One month later...
"Are you sure this is how you want to do this? You don’t want to have it in a church surrounded by all your buddies from SEAL Team 10?" Delaney was dressed in a pretty cream-colored dress, her hair pulled back and up with tiny rhinestone butterflies clipped throughout. She looked better than she’d ever looked, and her heart raced in anticipation of the events about to take place.
"Humor me, will ya?" Cory waved his stump of an arm, the surgical scars thick and ragged. "I’ll have the people who mean the most to me here."
Delaney was happy he’d finally gotten the phantom pain under control. The first few weeks after the explosion had been hell with nerve synapses that used to lead to his now-missing arm firing off messages to his brain that translated into agonizing pain. His cries had nearly broken Delaney’s heart. She’d been there as much as possible. Ultimately, the nurses caring for him took center stage, then the physical therapists. One in particular.
When she’d arrived at Bethesda, she’d been too out of it to know what was going on. The doctors had been the best, and she’d recovered within a couple weeks, enough to visit Cory at his therapy session.
She couldn’t believe the change in the month since she’d left. They’d really turned his entire attitude around since the beginning, and she was thankful. He’d been so upbeat, she barely recognized him from the sour-faced, angry man of before. His new lease on life centered around one therapist.
Once she was sufficiently recovered, Delaney had been reassigned to temporary duty at the Pentagon as executive staff to Joint Chiefs of Staff, reviewing the Joint Air Operations Publication. Her commander had stressed the duty was only temporary until she passed the flight physical, at which time she’d be reassigned to duty with the 160th SOAR.
Battling both the D.C. traffic and the Metro reminded her of why she liked deployment. Fighting the Taliban and being shot at seemed less stressful than rush-hour traffic. She looked forward to getting back in the cockpit. Healed and rested, she was ready.
Today was Cory’s last day at Bethesda, and his wedding day. She couldn’t be happier. Well, she could, but that was another story and one she’d closed the book on the day she’d flown out of Camp Leatherneck in the back of the Black Hawk to Bagram.
So much had happened. So many things had changed. But one thing was clear, Tuck hadn’t come looking for her, hadn’t tried to contact her or see her, or even Skype her from the field.
On many occasions, Cory had tried to reach him online. He’d finally given up and contacted their commander to learn Tuck was out on a special mission. He’d left word with their commander with the date of his wedding and that he was saving the spot of best man for Tuck. Be there.
Now Delaney stood beside Cory in the ward where he’d performed most of his physical therapy, surrounded by the therapists, doctors, and nurses who’d seen him through the worst of his recovery.
Someone pressed the button on an MP3 player and Mendelssohn’s Wedding March filled the room.
Cory waved his stump. "Wait. He’s not here yet."
"Who’s not here?" Delaney asked, a niggle of suspicion running up her back.
"My best man. He promised he’d be here on time. His plane landed over an hour ago. He should be here by now."
The door to the therapy room crashed open, and a tall man dressed in the U.S. Navy service dress blue uniform burst through. "Am I too late?"
Delaney’s heart skipped several beats then crashed against her chest, banging like a bass drum in a parade. "Tuck?"
"Tuck! You made it!" Cory wagged his stump. "About damned time. The ceremony’s about to start. Get up here."
From ten feet away, Tuck stared from Cory to Delaney, his gaze fixing on her. "I wasn’t going to come, but Skipper insisted."
"Not come to my wedding?" Cory grinned, his spirit indomitable on his wedding day. "You’d skip out on seeing your best bud shackled with an old ball and chain?"
"She’s not a ball and chain. Any man would be proud to have her as his wife." His words were for Cory, but his gaze centered on Delaney.
Her heart thumped hard against his ribs. Delaney bit her lip to keep the tears from falling. The pain did little to stop them, and several slipped down her cheek. "Cory, you didn’t tell me he was coming."
"I know." Cory winked at her. "I wanted to surprise you." In a stronger voice, he addressed Tuck. "Are you standing by me or do I have to ask Schotzy to fill in?"
