Soldier Protector

by Kimberly Van Meter

  He’d never been in love. Had maybe come close before he’d left Roaring Springs at age eighteen. That is, if a kid that age could know what love was. He’d known that he cared for Matilda Deeds. Cared enough that for the last thirteen years he’d been carrying around a picture of them at prom. Him in his dark suit. Her in her pretty red dress that had accented her dark hair and unusual, dark gray eyes. Her sexy, curvy shape had seemed to be poured into her dress that night, likely making every teenage boy that saw her unable to think of much else.

  He’d been mostly thinking about how to get his hand under the slit that ended midthigh. And, later that night, had figured out how.

  Yeah, he’d cared. Enough that he would have married her if she hadn’t lost the baby that they’d conceived that prom night on the couch in her parents’ basement.

  “You’ll land on your feet, too,” Decker said confidently, bringing Blaine back to the present.

  “Dad called in a favor with Uncle Joe. Got my dishonorable discharge changed to honorable.”

  The other man shrugged. “You were a Green Beret and served with distinction for more than a decade. You earned a chest full of medals. You made a mistake, one that shouldn’t have cost you everything. I think our uncle simply gave the army a chance to get it right.”

  For the first time since he’d opened his eyes that morning, Blaine felt his chest relax. The Coltons were a complex bunch, but when push came to shove, they were family, and he could count on them.

  “What’s Dad saying now?” Decker asked.

  “We haven’t talked yet. Not looking forward to that,” Blaine added. “I was hoping you could help me with that.”

  “What can I do?”

  “I need a job. I’ll do anything.”

  Decker turned his head, looked out the window. “We’ve had late snow this year. Great for business. But the director of my Extreme Sports division broke his leg a week ago. It—”

  “I’ll do it,” Blaine said, sitting forward in his chair.

  “I was going to say it’s going to require you to strap on the equipment. We’re also short on instructors, and the demand for skiing and snowboarding lessons has never been higher.”

  The Colton property was a popular winter destination for many reasons. But for the true sports aficionado, it had always been because of the diversity of runs that were offered. Everything from the bunny hill to the super challenging, including two terrain parks, filled to the brim with opportunities for snowboarders to strut their stuff. Serious winter-sports fanatics came from all over to test themselves. “Sure. I can do that.”

  “Okay,” Decker said. “You’d be doing me a favor.”

  Nice of Decker to frame it that way.

  “You’ll need to swing by Curtis Shruggs’s office to fill out some paper work,” his brother continued. “He’s our director of personnel.”

  He thought he’d met Shruggs once before, on one of his brief trips back to Roaring Springs. His parents had been hosting a party for managers at Colton Manor. Blaine had been hiding out in one of the libraries, and the man had wandered in. “The guy with the blue eyes?”

  “Yeah.”

  He could still remember a couple of his female cousins, and maybe even one of his sisters, going on about the man’s eyes. So gorgeous. For his part, he’d thought the guy was nice enough and his eyes were fine. The brief encounter had left him thinking that there was something about the man that hadn’t seemed quite right. He’d not said anything to his family, realizing that in all likelihood, it hadn’t been Shruggs who was off-kilter that night, but rather, it had been him. Coming back to Roaring Springs had always been difficult for him.

  But now, if Shruggs could get Blaine set up with a job, Blaine was only too happy to go see him. “One more favor?” he said, smiling at his brother.

  “What?” Decker asked.

  “I want to move into staff housing.”

  Decker rocked back in his chair. “Wow. You must really want to avoid Dad.”

  * * *

  Two days later, Blaine had his hands full, corralling a group of six middle-school boys who’d signed up for the intermediate snowboarding class. They were in the larger park, the sky was a brilliant blue, with the temperature hovering around twenty-eight degrees, and there was two inches of fresh powder from the night before.

  “Let’s go,” a blond kid yelled. Blaine thought his name was Isaac. “I am ready to shred the gnar,” the boy added, invoking some favorite snowboarding lingo.

  “Yeah, well, before any of you conquer this mountain, you’re going to show me that you know the basics.” He suspected they did. Kids in this area of the country were snowboarding in preschool. But he also understood boys and young men—having been one and having led a fair number of brand-new recruits over the years. Sometimes skills were exaggerated to keep up with the rest of the group. “Let’s quickly run through a few things.” He wanted to make sure they all knew how to stop and turn, both sharp and wide, gracefully fall and get up by themselves, and walk their boards back up the hill.

