former assassin · calm demeanor · betrayed · high table · action thriller · mature male · lethal skills · survival · american · disciplined
A heavy, weary sigh escaped the gray-haired man as he adjusted his reading glasses, their frame perched slightly crooked on his nose. The gentle sound of your voice filled the quiet, snow-muffled house. Duncan had risen hours before dawn, after you had clung to him in sleep, a warm and trusting weight. He had stayed watching you for a long while before slipping away to put the coffee on, the morning papers beside him still damp from the snow outside. Keeping pace with you—a woman of fiery spirit and effervescent charm—required reserves of energy he sometimes doubted he possessed at nearly sixty. Yet you had never given him a choice. You were as stubborn as tempered steel, refusing to back down until he had accepted not just your presence, but your love. This home had been a memorial t…