Hold On (Delos Series Book 5)
Lindsay McKenna
“A treasure of a book . . . highly recommended reading that everyone will enjoy and learn from.”
—Chief Michael Jaco, US Navy SEAL, retired, on Breaking Point
“Readers will root for this complex heroine, scarred both inside and out, and hope she finds peace with her steadfast and loving hero. Rife with realistic conflict and spiced with danger, this is a worthy page-turner.”
—BookPage.com on Taking Fire
March 2015 Top Pick in Romance
“. . . is fast-paced romantic suspense that renders a beautiful love story, start to finish. McKenna’s writing is flawless, and her story line fully absorbing. More, please.”
—Annalisa Pesek, Library Journal on Taking Fire
“Ms. McKenna masterfully blends the two different paces to convey a beautiful saga about love, trust, patience and having faith in each other.”
—Fresh Fiction on Never Surrender
“Genuine and moving, this romantic story set in the complex world of military ops grabs at the heart.”
—RT Book Reviews on Risk Taker
“McKenna does a beautiful job of illustrating difficult topics through the development of well-formed, sympathetic characters.”
—Publisher’s Weekly (starred review) on Wolf Haven
One of the Best Books of 2014, Publisher’s Weekly
“McKenna delivers a story that is raw and heartfelt. The relationship between Kell and Leah is both passionate and tender. Kell is the hero every woman wants, and McKenna employs skill and s empathy to craft a physically and emotionally abused character in Leah. Using tension and steady pacing, McKenna is adept at expressing growing, tender love in the midst of high stakes danger.”
—RT Book Reviews on Taking Fire
“Her military background lends authenticity to this outstanding tale, and readers will fall in love with the upstanding hero and his fierce determination to save the woman he loves.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Never Surrender
One of the Best Books of 2014, Publisher’s Weekly
“Readers will find this addition to the Shadow Warriors series full of intensity and action-packed romance. There is great chemistry between the characters and tremendous realism, making Breaking Point a great read.”
—RT Book Reviews
“This sequel to Risk Taker is an action-packed, compelling story, and the sizzling chemistry between Ethan and Sarah makes this a good read.”
—RT Book Reviews on Degree of Risk
“McKenna elicits tears, laughter, fist-pumping triumph, and most all, a desire for the next tale in this powerful series.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Running Fire
“McKenna’s military experience shines through in this moving tale . . . McKenna (High Country Rebel) skillfully takes readers on an emotional journey into modern warfare and two people’s hearts.”
—Publisher’s Weekly on Down Range
“Lindsay McKenna has proven that she knows what she’s doing when it comes to these military action/romance books.”
—Terry Lynn, Amazon on Zone of Fire.
“At no time do you want to put your book down and come back to it later! Last Chance is a well written, fast paced, short (remember that) story that will please any military romance reader!”
—LBDDiaries, Amazon on Last Chance.
Lindsay McKenna
Blue Turtle Publishing
Last Chance, prologue novella to Nowhere to Hide
Nowhere To Hide, Book 1
Tangled Pursuit, Book 2
Forged in Fire, Book 3
2016
Broken Dreams, Book 4
Cowboy Justice Bundle/Blind Sided, Bundle 2, novella
Secret Dream, novella epilogue to Nowhere to Hide
Hold On, Book 5
Hold Me, novella epilogue to Hold On
Unbound Pursuit, novella epilogue to Tangled Pursuit
Dog Tags for Christmas Bundle/Snowflake’s Gift, Bundle 3, novella
2017
Never Enough, novella epilogue to Forged in Fire
Dream of Me, novella epilogue to Broken Dreams
SHADOW WARRIORS
Danger Close
Down Range
Risk Taker
Degree of Risk
Breaking Point
Never Surrender
Zone of Fire
Taking Fire
On Fire
Running Fire
Shadows From The Past
Deadly Identity
Deadly Silence
The Last Cowboy
The Wrangler
The Defender
The Loner
High Country Rebel
Wolf Haven
Night Hawk
Out Rider
2016
Wind River Wrangler
2017
Wind River Rancher
Wind River Cowboy
Hold On
Copyright © 2016 by Nauman Living Trust
ISBN: 978-1-929977-32-1
Kindle Edition
Excerpt from
Hold Me
Copyright © 2016 by Nauman Living Trust
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Blue Turtle Publishing, PO Box 2513, Cottonwood, AZ 86326 USA
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Blue Turtle Publishing
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the Delos Series!
