This is a
Hollywood story all the way through. Gorgeous hunk of a guy falls for a
beautiful woman with a sparkling and sharp personality and it’s a love story
made in paradise. As author Sara Kay Jordan states, this is the story of their beginning. Their
first, heady, romantic, steps toward the incredible family they create
together. A love story as remarkable as the family they become.
About Love And Genius: Book Two of the Moore Family
Series
The Moore family is a unique group, full of
special talent, blinding intelligence, and a love so strong they can survive
every challenge, no matter how dangerous. But, how did they get there? Take a
look back and see how it all began. This is the love story of Kathryn and Joe,
their first steps toward the incredible family they build together.
Dr. Kathryn Archer is a brilliant woman
and a well-respected scientist. She is also beautiful, strong and painfully
isolated from the world around her. A dark past has taught her to guard her
heart and it is a lesson she learned too soon and far too well.
Major Joe Moore is a handsome man, a soldier
at the top of the army’s most elite group. As a single father, Joe is dedicated
to his son and his career and he has put the pain and loss of his past behind
him.
When Joe is charged with solving a military
mystery he seeks out Kathryn’s expertise to help guide him. Their sparks fly
immediately and it’s soon more than one puzzle they are trying to solve. Can
they find the answers they are charged to seek when all they can feel is the
heat building between them?
Chapter 1
Joe Moore would always consider the
moment he met Doctor Kathryn Archer the most infuriating of his professional
career. It was also the best moment of his life.
It began in the usual way, just a
normal day that gave him no clue to the enormity of what was about to happen.
He had managed to get his son to school on time, and surprisingly, with both
shoes, a jacket and even his lunch all accounted for. That feat alone meant his
day was a good one.
He had snagged the last hot donut
from the break room for a perfect addition to his morning coffee. And now he
was organizing his office in preparation for a brand new job. He liked the
start of a new assignment. There was a feeling of anticipation, like beginning
a journey, and that appealed to his sense of adventure. His days of rushing
around the world for excitement and intrigue were over, and he took his thrills
in smaller doses now.
A knock sounded at his door, and he
looked up from the desk he was organizing to find the smiling face of Captain
Kyle Harrison. “You getting all settled Joe?”
“Trying,” he answered. “My last
assignment didn’t come with such a swank office, but I think I’m settling in.”
Kyle looked at the bare gray walls
of a standard Pentagon office. He laughed. “Swank?”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been in the field
or on the training grounds for years. Spending more time in the hot sun or
wading through mud and water, than behind a desk, means having a place to hold
my pencils seems like a luxury.” His buddy laughed at the joke as Joe tossed a
handful of pens and pencils into a ceramic holder.
“What is that?” Kyle quirked an
eyebrow at the vaguely cylindrical object that now held Joe’s writing
implements.
“It’s a pencil holder, Captain,” Joe
barked. “My kid made it.”
“It’s an excellent piece of
sculpture, Major,” Kyle quickly corrected himself.
Joe looked at the present his
six-year-old had given him last Father’s Day and smiled fondly. “Yes it is.” He
dropped the last of his office supplies into a drawer and flicked it closed.
“Did you need something?”
“Yeah.” The officer held out a file.
“Your last assignment may have been in the elements, but you’ve moved on to
command, all you’ll get around here is an avalanche of paperwork. Good thing
this job is temporary.”
Joe reached out and took it. “I’ve
been in a real avalanche,” he joked. “The paper kind might be more fun. And
with my luck, the next assignment will have me in something worse than bad
weather.” He flipped the folder open. “What is this?”
“The lab report you requested.”
“What does it mean?” Joe scanned the
summary sheet.
“Hell if I know.” Kyle chuckled.
“Those folks over at Quantum don’t speak human, just science.”
“What am I supposed to do with this
if I can’t tell what it means?”
“Beats me.” His friend shrugged.
“But you better figure it out. The Hill is watching this one. It’s bad enough
to lose four soldiers in a training accident—it’s a shit storm when one of them
is a Senator’s son. I saw another report on the news last night. Senator
Pendleton isn’t going to let it go until he has answers.”
“So why not give it to JAG?” Joe
wondered in a rare flash of insecurity. “I don’t have an experience as an investigator.”
“The old man thinks he needs a real
soldier on the case—” Kyle leaned over and patted Joe on the shoulder, “—and
you, my friend, are the best we got.” He stood up and headed for the door. “I
guess that’s why you got the special assignment and the swank new
office, so you can figure it out.”
“Don’t make me regret requesting you
as an assistant, Harrison.”
“Never, sir.” Kyle stood at
attention and saluted with overstated formality.
Joe’s exaggerated scowl quickly
twisted to a smirk. They had been through too much, and been friends too long,
for him to worry about Kyle taking his threat to heart.
