Ian's Ultimate Gamble ; Seduction, Westmoreland Style

by Brenda Jackson

  She reached out, locked her fingers with his, felt the tenseness slowly ebbing away in them. “I want you to be there for me, McKinnon, to hold me close in the middle of the night, to make love to me, to wake up with me. I think these past three weeks have shown us how good we are together, and if it’s only just you and me, then that’s how things will be. But since you like kids and so do I, I can see a child in our future, a child we will make ours—a child we will watch grow in our love. Martin isn’t your biological father but I know you don’t love him any less. The same will hold true with our child, our children.”

  She took a step closer and after releasing his hand, she lifted hers to cup his chin. Misty eyes stared into his. “Let go, McKinnon. Stop protecting your heart. Place it in my care for safe keeping and I promise it won’t ever get broken again.”

  Before Casey could take her next breath, McKinnon’s arms closed around her, brought her to the solidness of his body, and he lowered his mouth to hers. This kiss was like the others, full of passion. It made her world tilt, the ground shake and every bone in her body melt. But then it was different. It was a kiss of love and devotion. Not only was he giving her his heart, he was giving her his body and soul as well.

  He then swung her up into his arms and gazed at her. “Will you marry me?” he asked in a voice filled with emotion.

  “Yes!” she said, smiling brightly. “I’ve gone through seduction, satisfaction and now the next step has to be a wedding—Westmoreland style. One that will last forever.”

  He leaned over and placed another kiss on her lips and whispered, “Yes, sweetheart. Forever.”

  EPILOGUE

  McKinnon glanced over at his fiancée sitting beside him in the church. He knew weddings made some people cry but Casey was taking it to a whole other level. He put the handkerchief back in his pocket deciding it was useless for dabbing her tears. He knew of only one way—to shut her up. So, ignoring the wedding proceedings at the front of the church, his parents and her father and stepmother who were sitting beside them, he leaned over and kissed her.

  And as he’d known she would, she melted right into his arms, so he pulled her from her seat and settled her into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned close into his body. “Thanks, I needed that,” she whispered contentedly in his ear.

  “Make sure you tell that to your brothers and cousins after the wedding,” he whispered back. “They’re staring, giving me dirty looks.”

  Moments later, everyone stood to their feet when the preacher presented Ian and Brooke Westmoreland as a married couple. Cheers and applauses sounded inside the Lake Tahoe church that had accommodated over three hundred guests.

  It had been a beautiful day for a wedding and all the Westmorelands were present. Even Delaney who looked like she would deliver anytime. Jamal’s jet was ready to return them to Tahran immediately after the reception. He was determined that their second child be born in his homeland as well.

  McKinnon and Casey hung back while everyone departed the church for the Rolling Cascade, Ian’s casino and resort where a huge reception would be held. “Okay, why so many tears today?” McKinnon asked, pulling her into his arms.

  She glanced up at him with tear-stained eyes. “Because I could feel Ian’s and Brooke’s love, and because I have so much to be thankful for myself. Next month around this time I’ll be the bride and you’ll be the groom. For a moment I could picture you standing there, pledging your life to me. And also, the ceremony was beautiful.”

  McKinnon nodded as he took her hand and led her out of the church. “Yes, it was.” They had decided on a November wedding that would take place on Corey’s Mountain. Savannah would have delivered her baby by then. He was thrilled to be the father of the bride, and to say McKinnon’s mother and Abby were excited about planning a wedding was an understatement.

  He thought about the party the two women had thrown together last month and shook his head. He and Casey expected their wedding would be on a much larger scale, although they’d let it be known they wanted a small affair. But Morning Star Quinn and Abby Westmoreland didn’t know the meaning of small.

  “Do we have to stay at the reception for a long time?” Casey asked, stopping on the church step and getting on tiptoe to bring her lips closer to his.

  “No, not for long,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

  Their lips met in a kiss that held promises.

  Moments later she stepped away from him and smiled. “I’ve decided where I want to spend our wedding night, McKinnon.”

  “You have? Where?”

  “Our cave.”

  He lifted a brow. She looked serious. He smiled, actually liking the idea. “You sure you don’t mind finding yourself backed up against a wall?”

  She smiled and took his hand as they walked down the church steps. “Not as long as you let me demonstrate my horsemanship to you later.”

  He chuckled and leaned down and whispered. “Baby, you can ride me anytime.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for a special preview of

  His to Claim

  by New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Brenda Jackson!

  When Navy SEAL and honorary Westmoreland Mac McRoy returns home, he may face his toughest mission yet: win back his wife!

