute to spare, she bounced into the parking lot, pulling her SUV into a spot near the back, close to a beat-up black Honda.
She’d bet her next paycheck the car belonged to Gus.
Looping her purse on her shoulder, she paused long enough to strap her Ruger onto her thigh—Never leave home without it. Never again, anyway. Then she marched toward the restaurant’s entrance, projecting confidence.
They could do this. In spite of what they both did for a living, they could make a relationship work. Sparing a smile for the hostess, she brushed past her, searching the bohemian-style restaurant for Gus’s dark head.
Across the room, their gazes collided, and Lucy’s heart stopped, resuming its beat with a thud.
From a table topped with a dozen roses, Gus shot to his feet and grinned as she bore down on him. In lieu of jungle cammies, he wore a tan knit shirt and jeans. His jaw was clean-shaven, his hair shorn and combed. He looked so ordinary and domesticated that she had to laugh as she threw herself at him.
“What?” he said, grinning as he folded her into his embrace in front of the handful of spectators. He kissed her soundly on the lips. “You look beautiful,” he murmured, pulling her close again.
“I was thinking the same thing,” she purred, wishing they were alone somewhere. His scent, his touch notched her desire to dangerous levels.
He seemed suddenly conscious of the attention they were getting. “Have a seat,” he said, pulling out a chair for her. “I’ve been sitting here a while waiting for your call.”
Lucy eyed the spray of red roses with amazement. “Are these for me?”
“Of course.”
“Wow,” she exclaimed, inhaling their perfume as she sat. “I didn’t know you had it in you,” she admitted.
Dropping into the chair next to her, he caught up her hand again, threading his fingers through hers. “I’d do anything for you, Luce,” he added quietly. “Anything.”
The implied commitment in his words took her breath away. “That’s a good thing,” she answered, “because seeing each other isn’t going to be easy.”
“Nothing worthwhile ever is,” he insisted.
“That’s true,” she agreed.
“I love you, Luce,” he added gruffly. “I always have.”
She had to dab at a fat tear escaping the corner of her eye. “I love you too, Gus,” she admitted, losing herself in the golden depths of his eyes. “I didn’t always love myself,” she added quietly, “which is why I cut you out of my life. But I always loved you.”
He drew a breath that expanded his powerful chest. “Did you get my gift?” he asked with a searching look.
“Oh, you mean the plant? Yes, I did. Bella’s alive and well,” she reassured him, picking up her menu.
He sent her a quizzical smile. “You named it?”
“Of course. She’s not just your average houseplant, you know. She’s a Calathia burlemarxii. She makes these gorgeous blue flowers that grow right out of the stem. You should see them.”
“I’d like to,” he asserted, looking up as the waitress interrupted.
“What can I get for you?” the young girl asked brightly.
Gus glanced askance at Lucy, who shrugged. “E
verything tastes good these days,” she drawled, leaving the decision up to him.
Without even glancing at the menu, Gus placed an order for spinach and vegetable deep dish.
“Nice flowers,” said the waitress, flicking Lucy an envious look as she left.
“So…” said Gus when they were alone again.
“So,” said Lucy, trying not to smile at his earnest efforts to be everything she could ever ask for and more. He would soon realize she loved him just the way he was.
“You changed your mind,” he pointed out. It took her a second to realize he was talking about their date, the one she’d refused their last day at the casita. That wasn’t all she’d changed her mind about.
“I had a lot of time to think,” she countered wryly.
His grip on her hand grew fierce. “God, Luce—” he began, clearly about to berate himself.
“Don’t,” she cut him off. “I already told you, Gus. What happened was no one’s fault but the rebels’ and the Venezuelans’, who paid for their mistake. Besides, like I said when you found me at the radio station, I learned what it means to really live. You were right,” she admitted, her voice husky with emotion. “Ever since what happened to my friends in Spain, I was afraid to get close to people. I didn’t think I had the right to enjoy my life.”