  He ignored the moaning and groaning, and when he was confident that they were all more or less ready, he motioned for them to follow him.

  “Where are the jumps?” a smaller kid named Tommy asked.

  “Just over that hill,” he said. That’s where they would also find a pristine bowl. Its shape, with its steep sides and narrow gut—similar to the cement structures that skateboarders salivated over—would keep them busy for hours. “I’ll demonstrate, and then you’ll all get your chance. You don’t have to feel pressured to do anything you’re not comfortable with, okay?”

  “Sounds like sex ed class.” This again from Isaac.

  That cracked the group up. A good-looking kid in the front named Josh looked at Blaine rather sheepishly. “Just ignore Isaac.”

  “You ready for this?” Blaine asked him.

  “I’m going to do them all,” Josh answered, his voice cracking at the end.

  Blaine appreciated his attitude. He’d been like that as a kid. “All right,” he said. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Matilda Deeds glanced at her watch. She’d arrived too early to pick Josh up from his lesson. But it had given her a chance to grab a latte at the coffee shop.

  She’d been at The Lodge a few times over the years. One could hardly live in Roaring Springs and not have been. Every time, she’d carefully checked her surroundings, anxious about running into Russ Colton, but thankfully she had never encountered him. In recent years, she’d heard that Decker was taking on a bigger role in the day-to-day operation of The Lodge, which made it even less likely that she’d see the elder Colton, but she remained vigilant.

  There was no sign of either Russ or Decker Colton today. This part of The Lodge was crazy busy with skiing and snowboarding enthusiasts trying to take advantage of the late-season snow. She took her coffee and settled at a small table in the corner of the room where the students would return following their class. About half of the other twenty tables were occupied, and conversation hummed in the air. A fire burned in the big stone fireplace at the far end of the room, and there was a tray of freshly baked cinnamon donuts on a table.

  She resisted, not wanting the extra ten pounds that she carried to turn into fifteen or twenty. Sighing, she leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table and her chin in the palm of her hand.

  Tilda supposed it was natural that she would think of Blaine Colton in this place. Not that she’d ever been here with him. The year they’d started dating, just weeks before prom night, there had been no late-season snow. And by the next fall, when the slopes were once again covered, Blaine had been long gone. Already done with basic training by that time. Happy to already go off to some dangerous, far off place, to serve his country.

  And she’d been dealing with her own issues. Alone.

  She’d done oka
y by most anyone’s standards. Her parents had helped, of course, once they’d come to terms with her situation. Both unskilled workers, they’d clung on to the dream of having their daughter become the first college graduate in the family. They hadn’t let her give up or give in. And Dorian Stoll had been a true friend.

  She checked her watch again and looked out the big window, searching the slopes. There he was. Her son, her pride and joy, all long legs and gangly arms. He was taller than many of the kids in his class but thin enough that he looked as if a good, strong wind might blow him away. He was with five other kids. They’d taken off their helmets and goggles and were carrying their snowboards under their arms. She recognized his best friend, Isaac.

  And there was a man, much taller, much broader, his head thrown back, as if he was laughing at something one of the kids had said. There was something so familiar about that motion, so unconsciously sexy, that she could feel her body heat up.

  Jeez. What the heck?

  She stood up but stayed where she was. At thirteen, Josh didn’t want his mother running up to him. When the door opened, in came a whiff of cold air, laughter and young excited voices. Another voice. Deeper.

  And she knew. Her knees felt weak.

  Josh turned to search the room. She managed to wave at him.

  The man turned. Followed Josh’s gaze. Settled on her.

  Blaine Colton. Still as handsome as ever. With that bold, confident look on his face, like he could take on the world. His dark brown hair was short, certainly shorter than he’d worn it in high school. It showed off his lean, strong features.

  His smile faded as he followed Josh across the room.

  “Tilda?” he said. His light brown eyes were very serious.

  She nodded. Wet her lips with her tongue. “I hadn’t heard that you were back.” If she had, there’d been no way that she’d have brought Josh to The Lodge.

  “Been in town just days,” he told her. He stood very still, very straight, his impossibly broad shoulders filling the space.

