MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) (147 page)

Chapter Five

              The ice storm rolled in over the cottage a few hours later, hammering against the tin roof and waking Chris from a dead sleep.  He glanced down at the woman sprawled across him and pulled the quilt up over her bare shoulders.  Rebecca murmured something wordless and rubbed her cheek against his chest.

              The feel of her naked body on top of his made his cock twitch, but Chris knew after the wildness of their first time she’d likely be sore.  Gently he eased her off him onto her side before he slipped out of bed to pull on his trousers.

              After adding a few more logs to the fire, Chris checked the windows and then sat down to watch the flames crackling merrily in the hearth.  Rebecca’s bag sat open beside the bricks, and as he moved it away a book fell out.

              Chris picked it up and saw it was her Bible, and couldn’t help peeking inside.  He found the folded yearbook page tucked in Psalms, and opened it to see his senior picture enclosed by a hand-drawn pink heart.  Under his photo were the words “My secret love” and “I’m yours 4-ever” in Rebecca’s neat handwriting.

              His eyes stung as he saw the deep crease lines, and how the page had torn at the edges and had been taped back together.  How many times had she unfolded the page to look at his picture?  A thousand, at least.

              Chris carefully replaced the page in the Bible and put it back in her bag.  He knew from helping some friends with their wedding that there was no waiting period for couples in Montana.  As soon as they got the license, they could be married immediately.   

“Hey.”  Wrapped in his grandmother’s old blue bathrobe, Rebecca sat down beside him.  “Everything okay?”

“It is now.”  Chris pulled her onto his lap and tucked her against his shoulder.  “What do you think about getting married?”

She frowned up at him.  “You mean, to each other?”  When he nodded her lips curved.  “Well, I think I’m supposed to say we just got together, and we should take our time, and think this through and so on.  But all I can really think is, hell, yes, and how soon?”

“When the storm is over, we can go get you the rubella blood test they require for the license.  That takes a day.  Then we go to county clerk’s office, pick up the license, and have the JoP do the honors.”  He caressed her cheek.  “I’m thinking Christmas Eve.”

Her eyes shimmered.  “Are you sure you want to marry me?  Because you don’t have to.”  She grimaced.  “I’m on the pill for my monthlies, so I won’t get pregnant.”

“Well, then stop taking them, because I want you pregnant.”  He spread his hand over her belly.  “I want you in my arms, my bed, my home, my family and my life -- forever.  Will you be my wife, Rebecca Rose?”

              She cradled his face between her slim hands, and kissed him.  “Yes, Christopher.”

#

              The storm lasted through the morning, and it was another day before Chris decided it was safe enough to ride over to the tractor barn and get one of the snowmobiles they kept there.

              “Casper can’t carry us both with all this ice, so I’ll run you back to the ranch house on the snowmobile, and come back for him this afternoon,” he told Becca as he bundled her up for the short ride to the tractor barn.  

              Becca wrinkled her nose.  “You’re going to leave me alone with your six brothers?”

              “Jessa, Ethan’s fiancée, will be there, too.  She’s a horse vet, and a real sweetheart.”  He tugged her hood up over her head and tucked the edges of her gloves inside her sleeves.  “Don’t be afraid.  We’re in this together now, remember?”

              Becca nodded, and then glanced at the window, where some red and blue lights were flashing against the frosty panes.  Her throat tightened as she heard a familiar, high-pitched woman’s voice call her name. 

“That’s Holly.”  She looked around frantically.  “I have to hide somewhere.”

              “Not anymore.”  Chris put his arm around her.  “Come on.  I’m not going to let anyone take you from me now.”

              It took all her courage to walk outside, and stand calmly as her stepmother marched up to the cottage flanked by two uniformed cops and Ethan and Liam Boone.

              “You see?”  Holly jabbed her finger at them.  “I was right about her hiding inside that man Hastings’s truck.”  She gave Chris a snooty look before she smiled at Becca.  “I’m so glad you’re safe, dearest.  We’ve all been so terribly worried about you.”

              Becca ignored her stepmother and spoke to the first policeman.  “My stepmother murdered my father, and she threatened to do the same to me and make it look like suicide.”

              Holly made a mournful sound.  “She must having another one of her episodes.”  To Becca she said, “I didn’t kill anyone, darling.  Your father’s death was an accident.  All I want to do is get you the help you need.”  She latched onto Becca’s arm.  “Now come along.”

              Chris plucked Holly’s hand off Becca’s sleeve.  “She’s not going anywhere with you.”  He looked at his brothers.  “Rebecca and I are getting married on Christmas Eve.  You’re invited.”

              Ethan gave Becca a long look before he nodded.  “Great day for a winter wedding.”