  Thurston McRoy, called Mac by all who knew him, got out of his rental vehicle and slid the keys into the pocket of his jeans. There was a dark blue sedan parked in his driveway.

  At two in the morning.

  What looked like a brand new luxury Lexus had a Georgia license plate. The only people he knew who lived in Georgia were his parents. Was this their vehicle?

  They would often visit Virginia to check on his wife Teri and the kids whenever he was away for long periods of time. With his work as a Navy SEAL, he often took part in missions where he was out of communication with his family. He appreciated his parents for all they did to make his work easier on his family. However, he was surprised to see their car here, tonight. Over the last year or so, they’d begun staying at a nearby hotel whenever they came to town. Unfortunately, there were no longer any spare rooms at the McRoy house.

  The last time Mac had come home, he’d discovered Teri had given Tia, their oldest daughter of nine, her own room—namely the spare room. According to Teri, Tia was at the age where she now wanted privacy from her three younger sisters, Tatum, Tempest and Tasha. But did she have to take the only spare room in the house? The one that doubled as his man cave whenever he came home?

  He and Teri had always talked about buying a bigger place. Frankly, he had more than enough means to make it happen thanks to the investments he’d made on the advice of his friend and teammate, Bane Westmoreland. However, over the past several years, he’d been gone a lot, sent on several missions, and he was too hands-on to even think of letting her make such a major purchase like that without him. He knew exactly what he wanted in a home and Teri knew what she wanted. And their wants were on the opposite ends of the spectrum. She wanted a two-story home and he wanted ranch style. The fewer stairs he had to climb, the better.

  Tonight, he was returning home from an eight-month long, highly classified covert operation, near Turkey. During that time, he hadn’t been able to let anyone, not even Teri, know of his whereabouts. He had left home in the wee hours of the morning after making passionate love to his wife, without being able to tell her where he was going or when he would return.

  The operation had been brutal, but all the members of his team were alive and accounted for. Now, he was glad to be back home with his wife and kids and as much as he loved his parents, he hadn’t counted on having any company. He needed a cold beer and his wife. Not necessarily in that order.

  He figured everyone was in bed, yet an uneasy feeling crept over him as he entered his home. He paused in the foyer. Was that the television he heard coming from the living room? Typically, Teri would be in bed before ten because she got up around six to jump start her da
y.

  Tatum was seven and attended a different school than Tia. Tempest was five and attended kindergarten at the same school as Tatum. Tasha, their baby, who was barely three, attended daycare. He hadn’t liked the idea of Tasha in daycare, but Teri claimed Tasha needed to be around kids her age at least a few days a week to start developing her social skills.

  Mac hadn’t wanted Teri to work outside the home either, but she’d insisted that she needed to get out of the house for a while during the day. So now she was working part time at one of the libraries in town.

  Mindful of not waking the kids, while at the same time intent on not scaring his parents, he took out his phone and texted Teri. She practically slept with the phone beside her. When the message didn’t immediately show as delivered, he frowned, wondering what was wrong with her phone. He’d tried calling her earlier, twice in fact, when his plane had landed in DC. He hadn’t gotten an answer either time.

  What was going on?

  He placed his gear down and was headed toward his bedroom when his father rounded the corner. Carlton McRoy nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw his son.

  “Damn it, Mac, you trying to give me heart failure?” his father asked. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Mac crossed the floor to give his father a bear hug. “You weren’t supposed to hear me. I’m a SEAL, Dad.”

  “Why didn’t you ring the doorbell?”

  Mac thought that was a crazy question. “I live here. I don’t need to ring the doorbell. Besides, I didn’t want to wake anyone. By the way, I like your new set of wheels.”

  His father beamed. “Thanks. It’s your mom’s car. I surprised her with it as an early anniversary gift. It’s been almost forty years, you know.”

  Yes, Mac knew. He was the oldest of two and Carlton and Alexis Youngblood-McRoy hadn’t wasted any time after their wedding to start a family. He’d been born a week shy of their first anniversary. He figured he was supposed to be one and done, but his sister Pamela had been born on his parents’ tenth anniversary. “That’s a nice gift.”

  “I thought so and Lex was more than deserving,” his father said.

  Mac smiled. His parents were special. There weren’t two adults he admired more and they had always been great role models for him and his sister. Their interracial marriage had worked for them because they’d always said love got them together and it would be love that kept them together.

  “Thurston!”

  Mac glanced around and chuckled when his mother practically threw herself into his arms. “Hey, Mom,” he said, placing a kiss on her cheek.

