A SEAL’s Desire
Page 22
“What if I don’t like her?”
“It’s just thirty days,” Boone reiterated. “Give her a fighting chance, that’s all they’re asking for. You going to be able to handle this?” he asked with concern.
“Guess I have to be,” Angus said stiffly.
Boone clapped him on the back and moved away. “All right, people. It’s wedding time.”
“Maybe she’ll be the woman of your dreams,” Greg said when Angus came to take one last look in the mirror.
“The woman of my dreams is in California,” Angus retorted.
There was going to have to be another Base Camp miracle, Greg thought. He checked himself over one last time. “I’m ready,” he declared.
“Me, too.” Angus led the way out of the front parlor, across the hall and into the ballroom, which had been set up with folding chairs and an altar. Walker joined them.
The chairs were filled, his father, mother and sister sitting up front. He took his place near the altar. Reverend Halpern, who’d presided over almost all the Base Camp weddings, took his place nearby.
The men and women he’d worked hard with to build Base Camp arranged themselves in the first few rows. Behind them sat other people from Chance Creek who they’d gotten to know over the past year.
Satisfaction filled him at how far they’d come. This was home now.
The music changed. Angus nudged him. He seemed to have regained a little of his sense of humor. “Last chance to make a run for it,” he muttered, but Greg didn’t want to run. He wanted to plant his feet right here where he belonged. Where Renata belonged, too.
Avery appeared in the doorway in a deep-blue gown, her hair piled on top of her head with tiny white flowers tucked into it. Eve followed in a matching outfit. Greg took a deep breath, and when Renata stepped into the room, he swallowed.
She was beautiful in a deceptively simple white, Regency-era gown that even he with his untrained eye could tell was crafted with the utmost skill. It set off her dark hair, her angular features and shining eyes. When her gaze sought his, he held steady, wanting her to know he would always be here for her, ready to help no matter what challenge she decided to take on.
The women made their way down the aisle, Fulsom, serious for once, walking alongside Renata. He gave her away with a quick nod to Greg, but no other comment, surprising Greg. He hadn’t known Fulsom was capable of being in front of a crowd without trying to steal the show.
The man valued Renata, Greg realized. Perhaps even saw her as the daughter he’d never had. Maybe there was more to the billionaire than he’d realized.
Hell, there was more to everyone than he’d realized, wasn’t there?
That was life, he decided. Complicated when it should be simple. And simple even when you made it complicated.
Because at the end of the day what mattered was the people you gathered around you, and he’d lucked out in that respect. The people of Base Camp were the kind you could depend on no matter what happened.
Greg took Renata’s hand and squeezed it. She squeezed his back, and they turned to face the reverend.
“Dearly Beloved,” Halpern began. “We are gathered here today…”
Greg listened to every word, wanting to remind himself of every part of the vow he was about to take. This was the one and only time he’d stand up in front of a congregation and make a pledge like this.
When Halpern turned to Renata to start their vows, Greg did, too.
“Renata Celia Ludlow, will you have this man to be your husband, to live together with him in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live?” Halpern asked.
Renata was shaking, but she lifted her chin and nodded. “I will,” she stated clearly. Greg’s heart squeezed, but now it was his turn.
“Greg Andrew Devon, will you have this woman to be your wife, to live together with her in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, be faithful unto her as long as you both shall live?” Halpern asked him.
“I will.” He hoped Renata knew how deeply he meant it. He’d never felt so dedicated to anything as he did to being her husband.
“The rings,” Halpern said.
Angus stepped forward and handed them to the reverend, who distributed them to Greg and Renata.
They took turns slipping the wedding bands onto each other’s fingers.
Now the events of the day seemed real to Greg. He’d done it. He’d married Renata.
He thought his heart might burst with joy.
Renata could hardly breathe during the ceremony, her hands shaking so hard she was afraid she might drop the ring before she got it on Greg’s finger. He was so handsome in his uniform, his face shining with love for her, his touch so gentle but so strong, too. She had never been with a man who was so thoroughly present. It was addictive.
Halpern joined her hand with Greg’s, and he squeezed hers again. They turned toward the congregation full of their friends, and Renata took in the pleasure radiating back at her from so many faces.
She had finally found a place where she belonged as much as anyone else. This was her home—her forever home.
No more searching. No more moving.
No more lonely days—or nights.
“Now that Renata and Greg have given themselves to each other by solemn vows, with the joining of hands and the giving and receiving of rings, I pronounce that they are husband and wife,” Halpern went on.
When the ceremony was over, Halpern smiled. “Well? What are you waiting for? Kiss the bride already!”
Greg swept her into his arms and did just that, kissing her long and hard and happily until all Renata could do was cling to him and kiss him back.