              Holly’s eyes glittered with malice.  I’m sorry, Mr. Boone, but you can’t marry my stepdaughter.  She’s a very sick girl who needs professional help.”

              “You switched the tags on the stalls in the horse barn,” Becca said.  “That made my father think Whiplash was Snowball.  Since they look almost identical, he wouldn’t have known the difference until he was inside the stall.  That was when you jammed the door latch from the outside.”  Becca opened her bag and removed a baggie with the twisted latch, which she offered to the police officer.  “This was the original bolt.  She replaced it so no one would know how she tampered with it.”

              “That’s doesn’t prove anything,” Holly snapped.

              “I know.”  Becca took out the tape recorder she’d hidden under the covers during her last confrontation with her stepmother, and turned on the playback.  “But this will.”
              The hectic color drained from Holly’s face as she listened to herself confessing to the murder and threatening Becca.  “You little bitch.  You set me up.”

              Becca switched off the tape.  “Yes, I did.”  She offered the policeman the recorder.  “I’m also willing to testify as a witness against her,” she told him, and lifted her shirt to show him her bruised side.  “For assault as well as murder.”

              As Holly screamed in fury and lunged at Becca, Chris stepped between them and picked her up by the collar, marching her over to patrol car and tossing her into the back. 

“Sorry,” he said to the officers.  “I didn’t want to kill her, and I was pretty close.”

“You get that way around snakes,” one of the cops told him, and eyed the squad car where Holly was screeching and pounding on the window.  “Thanks for handling that one.”

“You two want to head back to the house with us?” Ethan asked.

“Oh, yeah.”  Chris smiled at Becca as he held out his hand.  “We’ve got a wedding to plan.” 

THE END

If you liked this story sign up
here
to receive links to the hottest new romance ebooks on Kindle delivered directly to your inbox every week! (Click the link below or enter
https://surrenderpublishing.leadpages.co/amberduval/
into your browser.)

***Coming next is Saved by the Cowboy***

Love in Ghost Lake Ranch

Book 5

(Can be read as a standalone book)

By: Amber Duval

Wanted by the Cowboy

Chapter One

After listening to General Frances K. Merlin thank him, Liam Boone said good-bye.  He walked over to the kitchen window to look out at the grassy acres beyond the barns.  Dotted with buttercups and clover, the rich pastureland would nourish their dairy cattle until the fall stock auctions.  Over the last ten years Ghost Lake Ranch’s sterling reputation for producing prime, hardy Jersey and Holstein stock had grown and spread across Montana.  

Liam felt proud of what he and his six brothers had accomplished.  He’d left the Army to help make this ranch a success, but that wasn’t the only reason he’d come home.

His enlistment in the Army had ended six years ago, but the bond of the military lasted for life.  So did the memories, which still woke him up covered in sweat and shaking in the middle of the night.  Yet he wouldn’t hesitate to lay down his life for the man who had saved it.

The general sent him the promised photo, which appeared on Liam’s phone display.  The young, tall California blonde with Pacific blue eyes stood in a wet suit by the surf.  She had a board tucked under her arm, but she didn’t smile.  Liam wondered if the shot had been taken the summer after her mother had died of cancer.  Frank had stopped smiling that year, too. 

“Buck?”  Liam’s oldest brother Ethan came into the kitchen holding a bloody bandana to his head.

“He went to the farmer’s market.”  Liam took down the first aid kit.  “Pete do this?”

“No, I did, getting out of his way.  The farrier’s here, and Pete still comes out of his stall like a rocket.”  Ethan sat down at their cook’s work table.  “Jessa thinks he’s been abused, but I’m thinking he’s just born ornery.”  He grimaced as Liam inspected his head wound.  “How bad is it?”

He gently cleaned away the blood with gauze and antiseptic.  “Well, here’s the good news.  You won’t need stitches.”

Ethan squinted up at him.  “What’s the bad news?”

“I need to head out for a week or two.”  Liam got some antibiotic cream from the kit.  “Frank Merlin, my old CO, called from Fort Irwin.  His daughter is camping out by Ghost Lake, and he wants me to keep an eye on her.”

“Why not invite to her to stay at the house?” his brother suggested.  “We’ve got plenty of room, and she’ll be safe here.”

With a swab Liam coated the wound with the cream.  “She’s not camping for pleasure.  She’s trying to find more of The Reaper’s victims.”

“What for?”  Ethan frowned.  “Didn’t they hang that sick bastard back in nineteen-oh-one?”

“More like an angry mob lynched him.”  Liam applied a butterfly bandage to the laceration.  “Frank’s girl is a forensic archaeologist.  Somebody writing a book about the murders hired her to come up here and dig for bones.  Seems they never found all the bodies of the women he killed, or any real proof that he murdered them.”

