A SEAL's Struggle

by Cora Seton

  Win was too surprised to answer. Angus made an incomprehensible sound. Even Byron winced.

  “That’s it, isn’t it?” Leslie went on. “You want Angus back. And you all promised you’d give me a fair chance. You promised all of us backup brides.”

  “I—”

  “Well, you can just go back to wherever you came from because you can’t have him,” Leslie declared. “You left. Now it’s my turn. I said I’d marry Angus McBride, and that’s exactly what I’ll do, because we Bakers stick to our word! That’s a pretty color on you, though; is that one of the dresses you had before, or did you get it made when you decided to come back? Did you go home or take a trip somewhere? Have you been to Europe? Germany is my favorite country. They eat a lot of sausage there, and I like sausage. They’re also great engineers, and I have a lot of respect for a nation that’s decided to all be practical. I think we could learn something from them, don’t you?”

  “I—”

  “I’m going to sleep over here a little away from you, because you’re my rival and rivals shouldn’t spend a lot of time together because they might become friends, and that would be even worse if I married my friend’s ex and not my rival’s ex, you know? I once knew a girl who dated her sister’s husband’s brother and then married her sister’s husband. That’s got to be seriously awkward at Christmas, don’t you think?”

  “I’m not—”

  “Is that a scale model of Base Camp?” Leslie moved closer to the small table where Greg Devon’s carvings sat. “I saw that on the show and thought it was so cute; it’s like a doll house, you know, but really a doll camp. A doll community. Because it’s not really a house; it’s the whole thing. The land and the houses and the hillside and even the forest. And where’s the creek? I like the creek. I bet there’s fish in there. Maybe not now. It’d be cold for fish. Do you think they feel cold? I do.”

  “You need a bed!” Angus burst out. He strode to the cupboard where they kept the sleeping mats when they weren’t using them, pulled one out and tossed it to Leslie, who caught it handily. When she’d undone the strap and spread it on the floor, he tossed her a sleeping bag and pillow. She caught them, too, and got to work making up her bed.

  “One thing about Angus, rival,” Leslie remarked to her as she worked. “He’s kind of cranky, don’t you think?”

  Win had never thought so before, but Leslie was right; he sure seemed short-tempered tonight.

  “I think you’re exactly right,” she said solemnly and was rewarded by a glare from Angus, who’d clearly heard her.

  Leslie scooted a little farther away. “I’m already starting to like you,” she sighed. “Stealing your man is going to be hard.”

  “Dude, you love Win, not this Leslie person,” Kai said when Angus slipped into the kitchen for a cup of coffee the next morning. He was going to need it; he hadn’t slept nearly enough. Win and Avery had left the bunkhouse soon after he arrived with Leslie last night, much to the surprise of Leslie, who hadn’t known Avery had moved into Walker’s tiny house. Sleeping with only Walker, Leslie and Byron in the bunkhouse with him had been awkward to say the least.

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” he said, filling his cup.

  Leslie had still been talking a mile a minute when Walker turned out the lights, and Angus had braced himself for a long night, but she’d piped down and fallen asleep almost immediately.

  He’d lain awake quite a while, his thoughts on Win. If he was honest, he’d thought long and hard about going to Avery’s tiny house, throwing Avery out and pulling Win into his arms. A few hours with Leslie had him craving Win.

  But then he always craved Win.

  “Why did you agree to spend a month with Leslie?” Kai asked.

  All those months without hadn’t changed how Angus felt one bit. Every fiber of his being still ached to touch her. He kept imagining the curve of her jaw, her full lips, the weight of her breasts in his hands. His groin stirred—again.

  He was out of control.

  Long ago he’d decided that once a woman made up her mind to leave, she left, plain and simple. Win might be back, but he had to be a fool to think he could trust that she’d stay, as much as he wanted to. Especially after the way she’d kept her pregnancy concealed.

  “You think I had a choice?” he finally answered Kai.

