Marine Corps Captain Zachariah Clark with the Special Op division was raised on a small farm in Nebraska. Becky Owens, a lawyer in the State Attorney's office, was raised in the midst of D.C.'s best political and social connections. They meet in a bar right before Zachariah is due to leave on a longer mission and the two wind up spending the entire six days together, not typical behavior for either of them. Feeling the intensity of their connection, Becky and Zachariah impulsively marry before departure.

Eighteen months later, and still virtually strangers, Becky is anxiously waiting to pick Zachariah up for his six week leave. Now comes the hard part, getting to know each other. Making it even harder is the Zachariah's guilt over not being able to save one of the men on his team and Becky's reluctance to overwhelm Zachariah with information about her mother's ongoing illness as well as her unidentified stalker whose menacing behavior is growing increasingly violent. On the positive side, their physical attraction to each other hasn't changed one bit.

Hearing of the stalker by accident Zachariah's first reaction is to be furious at Becky, and at himself, for making her think that she couldn't tell him important parts of her life. After cooling off, Zachariah's full attention is directed to keeping Becky safe and to do that they move into her parents more secure home. A small problem? Becky's parents don't know she's married yet, but maybe the separate bedrooms will encourage Zachariah and Becky to find non-physical ways to communicate. Can they though? Will they be divorced before their parents ever knew the two were married? Who is stalking Becky and can Zachariah catch him before the stalker hurts someone? Can Zachariah forgive himself for being human?

For such a short book there is plenty of story packed inside! There is a fabulous connection between the main characters and the secondary characters are just as interesting. The post traumatic stress syndrome that flairs up for Zachariah is timely and handled very well, the book would be worth reading just for that element. Happily there's more, this page-turner is hard to put down and is entertaining enough you will want to read it again.

Book Summary

The Few. The Proud. The Married.

U.S. Marine Zachariah Clark spent his last furlough between the sheets with voluptuous socialite Becky Owens—a steamy week he never wanted to end. So he proposed. They secretly said their "I do's" and Zachariah shipped out on an eighteen-month tour.

Stateside again—nursing serious war wounds—Zach begins a tough new mission: getting to know his bride. In the bedroom things are perfect, but outside, Zach has plenty to learn about Becky, a steely divorce attorney who's as fierce a warrior in her own way as he is. The question is: who's giving the orders now?