Kyle paused in the doorway. “Hey,
I’m up to grab a beer after work if you want to celebrate the new duty.”
“Thanks,” Joe answered without
looking away from the file he’d begun reading. “But I can’t. I need to pick
Parker up before six, he has a swim lesson.”
Kyle nodded. It had been a long
shot. Single parents didn’t have much free time and Joe rarely agreed to any
activity that would keep him from his son.
“Another time,” he said easily.
Joe called a good-bye and focused on
the report. There were words on the page he couldn’t even hope to sound out,
let alone interpret, and after ten minutes he sighed in frustration and snapped
the file closed. “This is ridiculous,” he complained under his breath.
Standing, he jerked his uniform
jacket from the back of his chair and hastily tugged it on. It fit snugly over
his muscled arms and broad shoulders. Picking up the file, he rounded his desk
and took long purposeful strides to the door. “I guess I’ll just have to ask,”
he muttered as he pulled the door shut behind him.
The drive to Quantum Labs took
little time. The state of the art facility had been constructed in an area of
DC that had once been an embarrassment. The choice of location had been praised
by the city leaders as a positive step to revitalize and energize the
community, an effort by its wealthy benefactors to make a contribution to the
city even as they pursued their own agenda.
Those benevolent aspirations were of
little concern to him, but Joe was quick to appreciate the proximity to his new
office in the Pentagon. He had been briefed on the capabilities of the research
facility, and he had orders to cultivate a relationship with what was proving
to be an invaluable tool to military and government agencies. Learning that he
wouldn’t have to waste his work day commuting back and forth to the facility
was a positive.
His military ID got him through the
gate, but he chaffed at the delay when he was required to wait for entrance
into the lab itself. When the guard finally confirmed that he was indeed the
investigator assigned to the Pendleton inquiry, the buzzer sounded and he
pulled the door open with an irritated yank. A second set of doors required he
submit to a retinal scan, but the process took far less time than the guard’s
confirmation. Annoyed by the delay but impressed with the security he moved
into the lab proper.
He wasn’t sure what he had expected,
but as he stepped inside he had to pause and gape. The place was everything he
would have imagined at the words lab or high tech. The foyer in
which he stood held a few green plants, and what had to be expensive art, that
gave the small space a warm feel. But as he moved forward, it opened into a
cavernous room with high ceilings, exposed metal beams and glass walls that
gave it a sleek look. The place had a sterile, clean smell that was part
hospital, part library, and there was a sense of quiet calm that made the
thought and discovery that happened here almost palpable.
A series of raised platforms
dominated the center of the room. Each had a metal exam table under heavy
lighting, and Joe had a mental image of men in white coats gathered around in
fascination as something like Frankenstein’s creature came to life. Shaking his
head at the fantasy he looked around for some clue about where to find his new
associate.
A small man crossed the room in
front of him. To Joe he looked like the quintessential mad scientist with a
curly mop of out of control brown hair and a white lab coat. Several days’
growth of beard darkened his chin and cheeks, adding to the impression he was
too busy thinking to worry about such mundane matters. He was walking and
reading through a large stack of paper, oblivious to anything around him, and
he jumped when Joe spoke.
“I’m looking for Dr. Archer?”
The scientist recovered quickly. He
turned, almost as if he were going to physically confront the question. “Who
are you?” The mouse of a man demanded, with more authority than Joe had expected.
“Major Moore, special investigator
for the Pendleton inquiry.” Joe tried not to sound as irritated as he felt over
the question.
The scientist was still regarding
him with suspicion, so he held up the file he couldn’t decipher. “I have a
question about a report she sent regarding the investigation.”
“Jack Holmes.” The scientist
identified himself, finally offering a handshake and a less confrontational
tone. “Sorry, we try to limit Kathryn’s interruptions, and lately the requests
for her time have been a bit intrusive.”
Joe’s memory quickly supplied the
details he knew of the scientist. Jack Holmes was the money behind this
operation. Like Archer, he held multiple degrees, but it was his family wealth
which had allowed them to establish the lab in the first place. According to
the dossier he was an excellent scientist, but he didn’t quite have the same
brilliance as his partner. “Dr. Holmes, you’re Dr. Archer’s partner?” Joe
asked.
“That’s me,” Holmes answered
modestly. He turned and pointed across the large room. “Dr. Archer is in lab
three. I’d introduce you, but I have something I need to attend to. Besides,”
he added with a smirk, “You look like you can handle it.”
“Handle what?”
“A conversation with Archer,” Holmes
said with a chuckle. “Good luck,” he called as he walked away.
Joe had never met a billionaire or a
world’s leading expert on anything, but as he watched Holmes walk away, he
wondered if the combination made the man so weird or if he just came that way.