A large man in scrubs stepped forward. "I’d be happy to."
"Stand down. Let the man decide first." Cory faced Tuck. "What’s it to be? You’ve been my best friend since BUD/s. I don’t want to do this without you by my side, but I will."
"I came to stop this wedding." Tuck came forward.
The people gathered in the room emitted a collective gasp.
Delaney almost laughed at the comical expression on Cory’s face.
"Why would you stop me from marrying the girl I love?"
Big hands drew into fists at Tuck’s sides. "Because you can’t marry her."
"Why? Is she already married and I didn’t know?"
"No." Tuck’s face darkened, getting more fierce with each passing second.
"She agreed to marry me. I love her." Cory waved his good hand to the side. "What more confirmation do I need?"
"She doesn’t love you," Tuck blurted.
"That’s news to me," a female voice called out from a side door. She stepped through wearing a simple white wedding dress that hugged her figure perfectly. Her long blond hair hung down her back, straight and shiny, unlike the unruly mass of sandy blond curls Delaney fought to control with ponytails and hairclips.
Tuck stared, his mouth dropping open. "Who’s she?"
"Uh, Tuck..." Delaney fought the smile spreading across her lips. "You’ve been in dark ops too long. I take it you haven’t talked to Cory in a while, and there’s been a...uh...change of plan."
"I don’t understand. I came to stop you from making the biggest mistake of my life."
"The biggest mistake of your life?" Cory asked. "And what would that be?"
"Marrying Delaney."
Delaney lifted her chin and hooked her arm through Cory’s elbow. "I happen to think Cory would make a terrific husband." She nodded toward the woman at the far side of the room, slowly working her way toward them. "A terrific husband for Leigha."
"Who’s Leigha?" Tuck demanded.
"Shh." Leigha pressed a finger to her lips and picked up the pace, marching up to Tuck. "Please stop yelling. You’re disturbing the patients."
Cory grinned and stared around the room at the medical staff and patients in attendance. "Are we disturbing anyone?"
As one, they shouted. "No!"
"Marry her, already!" A triple amputee in a wheelchair shouted. "We want to see the kiss."
"I don’t understand." Tuck turned toward Delaney.
She smiled and took pity on him. "Cory’s marrying Leigha, his physical therapist."
"I came to stop him from marrying you," Tuck said, looking more befuddled by the minute.
"You’re a little late for that. We broke our engagement shortly after O’Connell arrived at Bethesda. You’d know this fact if you hadn’t gone off all dark ops on us." Cory shook his head as if Tuck was a thick-headed child who had to be taught the same thing more than once before it sank in. "O’Connell doesn’t love me."
"Yes, I do." Delaney chuckled and pecked Cory’s cheek. "Like a brother. And since he doesn’t have any siblings or relatives, someone had to look out for his well-being."
As she approached Tuck, the woman in the wedding dress stuck out her hand. "I’m Leigha. You must be Tuck." She grinned. "You’re just like Cory described you."
Tuck’s brows descended into a blazing frown directed at Cory. "And when were you going to tell me you two had called it off?"
"I’d have told you sooner, if I’d known you cared." Cory glared back at his friend. "But you seemed hell-bent on volunteering for e
very suicide mission they could come up with. And you never returned any of my messages. I figured you had some bug up your ass about her."
"So you fell in love with Leigha?"
Cory smiled. "I did." He held out his good hand.
Leigha joined him and curled her hand around his bandaged arm. "I didn’t like him at first. He was very grouchy. Then when we got the pain under control, he turned out to be such a flirt with all the ladies. I had a hard time trusting him."
"She fell for my charm and good looks." Cory smiled down at her. "And the tattoo of Daisy Mae on my ass."