  He understood how hard it would have been to ignore the wishes of a sick mother, though. He even understood Win’s fear of walking away from the family fortune. Their lives would be more precarious at Base Camp than in her parents’ mansion.

  Still, she’d deliberately cut off their relationship in such a way as to make him think he needed to marry someone else. That took a kind of cold calculation that didn’t fit with his sense of who Win was.

  So who was she really?

  And what had made her so afraid of living beyond the protection of her parents’ money?

  “All I’m saying is make sure Win knows how you feel. And don’t let Boone and Leslie railroad you into anything. You can’t marry her.”

  “What if Win takes off again before the wedding?” Angus hadn’t meant to ask, but it was one of the thoughts that kept him up last night. He knew his loyalty to Win was absolute, but he also had to consider his promises to everyone else here at Base Camp, and as much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t know anymore where Win’s loyalties lay. He didn’t think she’d put her parents ahead of him, but a mother’s first responsibility was to her child. What if she decided their baby was better off being rich? “What if she panics, runs back home and all the backup brides are so pissed off at that point that none of them will marry me?”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Kai said, turning to the dishes. “Take a breath. Wait a few days and see what Win does. Don’t jump to any conclusions. Unless you like Leslie better,” he added.

  “I do not like Leslie better,” Angus asserted. He knew that much already.

  Since she wasn’t answering her phone, now her mother was texting. Win had woken up to a string of them, which Vienna must have sent overnight.

  “We’ve gotten word of a credible threat against our family. I know you won’t talk to us, but you need to keep safe. Don’t go anywhere alone!”

  In the past Win would have taken the information seriously. She knew the kind of people who came after a family like hers. This time she simply shook her head. Vienna wanted to scare her, and she refused to let it work.

  She couldn’t help feeling a frisson of fear, however, when she stepped outside the tiny house into the gray of dawn. Fields and woods surrounded their settlement. The men took turns patrolling in the night, but there was so much land; they couldn’t be everywhere at once. She covered the ground between the tiny house and the bunkhouse briskly, feeling foolish the whole way but relieved when she was inside again.

  Several people were already sipping cups of tea in the main room, but she didn’t see Leslie. When Angus came up behind her and touched her arm, she gasped. She hadn’t seen him come out of the kitchen.

  “You’re jumpy today,” he murmured.

  “Mom says they’ve had a threat. That always makes me jumpy.” They got in line as Kai and Addison served breakfast, the room filling up fast as the rest of the inhabitants of Base Camp arrived.

  “Does your family get a lot of them?”

  “I suppose, but we increase security only when there’s a serious one. She was just warning me.”

  “And you believe her?”

  Win turned to face him, irritated that he’d put her thoughts into words, even though that made no sense. “She might have lied about…” She looked around to see if anyone was listening. The crew hadn’t gotten it together yet. “About her cancer, but she wouldn’t lie about this.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.”

  Win felt a surge of impatience. “It doesn’t matter anyway; I’m always careful.”

  Before Angus could respond, Leslie appeared by his side and linked her arm with his. “What a wonderfu
l morning. Don’t you think it’s a wonderful morning?”

  And she was off and running. Win decided she didn’t need the aggravation of Leslie’s presence so early in the day and went to sit by Avery as soon as she’d filled her plate with food. As far as she could tell, Leslie kept up her commentary through the meal. Win escaped to the greenhouses as soon as she could, then had to groan when Angus and Leslie joined her there.

  The morning passed by slowly, with Angus showing Leslie his hydroponics system and Win working with the seedlings, trying not to show how uncomfortable she was. She felt like the baby had grown overnight, too. Her lower back ached after several hours, something that had never happened before. It had been hard to get comfortable on her pallet last night. She decided to steal a few pillows from one of the guest rooms at the manor today. By the time lunch rolled around, she was grateful to sit down, and Avery, who must have sensed something was wrong, fetched and carried her food for her.

  “You could go lie down,” she pointed out.

