A SEAL's Triumph

by Cora Seton

  When Boone burst into the room holding up a single straw in his hand, however, he stifled a groan. He should have guessed the man wouldn’t buck tradition. At every Base Camp wedding, they drew straws to see who would marry next.

  “You know what time it is!” Boone crossed the room to present the single straw to him.

  There was nothing for it. All Walker could do was pluck it from Boone’s hand and hold it up for all to see. It was short, of course. He was the only one of the original ten Base Camp men left unmarried.

  “Think you can pull it off?” Boone asked. Walker noticed everyone was waiting to hear his answer.

  “I’ll get it done,” he assured them. He felt freer since his decision this morning and had been kicking himself about not taking action sooner. He supposed he couldn’t blame Elizabeth for not coming home before now. The confrontation they needed to have with Sue wasn’t something you looked forward to. It wasn’t the kind of thing you did over the phone, either, and he was surprised Elizabeth hadn’t taken the bull by the horns and done it years ago.

  Maybe she’d hoped he’d do it for her.

  Not a chance. Walker suppressed a smile. Elizabeth was the one who’d gotten them into this mess; it was only fair she get them out of it.

  “It’s time,” Boone said to Angus. “You ready?”

  “Hell, yeah,” Angus said. “Let’s go.”

  A half hour later, in the manor’s ballroom, Walker knew he should be focused on Angus and Win, but he couldn’t stop watching Avery, who was hanging on every word of the ceremony.

  One more day, he promised himself. One more day, and he could finally propose. His heart beat hard at the thought, but he was determined that in thirty-six hours, Avery would wear his ring on her finger and they’d be preparing their own wedding.

  Walker took a deep breath when Angus kissed Win and the preacher declared them man and wife. One step closer to his own happy ending.

  He sprang into action after the new husband and wife walked back up the aisle, helping the other men to clear the folding chairs to the sides of the ballroom and set up tables among them, leaving a large area in the center of the room for dancing. Food was set out at one end on long buffet tables. Nearby, there were drinks to be had. At the other end, a local band played the first notes of a waltz as camera crews captured the action. Everything was going according to plan, Walker told himself with satisfaction. And tomorrow his life would change forever—just as soon as Elizabeth got here.

  “It’s all down to you now.” Boone clapped Walker on the shoulder and handed him a bottle of beer. “You got things straightened out with your grandmother?”

  “Working on it.” He wasn’t surprised when Boone sighed.

  “Strange your intended wife hasn’t turned up in all this time.”

  “She’s been busy.”

  “Guess you’re lucky you never drew the short straw until now.”

  Walker nearly smiled—but didn’t. Avoiding the short straw was easier than one might think. A time or two, he’d gotten a jump on the job before Boone got around to it, which made it easy to perform the sleight of hand that left him with one of the long ones. When Boone took charge of the operation, Walker had noticed he gripped the straws together in his fist but flicked the bottom of the longer ones with his pinkie finger over and over. If he watched carefully, he could see each of the long ones vibrate in turn as Boone flicked them. The short one remained still.

  No one else had noticed, which made it easy for him to draw a long one. Luck had played its part, of course, but not as much as everyone else thought.

  “Guess it was meant to be” was all he said to Boone.

  “You’re not planning to become a bigamist, right?” Boone asked as both watched Avery tilt back her head and laugh at something Riley said.

  “Nope.”

  “Then I’m assuming you’re going to make Avery a happy woman.”

  “That’s the plan,” Walker conceded.

  “The sooner it’s June, the happier I’ll be,” Boone said. “I promised Riley we’d secure Westfield forever, and it would kill me to break that promise.”

  “I’ll get it done,” Walker assured him, knowing Boone wanted to hear him say it. One more day, he told himself again silently, letting the music, the conversations and the laughter settle over him as he took another drink of his beer. “Talk to you later,” he told Boone and pushed through the crowd to get to the person he really wanted to be with.

  “Good wedding,” he said when he met her at the drinks table, wanting to keep things light tonight.

