Inevitably, the time came for Alex and the others to leave. Life for Family Justice changed dramatically in the course a week. Helicopters and caravans of SUVs with tinted windows invaded their once idyllic world.

A man dressed like an Arab sheik caused quite a commotion. So did the last piece of the Team Justice puzzle. The arrival of Rafael D’Alessandro triggered some sort of confrontation and subsequent explosive argument down in the compound.

In short, she had a certified carnival stuffed inside a shitshow and surrounded by bullshit on her hands.

In the end, everyone who was leaving made it to the airport on his or her own. There wasn’t a group meet-up and sobbing farewell. Alex had put his foot down over that. None of them needed a public good-bye.

A somber Parker with a subdued Angie arrived before the sunrise. There wasn’t a lot of talk, and Ben had already taken everyone’s bags and put them in a van for the airport run. He was driving Alex and Parker in the limo and pulled up at the end of the front walk while the men communicated with the rest of the team to ascertain everyone’s status. When they’d delayed long enough, Parker grabbed Angie’s hand and dragged her outside. A guitar hung down her back as they walked away.

Alex took Meghan’s face in his hands. “You have a big job, my love. I’m counting on you, Mrs. Marquez.”

She’d rehearsed this moment in her mind and heart. No matter what it took, she wasn’t going to crack. When he left, she needed him confident that she was okay and could handle the temporary situation. She wasn’t okay, but she wouldn’t show it.

Laying her hands over his, she smiled into his eyes. In her head, she heard Ashleigh Marquez saying, “Remember who you are.”

She was the wife of Major Alex Marquez. The oath he took was part of her life now, and this was her part to play.

“We have the best support system in the whole world,” she said, referencing herself and the twins. “I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

He kissed her with tenderness and told her with his lips how much she meant to him. She held nothing back so that when he left, her love and unshakeable fidelity would go with him like a protective shield.

He made no promises on his part, and she didn’t ask for any. When all was said and done, their fate lay in the hands of the almighty. At the end of this, they were either smiling or … not. Luck, skill, fate. Strange places to place one’s life but that was the hand they were dealt.

After a prolonged caress of her tummy, he grabbed her hair and tilted her head. The bite mark on her neck was still visible. He licked her neck and kissed the sensitive skin.

Then he released her and stepped back half a step. Their bodies lost contact. They stared into each other’s eyes. She’d said good-bye. He’d said good-bye. The beast had even weighed in. It was time.

Taking her hand, they twined their fingers together. “Mine,” he said.

“Always,” she answered.

They walked slowly to the door. The soft strains of a guitar drifted on the cool dawn breeze. Before they left the house, he turned to her and growled, “Yours.”

She stroked his face. “My beautiful, beautiful beast. Be safe, my love. I’ll be waiting for you.”

He kissed her fiercely, wiped his eyes, and opened the door. She clung as they made it to the end of the walkway. Parker was in the car with the back windows down. Angie sat cross-legged on the old stone wall, strumming the guitar and singing.

Meghan had to focus to hear the song. Her heart clutched, and she nearly cried out and started bawling like a baby when she realized what she was singing. It was an old song from the sixties. “Angel of the Morning.” She knew the song well and had to fight for composure.

With a last squeeze to her hand and a kiss on his sister’s forehead, Alex cleared his throat and climbed into the car. She got a brief glance of a stoic looking Parker. As the sleek, black limo slowly pulled away and the sun made its debut, Angie’s voice rang out loud and clear—the song’s poignant lyrics playing them off.

They stayed until the car disappeared then clasped hands and walked back into the house. As Meghan quietly closed the aged door, she prayed with all her heart to bring everyone back safe.

* * *

Calder paced back and forth until he was certain a path formed beneath his feet. For the fiftieth time, he went through the checklist in his head. More than a week had flown by since Alex and the team left, and it was up to him to closely monitor the situation from this end—as best he could.

To assist him, Cam’s pal Colonel Frank Davis took the point and gave him daily briefs compiled from the streams of information coming from counterintelligence.

