Military Romance Collection: Contemporary Soldier Alpha Male Romance (21 page)

INTRODUCTION

I have included a bonus collection just for you. Those stories are more traditional romance stories and are at the beginning of the book and therefore if you want to jump straight ahead to the main story of this book, click the link.

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1

“What doesn’t exist?” Jenn asked, walking out on to the porch. The pretty young horse trainer was sipping from a big mug of sweet tea and had a very curious expression on her face.  It wasn’t an everyday occurrence to find her new boyfriend Matthew deep in conversation with his handsome rancher brother, Charlie. “Tell me, what are my two most favorite guys in the world discussing so intently?”

Charlie smiled warmly. “All we need is a for-sure, absolutely certain way to tell the future.”

“With 100 percent accuracy,” Matthew added, nodding for emphasis. The way his tan cowboy hat was angled forward made it hard for Jenn to read the expression in his eyes, but he was smiling. Or at least she thought he was. “That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

“You can ask for anything,” Jenn replied, choosing her words carefully. “That doesn’t mean you’re going to get it.” She knew she’d been pressing Matthew pretty hard with her requests that he leave his brother’s ranch and move in with her. He hadn’t exactly dug in his boot heels and said no, but Jenn could tell he was more than a little hesitant about the whole thing. It was probably time to pull back – even though she desperately wanted Matthew in her life on a more regular basis.

What cowgirl wouldn’t? It was true that Matthew had a bit of a checkered past – he’d gotten in over his head gambling and foolishly tried to embezzle money from his job to cover his debts. That had led to a short stint in jail and the dissolution of his marriage.

Lots of women might have bailed out on any potential relationship at that point, but Jenn was willing to look past it. Matthew had made mistakes, but he was also a good looking, kind hearted man. He was sexy – just thinking about the time the two of them had nearly been caught in the act during a recent rodeo made Jenn’s cheeks go red in the best possible way – and he was extremely brave. A big gang-banger held Matthew’s brother Charlie responsible for the time he’d spent in jail; when he’d come to the ranch to exact his revenge, it had been Matthew who’d tackled the felon, saving Charlie’s wife Ada and taking a bullet to the shoulder in the process.

“Well, I’d like to have a dull moment sometime,” Charlie said. He nodded toward the fields, where his steadily growing herd of bucking broncos were grazing peacefully. “Knowing what tomorrow brings could make that happen.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that, boss man.” Freddie, the ranch hand most knowledgeable about horses, stepped up onto the porch. “We’ve got a problem, and it’s going to tie up your entire day tomorrow. And maybe the next day after that if the luck’s not with us.”

“What’s that, Freddie?” Charlie asked, instantly serious. Freddie liked to joke as much as anyone, but any time he was talking about the ranch, he was all business.

“Coyotes,” Freddie said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pulled up a picture before handing it over to Charlie. “I wanted to see how Lady Lou was doing. That’s what I found.”

Charlie closed his eyes. The image of the mare with her swollen abdomen ripped open was more than he wanted to see. “They got the foal too?”

“Little filly, as far as I could tell,” Freddie shook his head sadly. “They didn’t leave much of her.”

“So what happens next?” Matthew asked.

“Hunting party,” Freddie replied. “Coyotes are tough and they’re smart. But they all have a fatal lead allergy.”

Matthew winced, but he didn’t say anything.

Jenn noticed his discomfort. “You can poison them,” she suggested. “We had an older pair that would come in. They didn’t do that kind of damage,” she added, nodding toward the phone, “but they were a problem. So Manuel put out some bait. It took a couple of days, but then?” Jenn shrugged. “No more problem coyotes.”

Freddie shook his head. “If we had one or two, maybe poison would be the way to go. But judging from the number of tracks I was able to find, we’re going to have to be more aggressive than that.” He reached down and scratched the ears of Daisy, the little mutt who was nearly always by his side. “Besides, we’ve got way too many dogs running around here to chance one of them getting into it.”

“Speaking of dogs,” Charlie said, looking around with a worried expression, “has anyone seen Grace?”  The little black border collie had shown up a few days after his wife had had her run in with Big Jesus; the two of them had quickly become inseparable. “Ada will never forgive me if I let her little darling get all chewed up.”