Pushing thoughts of wealthy mad scientists
from his mind he turned the direction Holmes had indicated and strode across
the room with purpose. He had heard Archer was a tough nut, and Holmes’
attitude seemed to support that, so he mentally prepared himself as he stepped
into the small lab. He had expected another strange academic like Holmes. He
had expected the cold attitude he’d read about in the lab’s dossier. He had
expected brilliance that threw out words like those on the report that had
prompted this visit.
What he didn’t expect, was the
strikingly beautiful woman who looked up when he entered.
“I’m busy,” she said dismissively
and dropped her gaze back to the apparatus she was using.
Joe tried valiantly to ignore the
reaction he was having. Damn, she was gorgeous. It was the only thought he
could formulate. But when she summarily dismissed him without even a polite
greeting his temper flared.
“Dr. Archer, I’m Major Joe Moore.
I’m the investigator assigned to the Pendleton inquiry.”
She continued to ignore him and his
temper spiked again.
“I need to discuss something with
you.” His words came out a bit more harshly than he had intended and he
grimaced.
Archer however, didn’t appear to be
offended by his tone. “It will have to wait.” She maintained her focus. “As I
already stated, I’m busy.”
“It’s about this report.” Joe waved
the file in his hand.
“What about it?”
She still wasn’t looking at him, so
he took a few steps forward. The action worked to draw her attention, but as
she stood and lifted her beautiful blue eyes to his, he wondered at the
suspicion he could see in them. He froze briefly under the intensity of her
gaze then once again, he lifted the file.
Her eyes were incredible, and
although he couldn’t look away from them, he ignored the thoughts they
prompted. “I’m afraid I need some translation. I’m not sure what I’m reading.”
Archer rolled her eyes, breaking the
lock he had with them, and spoke with exasperation. “Well you actually tried,
that puts you up on everyone else it was sent to.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the Army is woefully
uninterested in facts, when they don’t fit their own agenda. I stand behind the
report, Major. I mean every word of it.”
“That’s great,” Joe answered his
tone slightly aggressive as he reacted to hers. “Now if I just knew what it
said maybe I could clue the world’s leading military unit into what they’ve
been missing.”
His retort reduced her reluctance to
contrition. She lowered her eyes, seeming almost to turn inward rather than
admit she had a change of heart. “Leave it. I’ll go back through it when I have
time and dumb it down for you.”
“Well, you don’t have to say it like
that.”
Her eyes snapped up again, and that
willfulness was back. “Didn’t you just say you didn’t understand it?”
“Well, yeah, but it’s not like I
don’t get any of it. I just need some help understanding the science.”
“Exactly. You need it dumbed down.”
She stared at him coolly and Joe
fought for control. He wanted to shout at her. He wanted to demand she give
this issue the kind of attention it deserved. He wanted to wipe that cold look
off her face.
He wanted to kiss those damned red
lips.
That terribly inappropriate thought
brought him up short, and he took rigid control of his emotions. “I’d
appreciate it if you could get back to me at your earliest convenience.” With quiet
calm, he dropped the file on the table then turned. “The soldiers killed
deserve our attention.”
Joe walked out with all the dignity
his service and career had earned him. His back straight and his head high, he
marched to the exit without a backward glance. He was boiling with an
irritation that demanded an escape, but he would be damned if he gave that
woman the satisfaction of knowing she had gotten to him.
But she had gotten to him. So, when
he reached his car, he climbed inside and finally allowed himself the luxury of
a response. “How can someone be so annoying in such a short time?”
Annoying was only the start. She was
condescending and abrasive. She had dismissed him like some unimportant
irritation, as if her time was far too valuable to bother with a conversation
with the likes of him.
He closed his eyes, trying to gain
control over this uncharacteristic turmoil he felt. He was an elite solider, he
didn’t overreact, he didn’t get emotional. Except right now, he was definitely
both of those things.
The moment his eyes closed, he saw
her again, tall and thin but with the kind of curves that suggested a luscious
body beneath that white coat. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a youthful,
utilitarian ponytail, but he could image it spilling to her shoulders in warm
waves if she released it. Her skin, pale and smooth—damn near perfect. The
creamy complexion accentuated her eyes. Those eyes were what he remembered
most. They were gorgeous, the most incredible blue he had ever seen. But it was
more than the color. It was the sharp mind they revealed, and the strength that
gave the impression she was made of steel, despite the soft body that said
exactly the opposite.
Joe’s eyes snapped open and he
rubbed a hand over his face. What the hell was wrong with him? He didn’t do
this. He had barely noticed a woman, any woman, in over two years and he
certainly didn’t objectify coworkers like they were some beauty pageant
contestant. She was a scientist and a brilliant one if all he had heard was
true. More importantly, she was his colleague. He was supposed to be
cultivating a relationship between the Army and her lab, not ogling her. He was
supposed to be using her expertise to reveal why four soldiers had died, not
fantasizing about what she would look like with her hair down.
