Rescued by the Marine

by Julie Miller

  A guilt-racked hero vows to succeed

  ...even if it costs him his life.

  Five million dollars for rescuing a kidnapped heiress? To reclusive Jason Hunt, the job’s about redemption, not money. But when the troubled former marine finds megarich Samantha Eddington, opposites attract as they escape her captors. Odds are they won’t survive the brutal Teton Mountains or the mercenaries after them. And if they do, will Jason’s reward be redemption or heartbreak?

  “I trust you.”

  That was what he wanted, right? Her complete faith in him so she wouldn’t question any command required to keep her safe.

  Jason tilted his head to the cave’s damp black ceiling, taking a moment to get his head back in the survival game before he blew this mission, too. “All right, then. Let’s move out before Buck and his men rappel down the cliff and figure out which of these passages cuts through to the other side of the gorge.”

  “You know, though, right?” She waved off that moment of doubt. “I said I trust you, and I do. How many rules are we up to now? Six or seven? Keep moving? Step where you step? I’ve got them memorized now.”

  “Don’t let go of my hand.” He couldn’t risk her getting turned around and wandering away down the wrong passage.

  “No problem with that,” she assured him, latching on with both hands. “Lead on.”

  As Sam willingly followed him into the darkness, he wondered if her ready trust in him would be an even more dangerous mistake than that kiss.

  RESCUED BY THE MARINE

  USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  Julie Miller

  Julie Miller is an award-winning USA TODAY bestselling author of breathtaking romantic suspense—with a National Readers’ Choice Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award, among other prizes. She has also earned an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award. For a complete list of her books, monthly newsletter and more, go to juliemiller.org.

  Books by Julie Miller

  Harlequin Intrigue

  Rescued by the Marine

  The Precinct

  Beauty and the Badge

  Takedown

  KCPD Protector

  Crossfire Christmas

  Military Grade Mistletoe

  Kansas City Cop

  The Precinct: Bachelors in Blue

  APB: Baby

  Kansas City Countdown

  Necessary Action

  Protection Detail

  The Precinct: Cold Case

  Kansas City Cover-Up

  Kansas City Secrets

  Kansas City Confessions

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  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Jason Hunt—They don’t come any tougher than this veteran Marine turned mountain man and search-and-rescue expert. After all he’s lost, Jason needs the solitude of the Wyoming wilderness to deal with his post-traumatic stress. Will answering the call to save a kidnapped heiress bring him redemption and healing? Or will this mission cost him what little heart and soul he has left?

  Samantha Eddington—History repeats itself when this nerdy, nearsighted heiress is abducted on the anniversary of her mother’s kidnapping and murder. Survival means more than staying one step ahead of the mercenaries who are willing to trade her life for her father’s fortune. She must also learn the rules of the mountain…and unlock the secrets of her brawny, taciturn rescuer.

  Walter Eddington—Founder of the Midas Group, a billion-dollar hotel and resort empire. Samantha’s father has already survived one tragedy. With his failing health, he won’t survive another.

  Joyce Eddington—Samantha’s stepmother will do whatever is necessary to protect her husband and his business empire.

  Taylor Eddington—Samantha’s stepsister. Younger, prettier and far more suited to the social demands of being an Eddington than Samantha will ever be.

  Kyle Grazer—Samantha’s ex-boyfriend thinks a proposal will make up for his cheating.

  Dante Pellegrino—The director of security for the Midas Group.

  Brandon Metz—Samantha’s personal bodyguard.

  Richard Cordes, Jr.—Son of the militia leader who orchestrated the kidnapping and murder of Samantha’s mother.

  Marty Flynn—He and Jason served together in the corps. Now they work together in search and rescue.

  The mysterious “Buck”—He doesn’t care about the ransom money. He just wants Samantha dead.

  For my father-in-law, Howard Miller, and his lady, Dotty Robarge.

  A Navy veteran and the widow of an Air Force veteran. Now a fun, lovely couple.

  Thank you both for your service to our country.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from Lone Star Christmas by Delores Fossen

  Excerpt from Danger on Dakota Ridge by Cindi Myers

  Prologue

  Jason Hunt hung by his fingertips 7,400 feet up in the air. And his phone was ringing.

  Another 600 feet and he’d have been out of cell range.

  Relying on the strength of his arm, and the sure grip of his hand, he relished the last few milliseconds of silence between each ring. The summer sun was bright overhead, its rays warm on his skin, its heat reflecting off the granite outcropping he’d been scaling for the past hour. Sure, he could have stayed on the marked trail like the tourists, but then he would have missed this view.

  Wide-open sky. Miles between this mountain and the next. Snow at the peaks, then silvery-gray granite that gave way to the deep rich greens and browns of the tree line. He even caught a glimpse of Jenny Lake’s crystal gray-blue outline from this vantage point. He shifted his grip to swing around the other way, inhaling air that was cooler and cleaner than any part of the world he’d seen. And he’d seen more than he cared to. From here, he could see all the way past the lower peaks into Jackson Hole, the natural valley between the Tetons and Wind River Mountain Range where he’d grown up.