So far, nothing was going as planned. Unable to communicate, he was forced to bite his tongue when they checked in from Pakistan. Some from the team, he didn’t know who, were in Afghanistan. Fifty times a day he regretted letting the military take over the data gathering. They hadn’t given him a choice, but still.

He got an encouraging message from MI6 that felt hopeful, but mostly, he was learning nothing. By the time he got information, sometimes an entire day had gone by. One or all of them could be in jeopardy or killed, and he wouldn’t hear about it until the next day.

His wife had called an hour ago to ask if he was okay with going to Cris and Ash’s for dinner. Wendy and Matt had tickets for a show, and everyone agreed that unless something special like that was on the agenda, none of them should isolate themselves or be alone. He readily agreed.

Cristián was more father figure than brother-in-law, and he could use a dose of his clear-eyed, positive outlook.

He’d touched base with everyone except Meghan. Calder always saved her for last. He knew that everyone else’s narrative would contain part of her story, so he spread the net wide and picked up all that he could before checking in.

Because he ended every day in Alex’s tech zone, he was in a position to form a firsthand opinion on how she was doing. She put on a happy face for him, but he saw the strain and the darkening smudges beneath her eyes.

Carmen kept track of every morsel of food Meghan put in her mouth—including anything she ate away from the house because people reported back. He hoped she didn’t feel like she was under house arrest from how closely people tracked and weighed her every word and movement.

Zeus got up from her usual spot by the door. She yawned and stretched then sat down and watched him pace. The faithful, protective Labrador stayed glued to Meghan unless he invaded Alex’s private domain. Then she trotted along with him—he assumed the routine gave her comfort because she clearly missed Alex.

The alarm on his phone went off. Time to call a full lid for the day. No more information would be forthcoming. He checked his watch, set a new reminder, and called it a day.

“Come on, girl. Let’s go check on Lady Mama and see what’s what.”

He tapped his thigh in command and flipped off the overhead lights as the dog followed him.

Laughter and exasperation hit his ears when they were nearly at the end of the long corridor that led past Alex’s study and to the great room. Meghan was on a stool at the kitchen island, and Carmen was flapping her arms like a crazy person.

When he got close enough to see what had Carmen in a dither, he coughed on a laugh. A stack of dirty pots, pans, dishes, and kitchen appliances covered one side of the counter while in the sink sat a pan filled with water. Pans filled with water usually meant something got scorched or burned.

Carmen shot him a withering glare when he coughed.

Meghan looked over her shoulder and slapped a way-too-happy grin on her face when she saw who approached.

He gave her a side hug and asked the obvious. “What the heck did you make?”

She held up a stoneware mug and smiled. “Soup. Chicken Noodle to be exact.”

Carmen sputtered and pointed at the mug as if it contained the devils’ brew. “That is a can of Campbell’s soup,” she spat with outrage.

He eyed the kitchen carnage and raised his brows. Carmen looked at him with her hands out. He understood. She couldn’t do much except deal with it.

“What’ve you heard today?” Meghan asked with an air of casual innocence.

Neither one of them bought the act she was putting on, but it was part of the charade, so he played along.

“The weather is lovely in Quetta.” A nod was all he got or expected. Calder didn’t even try to keep the important stuff from her. She’d never trust him again if he did.

“Hey,” he gently asked. “Did you play with your birthday toys?”

Meghan’s birthday came and went without any fuss. She wouldn’t hear of it when plans started rumbling and didn’t care if it was a big deal or not. She didn’t want any celebrations without Alex, but that didn’t stop an avalanche of presents from showing up on the doorstep.

“The LED shoelaces are fantastic! I turn out the lights and run around the room.”

“That’ll be fun when you guys play hide and seek.” He inwardly groaned when she went wobbly from the innocent comment.

“Yes, well—I saved all the bows and cards. To share with my husband when he comes home.”

She shut the conversation down with her terse statement. Carmen side-eyed him. He sighed.

