Hot SEAL, Undercover Groom (SEALs in Paradise)

by Maryann Jordan

  He thought of his teammates, almost all in relationships now, a few already out of the service now and happily married. A few others still with him, also happily married. But how do they do it? How do they put their women through the fear of not knowing where they are, what they’re doing, or if they’ll come back?

  When he was unable to locate Lynn earlier in the casino fear shot through him, and images of what might have happened to her filled his mind, erasing rational thought. So not only would Lynn not know what was happening with me, I wouldn’t know what was happening in her life.

  She shifted again slightly, and he wondered if his tumultuous thoughts were somehow keeping her from finding complete peaceful sleep. She burrowed into him, then settled with a heavy sigh, never waking. His arms tightened around her again, the desire to keep her safe almost overwhelming. I won’t ask her to wait. But maybe, just maybe, if she’s still single when my time in the military is up and I move back home, we’ll see.

  Finally, sleep found him, but it was restless.

  17

  Lynn sat on the sofa with her laptop on the coffee table in front of her. Even though she and Nolan were driving home today, she wanted to give Nancy her initial assessment so that she would be able to let Sally know what information they’d gathered.

  Her hair was still wet from her morning shower, and she could hear Nolan in the bathroom as he finished getting ready. They had hit the breakfast buffet early, then came back to the room to get cleaned up and packed for their trip back home.

  A pall had settled over them, both neither denying nor acknowledging that their two-day sham marriage and honeymoon was coming to an end. It had been too easy for the past couple of days to pretend that they were a couple. Pretend? She winced as her heart ached, knowing that the pretense had turned into reality for her. But she had no idea what Nolan’s feelings were about her and, too afraid to ask, neither spoke about their changing emotions.

  Checking the time, she knew Nancy should be in her office. Placing the call, she glanced up as Nolan walked from the bedroom, his smile aimed at her, lightening her spirit.

  Nancy connected, and her bright, smiling face filled the screen. “Hey, girl! I thought I was going to have to send out a search party for you!”

  “Never fear, I’m here,” she quipped. “We’re going to be coming back home, but since it’s Friday, I thought I’d get some information to you so that you’d have a chance to talk to Sally Hightower before the weekend.” Rita’s face popped from behind Nancy, and Lynn greeted, “Hey, Mrs. Bell.”

  “This is perfect,” Nancy agreed. “So, give me the dirt. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got.”

  “Their system is very simple. Besides Errol, he only has one full-time employee, Junelle, and they contract out for everything else on an as-needed basis. They have basic wedding packages that run from about $300 to $4000 and then couples can add on as they want. Obviously, some couples just want to get married there but provide their own flowers, photographer, all the extras. Some couples want the whole ceremony to be provided for by the chapel, and in those cases, they pay the full price, and the fees are distributed to the contractors.

  “Junelle works with the couple, they agree to a contract, and pay upfront. She logs all that information into a spreadsheet that includes how much was paid by cash, check, or credit card, and which extras have been agreed upon.

  “Just to double-check her information, I was able to compare their calendar of events with the information she entered and it matches. Obviously, if she was suspected of embezzlement, then I would take a closer look at her. I always suggest that businesses do not have the same person collecting money and recording all the transactions. But since we weren’t hired to investigate Junelle, then I’m going on the assumption that her information is correct.”

  Nancy’s eyes widened and she said, “I never even thought about that. But you’re right, Sally was not asking us to do an investigation and audit of the business, just what her husband was up to.”

  Nodding, she agreed. “Yep, that’s why the information I’m giving to you is just for Sally. Keep in mind that there’s nothing I’m doing that would hold up in court. It’s purely for her to use how she wants when dealing with her husband and asking for a divorce. I know she signed an agreement with you that states she understands that stipulation, but I wanted to reemphasize it.”

  Nancy said, “I talked with her yesterday and reminded her. She’s good with that.”

