Here is Chapter 1 of The Forseti Solution, which I expect to have published by the end of March.

Chapter 1

As Jack and Lynn drove up to road to her house in Telluride, Colorado Lynn felt relief wash over her. She and Jack had left her home in this mountain ski resort over two months ago, barely in time to escape the men that Charles Winston had sent to capture them. Lynn half expected to see the place ravaged or burned down in retaliation for what she and the rest of Jack’s team had done to eliminate Winston’s hand-picked candidate, Senator Matthew Roberts of Idaho, from winning the primary election for President of the United States. With Winston’s unscrupulous, and illegal behind-the-scenes work, Roberts was sure to have won the November election, now just eight months away. And with the members of the House and Senate that Winston had put in place over the past six years, his plan for bringing America back from the brink of socialism into an ultra-conservative nightmare would finally be realized. Jack and the others on his team celebrated when Roberts withdrew his candidacy, but when Winston himself stepped into the Republican primary race to replace his chosen candidate, they were dismayed.

Lynn leaned over and put her head on Jack’s shoulder.  “Thank you, sweetheart, for bringing us back here to live. It’s so great to see it just like we left it. I guess Winston’s people didn’t come back after they gave up chasing us through the snowstorm.”

“I need to sweep the place for bugs, just in case. They may have left some surprises behind.”

Jack pulled up to her double garage and pressed the remote to open the door. He was glad they had remembered to bring the remote. It was the middle of winter in the Rocky Mountains and he didn’t want to go out in the minus fifteen degree weather.

As soon as the door closed behind them Lynn hopped out of Jack’s Ford Sport Trac and opened the back door to let O’Malley, her Irish setter, out. He sniffed the air then Lynn could swear he smiled. He knew he was home.

She punched in her door lock code, then stepped inside to turn off the alarm. As Jacked walked in the door, she put her arms around his neck and jumped up to wrap her legs around his waist. Lynn thought ‘I hope he can hold my weight. He may still be weak from that bullet wound in his butt.’ But he wrapped his arms around her in return and kissed her as he carried her into the living room and laid her on the couch. She pulled him down and said “Let’s make out.” He gave her a long kiss, then pulled away.

“Later, sweetheart. I need to get our bags inside then get my equipment out to scan the house for bugs. Have you got anything in the freezer to fix for supper?”

“I have some homemade lasagna and a good bottle of Chianti to go with it?”

“That sounds great. It will take me about thirty minutes to clear the house of bugs. I’ll do the garage and property tomorrow, after it warms up.”

“Don’t expect much. You’ll be lucky if the temperature gets up to zero. But my ex-husband left his ski stuff behind, so you can use that. He’s as tall as you are, six foot three, but instead of your broad shoulders, he has a broad belly. His cold weather gear should fit you fine.”

By the time Jack finished going through the house with his electronic bug detector, Lynn had dinner on the table and a large glass of wine poured for both of them. Jack sat down and held up his glass. “A toast to overcoming all obstacles to finally get you in bed as my new wife.”

Lynn laughed, “Who got who into bed?”

“I think it was a mutual effort. . . . Lynn, thank you for keeping our relationship in check until we could get married.”

“I wanted that too, Jack, in spite of the hard time I gave you with my teasing. It was worth the wait.”

After dinner Lynn lit the log fire in the main fireplace and they relaxed on the couch in front of it. They just sat there. No conversation  . . . and no urge to fill the silence with words. . . .

Lynn looked over at Jack and said, “Do you know how much I love you, darling?”

“Yes I do, because I know how much I love you. My heart was locked up when my wife, Helen, died. I never thought I could let my emotions out of the box I nailed them into, but you opened that box, in spite of my reluctance to get in touch with my feelings again. Thank you for that.”

Lynn slid back against his chest and enjoyed the physical closeness. She felt so protected with his arms around her, so safe. It wasn’t just that he was a trained Federal Agent who had proven his ability to keep her alive and unharmed; it was the confidence and calmness he showed in every circumstance. He always knew exactly what to do when they were in danger without even thinking about it. It was like he was programmed to respond with the right moves no matter what happened. But what surprised her was how gentle he could be, how much he respected her ideas, and how loving he was.

Jack let his mind drift back to when he first saw her, standing on the front porch of her mountain home, her red hair blowing in the wind. They didn’t get off to a good start, but after they got to understand each other’s territory – what was important to them – they settled into a comfortable relationship. He thought back through the past couple of months as they grew closer and finally realized they were in love. His thought train stopped at the time three nights ago he had  first seen her in her natural state. She was beautiful. Jack couldn’t believe she was his age – fifty six. And not only was her body that of a much younger woman, but so was her personality. She had the laughing, joking, uninhibited persona that most people her age had let get away from them, to be replaced with a sadness that their fun years were over.

“Are you ready to carried over the threshold of your bedroom?”

“I thought you would never ask. And it’s not my bedroom, it’s our bedroom – now and forever.”

Jack slipped one arm under her knees, the other behind her neck, and lifted her off the couch. As they crossed into the bedroom Jack saw that Lynn had lit a fire in the small fireplace and turned the bed down. She wiggled out of his grasp and said I’ll shower here while you use the upstairs bath. We’ll meet back here in twenty minutes.

When Jack left Lynn went to the back of her closet and found the negligee from her first honeymoon. Her first husband wouldn’t mind, and she looked spectacular in it.

Jack got back to the bedroom first and slid between the sheets. Lynn stepped into the bedroom and stood at the foot of the bed. Jack just stared. Then he threw the covers back, patted her side of the bed, and said “I’ve saved a place for you.”