  But his phone was ringing.

  He eyed the rough granite cliff for the next handhold, doubled his grip of the rock and continued his climb. His next breath wasn’t quite as free and calming, but he grounded himself in the unshakable strength of the rock itself and kept moving. These mountains had endured, and he would, too.

  He appreciated the quiet of how alone he was between each urgent ring. Save for the wind whistling through the narrow cave a few feet to his left, he’d found the reprieve he needed today. No mortar fire. No grinding of tank and truck gears, no orders to engage or pleas for help shouting in his ear.

  Jason found a toehold and pushed himself up another three feet, nearing the top of the rock face. He lived in these mountains. Worked in these mountains. Escaped the memories that time and therapy could never fully erase. He needed the silence. The solitude. The space. No tight quarters here. No small huts or narrow streets filled with fire and booby traps and too many vehicles and people to know his allies from his enemies.

  There w
as no woman dying in his arms up here.

  With every ring, Jason’s serenity and forgetfulness was shattered. It was a lonely life here in Wyoming. But it was a life.

  Until his phone rang.

  Mentally bracing himself for the reality of answering that call, he swung himself up over the top ledge.

  He shrugged out of the small pack he carried, pulling out both a bottle of water and his cell. The number was no surprise. Neither was the sudden heavy weight of responsibility bearing down on his broad shoulders. With his long legs dangling over the edge into the Teton Mountains’ rocky abyss, he swallowed a drink of water and answered his phone. “Yeah?”

  “Captain Hunt?”

  He pulled off his reflective sunglasses and squirted some of the cooling water on his face before squeegeeing it off his cheeks and beard stubble with the palm of his hand. “We’ve been stateside for two years, Marty. I told ya you could call me Jase.”

  “Yes, sir.” Marty Flynn was only a few years younger than Jason, and they’d both retired from the Corps once their last stint had ended. But he still spoke to him like the stray puppy he’d first been when he’d been attached to Jason’s unit over in the Heat Locker of the Middle East. “Um. Right. Jase.”

  “What’s up, Lieutenant?” Although he already knew. These mountains weren’t just his escape now, they were his world.

  “Very funny.” Yeah. He missed laughter. Not much call to tell jokes when you lived as far off the grid as he did now. “I know it’s your day off. Thought you might be locked up in your cabin, shaggin’ that pretty girl who was throwin’ herself at you at—”

  “Talk to me.” Like anything resembling a relationship was going to happen after losing Elaine over in Kilkut. Like he’d ever be interested in some brainless twit who couldn’t talk about anything but the size of his truck and how hard it was to find sexy clothes at the local boutique. He hadn’t wanted to hurt the young woman’s feelings when his search and rescue team had stopped at Kitty’s Bar in Moose, Wyoming, to toast their commander’s pending retirement. She seemed to think getting laid by a veteran Marine was some sort of badge of honor. In his book, it wasn’t. He’d left the celebration early. Alone.

  “So, you and Lynelle didn’t hit it off? You wouldn’t mind if I—”

  “Marty.” Jason exhaled an impatient breath. “You called me. I assume there’s an emergency?”

  “Right.” Marty might be a natural-born flirt, with more charm than discipline in his repertoire, but he was a damn fine helicopter pilot. He’d saved the lives of Jason and most of his men by flying into an ambush to evac them to the safety of the base. That was the only reason Jason put up with his goofy idol worship—the only reason he’d agreed to take the job with the search and rescue team Marty worked for. He owed him a life. “We’ve got a missing hiker. Family excursion hiking the String Lake Loop. Little boy wandered off this morning west of Leigh Lake. He’s been missing four hours now. Parents searched an hour on their own before calling it in.”

  Jason climbed to his feet, surveying the mountains in every direction. He assessed the quickest path, the weather, the position of the sun in the sky. “It’s already midafternoon.”

  “And it’s summer. Kid doesn’t have any bear spray on him. No jacket. Nothing but the clothes on his back. Predators will be out after dark. We need to find him before they do.”

  Jason tucked the water bottle into his pack and pulled out his vest with a large green search and rescue cross on it. “Or he succumbs to exposure or drowns in the lake.”

  “You got it. The team’s been activated, but we need your expertise in the backcountry. We need you to save the day, big guy.”

  Right. Because he was so good at that. At least, stateside, nobody had died on his watch.

  Jason put on his sunglasses, adjusted the brim of his cap and started moving.

  “I’m about fifteen minutes away from the clearing up by Solitude Lake. You can land the chopper there. Come get me. You can drop me at the trailhead, and I’ll track the kid from there.”

  “Will do.”

  He slipped his search and rescue vest on over his T-shirt and doubled his speed. “Hunt, out.”

  Chapter One

  Nine months later... The Midas Lodge

  outside Jackson, Wyoming

  “Samantha, what are you doing?”

  Wishing I was anywhere else.