  And leave Leslie alone with Angus in the greenhouse? That didn’t seem smart.

  “Rival, you’re darn good at potting plants,” Leslie remarked cheerfully that afternoon when they were back at work again.

  “Rival?” Boone asked, looking from Leslie to Win. He’d joined them after lunch, and the three of them were standing at a long table in one of the greenhouses, transferring tomato starts into larger pots while Angus worked to trim yellow leaves off a set of plants he was growing hydroponically. Angus had informed Leslie—and therefore Win as well—that they were comparing the rates of growth and fruit production between the potted and hydroponically grown plants.

  Win wasn’t sure why Leslie had opted to work with her instead of Angus. Possibly to suss out the competition. Possibly because Angus had started ignoring her when she didn’t stop talking.

  “That’s my new name,” she told Boone evenly. Leslie had been calling her that all day, using it as almost an affectionate term. Win hardly knew what to make of it.

  She wasn’t sure what to make of Leslie at all. The young woman was a powerhouse of energy, chattering incessantly, moving quickly, potting more plants per minute than either she or Boone could, her dexterous fingers never seeming to damage a leaf on a plant.

  “Suits you,” Boone said after a moment.

  Win nearly smiled. At least Boone hadn’t forced her to leave the greenhouse, like she thought he might when Angus had refused to join them at the large table. The camera crew had been making the most of it before he arrived, focusing on the distance between Angus and Leslie.

  What a mess this all was. She’d hoped it would be so simple, that she could return to Base Camp, fling herself into Angus’s arms and pick up where they’d left off. They’d almost managed it, but then things had gotten a whole lot more complicated.

  She needed to remember Angus’s initial reaction to her when she’d walked into Greg and Renata’s wedding. The way he’d swept her into his arms, held on to her like he never wanted to let go and kissed her with all the passion she’d remembered from the summer.

  He wanted her just as much as she wanted him, even though he’d been badly hurt by what she’d done. They would make it through Leslie’s tenure here as long as she was patient.

  “You’re from San Mateo, right? San Mateo’s got a lot of rich people, doesn’t it?” Leslie was asking when Win tuned in to the conversation again. “We were never rich. Working class, that’s us Bakers. And we’re proud of it, you know? Not that I’m not proud of my degree. First one in the family to go to college,” she announced. “My mom and dad were over the moon when I graduated. Still, work is in my blood, and work is what I intend to do for the rest of my life. I was in San Mateo once. I saw those women, the ones shopping and eating out and getting their nails done. I thought, how can you appreciate all that if you haven’t worked for it?”

  She could be describing Vienna—and herself, Win thought, before she’d arrived at Base Camp.

  Leslie was right; work was better. Win couldn’t believe how much she’d missed these simple tasks while she was away. Each baby plant called forth a certain kind of tenderness in her. She found herself mentally beaming positive affirmations at them—silently, of course, although in the past when she’d worked alone she’d whispered them out loud. You’re going to grow big and strong. You’re such a beautiful plant. You’re wonderful, even if you’re growing a little crooked. Everything’s going to be all right.

  At night she found herself murmuring similar things to her growing belly.

  A balance of work and play was best of course. Good work, enough leisure, a roof over your head, a respite from constant worry. That was all a person needed, wasn’t it?

  The rich worried a lot more than Leslie might think, that was for sure. Her father worried he’d never be governor—or president. The Dunlevys worried the market might drop and they’d be forced to sell assets. They all worried about their taxes, their huge mortgage payments, whether people knew how wealthy they were, whether criminals knew how wealthy they were… the list went on and on.

  “… like the way you’ve used renewable energy to power these greenhouses, Angus,” Leslie was saying. “You’re smart, you know that?”

  Angus looked up from his plants, clearly surprised—and a little gratified, although Win knew it wasn’t Angus who’d set up the power system. She was pretty sure Leslie’s chatter had been getting to him up until now. The more she talked, the higher his shoulders had risen, but Win could see the woman’s praise had struck him the way she’d meant it to.