"No, I fell and you helped me up with your injured arm, even though I knew it hurt like hell." She shook her head, a sweet smile playing across her lips. "I figured if you could sacrifice a little pain to help me up, you couldn’t be all bad. Maybe half bad. And that’s just the way I like you. Half bad boy, half gentleman. One hundred percent SEAL." She stood on tiptoe and kissed him full on the lips. "Now, are you marrying me or do I have to return this dress for a refund?"
"Let’s have a wedding!" Cory shouted.
They skipped the wedding march and got straight to the I do’s. Soon the room was full of chatter and laughter and people eating cake.
Delaney fought hard not to stare at Tuck. Her heart sang with the joy of having him there, in the same room, and her mind whirred with a thousand questions she wanted to ask. Number one being, why did he come to stop the wedding he thought was between her and Cory? With everyone around them, congratulating Cory and Leigha, she wasn’t sure when or if she’d get a chance to be alone with Tuck. Hell, she was a Night Stalker pilot, known for her fearlessness. Then why was she shaking in her heels at the thought of a confrontation with the man she loved?
Tuck stood beside Cory throughout the nuptials, his head spinning with the change in direction. He’d fought coming and wouldn’t have, if the Skipper hadn’t ordered him to do the right thing and show up for his best friend’s wedding.
Once committed to attending, he’d convinced himself he had to stop the wedding. Delaney didn’t love Cory and she shouldn’t marry him out of pity. Now that he was there, and Cory was married to Leigha...
He finally glanced across the room at Delaney and his chest squeezed so tight he could barely breathe. She was so beautiful in her cream-colored lace dress, she was as pretty as the bride. No.
Delaney was the most beautiful woman he’d ever known. Inside and out. Brave, caring, and gutsy, she was the kind of woman he could picture himself spending the rest of his life getting to know even better.
Then what the hell was he waiting for?
He marched across the room, closing the distance between them.
She glanced up from the plate of cake she had been picking at and their gazes met. Her fork grew still.
When he reached her, he took the plate from her hands and laid it on a nearby table. "Why did you break your engagement to Cory?"
"What does it matter?" She shrugged, her gaze dipping to where his hands held hers. "He loves Leigha and she loves him."
"Do you love him more than a brother?" His fingers squeezed hers and he held his breath, waiting for her response.
"No." She laughed softly. "Though Cory would make a great husband, I made the error of falling in love with someone else."
Tuck dared to hope and his heart pounded. "And you’re afraid this guy you love isn’t good husband material?" He tugged her toward him.
"I know for a fact he’s terrible husband material." Her voice caught on a sob and she looked up, tears swimming in her eyes. "But I can’t help it. I love him."
"Then why don’t you tell him?"
"I don’t know how he feels about me." Her gaze dropped to the buttons on his chest.
Tuck lifted her chin. "I love you so much, not even an entire army of Taliban could erase you from my mind."
"You tried to erase me from your mind?" A tear slipped down her cheek. "See? You make terrible husband material." She swiped at the tear and tried to push away from him.
His grip tightened. "Oh, baby. I may not say the right words, but my heart’s in the right place."
"Yeah, and where’s that?"
"In your hands." He crushed her against his chest and buried his face in her hair. "I love you, Delaney O’Connell. More than I love living. And I want you in my life, as my wife. What do you say?"
"Is that a marriage proposal?" She leaned back in his arms, staring wide-eyed up at him, more tears spilling down her cheeks.
He pushed the curls behind her ears and kissed the tip of her nose, then thumbed the tears off her skin. "Oh, sweetheart, did I louse that up too? Yes, that was a marriage proposal. But here, let me do it right."
He set her away from him and dropped to one knee, fishing in his pocket for a square box he’d picked up at the duty-free shop in the airport. He opened it, took out the sapphire and diamond ring inside, and held it out. "Delaney O’Connell, will you marry this lousy excuse for husband material? I promise to try my best to make you happy."
"About time, man." Cory clapped his hand on Tuck’s back. "I thought you’d never ask. So, O’Connell, are you marrying this suicidal dumbass, or not?"
Air lodged in Tuck’s throat as he balanced on one knee, waiting for her response. The wait was harder than anything he’d experienced in BUD/s training.