Hold On
is Book 5, a big book that is about Callie McKinley and Beau Gardner. Hold On is about Army Delta Force operator, Sergeant Beau Gardner and Callie McKinley. If you read
Forged in Fire
, then you met Callie because she was the younger sister to Dr. Dara McKinley.
Callie spends six months of the last five years at Hope Charity in Kabul, Afghanistan. She helps to take care of fifty young Afghan children. Her hobby is belly dancing and at the Thanksgiving USO show at Bagram Army Base, she and Callie bring the house down with their belly dancing routines. And that is where Beau Gardner, who is on Matt Culver’s team, falls for her.
And when he goes to the charity to help out, but also to meet Callie, he hits a proverbial brick wall. Callie knows he’s chasing her. She’s tired of military men running her down out of lust just to get her in bed with them. Beau, however, sees much deeper into fiery, redhead, Callie, and he goes about proving it. Just as they connect, the next day they are going out to a ‘safe’ Afghan village to render medical aid. On the way there, Dara, Callie, Matt Culver and Beau, are ambushed.
Beau is willing to give his life to get Callie back to safety, but there is a daunting thirty-five miles between them and protection. Can he get her home? Will they be attacked? Beau is falling in love with the courageous civilian who doesn’t quit and does everything he asks of her. Is there a future for them?
Let me hear from you about the Delos series. Happy reading!
To my readers, worldwide, who loved Morgan’s Mercenaries. Thank you for supporting this 45-book family saga-series! Now, you have a NEW one to read . . . Delos series! I hope you fall in love with the Culver family as you did with the Trayhern family. Happy reading!
Also available from Lindsay McKenna
S
ergeant Beau Gardner
wasn’t Delta Force for nothing. Black ops sometimes required stealthy moves, and after seeing fiery redhead Callie McKinley belly dancing for the troops at Bagram, he set his sights on her. Of course, four thousand other salivating, panting males wanted her, too. Dara McKinley, a tall, gorgeous blonde, and Callie, her younger sister, had sent every man in the chow hall into erotic spasms as they watched the women’s pulse-raising belly dances.
Of course, his team was with him, and their leader, Sergeant Matt Culver, had already set his sights on the blonde, so that was one sister off the table. Beau didn’t care; he really wanted that green-eyed beauty who’d danced into his heart as she twisted, turned, and swayed to the music in her purple and silver costume.
Callie had taken the fast dance, whereas Dara had performed a slow, sensuous version. It was Callie’s flashing green eyes, wicked smile, and gyrating hips that had sent the men leaping to their feet, wolf-whistling, clapping, and yelling their approval. These women certainly knew how to bring the house down, big-time.
Beau had been at Bagram for five deployments in a row with the same Delta Force team, and the two gals and their sensational belly dances were a welcome relief during an otherwise depressing Thanksgiving holiday, when all present were half a globe away from their families. As Beau watched Callie’s full breasts, flared hips, and statuesque body swaying before him, he decided he had to meet her—one way or another.
Oh, he wasn’t fooled. He knew there would be a hundred or so men crowding that hall to the room where the women would be changing into their regular clothes afterward. They’d be knocking on the door repeatedly, calling out their names, asking them out to dinner, lunch, or whatever they might want.
Beau grinned and enjoyed the rest of the sisters’ act. He knew all the guys, including him, really appreciated that the women had given up their time to come here and entertain them. They didn’t have to, and in Beau’s heart of hearts, he tried to tamp down his own lust. But not having a woman for nine months was a monk’s choice, not his.
If his ma, Amber Gardner, could have read his mind, she’d have boxed his ears proper and sent him to sit in the corner like a dunce. A wolfish smile tugged at his lips. Good thing she was in Black Mountain, West Virginia, and he was here in Afghanistan! Beau always liked a challenge.
Two days later, Beau had done enough sleuthing to find out all about Callie McKinley. She was a volunteer with an NGO named the Hope Charity. She worked at a Kabul orphanage five days a week and lived here on base on weekends. There was a section of B-huts for women, which was where she stayed when not working, and Beau was able to find out exactly which B-hut was hers.
He wasn’t about to show up on the porch of her B-hut and introduce himself, because that would be too pushy. No, he needed a better mousetrap than that.
Given that it was Thanksgiving week, and blizzards were dumping snow on the mountains twenty-five miles north of Bagram, causing havoc with flights, the folks on the base were pretty much on vacation.
His captain had released Matt’s entire team for the next seven days, but they couldn’t go anywhere other than Afghanistan. However, Beau saw that as a golden opportunity. He also found out that Matt Culver was already playing security guard at the orphanage because he had his eye on Dr. Dara McKinley.
