by Seton, Cora
The Soldier’s E-Mail Order Bride
Cora Seton
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The Soldier’s E-Mail Order Bride
Copyright © 2014 Cora Seton
Kindle Edition
Published by One Acre Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Author’s Note
The Soldier’s E-Mail Order Bride is the second in the four volume series, The Heroes of Chance Creek. To find out more about Mason, Regan, Austin, Zane, Colt and other Chance Creek inhabitants, look for the rest of the books in the series, including:
The Navy SEAL’s E-mail Order Bride (Volume 1)
The Marine’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 3)
The Airman’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 4)
Find out where it all began with The Cowboys of Chance Creek Series:
The Cowboy’s E-mail Order Bride (Volume 1)
The Cowboy Wins a Bride (Volume 2)
The Cowboy Imports a Bride (Volume 3)
The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire (Volume 4)
The Sheriff Catches a Bride (Volume 5)
The Cowboy Lassos a Bride (Volume 6)
The Cowboy Rescues a Bride (Volume 7)
The Cowboy Earns a Bride (Volume 8)
Visit http://www.coraseton.com for more titles and release dates.
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Prologue
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March
Staff Sergeant Austin Hall sat down heavily at the bank of computers reserved for off-duty personnel in Camp Eggers, a military forward operating base in Kabul. After another fruitless mission last night to track down the Taliban field commander, Omar Akhund, he dreaded his upcoming four-way Internet call with his brothers. He wasn’t in the mood for chitchat. He wasn’t much in the mood for anything these days, and hadn’t been in a long time—not since he’d lost his best friend and fellow member of the Special Forces, Ben Donovan, fifteen months ago. But he and his brothers talked once a month. If he blew them off, they’d know something was wrong. So far he’d fooled them into thinking he’d made a full recovery after his friend’s death. He couldn’t slip up now.
“Did I hear right, Sergeant? You’re leaving the Army in just a few months?”
“That’s right.” Austin didn’t make eye contact with the young man who now approached him through the busy room. The last thing he needed was an interrogation about his plans.
“I bet your hometown will give you a hero’s welcome—and then it’ll be a nice house, a picket fence, a wife and two-point-five kids!”
Austin flinched at Corporal Ken Smith’s cheerful words. The kid hadn’t been around long enough to know his history. His voice hadn’t contained a single hint of sarcasm, but when Austin replayed the sentence in his mind, it rang with it. A hero’s welcome? Not likely. He might have been awarded a Medal of Honor for pulling Chase Edgars out of the same fire fight that killed Donovan, but he was no hero. A hero would have realized Donovan was the more injured of the two. A hero wouldn’t have hauled Edgars away and left Donovan to die.
Donovan and Edgars been his anchors after his father died, his family lost its ranch and he’d entered the Army at seventeen. Against all odds, the three of them had advanced together, going in for the brutal training that transformed them into soldiers worthy of the Special Forces. They worked together like a well-oiled machine. Thinking with one brain, completing each other’s sentences. When they’d been assigned to the same team they’d felt like they won the jackpot.
Nothing had been the same since Donovan was gone and Edgars shipped back home. Being a soldier without them was like being a race car driver whose car was missing two tires. He couldn’t get anywhere. Couldn’t do anything right. He hadn’t seen Edgars in over a year. Hadn’t spoken to him, either. Couldn’t think of the man without thinking of Ben and his own failure.
Austin pulled himself together with an effort. “Sure thing, Smith.”
The corporal moved away and Austin fiddled with the laptop until he was set up for the call. By the time he’d patched together the link with his brothers, he’d managed to school his features into an easy smile. His oldest brother, Mason, a Lieutenant Commander and Navy SEAL, took control of the conversation right away, as usual. But this wasn’t the usual chat about life and the military. Austin could tell immediately something had happened—something had changed. Mason had a glint in his eye he hadn’t seen in ages. For the first time in weeks Austin felt a flash of interest.
“Boys,” Mason said with a quick grin. “We’re going home.”
* * *
“And the winner is…”
Ella Scales, seated at the end of a row in the Kodak Theater with her fiancé, Anthony Black, and her best friend and agent, Marianne Hollins, surreptitiously wiped her hands on her Givenchy gown, her heart thumping in her chest. She’d been tense for weeks awaiting the Oscars to find out if she’d win the Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in the darkly twisted rom-com, The Bride Wore Black.
Marianne shot her an excited look. She’d been just as on edge as Ella since the nomination came. More so, even. Which made sense, since Marianne had always been more excited about Ella’s acting career than Ella ever was. In fact, Marianne was the one who’d gotten her into acting, first in high school and then as a bit player in a low-budget indie film a dozen years ago.
“The winner is…” Delilah Leavensworth, the presenter for the award, repeated. The audience groaned. A few people chuckled as the actress on stage hammed up drawing out the suspense for laughs.
Ella didn’t find her hesitation funny.