  “I heard voices and thought one of the girls had awakened.”

  “No, it’s just me and Dad. He saw me when I was headed down the hall to my bedroom to let Teri know I was home.”

  He still had his arms around his mother’s shoulders when he felt her tense up. “Mom? You okay?” he asked, looking down at her.

  He thought the same thing now that he’d thought while growing up. His mother was a beautiful woman with eyes a unique shade of blue and ash-blond hair. His father had a dark chocolate complexion, which accounted for Mac and his younger sister’s skin tone being a combination of the two.

  When his mother still hadn’t answered his question, he glanced over at his father, who had the same wary expression on his face that Mac’s mother wore. Releasing his arm from around his mother’s shoulder, Mac straightened to his full height of six feet, three inches. “Okay, what’s going on?”

  When his parents glanced over at each other, that uneasy feeling from earlier crept over him again. Not liking it, he turned to go down the hall toward his bedroom when his father reached out to stop him.

  “Teri isn’t here, Mac.”

  Mac turned back to his father. His mother had moved to stand beside his dad. Why?

  “It’s after two in the morning and tomorrow is a school day for the girls. So where is she?”

  His mother reached out and touched his arm. “She needed to get away and she asked if we would come keep the girls.”

  Mac frowned. He knew his wife. She would not have gone anywhere without their daughters. “What do you mean she needed to get away? Why?”

  “She’s the one who has to tell you that, Thurston. It’s not for us to say.”

  His mother looked up at him with an uncomfortable expression on her face. His gaze left his mother and moved over to his father, who was wearing the same look.

  “What’s going on Dad? Mom? Why can’t you tell me the reason Teri felt she had to get away?”

  “Because it’s not our place to do so, son.”

  Mac drew in a deep breath, not understanding any of this. Because his parents were acting so secretive, he felt his confusion and anger escalating. “Fine. Where is she?”

  It was his father who spoke. “She left three days ago for the Torchlight Dude Ranch.”

  Mac’s frown deepened. “The Torchlight Dude Ranch? In Wyoming?”

  “Yes.”

  “What the hell did she go there for?”

  His father didn’t say anything for a minute and then gave Mac an answer. “She said she always wanted to go back there.”

  Mac rubbed his hand across his face. Yes, Teri had always wanted to go back there, the place he’d taken her on their honeymoon, a little over ten years ago. And he’d always promised to take her back. But between his covert missions and their growing family, there had never been enough time. Teri, who’d been raised on a ranch in Texas, was a cowgirl at heart and had once dreamed of being on the rodeo circuit due to her roping and riding skills. She’d even represented the state of Texas as a rodeo queen years ago.

  When they’d married, she had given it all up to travel around the world with her naval husband. She’d said she’d done so gladly. Why in the world would Teri leave their kids and go to a dude ranch by herself?

  He knew the only person who could answer that question was Teri.

  “I tried calling her twice from the airport and she’s not answering her phone,” he finally said, his tone truly filled with anger now.

  “She probably couldn’t. We talk to her every day when she calls to check on the girls. There’s real bad reception at the dude ranch and she has to drive into town to call out. Teri usually phones us around five every evening. I’m sure she’ll be calling today as usual, so you’ll get a chance to talk to her,” his mother said, smiling.

  He stared at his parents. Did they honestly think he intended to hang around and wait for Teri’s call?

  “I want to see the girls. I won’t wake them, but I need to see them before I leave.”

  “Leave?” his father asked, looking at him strangely.

  “Yes, leave.”

  “Where are you going?” his mother asked.

  He met their gazes. “I’m going to the Torchlight Dude Ranch.”

  “Now?”

  “Yes. Now.”

  It was time to go find his wife.

  Don’t miss

  His to Claim

  by New York Times and USA TODAY

  bestselling author

  Brenda Jackson.

  Available June 2019

  Only from Harlequin Desire.

  Copyright © 2019 by Brenda Streater Jackson

  ISBN-13: 9781488037412

  Ian’s Ultimate Gamble & Seduction, Westmoreland Style

  Copyright © 2019 by Harlequin Books S.A

  The publisher acknowledges the copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

  Ian’s Ultimate Gamble

  Copyright © 2006 by Brenda Streater Jackson

  Seduction, Westmoreland Style

  Copyright © 2007 by Brenda Streater Jackson

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage
and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 22 Adelaide St. West, 40th Floor, Toronto, ON M5H 4E3 Canada.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

  www.Harlequin.com