Uniform Desires (Make Mine Military Romance)

by Sharon Hamilton

  Snorting, he stood to cross to the clearest window. “Agreed. What else?”

  Kendall shook her head at his stubbornness. “What about your job? I know you’re dispatched here for now, but will you technically be my guard if I marry you? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”

  “It is. I’ve already spoken with Duncan. He’s willing to let me be on leave for a while until we get some things figured out. Denver is only a couple of hours away. I can just cut back on my long-distance assignments and still work for the agency.”

  Turning away from the window, he crossed back to his chair. “Are those all of your reasons?”

  She nodded, pushing her hair over her shoulder. “For right this minute. I’m sure more will occur to me.”

  Grif pulled a sheet of hotel stationery from his pocket.

  “I had all of those listed as well as a few more. You didn’t mention your money. I think we should sign a prenuptial agreement stating that what’s yours is yours and what’s mine is mine if we do part ways. I don’t want or need your support.”

  Kendall believed him. He didn’t seem the frivolous, spendy type. Quite the opposite, actually.

  “The pre-nup would also reassure the board. You’re fooling yourself if you think they’d let you in, being pregnant, without a man behind you. I strongly suggest you don’t even tell them you’re pregnant until after you replace your father.”

  Kendall absorbed what he said and knew in her gut the soundness of his advice. The old men that her father had gone into business with would fight her tooth and nail if she gave them any cause.

  “You marrying your security guard is not the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. It happens. And if you spin it correctly, you can come out looking like a rose.”

  “As for us not getting along later on,” he continued, “well, I don’t think that will be an issue. I grew up in a screaming household, and I for damn sure will not subject my child to that. I’ll leave first.”

  She could see the conviction in his eyes, and she wondered what his home life had been like.

  Probably as messed up as hers had been.

  “I suggest we put a time limit on our contract,” he continued. “We’ll say two years. This isn’t an ideal situation, but I want to go into this with the expectation that the marriage will be a true marriage and we will both put effort into building a relationship that will nurture ourselves and the child.”

  Kendall blinked, a little hurt by his reasoning. She tried to put her finger on exactly why she was upset, but it wouldn’t coalesce in her mind.

  Was it because he was doing exactly what she herself should have suggested? Something had shifted inside her and the laid out details, the way she usually appreciated receiving information, wasn’t working for her.

  For something to do, she reached for the coffee and inhaled. Oh, yes. And it didn’t make her stomach turn.

  “I got decaf. They’re not sure caffeine is good for babies.”

  She looked at him, brows raised. “No way. Seriously?”

  He nodded and gave her a commiserating smile, deepening the dimple.

  Well, hell. That sucked.

  She took a sip of the coffee. Still better than nothing, though she kind of thought it tasted different. But maybe that was a psychological response. If he hadn’t said anything would she have noticed a difference? Hmmm.

  “I scheduled us an appointment at the Eagle County court house on Monday afternoon to get our marriage license.”

  Kendall sucked in a breath and sat the coffee on the corner. “So soon?” she pushed away from the desk to cross to the window looking out over the mountains. She felt, more than heard him follow her.

  “Well, we don’t have to, but the sooner we get it done the less chance there will be that illegitimacy will be an issue with the company.”

  The Herrington name. Yes, she would have to carry on the name, as would her son or daughter. “Okay.”

  Tears suddenly burned her eyes and she had to swipe them away with her hands. Taking a deep breath, she tried to force them away, but they seemed to fall all the harder.

  When he wrapped an arm across her chest from behind, pulling her into him, Kendall choked out a sob. She turned in his hold and buried her face into his chest. Her difficult, opinionated, handsome, hero security guard held her while she cried.

  Chapter 6

  Kendall laid down for a nap after her crying jag.

  Grif went out and talked to Ortiz for a few minutes, filling him in on the situation and getting the scoop on what had been going on at the agency. It sounded like Palmer was being just as stubborn as ever. But Foster was the surprise. Getting married to a waitress. Grif hoped he knew what he was doing.