  “It was a beautiful wedding,” Avery agreed.

  “They seem happy.” He nodded at Win and Angus dancing together, gazing at each other like there was no one else in the world.

  “They do.”

  Walker searched for his grandmother in the crowd. As soon as Elizabeth told her the truth about their promise and he was free of it, he’d be free to dance with Avery like that.

  “About the fan,” Avery said, turning to him. “We really need to talk about it.”

  Walker scanned the room again and stiffened.

  “I appreciate the gesture,” Avery went on, “but…” She trailed off to follow his gaze, since he was no longer listening to her.

  Walker couldn’t help it, because he’d found Sue. She’d just entered the ballroom from the front hall, dressed in a neat navy-blue skirt and blazer with a pale-blue blouse buttoned up to the top. Her straight black hair was done in one long braid down her back, glints of silver running through it like decorative thread.

  She wasn’t alone. Beside her walked another, taller woman, with the straight, dark hair of his people, high cheekbones, a full, curved mouth and sharp eyes that missed nothing, just as he remembered them. A woman Walker hadn’t seen in years.

  Elizabeth Blaine.

  His promised bride.

  And now Avery had caught sight of her, too.

  “Who’s that with Sue?” Avery asked, but her stomach tightened, and she had an awful feeling she didn’t want to know the answer to her question. Sue wouldn’t have brought any old last-minute guest to Win and Angus’s wedding.

  That was the woman Walker was supposed to marry—it had to be. The reason he’d asked her to give him one more day.

  Avery had known something had to happen before he proposed to her tomorrow, but she’d never expected this.

  Walker looked surprised, too.

  Maybe he’d forgotten his would-be bride was so beautiful.

  Tall, regal, with straight dark hair that framed expressive dark eyes, her heritage clear in her features, her pride evident in her bearing, the newcomer was everything Avery wasn’t, and she fought a sudden urge to take Walker’s hand and remind him of what he’d said that morning—that he wanted to be with her—because surely one look at the woman with Sue would make him forget everything else.

  In vain she reminded herself of Walker’s intensity as he’d promised to propose to her. The way he’d looked at her like he wanted to kiss her, hold her—do so much more.

  Because now he was looking at the newcomer, and she was a woman made for him. A match in every way. She was as beautiful as he was handsome, had as much presence as he did, shared his heritage—and Sue’s affection, evidently. Walker’s grandmother oozed satisfaction.

  No… triumph. That was the word for it.

  Now Avery understood why Sue had never approved of her for Walker.

  “Stay here,” he commanded and took off across the room before she could say a word, shouldering his way through tight knots of people in his hurry to greet his guests.

  Without thinking, Avery followed as swiftly as she could, the long skirts of her Regency gown hampering her. She was desperate to know what was going on. Had to hear what Walker would say to the newcomer. She trusted him—when he’d said he wanted to marry her, she knew he’d meant it.

  He wasn’t the kind of man to lie.

  But how could she compare to this woman?
r />   “Who’s that with Sue?” Riley intercepted her halfway across the ballroom. Avery kept going, but Riley fell in behind her, holding a hand over her barely-rounded belly as if to protect her unborn child.

  “She’s the one. The woman Walker’s promised to,” Avery hissed over her shoulder. He hadn’t said as much, but who else could she be?

  “Are you sure?” Riley lifted her head to get a better look. “Wouldn’t Walker have told you she was coming?”

  “I don’t know.” Her heart beat hard, and she was finding it difficult to breathe. She couldn’t say why she was panicking, except she’d thought she’d found a happily-ever-after once before. Thought she’d been on her way to the altar.

  She’d been wrong.

  Riley linked arms with her, and they pressed forward. “He doesn’t seem happy about her being here.”

  Avery craned her head to look again, her heart lifting with hope. Walker had reached the two women, but he was talking only to his grandmother, ignoring the beauty by her side, who was surveying him with a stony expression.

