Free Reclaimed by Marliss Melton

Chapter One
     
     
    K aren’s eyes stung with mixed emotions as she watched her son, Drake, spin his bride on the dance floor.
    The scent of white roses and wedding cake filled the reception hall of the church Drake had attended all his childhood. The bride and groom’s faces shone with enchantment in the candlelight, their love made all the more poignant for the four years Skyler had been kept from Drake by the federal witness protection program, WITSEC.
    I’m so happy for them , Karen thought, wondering at the heavy sense of loss in the region of her heart. Their future looked so bright. But even now, for fear of reprisal by the Centurion mob , whom Skyler had testified against, she was known to the wedding guests as Sasha Baskakova. Her blonde hair had been dyed to black, which would help her blend in better in Greece, where Drake’s reassignment would take them both next week . There, Skyler would be truly safe and Drake could finally relax.
    “Mom.”
    Karen turned her head to find Lucy, her daughter, waving her over toward the head table where she sat with friends and her hunky husband, Gus Atwater. The two were both CIA case officers, finishing up their tour in Phuket , Thailand. Karen prayed they’d be reassigned somewhere closer to home, this time. It would seem so empty when Drake moved out.
    Wending her way through the china-and-crystal covered tables, she became conscious of a set of eyes marking her approach. Her estranged husband, Connor Donovan, sat across from her at the table of honor, next to Lucy. His scrutiny caused her skin to warm and prickle, just as she’d chafed at his nearness throughout the marriage ceremony. He’d looked so handsome giving the bride away, performing the duty that had fallen to him since Skyler’s father, once head of the Centurions , had killed himself in prison.
    Everyone said Connor resembled the actor George Clooney , right down to the silver glinting in his dark hair. That was especially true when he wore a black tuxedo, except that his eyes were green like Lucy’s. Or rather, Lucy’s eyes were green like his. Life experience had carved interesting lines on his face, but aside from those , he didn’t look much different than he had at their own wedding thirty-two years earlier. Except his expression had been cool and confident back then, not contemplative. Lately, he studied her with a gravity and maturity she’d never seen before.
    As she neared the table, he stood, brushing past the seats between them to pull her chair out. His actions cut Lucy’s lively monologue off in mid-sentence.
    “Would you like to dance?” he asked before she could even sit.
    Karen blinked up at him, startled by his request. Aside from Thanksgiving Day, when she’d invited him out of pure charity to share the feast with his family, he’d gone three years without even speaking to her. Now he wanted her to dance with him?
    “Come on, Karen.” His green eyes sparkled with a persuasive light. “It’s our son’s wedding. Dance with me. Please.”
    The silence at the table prompted her to peek at Lucy, who was giving her a look that said, Don’t you dare turn him down . Karen heaved an inward sigh of resignation. Cut from the same bolt of cloth as her father, Lucy sided with Connor in all things, while Drake championed his mother’s wishes. S he woul d so miss having him at home !  
    She managed a casual shrug. “Why not?”
    Connor’s fingers curled warmly around her elbow as he steered her through the tables toward the dance floor. How long had it been since he’d touched her? Since their marriage had fallen apart three years and four months ago. She swallowed down a lump that thickened in her throat.
    As they stepped onto the parquet floor, he pulled her into his arms, holding her like they’d never been separated, and started to sway. Karen fixed her gaze on the bow tie at the base of his neck —red in deference to the Christmas-themed wedding—and tried to block out the