  “It was a surprise to see Errol here at the casino when we arrived, but it was also fortuitous. He showed up with a large amount of cash that he exchanged for his gambling card and then we lost track of him when he went into a high roller gaming room. When I look at the money coming into the chapel and his business bank statement provided by Sally, it appears that the cash payments are not deposited, and the amounts being paid out to contractors does not match either. It’s a lucritive business—to the tune of almost a million dollars a year—but that is not what’s deposited. I’d say a rough guesstimate is that he takes about ten thousand dollars or more a month to do whatever with. While I have no evidence that he is laundering it through the casino, I’d say Sally is on the right track to demand more in a settlement.”

  “This is perfect,” Nancy said, leaning back in her seat with Rita peering over her shoulder at the screen. “Thank you so much for taking this on with Nolan. Where is my brother, by the way? Off hiking or off gambling?”

  Her gaze lifted to the bedroom door, landing on his smiling face. Even with their situation so unbalanced, she met his smile.

  “Whoa! What’s that smile about?” Nancy asked, leaning closer to the computer screen.

  He walked over and sat down on the sofa next to Lynn. “Hey, Sis. Mom. How’s it going?”

  Lynn sucked in her lips as she watched Nancy and Rita stare wide-eyed back at them. “I didn’t even tell you how weird things got at the wedding chapel and then, when we got here, we ran into Errol and had to keep up the pretense of being married.”

  “Keep up the pretense?” Nancy asked. “But you got out before anything happened.”

  “Well, that was the plan, but things went a little crazy.”

  Nolan piped up. “Yes, and that’s why you sent me in. We just adapted to the changing situation and went with a new plan.”

  Rita’s eyes were impossibly large, and she cocked her head to the side, moving closer to the computer screen. “What new plan?”

  “We were unable to get into the office because they got to us before our allotted time. Errol had to stand in as the witness because the photographer was late. So, with him, Junelle, and the officiant all waiting, we went through with a sham ceremony and then, when Errol left the chapel, we snuck into the office and got what we needed.”

  Rita hip-bumped Nancy to move her over and plopped into the chair with her daughter. “Sham ceremony? What exactly did you do?”

  “Don’t worry, it wasn’t real. We didn’t even use our real names. I knew you had only given the middle names for the wedding license and the rest of the info was fake. We made sure we didn’t use our full legal names when we said our vows,” Nolan declared.

  Rita gasped, and Nancy’s head swung around to stare at her mother. “Vows!”

  As Lynn stared at Rita’s shocked expression, she could have sworn she saw a twinkle mixed in with shock in her eyes. She turned toward Nolan as he continued to explain.

  “Uh, yeah. We just did the really quick ceremony. You know, the ‘I do’ part and the rings. But it didn’t mean anything, and without our real information on the marriage license, it’s not a real wedding.”

  “I don’t know how to tell you this,” Rita began, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “But when two people pledge marriage vows to each other, even if they’re using false names, they’re still legally married. Nolan, Lynn… you two are really married!”

  “What?” they both gasped at the same time. Or, rather, she gasped in disbelief, and he shoute
d, causing her to jump.

  “Yes. A marriage license is only needed up until the wedding. Then it doesn’t matter. The only legally binding contract is the marriage certificate. It didn’t matter what I put on the marriage license because you two were never going to actually go through the ceremony. That wasn’t in your plan! If you’re of legal age, not siblings, have sufficient mental capacity, sober, and not currently married… then the marriage certificate is real. You’re legally married even if you didn’t use your real names!”

  “No fuckin’ way!” he shouted again.

  Lynn jerked her gaze from the computer screen to Nolan, watching his anger grow. A rush of mixed emotions hit her. We can’t be married. Her stomach plummeted as the heat of his anger scored through her. This really was a sham… all just sex and nothing more.

  “Well, at least it’s not consummated. Right?” Nancy said, her gaze hopeful.