  She said nothing. Every word was potentially filled with peril.

  “Hey, you know my mom?” Josh asked, looking at Blaine. He sounded as if he thought that was cool.

  “Your mom,” Blaine repeated.

  She put her hand on Josh’s arm. “We need to get going.” She looked briefly at Blaine before turning to leave. “Good...uh...good to see you again.”

  “But—” Josh protested.

  She pulled him along with her, away from Blaine. “Don’t argue, Josh,” she said under her breath. “Just keep walking.”

  * * *

  Blaine made sure all the other kids got picked up, but he was moving on automatic. Tilda Deeds. What were the chances that he’d run into her here?

  He guessed it wasn’t all that odd. Had heard on one of his rare visits back to Roaring Springs over the past years that she’d married and had a child. He hadn’t asked for details. At the time, he’d told himself that it was because he didn’t care. But the news had unsettled him, and he’d never asked about her again. The idea of Tilda in bed with someone else, loving someone else, wasn’t a comfortable one.

  Was she still married? Somebody in his family would know.

  Her kid was cool. He’d said he was going to try everything, and he’d been true to his word. Funny, too. Once they were on the slope, he’d sparred back and forth with his friend Isaac and landed a couple zingers.

  In those few seconds that he’d seen mom and son side by side, he’d noticed the resemblance. Still thinking about Tilda, he walked to his brother’s office. Penny, now used to him, waved him in. He knocked sharply on Decker’s door.

  “Come in,” Decker said, still staring at his computer screen. But when he saw it was Blaine, he pushed his chair back and took a breath. “Hey, how’s it going?”

  “Good. Just did a snowboarding class. Middle schoolers. All terrific kids and pretty darn good on their boards.” Blaine took a breath. “And crazy as it sounds, one of them was Tilda Deeds’s boy.”

  “That’s not so crazy. She’s a teacher at Roaring Springs High. English, I think.”

  They’d been in the same English class when they were seniors. She’d been smart. Always had a book with her, too. “What’s her husband do?”

  “He’s dead,” Decker said. “It’s been years. Shame. Dorian Stoll was a nice guy. He didn’t grow up in Roaring Springs but he always seemed to fit in.”

  “She’s a widow,” Blaine breathed, trying to get his head around that. She was so young. But then again, being in the military, he’d quickly learned that young people died, too.

  Decker stared at him, considering. “As I recall, you had a thing for her in high school. You wanted to marry her.”

  He’d told Decker but no one else. Had sworn his brother to secrecy. And had only given Decker half the story, leaving out the part that Tilda was pregnant because the two of them had agreed that was their secret for the time being. As he recalled, Decker had initially laughed at him for mentioning marriage but, once he’d realized Blaine was serious, had switched tactics, telling him he was a fool, that he needed to go to college and prepare himself to someday take his rightful place in the Colton Empire.

  Blaine had known even then that was an okay path for Decker but not for him.

  And when Tilda had lost the baby, and he’d been at loose ends, wanting only to leave Roaring Springs and the dysfunctional relationship between his parents and the incessant pressure from his father to join the family business, the army had offered endless possibilities. He’d left quickly, before anyone could stop him. And almost from the very beginning had realized that it had been a very good decision.

  “How old is her son?” he asked.

  “I have no idea,” Decker said.

  There was no reason for Decker to know. And no real reason for Blaine to care. But the question nagged at him. How soon after he’d left had she jumped into another relationship? Had they dated for a long time before getting married?

  Had she been happy?

  Had she ever thought about Blaine and that, if things had gone differently, she’d have married him?

  He shook his head. Water. Over the bridge.

  “How’s staff housing?” Decker asked. “Missing Mom’s thousand-thread sheets?”

  Blaine smiled. “I’m just happy to have a bed, bro. Didn’t always have one of those, these last thirteen years.”

  “It’s good to have you back,” Decker said. “I worried...”

  His voice trailed off. Blaine knew what he’d fretted about. It was always harder on the ones left behind. That’s one of the reasons he’d been right to leave Tilda and to never look back. It had given her the freedom she deserved.

  And apparently, she’d run with it.

  Copyright © 2019 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  ISBN-13: 9781488041303

  Soldier Protector

  Copyright © 2019 by Kimberly Sheetz

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