With sympathy in his gaze, Gus stretched out a hand to stroke the side of her face.
“During captivity, I realized the best way to honor Amy, Melissa, and Dan would be to live life to its fullest—you know? Not bury myself in my work or get swept away by terror’s encroaching tide.”
He sent her a heartbreaking smile. “I hate what happened to you, Luce, but it makes me so happy to hear you say that. I understand survivor’s guilt. I dealt with it when my father died.”
“It’s taken a long time to come to terms with what I saw in Spain,” she admitted, recalling with a private shiver how detached, how fearless she had felt for years afterward. “But that’s behind me now,” she added. “I don’t want to shut you out anymore. We can do this, Gus,” she added, laying her hands over his. “I know we can.”
The pleasure shining in his eyes slowly dimmed. “Lucy, I’m only in town for five more hours,” he admitted quietly.
The confession dropped like a bomb on her contentment. She tried to speak, but disappointment put a chokehold on her vocal cords. She nodded instead. No big deal, she told herself, drawing in a tight breath. At least she’d gotten to see him, to tell him how she felt.
“That’s why I’ve been sitting here,” he added sadly, “to make the most of my time.”
She didn’t bother asking him where he was headed. He couldn’t tell her anyway. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to know.
But if the FARC couldn’t break her spirit, then she’d be damned if she would let the scarcity of her time with Gus get her down. “Excuse me, Jackie,” she called, summoning the waitress by name. “We’re going to need that pizza to go,” she informed her with a grimace of apology.
Glancing at Gus, she found a crooked smile on his face. “Good thinking,” he murmured.
“Yeah? You want to hear something else?” she asked, a wicked smile kicking up the corners of her mouth.
“Sure.”
She leaned toward him, a sultry invitation in her eyes. “The windows of my SUV are tinted,” she whispered in his ear. “We don’t even have to go anywhere.”
“Hot damn,” he murmured, his eyes darkening with desire.
But then Lucy glanced at the dozen roses and her grin faded. “Oh, we can’t do that, the roses will wilt.”
“To hell with the roses,” said Gus, folding up his napkin. “I’ll buy you more next time.”
Because there would be a next time, Lucy swore. And then a next time after that. After everything they had been through, nothing could get in the way of their happy ever after.
EPILOGUE
Six months later
Lucy entered her boss’s third-floor office suite with a drag in her step. She knew she was ready for a new assignment. Her PTSD, reawakened by the trauma in Colombia, was on the wane, and there was only so much paper pushing a girl like her could stand. But finding time to spend with Gus was her priority these days, and that was about to get much harder with her job sending her overseas.
Rhonda, Gordon’s secretary, glanced up as she eased into the doorway. “Oh, honey,” she sympathized, whipping off her glasses, “it’s not going to be that bad, I promise.”
“Right,” said Lucy forcing her chin up. God, was she that transparent?
“He said for you just to go right in,” Rhonda added with a reassuring smile.
Behind the closed door, Lucy could hear Gordon either talking on the phone or in person with a third party. For no reason whatsoever, except that he was always on her mind, Lucy thought of Gus, who’d been training for the last two months in the Mediterranean. She pictured him tan and vibrant, surrounded by way too many girls wearing bikinis. Wrenching the latch on Gordon’s door, she thrust her way into his office and drew up short.
Her sour mood fled as she beheld the object of her obsession rising from his seat with a shy smile on his face. Two months in the Mediterranean had put copper highlights in his hair. He looked so healthy and vibrant that Lucy had to lean on the door to steady her weak knees.
“Gus,” she breathed. “What are you doing here?”
He glanced at Gordon. “I’ll let the boss answer that question, since he’s the one who wanted to surprise you.”
Spearing Gordon with a sharply curious look, Lucy managed to cross toward Gus with outward poise, brushing a kiss across his cheek while resisting the impulse to lean against his solid, suit-clad body. “You look good,” she added faintly.