  Nolan’s face turned to stone and his head slowly turned to Lynn still sitting next to him. She opened her mouth, but no words came forth.

  “Oh, my God. You two slept together!” Nancy cried out. “Mom and I always thought you two would be good together!”

  Lynn heard her, but her gaze was locked onto his face, no longer able to read his thoughts. Icy fingers crept over her and she shivered. She slowly shook her head back and forth, still lacking the ability to voice the tumultuous thoughts running through her mind.

  “You. You did this.”

  His voice was a deep, rumbling thunder of words. He was still staring at her, indicating the ‘you’ he was referring to was her. He cocked his head toward the computer screen and continued. “I should’ve known you were involved when my sister concocted this ridiculous scheme. You’ve been hot for me since you were a teenager.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding! Jesus, that was almost twelve years ago! I assure you that I have not been sitting around pining for you all this time!” Lifting her hand where the wedding ring nestled at the base of her finger, she shook it in front of his face. “You can’t possibly think I did this on purpose! I wasn’t even going to go through with this! You were the one who agreed to her scheme before I even came on board! This is not on me!”

  “Nolan, Lynn, stop this.” They swung their gaze back to the computer screen. Rita’s lips were tight as she shook her head. “You both need to step back and take a breath. We can figure this all out, but you two getting angry with each other is not going to help.”

  “I can’t believe you.” As Lynn spoke, her voice was soft but shaky as Nolan pierced her with his gaze again. “I had no ulterior motive when I agreed to this scheme to get information. I had no idea her simple plan was going to have to change. And I certainly had no idea that we would spend time together as we have in the last couple of days. I knew it was only for now. I knew it was only temporary. But I thought we’d gotten to know each other well enough that you’d know that I would never stoop so low as to try to trick anyone into marrying me! How you can even accuse me of that, I cannot imagine.”

  He leaped to his feet and paced. Finally, he whirled around, snatched the key card from the coffee table, and stalked toward the door. With his hand on the knob, he looked over his shoulder and growled, “Right now, I don’t know anything other than I need to figure out how to get out of this mess.” With that, he left the room, his heavy footsteps disappearing down the hall.

  Forgetting Nancy, Rita, or the conference call, she stared at the closed door for a long moment, her stomach clenching as she blinked back the tears.

  “Lynn?” Nancy’s soft voice called out.

  Jerking her head back to the screen, she stared in stunned silence at Nancy and Rita’s sympathetic expressions.

  “Oh, honey,” Rita said. “I am so sorry about all this. It’s true that I always thought you and Nolan would be so perfect together, and I got a special thrill out of writing up your marriage license, assuming it was never going to be used. But honey, the look on your face right now… you love him, don’t you?”

  Her teeth landed on her bottom lip, biting hard to stop the quiver of her chin. Swallowing several times, she gained control and battled the tears away. “I never expected the last couple of days to turn out the way they did, and the idea that a future down the road might be possible. It would be stupid to try to say that I don’t have feelings for Nolan, but right now? Wanting to be with someone who thinks so little of me while he also suspects so much of me? No. I deserve better.” Her body shaking, all she wanted to do was get away. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

  Nancy was crying out, “Please don’t do anything hasty—” when Lynn disconnected the call. Closing her laptop, she sat for a moment with her hands clasped tightly together in her lap. A single tear slid down her cheek, and she lifted her hand to dash it away. No! I’ll not waste any tears on him!

  She hurried into the bedroom and grabbed her overnight bag. Stuffing her belongings inside, she gave no heed to the jumbled mess of wadded clothes. Inside the bathroom, she did the same with her toiletries. Hurrying back into the living area, she shoved her computer into her slim case. Grabbing the complimentary pad of paper lying on the desk, her heart sunk as she wrote a note. Dropping it onto the coffee table, she scanned the room one last time, started toward the door, then halted.

  With her feet cast in lead, she walked back to the coffee table and stood for a moment, looking at her left hand. Slowly, she pulled the wedding band from her finger. It was never real, and yet, my finger now feels bare. She leaned over and placed it next to the note. Not looking back, she left the room.

