Hot in Here
Page 24
Ham swallowed hard. “I love you.”
Another sob, louder and more irate, and she said, “Damn you, I love you, too! I don’t want you hurt.”
His left eye twitched. “Then don’t hurt me.”
Gasping, she stared at him, touched him again, so gently. “Look at your head.”
“That’d be a little hard for me to do.”
And she smiled. “Look at what’s happened to you. You’re bleeding and you’re going to need stitches and…and…” Openly sobbing again, she clutched at him. “Oh, God, Hamilton. I’m so sorry. I love you. All of you.”
Finally, he could breathe again.
“Please,” she whispered against his neck, “can you forgive me?”
“Yes.” He didn’t have any choice. He could never stay angry at her, not for anything. And then, with caution and a heavy heart, “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, with an equal lack of hesitation, almost shouting that one, wonderful word. “Yes, yes, yes.”
Ham heard the approach of a siren, not the tornado warning, but an emergency vehicle. Soon, they’d be rescued. He cupped her cheek, turned her face up to his.
His blood had gotten in her hair, mixed with mud and leaves. Her nose was red with cold, her lips pale. “I’m not going to let you change your mind.”
“I’m not going to stop loving you.”
“I’m still in the air force.”
She gave a small nod. “I know.”
“It’s who I am, Liv.”
“I know.” She touched his lips. “I’ve been so afraid of losing you that I’ve wasted precious time.”
“Yes.” She needed to hear the truth. There could be no more misunderstandings.
“I’m so sorry.”
He kissed her. The sirens drew nearer, then suddenly ceased, leaving a hushed vibration in the air. “Those plans I told you about? I can be a permanent professor at the academy in Colorado Springs. We can’t live here, I’m sorry. But we wouldn’t have to keep moving.”
Her lips parted. “But…wouldn’t that mean you’d have to give up the squadron commander position?”
“For you, yes.”
A firefighter yelled down from the bridge. “Hey! You two okay?”
Ham turned and lifted one hand. “We’re fine.”
“Stay put and don’t move. We’ll come to you.” The man moved away, shouting orders.
Ham turned back to Liv. “So. Will you marry me, Liv Amery? You’d be a colonel’s wife, because the position comes with a promotion. And before you answer—”
“Yes.”
“You should know that I’ll be on active duty even longer—”
“Yes.”
“And it’ll take me two years to get my Ph.D. before we can move to the academy.”
“Yes.”
His heart lightened. “I’ll still get full pay and—”
She pressed a hand to his mouth. “Yes, Ham. Yes to everything. Yes, no matter what you decide to do. Yes, because I love you. Yes, yes, yes.”
That awesome emotion had him in its grip again. Then the firefighters were there, toting blankets and water and first-aid kits.
As Ham rolled off Liv, the man closest to him said, “That’s a nasty gash you’ve got.”
“I’m fine.”
The firefighter gave him a dubious look. “Let me get a stretcher down here.”
“No need. I can stand.”
Frowning, the firefighter asked, “Are you sure?”
Ham turned to Liv. “Tell me again.”
She smiled, paying little mind to the man who wrapped her in a blanket and began cleaning the mud from her face, checking for wounds. “I love you, Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton Wulf.”
Hamilton smiled. “Yeah, I can stand.” He pushed to his feet and offered Liv a hand.
“Lieutenant Colonel?” the firefighter repeated. “I’m impressed.”
Liv laughed, wrapping her arms around Ham. “Yep, me, too.”
The firefighter grinned. “Sir, if you’ll come this way, we’ll have you both checked out in no time.”
And minutes later, they were on their way to the hospital—and on their way to a very bright future.
EPILOGUE
GIVEN THE DESTRUCTION caused by the tornado, the funeral for Liv’s father took place later than planned. Parts of Denton were devastated, and Hamilton and Liv pitched in with the cleanup and repair. Luckily, despite the crippling damage to structures, there were no lives lost.
The sun brightened the clear blue sky the day they laid Colonel Weston Amery to rest. Several people spoke at the service, including Hamilton. Their words gave proof of the incredible man her father had been—not an overly loving dad, but a leader who had selflessly given to his nation.
With full military honors, the ceremony included a flag-draped casket, pallbearers in dress uniform and a highly impressive twenty-one gun salute. As the flag lowered to half-mast, “Taps” played, giving respect to a fallen comrade.
In military fashion, step by step, the pallbearers folded the flag into a neat triangle. Hamilton held Liv’s hand, giving her his support, his love, during the very moving moment when the men knelt before her, their heads bowed.
They handed her the flag. “Our deepest regrets, with the thanks of a grateful nation.”
Warm tears slid down her cheeks, and an invisible fist squeezed her heart. Yes, regret clouded her past. But her future was with Ham. He was her hero, and he was the hero for a vast number of unknown citizens, in America and around the world. They were the people he’d sworn to protect. The people for whom he’d willingly endangered his life.
No finer man existed, and she wouldn’t regret one single second of being his wife, no matter what risks the future brought.
As he’d said, life was always uncertain.
But Hamilton’s love and loyalty weren’t. She had him, she loved him—and that meant she had it all.
*
ISBN: 9781472054524
HOT IN HERE: UNCOVERED/TAILSPIN/AN HONORABLE MAN
Lori Foster
© Harlequin Books S.A. 2013
First Published in Great Britain in 2013
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Table of Contents
Uncovered
Tailspin
An Honorable Man
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