  Not like he could give him any advice. Every time he talked to Kendall he felt like he floundered. That cool, green-eyed gaze made him lose his concentration. But that no-nonsense businesswoman veneer had faded, to be replaced by a more womanly, softer mentality. They had important decisions to hash out, but it was hard staying on task when she looked at him with fear in her eyes. This wasn’t the life she wanted, he knew that, but maybe they could work out a new kind of life.

  Duncan had been very accommodating about the leave, but if things changed with the pregnancy he might actually have to leave for good.

  The thought of deserting the men that he’d worked with for the past couple of years made him sweat. Because they were all amputees or wounded in some way, there was a lot of preliminary explanation shit that they didn’t have to wade through with each other. They said what company or branch they were from and what injury they had, and they moved on. Everybody that worked there had the same global, all-encompassing understanding of what they each went through every day, so they didn’t have to explain every little thing.

  It was a very liberating, accepting place to be.

  At some point he would have to talk to Kendall about his arm, but he had no desire to bare himself to her that way. She’d made no bones about it when they’d first been contracted that she thought they were deficient in some way. He wouldn’t be rushing to give her any ammunition.

  Grif wandered through the condo, looking at Kendall’s items with new eyes. They belonged to the woman he would be spending a great deal of time with now. More, even, than when he was her guard. He dropped into the poufy cream-colored chair she’d slept in last night and her scent wafted around him, sending a blast of awareness through his body. He’s been attracted to her for the past several weeks, and now that he’d had a taste, the need had grown teeth.

  Closing his eyes, he let his head rest against the back of the chair.

  “Parks!”

  Grif bolted awake, disoriented by the expanse of white in front of him. Ah, the window. It was snowing outside.

  Kendall stood beside his chair, looking rumpled and beautiful with her long blond hair hanging across her shoulders. Her face was a little swollen from sleep and she had a red crease down one cheek as if she’d had folded fabric beneath her head. Her eyes were clear, though, and with her hands on her hips she seemed exasperated.

  “I called your name several times and you didn’t budge.”

  He scrubbed his face with his hands, trying to wake up. “Sorry. I think we’re both a little frazzled. I didn’t even realize I’d fallen asleep.”

  She nodded and crossed to sit at a nearby chair. “Well, I’m going to frazzle you a little more. I’ve thought about this a lot and I apologize ahead of time for the headache. I want a wedding. It doesn’t have to be big, just a few close friends, but if I’m going to be married, I’m going to do it the way I want to.”

  Grif tried not to flinch. He had very little faith in marriage to begin with, and now she wanted to make a production out of it? Fuck.

  “Okay,” he said slowly. “How big is not very big?”

  She shrugged. “Less than twenty or so people. Do you have people you’d like to invite? I mean, if by chance this does work out between us it may be the only marriage we ev
er have.”

  He conceded her point with a tip of his head, but inside he cringed. Did he even have ten people he wanted to invite? He thought of his mother, smoke curling around her head in a dirty apartment in Cincinnati. She probably hadn’t moved from where he’d left her years ago. Regardless, he didn’t want her there. She’d never done anything for him other than use him.

  He’d like to invite Duncan, definitely. They’d known each other many years, first in Iraq when he’d worked Ordinance Disposal for Duncan’s Marine Company, then later when he’d been hired on as an agent for his civil company. The man had given him purpose several times over.

  After working with him for months, Ryan Calvert had become a pretty good buddy as well. He’d like to have him there.

  “I do have a couple I’d like to bring. When do you want to do it?”

  She blinked at his acceptance. “Well, I need a few days to get some things arranged. I’ll have to tell my father. I’d like to get married at the house.”

  Grif nodded. That would be ideal. The house security could be on watch while they were distracted with the wedding. “Okay. Want to plan on Wednesday?”