Jenn shook her head. “Don’t worry. They’re both asleep in there.” Grace had taken to sleeping with her head pressed up against Ada’s very pregnant belly. “At least, they were out cold when I saw them last.”

Charlie nodded. “We’ll have to keep an eye on her.” He looked toward the horizon. The sky was only just starting to gray; night hadn’t set in in earnest. “Maybe we should take a ride out there tonight, see if we can’t take any of these bastards now.”

Freddie looked skeptical. “Not that I’m doubting your skills, boss man.” Charlie had spent a lot of time in the saddle since Freddie had first come to work for him. His horsemanship had improved tremendously. “But these coyotes are dangerous. To be out there in the dark with them, unprepared – it’s not our best plan ever.”

“We can go out at first light,” Matthew said. “That’s probably smarter. We’ll be able to see what we’re doing.” He nodded toward his brother. “Besides, you’re going to want to let Ada know what you’re up to before you just take off like that. Who knows when the little one’s going to decide to arrive?”

“Well, we’re not ready for that yet!” Charlie said. “That child can’t be born until I’ve finished painting the nursery.”

Freddie laughed. “It doesn’t exactly work like that!”

“Sure it does,” Charlie replied, turning toward the house. “Especially if I get on with the painting now.”

“I’ll give you a hand with that,” Matthew said.

Jenn felt her heart sink. “Really?” she said, reaching out for Matthew’s hand. “I was hoping maybe you’d come out to my place tonight.”

“That sounds great,” he said, looking toward the horizon and refusing to meet her gaze. “But we’re going to be getting up really early with these coyotes…”

“Yeah, okay.” Jenn nodded, swallowing hard. She took a sip of sweet tea to steady her nerves. “It’s no big deal.”

“We’ll hang out another night,” Matthew replied. “It’s just tonight’s not real good.”

“Well.”  The pause grew awkward; Freddie backed off of the porch and disappeared into the rapidly blackening night. Charlie gave Jenn a quick smile and a nod; then he too took his leave, slipping into the house. “It’s no big deal.”

“You sure?” Matthew asked.

Jenn smiled brightly. “Of course I’m sure. Have fun…painting.”

2

The nursery was a small room. Ada had decreed that it was to be painted in cheerful yellows and greens. The sunny base coat had already gone down. Now Charlie was carefully taping off the vertical lines for the green stripes.

“I’ve got this, bro,” he said when Matthew walked into the room.  “It’s all good.”

Matthew crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Charlie’s tape job with a critical eye. “Did Ada tell you she wanted all the lines slanted like that?”

“What are you talking about, slanted?” Charlie stepped back to consider his work. “That’s perfectly straight.”

“Dude.” Matthew shook his head. “That is totally not straight.” He looked around. “Where’s the level?”

“I measured across the top and across the bottom, marking off every four inches,” Charlie replied. “So all I’ve got to do is go from point to point.”

“If this house was square, yeah,” Matthew replied. “But it’s not. This place is what? Fifty years old?”

“Closer to one hundred,” Charlie said.

“So you know it’s not all squared up anymore. We need a level,” Matthew pronounced. He started to look around the room for one.

“Why are you here, anyway?” Charlie said. “Jenn’s just about begging you to take her to bed. And you’re here fussing about the baby’s room.”

“Something’s not right,” Matthew said. “I can’t put my finger on it yet. But this whole situation?” He shook his head. “I’ve got to put the brakes on things. She wants more than I can give her right now.”

“So tell her to cool it a bit,” Charlie said. “But don’t shut her out entirely.” He shrugged. “A woman like that’s not going to stay lonely long.”

Matthew sighed. “And that should bother me. And it doesn’t.”

Charlie bit his lip. “It’s like that?”

“I don’t know,” Matthew said. “When I can take the time to think things through, I can see myself developing feelings – real feelings – for Jenn. But there’s no time. It’s all now, now, now…” He slapped his fingers into the palm of his other hand, smacking a little louder each time. 