He took a deep breath and ordered
his thoughts. He knew what to expect now, he would be prepared, he could
control himself. Slipping his car into gear he headed back to his office, his
mind firmly directed to the job that lay before him.
It worked fairly well. He was good
at his job, and he had long ago acquired the kind of discipline necessary to
avoid all types of outside stimuli—he could go days without food or sleep,
could sit for hours in weather so cold or wet that his body tried to shut down
and still he felt no discomfort. He could do what had to be done. The jobs the
Army saw fit to burden on only a select few, he could do them without
hesitation.
Keeping his mind focused on the
investigation, and not those blue eyes, wasn’t the hardest thing he had ever
done and he finished his day with an iron control on his thoughts.
One question, however, made his
control falter.
“Hey, Bro. How was your day? Make
any new friends?”
He froze for only an instant before
taking the final step inside his house, but she saw it. His kid sister had
always been far too interested in his personal life. She had followed him
around when they were kids, spied on him when he was in high school, and she
hadn’t lost her interest just because she was now a grownup.
“Joe?” she demanded with suspicion.
“It was a day, Charlie,” he answered
evasively.
“A day?”
“Yeah, a day. I got up, I went to
the office, I met some colleagues. It was a day.”
“What are you not telling me?”
He bit the inside of his lip trying
to distract from the picture that had popped into his mind, trying to erase the
image of those two blue eyes of steel and satin. “Where’s Parker?” He tried
changing the subject for his own good. “We need to get going.”
Charlie waved toward the other room.
“He’s changing clothes.” Her hair was darker than Joe’s, a coal black compared
to his dark brown, but her eyes were the same chocolate brown and they revealed
a hint of his same strength.
Those eyes were watching him now,
with suspicion. She knew him too well and she wasn’t fooled. She stepped in
front of her brother and looked him in the eye, squinting as she assessed his
mood. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing,” he scoffed. “It’s been
awhile since I had a desk job, okay? I just need to adjust.”
“Okay,” she agreed, willing to
accept that for now. She turned and called down the hallway as she walked
toward the kitchen sink. “Parker! Your dad is home. Shake a leg, Bub.”
“He was good?” Joe flipped through
the mail she had left for him on the counter.
“He’s the best nephew ever born.”
She grinned. “Of course he was good.”
“You didn’t let him fill up on junk
after school, did you?” he worried. “I don’t want him getting into bad habits.”
“What am I, a bad influence?”
Charlie joked.
Joe leveled an accusing glare and
she cracked. “Okay, I let him have a milkshake. But we were celebrating.”
“Celebrating what?”
She gave him an impish grin as she
turned away from the now clean dishes that had been sitting in his sink. “We
were celebrating the opportunity to have a milkshake.”
There was the sound of pounding
footsteps on the wood floor, and then a small form in red swim trunks, and
nothing else, came barreling through the doorway. Joe abandoned the lecture he
wanted to give his sister and scooped up his son, as Parker leapt into the air.
He held him close, feeling his tension fade, as two small tanned arms wrapped
tightly around his neck.
Ruffling the long blonde hair, that
was starting to curl wildly without a haircut to temper it, he kissed his son.
“Hey, Bub. You ready for a swim?”
“Yep.” Parker crowed excitedly.
“Charlie says it is a big pool!”
“It is?” Joe asked with enthusiasm.
“I bet you can’t swim the whole thing.”
“I can too,” Parker giggled. “I’ll
show you.”
“Do you have to make everything a
challenge?” Charlie scolded with a laugh as she picked up her purse. “Honestly,
Joe, it’s a swim lesson not a competition.”
“It makes it fun,” he answered, and
Parker nodded in agreement.
Charlie rolled her eyes and shook
her head, making her dark locks sway. “You are two peas in a pod,” she teased.
Leaning in, she puckered for a kiss, and Parker dutifully responded, adding a
quick hug as well. She dropped another quick peck on his forehead and then
stood on her tiptoes to give Joe’s cheek the same treatment. “I’ll pick him up
at school tomorrow, same time.” She headed for the door. “Have a good night.”
“Thanks,” Joe called after her.
Charlie paused in the door and gave
him another long look. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” he growled in warning.
“Okay, okay, don’t get all green
beret on me.” She laughed as she stepped through the door.
“I’m fine.” Joe repeated to Parker.
“Daddy, I’m ready to go.” He
squirmed excitedly, a huge grin on his face.
“Okay.” Joe dropped him to his
wriggling feet. “Let’s go little man, let’s see if you can swim that pool.”
“I can do it!”
Beaming, Joe opened the door and
followed his son outside. “You are going to have to prove it, little man.”
Thoughts of irritating scientists slipped from his mind—the joy he found in
spending time with his boy was a better weapon against her allure than all his
discipline.
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