  Had she underestimated Leslie?

  Maybe she should pay more attention.

  “Angus is very intelligent,” she heard herself say. “He learned gardening from his grandfather back in Scotland and got interested in heating greenhouses through alternative energy because of the climate there. Jericho and Greg helped him set things up.”

  Angus glanced her way. An acknowledgement that she knew his past.

  Leslie caught the look and bit her lip. “Rival, you’re wily, but I’m wily, too. And tenacious.”

  “That’s a big word for a little girl,” Win quipped.

  Hell. Had she just said that? She had, judging by Angus’s and Boone’s raised eyebrows and the color suffusing Leslie’s cheeks. What a catty remark. Something Vienna might say.

  “Did I use tenacious wrong?” Leslie asked, chastened.

  “No, you didn’t.” Angus jumped to defend her, finally coming to join them. “You used it exactly right, because you’re smart, too.”

  “Thanks.” Leslie lit up and flashed a bright smile at Angus. Win’s heart constricted. She wanted to apologize, but she had the feeling that would only make things worse. Instead, she bent to the task at hand, repotting plants as fast as she could until she snapped one in half in her hurry.

  “Butterfingers, rival,” Leslie said. “You really botched that one.”

  Yeah, she had.

  She’d botched it big time.

  Win lifted her skirts, edged past the others and got out of the greenhouse as fast as she could.

  Chapter Eight

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  When Avery opened the greenhouse door and said, “Leslie—come on. I’m going to take you to Alice Reed’s house to get you set up with some dresses,” Angus was more relieved than he could say.

  The minutes since Win had left so precipitously had dragged by at the pace of a snail crawling through molasses. Despite the instinct to protect Leslie from Win’s biting joke, that was the extent of his connection to her, and he’d hurt Win as much as she’d hurt Leslie. That hadn’t slowed Leslie down, however. Since Win’s departure, she’d talked and talked and talked, until even Boone had excused himself with a lame reference to checking to see if the barn was still standing. Byron, who’d been there from the start with his camera crew, had stayed, which had made things only more uncomfortable.

  “Angus, you coming with us?” Leslie asked.

  “No, I’ll fi
nish up here. See you later,” he managed to say.

  “I’ll come,” Byron told her. “I’ll get some good footage at Two Willows.”

  When everyone was gone, Angus braced himself on the table and bowed his head.

  How the hell was he going to get through this?

  When he’d thought about backup brides previously, he’d figured they knew what they were getting into. What kind of person pledged to marry a strange man—or even consider doing so, after all? He might have been able to force himself to exchange vows with a woman who was here to grab her fifteen minutes of fame. One who understood he couldn’t love and cherish her the way a husband was supposed to love and cherish a wife.

  Leslie wasn’t what he’d expected at all, and her frank naivete was going to make sending her away difficult. There was no way he’d ever consider marrying her, though, even if Win hadn’t come back. He had a feeling Leslie would enter any marriage with the assumption that her sheer persistence would win the day—spark romance when there wasn’t any, be a strong enough bond to hold two people together for a lifetime.

  She wasn’t here for something temporary, and he could never give her something permanent.

  At some point he would have to make that clear to her, but not yet. He needed to do his thirty days, keep the terms of the agreement with the protesting backup brides. It wasn’t going to be easy.

  At least Leslie was all in on Base Camp’s purpose, Angus told himself. She was a whiz in the greenhouse, and she’d probably single-handedly increase food production tenfold.

  Heaven knew, they could use food.

  The door jerked open, and Angus quickly straightened when Win walked back in.

  “Sorry, just had something in my eye. Took a heck of a time to get it out—” She came to a stop. “Where is everyone?”

  “Avery took Leslie to the Reeds’ place. Byron went along to film them. Boone went to check on the barn.”

  “You mean the horses?”

  “I mean the barn. To see if it’s still standing.”