His whisky-brown eyes raked her with a look that sent her heart pounding. “Likewise,” he replied.
She sank weakly into the seat beside him. “So, what’s up?” she asked, her curiosity thoroughly piqued.
Gordon’s dark eyes danced with amusement. “Well, Lucy, I have a new assignment for you,” he announced.
She nodded. “I figured as much. That doesn’t explain why Gus is here.”
“I think you should be the one to tell her,” Gordon said to Gus.
Lucy’s gaze swung back and forth between them. “Tell me what?” she demanded, her anticipation rising. She could sense positive vibes coming from both men.
Gus drew himself up straighter and announced definitively, “I resigned my commission.”
Stunned, certain she’d misheard him, Lucy just looked at him. “What commission?” she asked.
“My officer’s commission. I’m no longer in the Navy.”
Aware that her mouth was hanging open, Lucy snapped it shut. “But why? You worked so hard to make it.”
“I did it for my father, Luce,” he explained, holding her gaze with a steady look. “At the time, it was the right thing to do. But today I’d be honoring his memory more by spending time with you.”
Lucy shot a guilty glance at Gordon, who grinned. “It’s okay,” he reassured her. “Your passion for Gus isn’t exactly a secret. Nor is your closeness surprising, given all you’ve been through.”
She turned her attention back to Gus. “Are you sure it’s what you want?” she asked, even as her heart expanded in relief. It would be so much easier to get together now that he wasn’t a Navy SEAL.
“Positive,” he said, grinning at her happily.
“Gus has decided to join us full-time,” Gordon announced, adding to her incredulity, “working on the paramilitary side. As a matter of fact, I’ve assigned you two to work together on another assignment.”
A quiver of excitement shot through Lucy. “Where?” she asked, sharing a look of anticipation with Gus.
“You’re about to be sent to Phuket, Thailand, allegedly to enjoy your honeymoon…”
The word honeymoon caused Lucy’s heart to stop on a downstroke, then take off at a trot. She’d been dreaming about that honeymoon Gus ha
d described at the casita ever since he’d mentioned it. To think that it was about to become a reality! Only…they weren’t married.
“…and then to remain when Gus gets a cover job at a local shipping port,” Gordon continued, oblivious to her racing thoughts. “Lucy, you’ll be a freelance photographer. Your objective will be to monitor an Islamic insurgency group suspected of planning attacks on westerners at any one of the resorts in Phuket. Terrorism has been a rising concern in the area. Lucy, I assume you’re willing to partner with Gus on this assignment?”
Even with her extremities tingling and her heart racing, Lucy managed a cool, “Of course. He is my partner,” she replied.
She ruined it by grinning at Gus as she envisioned the glorious months to come—white beaches, shockingly blue water, sun, and just a dash of danger to keep life interesting.
An hour later, with a date set for an in-depth briefing, Gus and Lucy were dismissed for the day. With their relationship out of the bag, he deliberately held her hand. Recalling how upset he’d been the last time they’d walked out of a briefing together, Lucy had to smile at how far they’d come.
As Gus pushed the button for the elevator, his sidelong look warned her of his intent to kiss her silly as soon as they found themselves alone.
The elevator slid open, and he drew her sedately into the cubicle, waiting with deceptive patience for the door to close again. In the next instant, he jerked her into his embrace, crushed her mouth under his, and kissed her like a man starved of affection.
Lucy moaned. If there were just some way to keep the elevator from opening again.
His taste, his intensity was everything she needed to be happy, except…using all the strength in her arms, she freed her lips. “Marry me,” she demanded on a breathless note.
He gave a startled, incredulous laugh. “What?”
Lucy’s confidence faltered. “We’re going to Phuket,” she reminded him, worried that the stunned look on his face meant he never intended for them to exchange vows of any kind. “You told Bellini and the others you wanted to take me on a honeymoon,” she reminded him.
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