  Riley was right, Walker looked angry rather than pleased to see her. She was being ridiculous. If Walker said he was going to marry her, he meant it. There was no way he’d play with her affections. Not Walker.

  As she watched, he finally turned to the newcomer, and Avery’s stomach lurched again as some strong emotion flashed between them. Maybe not love, but—

  Understanding. A deep kind of knowing that only years of proximity and connection could bring.

  Avery stopped. Riley hovered near her. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to find out what they’re saying?”

  Avery wasn’t sure she dared. She’d felt beautiful earlier taking part in Angus and Win’s wedding ceremony, sneaking glances across the aisle at Walker, who had stood up with the groom. Walker had looked so handsome in the Revolutionary War uniform the men always wore to Base Camp weddings.

  He still did, but Avery felt frowsy in comparison to the cool beauty who stood by his side. Her deep-blue gown made Avery’s Regency dress seem silly. Her straight, dark hair fell in a perfect curtain, not a strand out of place, while Avery’s had gone frizzy in the unusual heat.

  And that look they’d exchanged—

  Avery didn’t know Walker half as well as this woman obviously did.

  “Come on. Let’s get to the bottom of this.” Riley tugged Avery forward determinedly until they could hear what Walker and the women were saying. Avery’s hands were clammy, and she wiped them on her skirts, then wished she hadn’t.

  “Aren’t you even going to say hello?”

  That was Sue upbraiding her grandson for his lack of manners. Avery watched as Walker turned to face the newcomer again. “Elizabeth.”

  “Walker.” Elizabeth looked him up and down, a trace of amusement touching her lips. “You’re looking very… revolutionary.”

  Avery’s shoulder’s straightened. No one got to make fun of Walker—or of Base Camp’s traditions.

  Walker hesitated, and Avery knew Elizabeth had flummoxed him. He probably hadn’t intended to meet up with his… intended… dressed this way.

  “We’re supposed to meet tomorrow,” he said, confirming her suspicions.

  Elizabeth shrugged delicately. “I got in early.”

  Between them, Sue lifted her chin. “Now the promise will be fulfilled. The healing will begin for our families. Elizabeth, your grandmother would be so pleased you’re here.”

  Elizabeth smiled, and Avery’s heart sank all over again. She was lovely, but was it her imagination, or did that smile contain a trace of bitterness?

  What was really happening here?

  “Sue.” Walker waved a hand as if pushing his grandmother’s words away, but Elizabeth moved closer to him and raised her voice.

  “She’s right, Walker, time to fulfill that promise.” The gaze she leveled at him was full of steel, even as the camera crew, who’d raced to film the action as soon as Sue appeared with Elizabeth by her side, pushed closer to record her words. “When are you going to make me your wife?”

  Avery’s heart stopped. Beside her, Riley gasped.

  Even Sue looked uncomfortable at Elizabeth’s direct question.

  Walker’s expression hardened. “Why are you really here?”

  Elizabeth met his glare with one of her own. “You made a promise.”

  “But—”

  Elizabeth’s gaze swept past him and landed on Avery, who flinched as if she’d been cut. “You said you’d marry me. Did you lie?”

  Walker refused to turn. “Why?” he asked again. Simple and direct, the way he always was, Avery thought. Cut right to the heart of the matter and bypass all the rest.

  Fury pinched Elizabeth’s face. “Do I need a reason?”

  “Yes.”

  For one fleeting moment, Avery saw something like fear cross Elizabeth’s features. Then her expression hardened again.

  “You owe me. You know you do.”

  Walker searched her face, opened his mouth to reply, then seemed to notice Sue standing next to Elizabeth. Both women watched him, their features set as stone.

  Avery’s throat went dry. What did Walker owe this woman?

  “So are you going to marry me or not?” Elizabeth hissed.

  He couldn’t seem to find an answer to that.

  Avery didn’t think she’d ever find an answer to anything again.

