Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

T he mist was lifting off the mountain and the sun shone through the new spring leaves starting to fill out on the deciduous trees. Connor tromped along with Duke at his side for their daily walk, past the place where they'd hidden the dead bodies of the hit team, which government agents had come and removed before he got home. They both seemed to naturally head towards the mountain ledge where they'd found Zoe six weeks earlier. Before she fell into his world he hadn't minded being alone out here. Now? He'd never been so lonely in his whole life, not even sitting in solitary confinement.

After they'd gotten through the immediate debriefing following the attack, he'd accompanied Zoe to the local ER to sew up her wounds and have her leg checked out again. Turns out one of the pressure bladders in the walking boot ruptured with all the stress she'd put on it trying to run after Markus-Quintus. Thankfully, her fractured tibia was no worse for the effort. The doctor replaced her walking boot and she was sent home to the safe house to rest.

For once she actually did what the doctor ordered, altering her time walking with keeping the leg elevated. In fact, even the government bigwigs who wanted to speak to her either had to do it in person or over video chat. They remained in DC for a week and he was with her for all her meetings about what happened at the summit, what she knew about Markus-Quintus and how he died. They stuck to the story that she'd shot him in self-defense, while Connor had been unarmed the entire time.

The only meeting he didn't sit in on with her was when the head of Areneum and his second in command showed up. They'd taken her into the office at the safe house and closed the door. That's when he knew how different their worlds were. While he was destined to live a quiet life in the mountains, she was meant to travel the world, going into dark places and fighting evil to protect innocent people.

While she was recuperating, the rest of the team worked in tandem with the three-letter agencies to round up all the conspirators on what they learned was called The Commission. One of the things that impressed him was how well Jake and Castello managed to keep all their names out of the paper, letting those same three-letter agencies take the credit for stopping the planned attack and the exposure of the traitors who'd planned the coup. The last thing they did before heading back to Columbus, was a quiet, unpublicized visit for all of them to meet the president.

With Zoe on his arm, he escorted her into the oval office with all her cousins and friends. Meeting the president made him feel out of place. But the worse part was standing with her was General Hilton, the Chief of Staff of the Army. The man who presided over his court-martial sentencing twelve years ago. He wasn't going to shake hands with the general, then Zoe sensing his hesitancy and why, leaned in to whisper, "The man has to thank you for helping to save the country, even though he was the person who helped put you in prison. He owes you."

And so, he stood at full attention to shake his hand. The recognition and shock on the other man's face had been well worth the effort. Another thing he owed Zoe for. Had she not fallen into his life, he wouldn't have been there to help stop Markus-Quintus and forced the general to acknowledge, if only momentarily, that perhaps he'd made a mistake.

The moment was over quickly. Zoe and he moved on to speak with other individuals who'd been saved that day. When they arrived back at the safe house the caterer from the event showed her appreciation by delivering a huge spread of her appetizers, which the groups sat around sampling and drinking beer and wine. It was the last day they were all together as most of them were heading back to Columbus to their families, Jake and Castello staying behind for a few more weeks to help prep the Department of Justice for the traitors' trials. He had to retrieve Duke and return to his life in the mountains. Zoe was safe enough to go back to her own townhouse and they'd spent the night there.

"Are you sure you can't stay?" she asked as they lay snuggled in her bed. They'd still hadn't made love due to her injuries, but she didn't try and push him on that.

He hugged her closer, hearing her vulnerability, that part of her she kept hidden from everyone else. "We have to be honest, beautiful. Your work is important, but it is here. I don't belong in this world. I need the open liberty back in Davis Holler."

She sighed. "It is unfair for me to ask you to give up your freedom to stay in a city so packed with buildings, cars and people."

They held each other quietly for a while.

"I'll miss you when you're gone," she said.

"Trust me, you will be so busy you'll forget me. I on the other hand will remember every moment of our time together."

The next morning he'd kissed her goodbye and climbed into the SUV with Luke and Dave for the trip back to Ohio. He'd collected Duke from Abby, who seemed already attached to the hound and he wouldn't be surprised if she and Luke didn't find a similar breed pup for their own, then Dave drove him back to Virginia.

Zoe video called him that first night home and several after. Despite enjoying talking with her and seeing her beautiful face, he was almost glad when the calls became fewer and further apart. Every time they hung up he missed her more. He hadn't lied to her. He did remember every moment with her from the day he found her injured and unconscious on the ledge, to the day he kissed her goodbye.