  18

  Nolan sat at the bar nursing his second whiskey. The first he’d downed quickly, hoping the fire of the peaty alcohol would help burn off some of his irritation. He had been at the bar for over an hour, each minute seeming to click by slowly while his emotions raced.

  The dim lights in the bar occasionally flashed across his hand, dragging his gaze to the wide ring on his finger. When his mother first proclaimed that he and Lynn were married for real, all he felt was disbelief, but that was quickly followed by the choking emotion of being out of control. SEALs are trained to control a situation, and the last thing they want is entrapment. They guard each other’s back, work as a team, and never leave a man behind.

  I’m fucking sick of not being in control! Throwing back more of the whiskey, he thought of the last month. Out of commission with emergency surgery. Prolonged recuperation with an infection. His team’s need to continue without him until he could return.

  Resting his hands on the bar, his attention was once again snagged by the ring sitting at the base of his finger. He remembered the moment she slid the ring on his finger two days ago. Her hands were shaking and her eyes round with uncertainty. There was no contrivance in her manner, just fear. The ring had felt strange at first, the cold metal against his skin. But somehow, in the past forty-eight hours, it had appeared natural whenever he looked at it.

  The bartender caught his eye, but Nolan shook his head. The last thing he needed was more alcohol. That was another thing he was known for with his team—always keeping a cool head.

  When on a mission with his SEAL team, intel was not always correct, information was shifting, and they adapted together. He was good at that and others relied on his ability to adapt quickly.

  Isn’t that what Lynn and I did? As he replayed their time in the wedding chapel over in his mind, he knew it had not been her suggestion that they go through with the ceremony.

  She didn’t trap me… she’s right, I agreed to this plan before she did. The flaming hot sex they had enjoyed in the past two days was as much his idea as hers. Throwing her teenage emotions and actions into her face had been a low blow. And hurtful, by the look on her face. The image of Lynn’s expression just before he walked out was now branded on his brain. He scrubbed his hand over his face and shook his head slightly.

  I never planned on getting married, at least not now. I never really thought about it. It’s not that I don
’t believe in love… hell, my parents are an example of a long-lasting marriage. While he had watched most of his team fall in love one by one, it had never hit him. Until now.

  The past two days had been such an unexpected surprise. Time spent with Lynn had been fun and getting to know her had been interesting. She held his attention with her conversation and made him laugh with her wit. She was part brainy and part goofy. And oh, so beautiful. Hell, even in the middle the night I was wondering if she would consider waiting till I came back to work with Dad.

  When that memory struck, he tried to discern why he reacted so badly at finding out they were legally wed. The truth was he could not come up with one reason to not want to be married to Lynn. And one very good reason hit him straight in the heart.

  I’m in love with her.

  His phone had vibrated often ever since he got to the bar, but he’d ignored it until now. Disappointed that the messages and missed calls were not from Lynn, he saw they were all from Nancy and his mom. He grimaced, remembering that his poor behavior was not only witnessed by Lynn but also his family. Shit, I need to make this right!

  He threw several bills onto the bar and offered a chin lift to the bartender as he slid off the stool. Hustling through the lobby, he waited impatiently for the elevator to take him up to the ninth floor. A couple shared the elevator and he grimaced as he observed their linked hands, soft smiles, and looks of adoration in their eyes. Fuck… that had been me and Lynn. As he jogged down the hall, he had no idea what he was going to say to her but knew to beg for forgiveness—even groveling—would be top of the list.

  His hands shaking, it took three tries to get the door open. Rushing inside, he scanned the room, finding it empty. “Lynn? Babe?” He stalked into the bedroom and then the bathroom. The counter was cleared. No makeup. No hairdryer. No toothbrush. Whirling, he went back into the bedroom and discovered her bag and clothing were gone. God dammit!