“I love you,” he whispered into her ear when they parted, their friends’ cheers loud around them.
“I love you, too,” she said.
“Forever?”
“Forever.”
“Then kiss me again.”
Several hours later, after dinner and dancing, drinks and toasts, the reception began to wind down, and Angus, visiting the dessert table, met up with Avery. Walker was nearby, but the two hadn’t been talking. The tension between them was still thick enough to cut with a knife. He supposed it was probably better for everyone he was the next to marry, even if he didn’t have the slightest desire to do so. He’d hoped he would have gotten over some of the pain Win had caused him, but it was still fresh in his heart.
“Try the cheesecake,” Avery told him flatly. “Kai really outdid himself.”
“Don’t mind if I do,” Angus said with another surreptitious glance at Walker. It occurred to him how awkward it would have been in the bunkhouse tonight with just the three of them if Avery hadn’t demanded her own tiny house.
He had picked up a plate holding a slice of cheesecake when Avery gasped. He turned to see Walker stiffen, shock slackening the features of his face.
“What?” He followed their gazes toward the front hall, where a number of guests had gathered to say their goodbyes, and nearly dropped his dessert.
Win Lisle entered the large ballroom and scanned it as she shrugged out of the heavy jacket she’d worn over her emerald green dress.
“Oh, my God,” Avery breathed. “She’s pregnant.”
Angus’s heart was thundering in his chest. The periphery of his vision went dark. He set the plate on the table with the thump, then grabbed the table itself to stay upright.
Win’s eyes met Angus’s across the room. She placed a hand deliberately on her belly and nodded.
Angus couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
Win was here.
Win was pregnant.
And the baby was his.
To find out more about Greg, Renata, Boone, Clay, Jericho, Walker and the other inhabitants of Base Camp, look for A SEAL’s Struggle, V
olume 9 in the SEALs of Chance Creek series.
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Other books in the SEALs of Chance Creek Series:
A SEAL’s Oath
A SEAL’s Vow
A SEAL’s Pledge
A SEAL’s Consent
A SEAL’s Purpose
A SEAL’s Resolve
A SEAL’s Devotion
A SEAL’s Struggle
A SEAL’s Triumph
Read on for an excerpt of A SEAL’s Struggle.
A SEAL’s Struggle
By Cora Seton
Chapter One
Win Lisle stared at the white and pink plastic wand she held in her hand.
Pregnant. She was pregnant.
How the hell had that happened?
She leaned against the metal partition of the bathroom stall in Linda’s Diner where she’d come to take the test away from all the prying eyes—and cameras—back at Base Camp, and counted backward, then quickly straightened, remembering where she was. She had to hold it together.
Her life had changed so much since she’d come to Montana and decided to stay at the sustainable community funded by billionaire Martin Fulsom. At first, she’d been a guest at the manor, the Jane-Austen inspired bed and breakfast run by some of the women here. Her friend, Andrea, had made her come on a bachelorette weekend leading up to her wedding. Win had thought she’d hate the ranch; miserable in her own life, she’d hated everything back then. Instead, she’d been mesmerized by the manor, the tiny houses, the gardens and greenhouses, the renewable energy systems, the al fresco meals around a campfire—and Angus McBride, the man who’d stolen her heart and had never given it back.
Now she was carrying his child.
Which meant she’d never go back to San Mateo.
Win took a steadying breath. Why did that thought leave her so unsettled? She’d already made up her mind to stay. All the men of Base Camp had to marry before June rolled around again, including Angus. She’d hoped to marry him, help him and his friends keep their home and build a life here.
Uneasiness settled in her stomach as she looked at the plastic test stick again, though. It had all seemed so simple just a day or two ago—before she’d looked at a calendar and realized she was late. Now her heart was racing. Her parents had been calling for weeks telling her to get off the show and come back home. Her father, congressman Julian Lisle, was up for re-election, and it seemed some of his financial backers didn’t like the spectacle of his daughter on a pro-environment television show.
“I have to represent everyone,” her father had said just a few days ago. “I can’t have my daughter looking like she’s a radical.”
“Since when is sustainability radical?” Win had asked.
“Since some of my biggest donors represent fossil fuel interests.”
Win had gotten off the phone, but she knew that wouldn’t be the last call her parents made. Her father planned to run for Governor in two years. He was a shoe-in to win his congressional battle—he’d already served two terms and won handily in the last election—but he had to get his ducks in a row now if he expected to move up to the big leagues in a couple of years.
What would her parents think when they found out she was pregnant and realized she was serious about marrying Angus?
“Go ahead, slum around and get it out of your system,” her mother, Vienna, had said the last time they talked. “We both know very well you’re a princess. You won’t be happy without a palace. Leif Dunlevy could have gotten you a doozy of one if you hadn’t blown things with him.”