“Meghan,” he gently murmured. Rubbing her back, he tried to cajole her from the funk his offhand comment caused. “You know damn well Alex will howl with laughter, poke some fun at the waste of good technology, and then demand a pair of his own.”

She wouldn’t look at him and kept her head down—staring into the uneaten mug of soup. “Sorry. I take everything the wrong way.”

“No apologies. You have every reason to be touchy.”

The hand on her back picked up a soft tremor running through her body. In a deathly whisper, she said, “He’s coming back, right, Calder?”

“Of course, he is,” he swiftly assured her. “Wolf Pup grew into a mighty lion. A lion with nine lives. I think we’re good.” Chuckling, he jostled her a little and teased, “He’ll like that, you know. Wolf Pup to lion. It’ll suit his ego.” He carefully touched her belly. “And maybe an Alex mini-me or two is in there. A new generation of wolf pups.”

“I think you just made my day.” She picked her head up and gave him a feeble smile. “Thank you. I needed that.”

“That’s what I’m here for, darlin’.” He slung his arm around her neck and leaned in close to whisper. “Now be a good girl and ease poor Carmen down from the ledge. Let her make you a proper dinner and then eat it. Okay?”

Meghan snicker-laughed. “Okay.”

He started to pull back, but she crooked her finger and whispered, “By the way, this soup sucks.”

They both chuckled and tried unsuccessfully to appear innocent when Carmen glowered at them as she cleaned up Meghan’s mess.

“Gotta go,” he announced, kissing the side of his niece-in-law’s mass of hair. “Dinner with Ash and Cris. She’s threatening to make that god-awful tuna casserole.”

“It’s your mama’s recipe,” Carmen grumbled.

He laughed. “Yeah, and it’s from a sixties magazine article, and it’s awful.”

Carmen’s grumbling turned to a sarcastic chuckle. “Ria tried to tell her how to fix it. Guess that didn’t work out.”

“At least I’m not the only with kitchen challenges.”

He smirked at Meghan’s comment. “Tell her, Carmen.”

With an epic dose of snarky shade, she fixed them with a ballsy look and said, “When Meesus Ashleigh and Cristián settled here? We would switch out some of her meals when she wasn’t around because poor Cris couldn’t stomach her cooking.”

“I knew I liked her for a good reason.” Meghan giggled.

“I’m out,” he said and made for the kitchen door. “Oh, I almost forgot. It’s Friday movie night at Lacey’s tomorrow. Kid themed, of course. Weigh in if you have a preference. I think the votes are leaning to Finding Nemo.”

He dashed off before she had a chance to beg off. He didn’t know that she would, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

* * *

“These are really cool, Aunt Heather. Kiki will love them.”

“I thought we’d go straight to the studio and give them to her. Sound like a plan?”

Heather looked at Matty in the rearview. He gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Sliding on a pair of sunglasses, she adjusted the satellite radio and got them on the road.

God, I love all this mom stuff, she thought. Making her way through traffic, she made the turn for the road away from town and smiled.

The decision to stop working and concentrate on her family was the best thing she’d done for herself in a long time. After getting over her fear of people seeing her as selfish, Heather had decided … fuck it. Readjusting priorities was a part of living, and since we only get one life, she would do what made her happy. And right now, what made her happy was being a full-time stay-at-home mom.

With Bella at school and Kelly busy with her mail-order business, she’d been the one to take control of the kiddos. She coordinated Dylan and Daniel’s schedule, kept Bella on the ball at school, and shuffled young Matty around.

A buzzing noise made Heather look at her mounted phone. The screen lit up with a text message from Sophie. That would be her checking in with the latest news from the family center.

Heather wasn’t the only one making career decisions and life choices. To everyone’s surprise, it was Sophie Marquez who stepped in big time when Meghan couldn’t keep up. She was a smart organizer and a dynamic leader. Not too different from her brother. When she took over, the transition was so effortless that some didn’t know she hadn’t been there from the start. The Double M was in good hands under her direction.

