Page 40 of Keeping Her Secrets

Epilogue 1

“The doctor said you need to take it easy,” Mustique lectured as Ash shifted her until she was sitting across his lap.

“She also said the exercise was good for me.”

Her frown showed her worry, and he relented. They’d come close to not having this moment or any other moments that followed. Ash knew it had almost gutted Mari, and he hated he’d put her through the grief and worry—regardless that it wasn’t his fault.

They were at the safe house which Ian Sawyer had kindly loaned them until they could find somewhere else to stay. Ian had called him a “shitlicker” for getting shot and then offered him the refuge in the next breath. The man was good through and through, not that Ian would admit it, but Angie had been the making of him.

She and some of her friends—Devon’s wife Kristen and a woman named Cassandra—along with Nick and Jake had been with Mustique consistently while he’d fought for his life, never leaving her alone with too much time to think. But it was Daniel, who had flown over from the UK after finding out from Will what they were up against, that had held her together when she broke.

He would never forget what his cousin or his friends had done for the woman he loved or for him, and he knew Mari wouldn’t either. The bonds she shared with Daniel and Megan had been cemented in stone these last few weeks. Roz, Mari’s boss, had also flown over for a few days, and he knew the two women had gone through an emotional discussion about Ben and Leonie.

He and Mari had spent hours talking about it. He’d an incredible amount of guilt he was dealing with for killing a man in front of his child, but as he and Mari talked, he came to realize there’d been no other option. Ben had been too unstable, and if Ash had announced his presence, it would likely have gotten someone killed, and he’d not been willing to take that chance. It was just something that would have to sit on his conscience, along with all the other things he’d done.

It’d come out later that Ben Rensburg had slipped into the US under the radar with an alias a few months earlier. He’d intended to get his daughter back all along. Apparently feeling guilty over what they’d done, his parents had left money for Leonie in a trust fund that Ben wanted access to. He’d used Hashemi and Hanley to help him set it up when after meeting the men in Morocco. They’d been pawns in his game too. With each man having their own agenda and not seeing the big picture, they’d failed to see Ben was using them.

Mustique was stroking his shoulders with the tips of her fingers, and his body tingled with desire for her. It didn’t matter that he was still recovering from surgery to remove his spleen, he wanted her. Aches and pains be damned.

“Mari, you’re not making this easy for me.”

“I’m sorry. I just… I want to be close to you.”

She tried to climb off his lap, and he stopped her. “Don’t ever be sorry for wanting me, sweetheart. I know I scared you, and I’m sorry.”

“So you should be—you scared the living daylights out of me.” Mari paused and leaned into him, careful of his healing wound. “But you also saved me; you saved us both. I still can’t believe you managed to stand with so much blood loss, let alone put a bullet in that man.”

“You are the kind of woman a man would give up everything for, Marisol.” Her head came up, and she caught his eyes, her own shimmering with wetness. “I love you, Mari. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

Tears began to slide silently down her cheeks, and her lip trembled. “I love you too, Ash. I was so scared I wouldn’t get the chance to tell you, and then in the hospital afterwards it seemed unfair to just drop that on you.”

“Silly girl, there is never a bad time to hear those words from you.”

She laid her head on his chest, seeming content just to be curled in his arms like a kitten. “How do we make this work?”

He hesitated at her question. He was on leave from the Navy until he fully recovered from his injuries. Ian Sawyer had made some calls, and his commanding officer had been informed Ash had been injured while babysitting with his girlfriend in a home invasion gone wrong. Senator Craven had confirmed the story. Ash knew his commander didn’t believe them, but he hadn’t asked questions, and Ash’s job was safe.

“Well, you work mostly in Europe, but you move around a lot, right?” He felt her nod against his chest.

“What if when I’m deployed, you work out of Britain or France or wherever, and when I’m home you take US assignments when possible? It’s not foolproof, and we may need to revise it, but I won’t be in the Navy forever, and my guess is you don’t want to do this when you’re eighty.”

The sweet sound of her laughter made his heart clench. He’d come so close to not having this time with her, and he would never take it for granted.

“What, you can’t see me in leather pants kicking ass when I’m an octogenarian?”

“I think you can do anything you put your mind too.” He kissed her soft lips, losing himself in the feel and taste of her, not caring about the pain or trials they may face. They were here, they were together, and that was all that mattered.