At first, tears dribbled down her cheeks and her lips trembled.
Tuck fought hard to keep calm when his world could easily fall apart if the woman he loved refused his offer. Time stood still, his heart stopped beating, and sweat broke out across his forehead.
Then she threw her arms around him, crying, "Yes!"
He staggered backward, righted himself, and stood, wrapping his arm around her so tightly he thought she might break.
This woman who could fly into enemy territory, probably kick the asses of most men and could drink whiskey like nobody’s business, while looking so feminine she was the envy of every woman, could have any man she wanted.
And she’d chosen him.
She laughed and kissed him. "How will we make this work? I’m not giving up my position in the 160th and you’re a SEAL."
He swung her around. "I don’t know, but we’ll find a way."
"It won’t be easy."
"Babe, I relish the challenge, because you’re the one I love and want to be with." He glanced over his head at Reaper and winked. "Besides, easy is overrated, and the only easy day was yesterday."
The End
About Elle James
ELLE JAMES also writing as MYLA JACKSON is an award-winning author of stories including cowboys, intrigues and paranormal adventures that keep her readers on the edges of their seats. With over seventy stories in a variety of sub-genres and lengths she’s published with Harlequin, Samhain, Elloras’ Cave, Kensington, Cleis Press, and Avon. When she’s not at her computer, she’s traveling, out snow-skiing, boating, or riding her ATV, dreaming up new stories. Learn more about Elle James at www.ellejames.com
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Or visit her alter-ego Myla Jackson at www.mylajackson.com
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Other Titles by Elle James
Devil’s Shroud Series
Deadly Reckoning
Deadly Engagement
Deadly Liaisons
Covert Cowboys Inc. Series
Triggered
Taking Aim
Bodyguard Under Fire
Cowboy Resurrected
Cajun Magic Series
Voodoo on the Bayou
Voodoo for Two
Déjà Voodoo
Thunder Horse Series
Hostage to Thunder Horse
Thunder Horse Heritage
Thunder Horse Redemption
Stand Alone Titles
Tarzan & Janine
Haunted
Demon’s Embrace
Hot Demon Nights
Witch’s Seduction
> Witch’s Initiation
Engaged with the Boss
Cowboy Brigade
Time Raiders: The Whisper
Bundle of Trouble
Killer Body
Operation XOXO
An Unexpected Clue
Baby Bling
Nick of Time
Under Suspicion, With Child
Texas-Sized Secrets
Alaskan Fantasy
Blown Away
Cowboy Sanctuary
Lakota Baby
Dakota Meltdown
Beneath the Texas Moon
Book 3 - SEAL the Deal
by Sharon Hamilton
Bestselling Author
http://sharonhamiltonauthor.com/
A SEAL’s nightmare of a promise given at his sister’s deathbed gives him the woman of his dreams
Special Operator Nick Dunn promises his dying sister that he will help shut down her business and settle her affairs. He must work with his sister’s best friend he vaguely remembers. But boy has she grown up.
Though Devon Brandeburg created a small fortune in real estate, she has a total lack of experience with men. Who needs their testosterone-stuffed egos sucking the air out of the room, like Nick’s does? The promise turns into a hot affair neither expected with Nick the teacher in Devon’s journey to womanhood. As she comes alive in his arms, the student brings the teacher something he’s never allowed himself to want, and now needs.
Special Operator Nicholas Dunn shed his shoes and shirt and dove into the waters of San Diego Bay to scrub the leftover grit and sand of Afghanistan from his body. It was his first day back ritual. He didn’t stop until he’d skinned his knee and taken a serious hit on the chin bodysurfing. The shedding of blood hammered the reality of being home straight to his brain. He’d seen way too much of it this last tour. Friends died. Innocents died too. He couldn’t save them all.
And now his sister was dying at home. Not a damned thing he could do about that either.
Author’s Note
Uniform Desires (Make Mine Military Romance) Page 23