              Ethan sighed.  “How do you play into this?”

              “She’s been getting some anonymous threats, hate mail, hang-up phone calls, that kind of thing.  She’s paid no mind to it, but Frank thinks she has a stalker.”  Liam saw how his brother was looking at him and held up a hand.  “Look, I know with Chris handling things at the Carson ranch, and Tom setting up shop in town you need me here—”

              “You never take any time off.  We’ll manage.”  His older brother’s whiskey-brown eyes darkened.  “But you’re not in the Army anymore, William.”

              “Frank is the reason I’m here,” Liam said simply.  “He sent a team in to retrieve me when I got cut off from the battalion in Kabul.  I’d walk into hell for him.”

              “All right,” Ethan said.  “Does the daughter know you’ll be watching out for her?”

              Now Liam sighed.  “Not exactly.”

#

“Dad, please.  Don’t do this to me.”  Cat Merlin listened to her father’s calm, cool voice for another minute before she closed her eyes.  “Listen, I know how important your men are to you.  I appreciate their loyalty to you, too.  But what the heck am I going to do with an ex-Army ranger on a dig?”

              Ten minutes later Cat shut off her phone and walked out of her tent.  Her team had already assembled at the big, battered picnic table where they would be eating, working and planning for the next two weeks.  She sat down with them and tried to think of how to spin her father’s request.

              “Did the book guy yank our funding?” Jason Sanders, Cat’s new research assistant, asked as he popped a stick of gum in his mouth.  Although he was small and rather pudgy, he had a brilliant mind.  Jason had also put together a huge database on the Reaper that rivalled that of the author underwriting the dig.  

              “No, actually, we’re going to have a local resident joining the team.”  She checked her watch.  “In about fifteen minutes.  He’s lived here all his life, so he should provide some valuable input.  His name is William Boone.”

              “Call me Liam,” a deep voice said.

              Cat turned around to see a tall broad-shouldered man dressed like a ranch hand walking into camp.  He wore his dark hair military-short under a black and red UMW Bulldogs cap.  His intensely blue eyes reminded Cat of the dark glacier ice, and his expression seemed just as cold. 

For all that coolness something about him sent a slow surge of heat between her thighs.  “You’re early.”

              His mouth hitched.  “Old habits.”

She eyed his duffle and sleeping bag.  Was he homeless?  Her father hadn’t mentioned that.  “I see you came prepared to stay at the site, too.”

              “That’s the plan.”  Liam nodded to her team.  “Where should I stow my gear?”

              Before Cat could reply, Jason asked, “You’re letting this guy stay here alone with you?  At night?”  He snapped his gum nervously as he glanced at Liam.  “I mean, well, he could be anybody.”

              Cat felt like telling her assistant that Liam might be the one in trouble.  “Boone served in the Army with my father, Jason.  He’s completely trustworthy.”

              “Oh.”  The research assistant’s face turned a bright pink.  “Sorry.  No offense.”

              “None taken,” Liam said.  “And never apologize for looking out for the women, Jason.”

              The research assistant preened a little, while the two female interns on Cat’s team both uttered dreamy sighs.

              “This way.”  Cat led him over to the pair of tents she had set up by their equipment pile.  Once they were out of earshot, she said, “Have you ever been on an archaeological site before today, Boone?”

              “No, ma’am.”  He stopped outside the tents.

“We’re here looking for human remains.  Victims of a nineteenth-century serial killer called The Reaper,” she told him.  “Ten women went missing while he lived in Crystal Valley, and their bodies have never been recovered.  We’re also hoping to find evidence proving he was the killer.”

“Sounds ambitious,” he said.

“It is.  There are some restrictions involved, however.  We can excavate and photograph and take some test samples, but under Montana law we can’t remove any remains or artifacts we find from the site.”  She made a sweep with her arm to encompass the camp.  “Bottom line, everything stays here, exactly where we found it.”

                He nodded.  “What do you need me to do?”

“Please don’t touch anything with a plug,” Cat said bluntly.  “Also, watch your step.  What looks like a hole in the ground to you is a lot more to me.”  She waited for him to make a comment.  “No objections?  Smart ass remarks?  Contemptuous sniffs?”

“I know your dad asked you to give me this job,” Liam said.  “I appreciate the work.  I won’t screw it up.”

Cat felt her heart melt a little, and tried to harden it.  “You’re Army, so I assume you can handle camp duties.  We take turns cooking, washing up, and making supply runs.  Our work day begins at dawn and ends at dusk.  You need something to do, you see me.  Any questions?”

              “You’ll need firewood for tonight.”  Liam tossed his duffle inside the tent.  “Got an ax?”