  She nodded, staring off into space. “I have to get to work,” she murmured. But the smile she gave him as she left the room made all the worry worth it.

  Kendall called her best friend Lilly in New York. They’d basically grown up together on shoots, commiserating when their mothers became too unbearable. For several years they’d been each other’s only relief from the stresses of the job. When Kendall had moved out to Vail to be with her father, they’d managed to keep in touch. Lilly was still in the business, managing her own agency now. She promised to be out as soon as she could.

  Grif’s boss and good friend Duncan arrived on Tuesday night. Wilde was a silver haired devil. Dark brown, deep set, experienced eyes surveyed her up and down when he walked into the room, and Kendall liked his dry humor immediately. Though he needed a cane to walk, he still had the muscular look of a fighter. She had no doubt he could handle anything that came at him.

  He shook his head at Grif sadly. “And they continue to fall.”

  She had to laugh when Grif flushed.

  “Shut up, Wilde. Your turn is coming. I’m sure.”

  The older man made a face. “I think we’ll agree to disagree on that point. I’d be a lot for a woman to handle.”

  Lilly arrived early the next morning, looking very chic and put together, in spite of the fact she’d just flown through the night to stand up with her at the wedding.

  Kendall ran her fingers over her friend’s sleek haircut. It was a deep blue black right now, though Kendall had seen it every color of the rainbow. It made Lilly’s flawless, pale skin look even more fragile. Her storm gray eyes twinkled with humor, in spite of how tired she must be.

  “Why don’t you go take a nap for a bit? We’ve got several hours yet before we need to head to the house.”

  Lilly waved a hand. “Oh, please. I can’t sleep now. We have to catch up!”

  So, her best friend in the world turned into the best distraction in the world as Kendall counted down the time to her two o’clock wedding. They finalized plans together and talked about mutual acquaintances.

  When Grif arrived with Duncan in tow, introductions were made all around. Lilly seemed taken with the older man, resting her hand on his arm and smiling in a way that Kendall had learned meant she was interested. Duncan was polite but didn’t appear as taken with Lilly, although he took care to be solicitous. Kendall hoped her friend proceeded cautiously.

  Duncan drove the three of them to Herrington House a couple of hours before the wedding. Grif said he had a couple of errands to run. Frank met them at the door himself and excitement for the day had given his skin a healthy flush. He wrapped her in a hug, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Go on in. Emily has been running since you first called, and everything will be impeccably done, I’m sure. Your dress just arrived and the caterer is setting up in the dining room. Everything is under control.”

  Kendall felt tension ease from her shoulders. “Thanks, Dad.”

  She led Lilly through the house, to the guest suite where her father had directed them. There it hung, with her shoes positioned underneath. Lilly teared up when she saw it. “It’s perfect for you.”

  She dropped the accessories bag to the bed and started pulling things out. “Let’s work on your hair because that’ll take the longest.”

  Kendall gave herself up to Lilly’s expertise, and everything flowed right until a sharp rap sounded on the door. Deedra peeked around the edge then let herself in.

  Kendall fought to keep the smile on her mouth. The two of them had never gotten along. Deedra considered Kendall competition for Frank’s attention and more than once Emily had overheard the red haired witch badmouthing Kendall. She just had to laugh, though. Deedra’s motives for doing anything were so transparent.

  The woman walked across the room when she spied Kendall’s dress and held it out from the door, as if trying to imagine it on her body, then turned away with a derisive curl to her lips. She caught Kendall’s gaze in the mirror and moved toward them.

  “Well, aren’t you looking just like a bride. Hi, I’m Kendall’s stepmother Deedra.”

  She held her hand out to Lilly, but the other woman gave her a look and nodded her head instead. “Sorry, my hands are full. Nice to meet you.”

  Kendall gritted her teeth as Deedra fluttered about like the damn flitter-gidget Emily always called her, sticking her fingers into things that didn’t need messed with. At one point she wrapped the necklace Kendall planned to wear around her own neck, then dropped it to the vanity. The woman seemed oblivious to Kendall’s growing anger. Lilly finally snapped at her to go check on the caterers.