Raindrops fell on his head. The clouds above had darkened while he'd been musing about Zoe. If he was lucky he'd get back to the cabin before he was soaked.

"Duke," he called, then whistled.

The hound bounded out of the creek to his side, and they started the trek back down the holler. They stomped through the wet leaves and dead branches to the trail as the rain started coming down harder. When they rounded the bend to the cabin, Duke baled and took off at a dead run.

"Duke!" he called again, but the hound only stopped, baled again and took off a second time.

Just when he was beginning to wonder if there was a bear somewhere near his cabin, a figure stepped out onto the porch, squatted down and began betting Duke, who was trying to jump up in greeting.

Zoe .

Seeing her on his porch nearly sucker punched him. His heartbeat doubled and he fought the urge to rush up and grab her. Instead, he wiped his suddenly sweaty palms over his damn pant legs and strode up to the cabin.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, more gruffly than he'd meant.

"To see Duke of course," she said as she continued to rub his head and neck. Then she stood straight and smiled at him. "And you. I've missed you."

He stepped up onto the porch just as the clouds opened up and the rain went from slow and steady to deluge. Gathering up a few logs, he opened the door and waited for her to go inside. Instinctively he inhaled as she passed, the scent of gardenias wafting up to him. The scent haunted him since the day he left DC.

"Make yourself comfortable while I get the fire going. It's going to get chilly and damp from the rain." He dumped the logs in the box near the wood burning stove, squatted down and opened the door. Focusing on building the kindling and lighting the fire, he stilled his breathing and his heart rate.

Zoe was here.

She took the bag she had slung over her shoulder and set it on the table, took off her coat and sat in one of the cane-backed chairs. Then she took a storage box out of her bag. "Sami sent a dozen blueberry muffins with me."

"You went to Columbus before coming here?" he asked, standing and hanging his wet jacket and baseball hat on the peg by the door. He held out his hand for her jacket and hung it next to his.

"Yes. I had some business to discuss with EIS. Luke and Abby finally told the family she's expecting." Zoe laughed. "They sort of had to. She was starting to show. Dave's wife Judy won the pool."

"Why are you here, Zoe?" he asked again, this time calmly and with curiosity.

She opened the storage box, pulled out one of the muffins and picked off a piece of it. "I quit Areneum," she said then popped the piece of muffin in her mouth.

"Why did you do that?"

"I'm tired of working and living in the dark."

"What you do saves lives."

She cast him that slant-eyed look and he felt his body relaxing. "Did. What I did. But while I was recuperating, I had time to think about my life. I'd gotten used to acting on my own. Making decisions by my gut and not really thinking it through. And I'd begun to take chances."

"Like standing where Markus-Quintus could see you and know you had evidence of his plot?"

"Markus-Quintus. That's a good way to think of him. Two-faced and someone not to be trusted." She took another bit of the muffin, ate it and swallowed before continuing. "Exactly like that. Even though everything turned out for the good, my actions were selfish. I wanted him to know I'd caught him."

Connor didn't argue with her. He'd figured that out when she told them how the man had chased her down on the mountain road and why.

"What I did, didn't just put me in danger. If you hadn't found me, if my memory hadn't come back, if my family hadn't come looking for me…" She paused, staring off through the window at the rain, that was now slowing down. "People, lots of people could've died. The country could've been in chaos."

"But I did find you, you did get your memory back and your family found you. The only people who died were part of the conspiracy to kill the president. All because you were determined to stop your former mentor."

"True, but I don't like who I was starting to be. Obsessed. Isolated. Alone."

Patiently, he waited for her to continue.

"Areneum put me on medical leave until my leg healed, but wanted to send me out on another assignment when I came back. I just couldn't do it. In the meantime, Jake and I got to talking about a possibility of me doing some work for EIS. I might do some undercover work, but I'd have their team to cover my bases and to bounce my decisions off. I wouldn't be out there alone."

Connor nodded. "That is a much better set up."

"And I wouldn't have to be based in Washington." She licked her lips and stared at him. "I could live…anywhere."

"You gave up your job and took one that let you have more structure, but more freedom hoping I'd want you to be with me? Why?" Hope had sparked inside him when he saw her standing on his porch, grown as she talked. Now he really wanted to hear the words.