  Chapter Two

  ‡

  Elizabeth had changed. Where she’d once been a bright go-getter, now she seemed hard as flint—cynical beyond her years. There were lines around her eyes Walker hadn’t expected, as if life had served her a harsh hand. Her shoulders were set. Her mouth drawn.

  What had happened to her since he’d last seen her?

  “Well?” Elizabeth demanded.

  Sue frowned. “Of course he’ll marry you. He pledged to do so.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “I’ve been watching this show of his.” She gestured to the camera crew pressed around them. “He hasn’t been taking his pledge seriously at all. You know that as well as I do, Sue. He’s been running around with her.”

  Walker turned to find Avery behind him, her eyes wide with pain, her face drawn into a mask of confusion. His chest burned with frustration. This was exactly what he’d hoped to avoid by meeting Elizabeth tomorrow at Sue’s place. He wanted his confrontation with her over and done with before Avery ever knew about it. Now she’d heard every word Sue and Elizabeth had said.

  “Avery—” He reached for her.

  She shook her head just like Elizabeth had a moment ago and turned to leave. Sue grabbed his sleeve before he could pursue her. “Let her go. This is Crow business. She has no part in it.”

  “This isn’t Crow business,” he ground out, aching to follow Avery and tell her everything. It wasn’t a clan matter—it was a family one. And Avery was as good as family.

  Better, he thought as he faced Sue and Elizabeth again. Where had his family been when he really needed them? His mother dead. Father dead. His grandmother present, but so caught up in her private sorrow—

  “It’s our business,” Sue said, “and we’ll handle it ourselves—when we have the privacy to do so. This isn’t the place or the time. Your grandmother would be ashamed of you,” she told Elizabeth. “I brought you to say hello and to enjoy the wedding. We’re guests here.”

  Elizabeth didn’t blush, but Walker thought the rebuke hit home nonetheless. Her shoulders lowered and her frown deepened as she cast a glance over her shoulder at the door through which she’d entered just moments before. “Normally, I’d prefer to do this privately as much as you,” she agreed, her voice as loud as ever, and for a fleeting second Walker wondered if Fulsom had put her up to this, before realizing how improbable that was. His chest tightened as Elizabeth pointed a dramatic finger at him, really playing it up for the cameras still focused on them. “He’s the one who’s taken this all public, going on this show and agreeing to marry at a certain time. He f
orced my hand.”

  Walker couldn’t remember Elizabeth ever being so determined to be in the limelight. Sue looked as surprised as he was, but all she said to Walker was, “Tomorrow. Come to dinner as we planned. We’ll sort out your future then. In the meantime, remember who you are and what you owe your family.”

  In other words, forget about marrying Avery. That’s why she’d brought Elizabeth here tonight, he realized. Sue knew now that Angus was wed, it would be his turn to marry in forty days. Had she been afraid he’d get carried away by the romance of the occasion and propose to Avery tonight?

  He wished he had.

  Walker burned to tell his grandmother exactly what he thought of her, but he’d been raised to respect his elders, and he didn’t want to ruin Angus and Win’s big night by creating a scene.

  “Tomorrow,” he ground out. He’d put an end to this farce if Elizabeth wouldn’t. He should have done it a long time ago.

  “Tomorrow,” Elizabeth echoed. “Don’t think you’re going to get out of it,” she added in a lower tone, but not so low the camera crew couldn’t pick it up on the boom mike. “I can make your life miserable.” She cut a meaningful glance at Sue and walked away.

  “Yeah, Walker,” one of the cameramen echoed. “Don’t think you’re going to get out of doing this all on camera, either. If you’re going to your grandma’s house tomorrow, so are we.”

  Perfect, Walker thought. That was all he needed.

  “I need to leave. Tonight. Right now.” Avery couldn’t stop the tears rolling down her cheeks. After everything that had happened this year—after all the days spent in Walker’s company, longing for his touch—pining for evidence that he loved her as much as she loved him—it had all come to nothing. Worse than nothing. He’d known all along this beautiful woman was waiting in the wings to marry him.