Too much rode on the outcome of tonight’s award ceremony for her to take it lightly. She’d been offered a part in An Arresting Moment, playing opposite Anthony. The film was touted by everyone in the know as that most rare of breeds—an intellectually satisfying story with blockbuster special effects and action sequences. Unfortunately, the offer of the part was conditional. She had to hand it to Anthony—as distant as he’d been these past few months, he’d gone to bat for her and the director had acquiesced to bring her on board if, and only if, she won the Academy award she’d been nominated for. The truth was the director wanted someone younger than Ella.
Didn’t they all.
Win the award and win the part. Lose it, and her fate was sealed. Anthony had influence, but it only went so far.
Ella glanced around the crowded theater and caught Kaylee Lipenhauer looking back at her. Kaylee, who acted as a CIA sidekick to Anthony in his previous film, Flight to Death, quirked an eyebrow and smiled a tight little smile.
The bitch thought she was going to win.
Ella’s own smile slipped a little bit. Three weeks ago she’d come home to Anthony’s Hollywood Hills mansion early and found Kaylee exiting the driveway as Ella entered it. Anthony had brushed it off as no big deal—just two co-actors discussing their film—but he’d been increasingly distant ever since, even as their wedding drew near. She’d told herself his distance had everything to do with his own insecurities. He was up for Best Actor this year. He wanted it more than anything. But she knew she was kidding herself. Their relationship was in danger.
So she had to win the award. She had to win the part in Anthony’s movie. Otherwise she didn’t know what he’d do.
She glanced at Anthony, who was beaming. You’d never know how nervous he was if you hadn’t dressed for the occa
sion in the same enormous bedroom with him. He’d snapped at her all evening, darting in and out of his walk-in closet to check that its mirror’s rendition of his reflection was as flattering as the bedroom’s full-length mirror. But now he was calm and pleased, making eye contact with various other audience members.
Making eye contact with Kaylee.
Ella’s smile slipped again, and she resisted the urge to whack Anthony’s arm to recall his attention. Instead, she forced her mouth back into its smile. She would marry Anthony in June—just three short months away. Why didn’t he beam at her?
“The winner is…” Delilah Leavensworth hesitated a third time.
Would she spit it out already? Ella thought she’d be sick. She’d suspected Anthony of cheating on her before, but now her suspicion was hardening into something more solid—at the worst possible moment. Her friend Marianne caught her gaze and raised an eyebrow. Her look said it all—do something. But what could she do?
She began to lean toward Anthony, deciding to take his hand as if sharing the excitement of the moment, when Delilah Leavensworth finally finished her sentence.
“The award for Best Supporting Actress goes to Kaylee Lipenhauer for her outstanding role in Flight to Death!”
The audience roared its approval, clapping and cheering all around her, as Ella’s career tanked before her eyes. After one shocked, horrified moment, she clapped along with them, her smile now frozen on a face that ached with the effort.
She had lost. The award. The part. Any chance at a future that included leading roles.
And by the looks of things, she’d lost Anthony, too.
* * *
“Home?” Austin was the first to speak.
“Home,” Mason confirmed. “I got a letter from Great Aunt Heloise. Uncle Zeke passed away without designating an heir. That means the ranch reverts back to her. She thinks we’ll do a better job running it than Darren will.”
That made sense. Their cousin Darren was a dud when it came to ranching—he couldn’t stand hard work. But Austin and his brothers had all loved the place when they were growing up. They’d been forced to move when their uncle Zeke inherited the ranch after their father’s death twelve years ago. Their mother—devastated by the loss of her husband and her home—had taken them to Florida to live with her sister.
“She’s giving Crescent Hall to us?” That was Zane, Austin’s twin, a Marine currently in Kandahar. Zane was excited, which was no surprise.
Mason took a deep breath. “There are a few conditions.”
Colt, Austin’s youngest brother, snorted. “Of course—we’re talking about Heloise, aren’t we? What’s she up to this time?” He was an Air Force combat controller who was currently back on United States soil, training with his unit in Florida.
“The first condition is that we have to stock the ranch with one hundred pair of cattle within twelve months of taking possession.”
“We should be able to do that,” Austin said slowly. A hundred cows and their calves—it would make a good start. He couldn’t believe returning to the ranch was even possible. He’d given up that particular dream a long time ago.
“It’s going to take some doing to get that ranch up and running again,” Zane countered. “Zeke was already letting the place go years ago.”
“You have something better to do than fix the place up when you get out?” Mason asked him.
“I’m in. I’m just saying.”
“Good luck with all that,” Colt put in.
Of course; Colt wouldn’t leave the Air Force, not even for the chance to get their hands on the ranch again. He lived for the service. Mason seemed to understand this too and he turned his attention to Austin and Zane.
“If we’re going to do this, it’ll take a commitment. We’re going to have to pool our funds and put our shoulders to the wheel for as long as it takes. Are you up for that?”
Yeah. Yeah, he was up for that, Austin realized. “I’ll join you there as soon as I’m able to in June. It’ll just be like another year in the service. I can handle that.” As long as he didn’t have to go hunting Taliban cell members in Chance Creek, Montana.
“I already said I’m in,” Zane said. “I’ll have boots on the ground in September.”