“I didn’t blow things with him,” Win had said. “I broke our engagement. I don’t love Leif.”
“You’ve been friends all your life. Are you saying you hated him all this time?”
“Of course not.” Win had wanted to hang up. “I’ll always love Leif as a friend, but not as a husband. I couldn’t go through with it.”
“Darling, marriages between families like ours are business transactions. You can find love anywhere you want after you marry. Just be discreet. Did no one ever tell you that?”
Win wiped a hand over her brow, coming back to the present. That conversation had upset her more than she cared to admit. She had a memory from when she was five or six, running to her parents’ bedroom, Maria, her nanny chasing after her. Win had burst in through the door to find her mother, naked, not with her father but with another man Win had never seen before.
Maria had snatched her up, murmured an apology, rushed back into the hall and slammed the door shut. “Mommy was just… resting with a friend,” she’d said and then whispered a prayer to the Madonna in rapid Spanish.
There had been no explanations. The incident had never been spoken of again, leaving a young Win to wonder whether it had really happened or if she had dreamed it all.
Her gaze fell on the test stick in her hand again.
She knew she’d forgotten a pill or two over the last month, but she’d caught up again as soon as she’d noticed. Could those small mistakes add up to a pregnancy—even if she and Angus McBride had been together almost every night since they’d met? She shook her head at the number of inventive ways they’d found to be together, despite the close quarters and how difficult it was to be alone here. They’d never actually done it in a bed. Their moments together were short and stolen, so they’d made use of sheds, barns, and spare rooms at the bed and breakfast up at the manor. In the back seats of trucks tucked away in turnouts by the side of the road. In the woods down by Pittance Creek.
Angus was insatiable, and with him, so was she. She’d never experienced anything like it before.
And now she was pregnant.
There was no denying the results of this test stick. It was one of the modern ones that clearly stated “pregnant” or “not pregnant” in its little plastic-coated window. And it said “pregnant” clear as day.
What was she going to do?
Win closed her eyes, imagined taking Angus somewhere private and telling him about the baby, imagined the way he’d kiss her. The way he’d slowly undress her in that way he had. The way he’d make love to her tenderly, careful because of her pregnancy, until she urged him to take her the way she liked. Angus’ passion—his pure enjoyment of the sexual act—was one of the things she loved about him. Things between her and Leif had been… well… tepid.
When her phone rang, Win nearly dropped the test stick into the toilet. She hurried to collect her purse, exited the stall, rushed to wash her hands—and the stick—at the sink, quickly dried them and answered just before the call went to voicemail.
“Hello?” She hadn’t even checked the name of the caller.
“Win? It’s Dad.”
“Dad?” Not again. Not now. He’d berate her about turning down Leif again, most likely. Once she told her parents about the baby, those suggestions would have to end.
First she needed to tell Angus, though.
“You need to come home. Now.”
Click to read more of A SEAL’s Struggle
The Cowboys of Chance Creek Series:
The Cowboy Inherits a Bride (Volume 0)
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)
The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride (Volume 9)
The Heroes of Chance Creek Series:
The Navy SEAL’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 1)
The Soldier’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 2)
The Marine’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 3)
The Navy SEAL’s
Christmas Bride (Volume 4)
The Airman’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 5)
The SEALs of Chance Creek Series:
A SEAL’s Oath
A SEAL’s Vow
A SEAL’s Pledge
A SEAL’s Consent
A SEAL’s Purpose
A SEAL’s Resolve
A SEAL’s Devotion
A SEAL’s Desire
A SEAL’s Struggle
A SEAL’s Triumph
The Brides of Chance Creek Series:
Issued to the Bride One Navy SEAL
Issued to the Bride One Airman
Issued to the Bride One Sniper
Issued to the Bride One Marine
Issued to the Bride One Soldier
The Turners v. Coopers Series:
The Cowboy’s Secret Bride (Volume 1)
The Cowboy’s Outlaw Bride (Volume 2)
The Cowboy’s Hidden Bride (Volume 3)
The Cowboy’s Stolen Bride (Volume 4)
The Cowboy’s Forbidden Bride (Volume 5)
About the Author
With over one million books sold, NYT and USA Today bestselling author Cora Seton has created a world readers love in Chance Creek, Montana. She has twenty-eight novels and novellas currently set in her fictional town, with many more in the works. Like her characters, Cora loves cowboys, military heroes, country life, gardening, bike-riding, binge-watching Jane Austen movies, keeping up with the latest technology and indulging in old-fashioned pursuits. Visit www.coraseton.com to read about new releases, contests and other cool events!
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