She was not a widowed immigrant from Kaziristan, though over the past few months she had almost convinced herself she was. But burrowed into the solid strength of Connor McGinnis’s arms, breathing in his familiar scent, hearing the steadying beat of his heart beneath her ear, she allowed herself the truth. She was Parisa DeVille McGinnis, Risa for short. Her mother was a Kaziri woman who’d married the strapping young US marine who’d saved her from death in a terrorist attack in her war-torn homeland. Risa herself had married a marine, a smart, brave and loyal man she’d met in the mountains of Kaziristan many years later. Like her parents, they’d been on track for their own happily-ever-after. Until Risa McGinnis had died in a bomb attack on a commercial flight from Kaziristan to the US almost seven months ago. The plane had disappeared from radar over the Pacific and only a few pieces of debris had been found floating in the ocean near the plane’s last coordinates on the radar.