“Hey,” she suddenly said. Matty looked up. “Wanna stop by and see Snowflake before we go to the studio?”

“Sure,” he happily shouted.

She loved the boy’s enthusiasm. He was fun to be around and a quirky young thing. Crazy smart and ready for anything. He challenged Bella in cute ways that fed her natural curiosity. Matty believed girls could do anything—a sentiment that Bella could promote and defend. He encouraged her to experiment. They shared an intense love of books and storytelling, but until Bella had pressed a microphone in his hand, he had been ignorant of things like karaoke, dance mats, and anything involving performance.

They were a kid match made in heaven.

She enjoyed the boy’s energy so much that Heather found herself thinking more and more about expanding their family. Brody was completely on board and had even followed through on his crazy idea of having water from the Villa for her to drink. Ben delivered two gallon jugs with a super-sized smirk. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot while the two of them, Ben and Brody, made procreation jokes.

The hilarious part was the farce they made of drinking the magic baby elixir. With Brody’s direction, of course. There was the flask on her vanity with a tag reading Drink Me and a vintage bottle with a stopper labeled Baby Tonic. He made ice cubes from the water and added them to her drinks. Sometimes, he’d march up to her with a shot glass and demand she toss it back.

She was also aware that her current hopeful joy was in direct contrast to the situation with Justice.

Before too long, they were at the Villa’s stable. Jace was standing near the corner of the barn as they pulled in, and he looked up and waved when he saw them.

“Hiya, Jace,” Matty shouted.

“Matthew James,” Jace boomed in a circus barker’s voice. “Gimme five, my man.”

Matty jumped high at the hand Jace held above his head. Their palms slapped together, and they both yelled, “Boom!”

“We were on our way to the Dane cabin. Kelly’s working in the studio today. Thought we’d stop and visit with Snowflake if that’s okay.”

“Sure,” he answered. “Snowflake and I would love the company. Tell you what. How about if I take young Master James for a visit, and you stick your head in my office. Remy’s in there trying to hang something. She could use a hand.”

“Deal,” Heather agreed.

Matty and Jace bolted for the stable as she turned toward the office and staff lounge. She found Remy on a ladder in the main office, mumbling to herself.

“What’s going on?” Heather asked with a chuckle. “Are you switching careers? Interior design?”

The normally taciturn, closed-off woman growled playfully and rolled her eyes at Heather. “He’s useless with tools.”

The innuendo was too delicious to ignore. Snickering, she waggled her brows. “Tool challenged, is he?”

They cracked up.

“Seriously, Remy. What are you doing?”

“Trying to hang a goddamn picture but the desk placement doesn’t line up with the middle of the wall. And he refuses to let me move it so much as an inch. Dickhead. So now I’ve got this big canvas hanging off center. If he wasn’t my cousin, I’d fucking hate him.”

Hmmm. “Is the desk in some magic spot?” she asked.

“No. He’s just being a jerk. Because he knows my OCD will go nuts, and to him, that’s funny.”

“Oh, so he’s being a guy, right?”

“Yep.”

Heather thought about it for a moment. “I have an idea.”

Remy climbed off the ladder and put down the hammer she held.

“I’m listening.”

“Let me see the canvas.”

Remy pulled an enormous painting of the desert just before nightfall forward and shrugged.

“That’s beautiful.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled.

“Wait,” Heather stammered. “What? Did you paint this?”

“Yeah.”

She flinched at this surprising revelation. “Okay, so as the artist, let me ask you this. Is that the wall this painting should hang on?”

Remy answered immediately. “No. I’d hang it there,” she said with a hand wave. “The light will hit it in the late afternoon.”

Heather grinned. “Okay then.” Clapping her hands together, she said, “Let’s get started.”

Twenty minutes later, they’d rearranged all the furniture in the office, but the desk hadn’t moved an inch. It had moved many feet—to the other side of the room. Now, when entering the office, the eye was immediately drawn to Remy’s dramatic painting. It was a nice touch.