  Deedra tossed Lilly a scathing look, then tottered away as quickly as her ridiculously high heels allowed her.

  Tension flowed with her out the door. Now that Deedra wasn’t twittering in her ear, fretting over things, Kendall could pretend her life wasn’t going to change in less than an hour. She looked up at her friend. “Thank you very much.”

  Lilly grinned. “My pleasure.”

  The time finally came to put on the dress. Lilly, again, was invaluable. The tiny seed pearl buttons running down the back were no problem for her nimble fingers, and within just a few minutes, Kendall turned to face herself in the mirror.

  She’d worn designer dresses before, but nothing like the pale white, strapless confection that now hugged her body from breast to thigh. An intricate design in Swarovski crystals traced from her breasts and down the right side of the dress. The skirt poufed out around her legs, showing glimpses of the matching, completely frivolous, crystal encrusted sandals. She’d been incredibly lucky that a designer she used to work for had had them both available at her shop downtown, and had been willing to let the dress out just a bit. Kendall refused to feel guilty for not being the model standard anymore.

  Yes, she was getting married in her father’s home, but she wanted to look pretty for the few guests that had been able to come on such short notice.

  She hadn’t seen Grif yet. He’d run down to do errands, but that had been more than an hour ago. Nerves began to chew at her confidence. What if he didn’t make it back in time, or got caught in the snowstorm predicted for the area?

  She wanted a glass of wine to calm her nerves. She settled for a butter mint Emily had brought her earlier.

  Nobody knew about the pregnancy, but Emily had looked at her with a brow raised, as if she could tell something were different but she didn’t know exactly what. Kendall wanted to tell her, but Grif had been right in that the less people that knew about the baby the better. They’d agreed to act as though they were hooked on each other. They probably couldn’t pull off looking in love, but they definitely had attracted down.

  Lilly had looked at her strangely when Kendall said she liked Grif. But she didn’t dig, and she went out to join the rest of the guests.

&
nbsp; Kendall had made it a point to invite a few of the stockholders in the company, some of her father’s oldest friends. Hunter and his family would be here as well.

  Emily slipped in the room just then and Kendall smiled when she saw her. Mom had refused to fly out to see her get married “in that man’s house”. She seemed to miss the point that the day was about Kendall, not her years’ old relationship with her father. And though Kendall had wished otherwise, she hadn’t been surprised.

  Emily had been ecstatic to step in and help out, and speechless when Kendall had asked her to stand up for her with Lilly. She’d have done a bigger production than put the little party and dinner together if she’d been allowed, but Kendall had wanted it super small. Just a few close friends. Easy food.

  Tears came to the older woman’s eyes as she looked Kendall up and down. “You are beautiful, Munchkin. I can’t believe you’re getting married.”

  Kendall shrugged. “It seems right, Emily. I never thought Parks would be the one, but he suits me. We click.” She shrugged, unwilling to dig a deeper hole for herself.

  It really wasn’t though. They did get along well, now that they’d thawed with each other a little. She’d only seen him for a few minutes on Sunday because he’d had to run to Denver for the personal paperwork he needed to get the marriage license. Monday afternoon they’d gone to the family lawyer’s office to have a quick, complete pre-nuptial done. The older man had paled when they’d told him how quickly they needed it, but he’d come through. Sometimes the Herrington name came in handy.

  Nobody asked out-right if she was pregnant, but she could see the question in their eyes. She just refused to answer it. None of their business.

  “I have something for you, honey.”

  Kendall looked at the pale blue square Emily held out.

  “This will cover your something borrowed, something blue and something old. My mother gave it to me when I was a young woman, to be used when I walked down the aisle.” She shifted uncomfortably and her eyes turned a little glossy. “I never had a chance to use it, but I’m overjoyed that I can give it to you to use.”