For the first time in longer than he could remember, Austin felt a ray of hope. Maybe there was a life for him outside this warzone. Maybe there was something to look forward to.
Instantly, guilt washed over him. Who was he to have hopes and dreams when Donovan was cold in the ground?
“There’s just one other thing,” Mason was saying. “Aunt Heloise has one more requirement of each of us.”
“What’s that?” Austin forced himself to ask when his brother didn’t go on.
“She’s worried about the lack of heirs on our side of the family. Darren has children. We don’t.”
“Plenty of time for that,” Zane said. “We’re still young, right?”
“Not according to Heloise. She’s decided that in order for us to inherit the Hall free and clear, we each have to be married within the year. One of us has to have a child.”
Stunned silence met this announcement until Colt started to laugh. “Staying in the Air Force doesn’t look so bad now, does it?”
“That means you, too,” Mason said.
“What? Hold up, now. I won’t even live on the ranch. Why do I have to get hitched?” Austin would have laughed at Colt’s expression if he wasn’t so stunned himself by Mason’s declaration.
“Because Heloise says it’s time to stop screwing around. And she controls the land. And you know Heloise.”
“How are we going to get around that?” Austin asked. There was no way he was getting married. No way in hell he was having a child. He had no right to the American dream—not anymore.
“We’re not.” Mason glared at each of them in turn. “We’re going to find ourselves some women and we’re going to marry them.”
“In Afghanistan?” Zane’s tone rang with sarcasm.
“Online. I created an online personal ad for all of us. Each of us has a photo, a description and a reply address. A woman can get in touch with whichever of us she chooses and start a conversation. Just weed through your replies until you find the one you want.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Zane looked incredulous. Austin understood just how he felt, but Mason pressed on.
“I don’t see what you’re upset about. I’m the one who has to have a child. None of you will be out of the service in time.”
“Wait a minute—I thought you just got the letter from Heloise.” Austin found his voice again. How had Mason done this all so fast?
“The letter came about a week ago,” Mason admitted. “I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up until I checked a few things out. Heloise said the place is in rougher shape than we thought. Sounds like Zeke sold off the last of his cattle a year ago. We’re going to have to start from scratch, and we’re going to have to move fast to meet her deadline—on both counts. I did all the legwork on the online ad. All you need to do is read some e-mails, look at some photos and pick one. How hard can that be?”
“I’m beginning to think there’s a reason you’ve been single all these years, Straightshot,” Austin said, knowing the nickname was sure to get a rise. He wasn’t disappointed; Mason winced.
Colt laughed. “Told you two it was safer to stay in the military. Mason’s Matchmaking Service. It has a ring to it. I guess you’ve found yourself a new career, Mase.”
“Stow it. Just because I’ve put the ad up doesn’t mean any of you have to make contact with the women who write you. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. But you need to marry within the year. If you don’t find a wife for yourself, I’ll find one for you.”
“He would, too,” Austin said to the others. “You know he would.” The thought pissed him off. The last thing he needed was a woman. He’d done enough damage in this world.
“When does the ad go live?” Zane asked.
“It went live five days ago. You’ve each got several hundred responses so far. I’ll forward them to you as soon as we break the call.”
Shock propelled Austin toward the screen. “Several hundred?”
“That’s right.”
Colt’s laughter rang out over the line.
“Don’t know what you’re finding so funny, Colton,” Mason said, sounding just like their father for a minute. “You’ve got several hundred responses, too.”
“What? I told you I was staying…”
“Read through them and answer all the likely ones. I’ll be in touch in a few days to check your progress.” Mason cut the call.
Austin sat back in his seat, as stunned as if a grenade had gone off nearby. A wife? Within the year?
How the hell would he pull that off?
* * *
Ella held herself straight and rigid, beaming as if she was over the moon that Kaylee had won. Catching Marianne’s eye again, she took in her friend’s pinched expression. Marianne’s career was just as tenuous as Ella’s right now. She’d been told that in order to earn a partnership at Barnes & Madison, she needed to cultivate a top-tier client. When Ella won her Oscar, she was supposed to be that client.
Not anymore.
Anthony wouldn’t even look at her. She thanked God for the thick layer of makeup she hoped was hiding the blush of embarrassment creeping up her neck. She’d thought she’d win. She’d actually thought she’d win. Now she was catching sympathetic looks every which way she turned. She congratulated herself that she was doing a fabulous job of masking her pain, but her mouth dropped open when Anthony surged to his feet and clapped harder, while Kaylee pushed past her friends and hurried over to Anthony’s seat to fling her arms around him.
Stunned, Ella reminded herself he did play the lead in the same movie as Kaylee, but her smile slipped an inch as she watched the two hug and kiss.
And kiss…
And kiss some more.
There was a lull in the clapping as the whole room took in the passion that sparked between her fiancé and Kaylee, and then some wag gave a rebel yell and the cheers and applause surged again. Anthony and Kaylee went on kissing like two drowning souls stealing oxygen from each other on the way down to the ocean’s bottom. Was this his way of calling off the wedding? Was he telling her—and the rest of the viewing public—that he was through with her?