"Because you are the strongest, kindest, most honorable man I've ever met." She rose from her seat and came to stand before him, cupping his face in her hands. "I know we only had a few, rather intense days together, but everyone in my family has fallen in love that quickly and it's always been forever. My grandparents, parents, cousins. I think it's hereditary, because I love you."

He reached out and cupped her ass cheeks in his hands, something he'd been wanting to do since the first time he carried her to his bed. "I've never been in love, Zoe. But when you opened your eyes that first day, I fell hard. You needed me to protect you until you knew who you were and then to be sure you were safe until we stopped all the danger facing you. You made me realize how alone I was out here. Your laughter lightened up my days. I admired your tenacity to finish your mission, to put the lives of others first." He paused, pulling her closer. "But then you took the gun and fired it, then insisted I wash off any gunpowder residue so you could take the blame of shooting that bastard, all to protect me from going back to prison. And everyday since we've been separated you've been in my mind, not necessarily every minute, but definitely every hour."

She leaned down and claimed his mouth in a long, slow kiss.

When they separated, he smiled at her. "If that's not love, then I don't know what is."

"Neither do I," she said, smiling down at him. "By the way, I got my walking boot off two days ago."

"I did notice that."

"Remember you promised to make love to me once it was gone?"

"I do recall something like that," he said kissing her again. Still gripping her ass cheeks, he slowly stood and she wrapped both her arms and legs around him as he carried her over to the bed to keep his promise.

**

Hours later—because they had wanted this for so long, once was not enough—they lay snuggled in the tsunami of bed linens listening to the rain on the tin roof above.

Connor toyed with a strand of her dark hair. "If you're going to live here, we should consider making one of the other rooms into an office for you and maybe connect a satellite dish so you can be in contact with EIS in Columbus or with me if you have to travel."

"You could come with me on missions," Zoe said, laying one arm on his chest and turning to gaze at him in the fading light.

"Not sure I'd be much help. This was the one occasion when you could fake me possessing a weapon."

"About that," she said, climbing out of the bed and walking unabashedly naked across to the table.

And like that, he wanted to make love to her again.

"I have something for you." She crawled under the blanket with him again and handed him an envelope.

"What is this?" he asked sitting up and turning on the bedside lamp.

"While we were all in Washington, Abby was busy doing some research. And found information about your case that were never presented at the court martial."

He should be angry that someone was digging into his past, but he knew how kind-hearted Abby was. "Why would she do that?"

"Because I asked her to. It made me angry that someone as honorable as you was treated so badly. Your faithful service in the Army betrayed by someone in power." She looked at him with love and a little fear in her eyes. "Please don't be mad. At least not until you see what's in that envelope."

Turning the envelope over, he studied the masthead. "This is officially from the Army."

She nodded.

Slowly, he opened it and pulled out the letter inside. He read it once. Then read it again. Then tried to read it a third time, but tears were pouring down his cheeks and blurring his vision. The bed moved and then Zoe was back, dabbing at his cheeks with a washcloth and kissing him.

Needing to feel grounded until he had his emotions under control, he pulled her up against his chest, quietly sobbing.

"It's okay, baby," she whispered into his ear as he clung to her. "It's okay."

The letter was a notification that his sentence had been overturned and he was cleared of all charges.

"How?"

"After Abby found the information, Jake and Castello asked for a meeting with General Hilton. Once he was presented with the facts, he set in motion arrests of the actual culprits including the now Captain that set you up to take the blame. You have been exonerated of all wrongdoing and all your rights as a citizen restored, including your second amendment right."

"That's nice, but not why I was crying," he said, finally able to look at her. "No one has ever gone to battle for me. My grandfather taught me how to protect myself, but no one, until you and your family, has ever fought for me."

"In case you hadn't noticed, we Edgars tend to want justice for people and do everything we can to get it. But that's not the reason I did it," she said. "I did it because I love you."

"I'm not sure I deserve your love."

Once more she cupped his face in her soft hands. "Yes, you do. You're the man that carried me off a ledge. The man who cared for my injuries and helped heal my mind. You gave me my life back, then made sure the person who tried to take it would never be a threat again. You deserve my love and so much more."

With that, he pulled her down into the bed again and showed her how he was going to spend the rest of his life loving her.