Now that she’d done Remy a proper, maybe she could force a quid pro quo.

“Listen, we’re having a movie night at the Cameron’s. Kids, dogs, the whole crew. You and Finn should come by. Bring FiFi.”

Remy immediately started worrying her lip with her teeth. Heather went in for the kill.

“Bella will be there.”

“Aw, come on. That’s so unfair.”

Heather shrugged. “Maybe. But you aren’t kidding anyone, Remington. There’s a security report of all the comings and goings here, so I’m not whistling Dixie when I point out that Finn comes by every night after he’s done at Pete’s.”

Remy sniggered. “He brings me dinner from the restaurant.”

“He’s a good guy.”

Remy arched a perfectly shaped brow. “Shit,” she muttered. “Okay, okay. He’s a nice guy, and FiFi is spoiled frickin’ rotten. Bella always wins.”

“Good! Munchies at five. Movie at six. It’s not a school night, so we’re blowing up the curfew.”

“Should I, um, bring anything?”

“Hell, no. Ria and Carmen live for this stuff. There will be healthy snacks and a minimum of sugar. Your best bet is to show up hungry.”

Having forced the stubborn woman from her self-imposed isolation, Heather felt her work here was done. She wrapped things up and went in search of Matty. They had to keep to their schedule so she was in the pickup line when Bella’s school let out.

* * *

“Really? And then what happened?”

Sophie laughed at Angie’s exaggerated question. She was egging Dylan on as he toddler-talked through a long, expressive rant. Her sister would be an awesome aunt.

Bella blew past as she scooted after Finn’s lap puppy.

Across the room, Lacey sat on one of the recliners, cuddling Lily Rose in her arms. Despite everything going on, Sophie had to admit the new mom looked happy and radiant. Family Justice was really good about support, so a few weeks of forced bed rest was doing wonders for her.

At the back of the room, Finn, Brody, Calder, and Duke were attentive as Jace pulled on a stripper’s pole and seemed to be testing its sturdiness. She didn’t want to know how or why a professional stripper pole came to be tucked in a corner of the large media annex of Lacey and Cam’s home.

Jace. She watched him furtively while scoping out the long table piled with every possible movie night treat known to man—all healthy. Not even a jar of jelly beans in sight.

He’d changed so much since their Greek adventure. She couldn’t get over how different he was now from the uninspiring physical specimen she remembered. Slim fit tailored slacks and button-down shirts were at the other end of the style spectrum from worn jeans, work boots, and flannel shirts.

Plopping a yummy spinach bite into her mouth, she considered the fit of his jeans as she chewed the warm, gooey ball.

He had that cowboy look. The one that made sparkles dance on her nerves. The Euro gentleman thing was nice and all, but she was a sucker for a man who could rock a pair of jeans with no apologies.

Her eyes drifted to his zipper. That Euro chic thing hadn’t suited him anyway. I wonder if he’s circumcised. I mean, he’s European and …

Her face flooded with color. Oh, my god. What was she thinking? Seriously? Circumcised?

Embarrassed by her thought drift, she studied the food spread and tried to decide.

“Try the pigs in a blanket. Organic. Ria won’t shut up about them.”

Sophie couldn’t believe a goddamn giggle erupted from her mouth. Good grief, she was a grown woman. Thirty-six, for heaven’s sake. Wasn’t giggling at a boy sorta pathetic at her age?

Plus, wasn’t he younger than she was? And hot? She was pretty sure Jace Delacroix wasn’t hurting for dates. Or hookups. No reason for him to be checking out some older pregnant lady.

Trying to cover for the unseemly laugh, she dialed it back to a snarky smirk and told him, “Angie used to call them Hobbit dicks.”

He hummed with laughter. “She’s got a wicked mouth, that one. I’ll give you that.”

“Jace,” Bella called out. She scampered to them with her two friends in tow. “This is my friend Amy, and you know Matty.”

Sophie grinned when he made a courtly bow. “Pleasure to meet you, Miss Amy.”