  Hearing her father’s tsk-tsking tone above the white noise of conversations, laughter and chamber music drifting in from the reception area of the Midas Lodge’s main lobby, Samantha Eddington bit down on the ungrateful thought and stretched up on her toes on the arm of the leather chair she’d pulled from the neighboring window alcove. She closed the back of the mantel clock and screwed the casing shut with her thumbnail before pushing it back into place over the two-story stone fireplace. “Hi, Dad. It stopped at four twenty this afternoon. Fortunately, it was just the batteries.” She showed him the oxidized rust stains on the paper napkin wadded up in her hand. “I cleaned them and put them back in, but they won’t last for long. We’ll need a new set.”

  Walter Eddington had the build and face of a bulldog, an ironic contrast to the expensive tailored suit and diamond-studded lapel pin he wore. A self-made man who’d served in the Army before Samantha was born, he was as at home in the backcountry with a hunting rifle as he was in the boardroom of the hotel empire he’d purchased on a dare and built into a fortune over the past thirty-five years. Too bad she hadn’t inherited either of those skill sets. She didn’t share his love for a good party, either, like tonight’s shindig that mixed hotel with family business.

  But she did love him. Adored him, in fact. After losing her mother when she was seven, they’d become a team—sharing grief and comfort, and helping each other pick up the pieces of their fractured lives. She’d never quite been the tomboy he wanted, nor was she poised enough to serve as the dutiful hostess and helpmate a businessman of his standing needed. And while she understood the numbers and demographics of the lodging and tourism industry, she’d never shared his interest in running a corporation. She loved analyzing the architectural designs and engineering strategies that went into building hotels and resort lodges, but her intellectual acumen and aversion to board meetings, press conferences, and parties like tonight’s grand opening celebration with investors and local bigwigs kept her from being the heir he’d hoped for to take over the Midas Group and run the family business one day. Still, Walter Eddington loved her anyway. He was her daddy, the first man she’d loved. And even at twenty-nine, she was his little girl.

  “Come down from there.” He held out his broad, calloused hand. She took it and smiled as he helped her down from her perch. He dropped a kiss to her cheek, just below the rim of her glasses. “This is supposed to be your party. I realize we’re combining business with pleasure by scheduling the grand opening of the new lodge with your engagement announcement to Kyle. But you know how much I want to change the press’s perception of you as some kind of eccentric recluse who never recovered from your mother’s murder. Hiding out from our guests doesn’t help change that image.”

  “I’m not a recluse. My mind just gets occupied with other things.” Too many other things. Like the guilt she felt at putting that worry dimple between his silvering eyebrows.

  “I know that,” he assured her. “But the last time your picture was on TV and in all the papers, you were only seven. You were so brave. So sad.” He captured both hands and backed up to skim his gaze from the loose bun at the nape of her neck to the unpolished wiggle of her bare toes on the woven throw rug in front of the fireplace. He smiled. “You look pretty tonight. All grown up. A woman of the world.”

  His eyes, the same shade of green as her own, turned wistful. He was losing himself in the past until Samantha squeezed his hands, bringing him back into the present with her. “I miss Mom, too. Tonight of all nights, e
specially.”

  Walter nodded, pulling her into his barrel chest and capturing her in one of the bear hugs she’d always loved before he set her back on her feet. He chucked her lightly beneath the chin. “I know you take after my side of the family, but...” He brushed aside a rebellious lock of dark blond hair that had caught in her glasses and tucked it behind her ear. “I see your mother in you tonight. How I wish Michelle could be here to share this with us.”

  Samantha reached up to straighten the knot of his tie and smooth his lapels, the tender ministrations more of a comfort than a need. “Me, too.”

  “It’s been twenty-two years tonight since that bastard murdered...” Muttering a curse, he blinked away the moisture that glistened in his eyes and pulled something from his pocket. “I want to show you something.”

  Samantha lit up when she saw the familiar engraved locket on a silver chain that dangled from his fingers. “Mom’s necklace. The one you gave her when you got married.”

  “It’ll be yours one day. But tonight, I’m carrying it for luck. That everything goes smoothly, and that Kyle makes you as happy as she and I were. Even if it was for too short a time. I wanted you to know she’s with us.”

  She rubbed her fingertips across the locket’s etched surface the way she had as a curious child when it had hung around her mother’s neck. Then Walter drew it up to his lips and kissed the heirloom before tucking it back into his pocket. “Don’t tell Joyce.”

  “Don’t tell Joyce what?” Samantha’s stepmother appeared behind her father in a swish of pale pink satin. “The party’s in the other room, you two.” She pointed to the lobby behind them. “Where all the guests are.”

  With a wink that said he’d cover for Samantha, Walter caught his second wife’s hand and kissed her fingers before linking her arm through his. “You’ll need to speak to the staging crew, dear. Sammie had to repair this clock. It wasn’t working. You know I love the beautiful things you selected to decorate the new lodge. But I expect things to do their job, too.”