“Where is that level?” Charlie asked, glaring at the wall. “Not that I’m saying you’re right, but some of these lines don’t look none too straight.”

“I’m not seeing it in here,” Matthew said. “Let me see if it’s out in the truck.”

“All right.” Charlie nodded.

It had gotten quite a bit darker in the short time Charlie and Matthew had been considering the baby’s room. When Matthew stepped out onto the porch, night had fallen in earnest. It was dark. There was a little sliver of a moon, casting just enough light to turn nearby clouds silver.

Matthew took a deep breath in, held it, and then exhaled slowly. One of the things his stint inside lockup had taught him was how very precious darkness and silence were. It’d been very hard for him to adjust to an environment where at least some lights were always on and people never stopped talking. It made it impossible to ever truly relax, never mind sleep.

He’d planned to spend at least a week snoozing once he’d gotten out of jail. That’s how he’d made it through the worst nights, where he’d lay on his bunk, frozen in place as inmates shouted threats at each other from tier to tier, while the lights the guards had ‘forgotten’ to turn off had blazed with the intensity of the noontime sun: carefully crafting a vision of uninterrupted, safe sleep, in a quiet, dark place with lots of comfy blankets and absolute darkness. In Matthew’s plan, he’d be able to slumber as long and as deeply as he needed to.

Things hadn’t quite worked out that way. His brother Charlie had picked Matthew up as soon as he was released. The Texas ranch was a huge improvement over the jail – no doubt about that – but it was  a very busy environment. The bucking broncos his brother was working so hard to raise needed constant attention; chores started before dawn every single morning.  There was no sleeping in, even though the nights were dark and quiet.

That quiet wasn’t going to last long. Ada’s belly was getting larger every day, and Matthew knew it wasn’t going to be long before the baby came. He was looking forward to greeting his new niece or nephew – after all, it was going to be the very first of a new generation of Daniels! – but babies were famous for making sure nobody around got enough sleep, especially after they just arrived.

Maybe, Matthew thought, he’d ask David if he’d mind sharing the guest house they were building for him.  All of the time his little brother had spent in Afghanistan had acclimated him to sharing sleeping quarters. He might even prefer having a little familiar company nearby. The quarters might be a little on the cozy side, but it would be definitely better than being woken up in the middle of the night by a crying baby.

Ada would probably be happy to get her house back, too, Matthew thought. His sister in law had been nothing but gracious toward him, but having a perpetual houseguest was an intrusion no matter how you looked at it. Giving them some space was probably a good idea – and it would help ease the tension that was building up between him and Charlie.

Matthew took a deep breath. Maybe that’s why Charlie’d been so hell-bent on having his big brother hook up with Jenn. If the two of them became a couple, it was only logical that they’d live together on Jenn’s ranch – giving Charlie and Ada back their space and privacy.

He shook his head. It made sense, especially when he thought it through from Charlie’s perspective. Jenn was a really pretty woman, with a good heart and a great attitude. They’d had a lot of fun together – way more fun than Matthew could ever remember having with his first wife, Amy.

Still, he knew moving in with Jenn would be a mistake. Her feelings for Matthew had come on so quickly and intensely that he felt like he couldn’t trust them. Someone who fell in love so quickly could fall out just as fast – and then where would he be? It had apparently been very easy for Jenn to look past Matthew’s criminal past, and this troubled him. Getting caught up in gambling was one thing, but stealing from his wife? That was something Matthew hadn’t been able to forgive himself for yet; it troubled him how quickly everyone else was seemed willing to overlook the betrayal involved.

Jenn insisted he was a different person now, but Matthew wasn’t so sure of that.  It’s easy to say you’ve overcome a problem when you haven’t been exposed to any temptation. Out on the ranch, there was no easily accessible cash just laying around for him to bet with. If the situation was different…

He paused and laughed. If his short time in ranch country had taught him anything, it was that cash was seldom just laying around in these parts. Raising horses wasn’t the most lucrative field in the world. Life with Jenn would mean a life not of poverty, by any means, but certainly nowhere near the affluent lifestyle he’d had with Amy.