“My Heather, I mean my mom, said we’re all riding tomorrow! Yippee.”

“That’s right. We’re going to take the old Conquistador’s trail.”

Sophie put a hand across her mouth to stop a laugh. There was no such thing. This was her ancestral land, so she would know.

“Wow,” the clearly impressed little boy murmured. “What’s that mean?”

She explained. “Conquistadors were brave Spanish explorers. From a long, long time ago.”

All three kids said, “Wow.”

Jace winked at her and mouthed, “Well done.”

After they scampered away to cause havoc somewhere else, she spoke what was most obvious about what just happened.

“Kids, horses, and flannel shirt. Not exactly how you saw your life, huh?”

“Can’t argue with you on that. But things happen for a reason. I’m happy here, Soph. Happier than I’ve ever been.”

She understood. “Bit of a downgrade, though, for a guy with your background.”

He rolled a shoulder. “Not a lot of large organizations around here needing a dude with global contacts and a bunch of fancy business degrees. I’m cool playing cowboy for now.”

Meghan’s forced laughter caught her attention. She glanced at her sister-in-law, who was trying overly hard to act normal. Alex couldn’t return fast enough.

Alex. Hmmm. She studied Jace as he gobbled a chicken drumstick clean to the bone in one mouthful.

“I may know a global company looking for a managing director.”

He looked at her—startled. “Are you serious? Around here?”

“Yeah,” she told him. “Let me check it out. I’ll get back to you.”

He was in the midst of an exuberant thank-you speech when Zippy hauled off and kicked her in the ribs.

“Ho boy.” She gasped. Her hand flew to her stomach, and she grabbed Jace’s arm.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she assured him. “My goodness.” She straightened and patted her bump. “Sorry. Someone bends it like Beckham from time to time.”

“May I?” he asked with his hand raised.

“Oh, um ...” She grimaced. “Sure. I guess.”

He looked suspicious of her hesitant reply. “No, it’s okay. Go ahead,” she told him.

The stretchy, form-fitting maternity top and leggings she wore made an inspection tour of baby wonderland a strangely tactile experience. She was used to doctors and nurses touching her, but this was different.

“He’s an active little bugger, huh?” Jace asked. “I can feel him wiggling around.”

A slow smile found its way to her face. “He’s just bored. Getting antsy for his birth day.”

“Do you talk to him?”

“All the time. He’s a great listener.”

His amused chuckle did something to her insides. “I like you, Sophie Marquez. I’m glad we met again. Aren’t you?”

Was she glad? Hell, she was ecstatic, and since ecstatic and men were something that had never intersected in her life before, she didn’t know how to react.

“I wished we’d stayed in touch.” It was the truth. A truth she hadn’t felt confident enough to say before now.

Jace crossed his heart and held up two fingers. “Absolute truth—I thought about you when I made the decision to come here. I hoped you’d had the courage to chase your dreams. It helped me make my choice.”

He hugged her briefly. And of course, every damn eye in the room was on them.

“Do you wanna hang out sometime? I mean, we talk every night anyway. Why not do it person? I’ll supply the jelly beans.”

She jumped when the opportunity knocked. “I’d like that.”

“Which? The jelly bean bribe or the hanging out?”

Laughing at the jest, she crossed her arms above her stomach. “I think I just admitted I can be bought for a bag of jelly beans.”

Jace wagged his tongue and brows. “Girl after my own heart! Maybe we could find something really awful to binge watch. Offer our unique commentary.”

“No reality shows, though, okay? I hate that crap. Everyone is so gleefully phony.”

They shook on it, and despite wanting to stand there and talk to him all night, she wandered away so the gossip squad wouldn’t have too much to discuss. Maybe she’d go taunt Finn and start some shit with him. He was playing guard dog for Jace’s cousin Remy, and she was keen to figure out why.

Zippy banged her womb like a kid on an airplane smacking the seat in front. “Easy, little dude. Your mom’s a professional snoop. Watch and learn, son, ‘cause in all seriousness—it’s not a bad skill to have.”