No sooner had the thought popped into his head than his new brother-in-law materialized in front of him, wearing a faultlessly tailored tux and the biggest cheese-eating grin John had ever seen, forcing him to revise his previous opinion. Great. Obviously, his friends had managed to corrupt the kid already.
“Your buddies are so cool! Zach told me Coop is actually James Lee Cooper. I’ve read The Eagle Flies! How rad is that?”
“Pretty damn. His stuff is great, isn’t it?”
“Man, I’ll say. Coop said Zach got the handle Midnight in the Marines because he sees really well in the dark and Zach told me Coop was called the Iceman because the tougher the situation, the steadier his nerves always got. But when I asked why they call you Rocket, they just laughed and said to ask you. So why do they?”
“Because I’ve got a dick like a suborbital transportation system.”
Jared laughed. “Yeah, right. How come, really?”
John grinned. What the hell. When truth is stranger than fiction, make something up. “Good with munitions.” Suddenly remembering the card in his pocket, he said, “Hey, while it’s just the two of us, I have something for you.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.” Reaching inside his tux, he pulled out the index card and extended it to the teen. “I located P.J. I know you weren’t interested the last time I asked, but I thought if you ever change your mind about contacting her, you’ll at least have her current address and phone number.”
Jared took the card and looked down at it. “She’s in Wyoming?”
“Yeah. Her mom’s working nights at a truck stop.”
The boy stared at the card for several silent moments. Then he slid it into his tux pocket and looked back at John. “Thanks.” He paused, then asked slowly, “Rocket, do you know how I’d go about getting a hundred bucks from my inheritance before it clears probate?”
“Nope, but I’d be happy to float you a loan in the meantime.”
“You would?” Jared stared at him as if waiting for the catch. Finally, he asked, “Without knowing what I want it for?”
“Sure. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. I’m sure you’ve got an excellent reason.”
“I do,” the boy said eagerly. “There’s this lady in Denver who gave me money she couldn’t afford just because she was decent…and because I reminded her of a son who’d died in Iraq. I want to send it to her.”
“She gave you a hundred bucks?”
“No, she gave me and Peej three, but I saw into her wallet and she only had five to begin with, which made me feel doubly crappy about conning her.”
“You’ve got style, kid. Forget the loan—I’ll write you a check right now. Consider it a small thank-you to the lady from your sister and me.” Suiting action to words, he pulled his checkbook from the same inside pocket where he’d stored the index card, scribbled out a check, and ripped it from the book. He handed it to his new brother-in-law.
Jared stuffed it into his pocket. “Thanks.” He hesitated, then said, “I’m really glad Tori married you.”
“You and me both, buddy. I’m pretty jazzed about getting you for a brother, too. You’re one of the good guys.”
The teen looked both delighted to hear it and terrified the sentimentality might suddenly run amok. Luckily, before the moment could grow emotionally sticky, Esme’s excited voice called, “Look, Daddy, look at me!”
He turned to see her riding Coop’s shoulders, her hands clutching the big blond’s spiky hair, looking thrilled right down to her little ruffled socks but a little nervous at being so far up off the ground. His heart clutched at the sound of “daddy” from her lips and at the sight of her, all flushed and bright-eyed in her little party dress and patent-leather shoes, with her hair wild and wavy down her back. “Yeah, look at you,” he said. “How’d you con the big guy into giving you a ride?”
“He offered! Mr. Blackstock has a niece and her name is Lizzy and she’s a coupla years older ’n me and he says someday we’ll have to visit them!” She tugged on Coop’s hair and leaned over to peer into his face when he tipped his head back to look up at her. “I want down now, Mr. Blackstock.”
“I wish you’d call me Coop, Little Bit.” His muscular shoulders shifted beneath his suit jacket as he reached overhead to lift her off them and again as he swung her to the ground. He bent and gently straightened the mussed skirt of her flower-girl dress, his dark brows furrowed with concentration.
Esme flashed him a big smile. “Thank you for the ride, Mr. Coop. It was super! I hafta go tell Rebecca and Auntie Fiona.” With a swirl of rustling violet fabric and stiff white petticoat, she spun and raced across the room.
Victoria, who had paused to watch from a few feet away, walked up to the two men. “I sure do like your friends, John.”
Rocket turned. “Hey, there you are!” He wrapped his arm around her and hugged her to his side, moving her veil aside with his chin in order to nuzzle her ear. “That’s better,” he breathed. “We haven’t done this in, oh, ten minutes or so; I was starting to go into withdrawal. Where’ve you been?”
“Getting to know Ronnie…and Lily, whom I’m embarrassed to admit I was a little put off by at first.”
Coop grinned. “It’s the Marilyn Monroe hair and that bodacious body.”
Victoria smiled at him. “Exactly. She’s a bombshell, which under ordinary circumstances I like to believe wouldn’t have got me all puckered up. But I’m sure you’ve heard all about DeeDee by now and she and Lily share a very similar look. Of course, it only took two minutes of watching her take care of your wife in the restroom to realize that the only thing those two have in common is massive sex appeal. Lily’s a genuinely nice woman. And very kind.”
Coop’s black brows drew together. “Ronnie’s throwing up?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.” She reached out and squeezed his forearm. “I understand congratulations are in order, although I must warn you your name was taken in vain between her bouts of hanging over the toilet.”
“You’re gonna be a dad?” John slapped his friend on the shoulder. “That’s great news—congratulations, Ice!”
Pride cloaked Coop like a mantle, but his gaze drifted toward the ladies’ room. “Thanks, we’re real excited. Except Ronnie’s been miserable with morning sickness, which doesn’t even have the decency to confine itself to morning. She’s almost into her second trimester, though, so we’re hoping it will go away soon.” His bittersweet chocolate-colored eyes suddenly lit up and, excusing himself, he stepped past Victoria, who looked over her shoulder to see the women they’d been discussing walking up to them.
“Hey, sweetpea,” he murmured to his wife. “You all right?”
“Yes.” Ronnie swept her shiny black hair away from her damp forehead and smiled. “I feel much better.”
“You look pale, princess.”
John gave his friend a quizzical look. “How can you tell?”
Tori elbowed him in the side, but secretly thought he had a point. Ronnie had the whitest skin she’d ever seen and Victoria couldn’t see a discernible difference from the way the other woman had looked before her stomach had gone wonky.
Pam and Frank joined them as the band segued into a jazzy tune. Pam and Ronnie discussed the injustice of morning sickness and Victoria was telling Lily about the large Craftsman-style house they’d just purchased in Denver when the petite woman suddenly stared past her. She saw the blonde’s jaw drop.
“Oh, my gawd. Look at Zach!”
Tori turned to see him swing dancing with John’s business manager. The tall black-haired man swung Gert out, and both kicked their left legs exuberantly fore and aft before he snapped the older woman back in and bent to dance cheek to cheek with her while they executed several complicated steps.
Smiling in delight, she looked back at his wife and friends and found them equally delighted. When the dance came to an end, John and Cooper stomped, whooped and shouted their approval.
Zach executed a snapp
y salute in recognition of their appreciation and escorted Gert over to the group. Bending down, he gave his wife a quick kiss on her still startled mouth. “Sorry, sweet thing, but I’m gonna have to demand a divorce. Me and Gert are running away to dance up a storm in Jamaica.”
“Now don’t go teasing an old broad, boy.” Gert gave him a swat, but then patted her blue updo in an appreciative feminine preen. “My pacemaker can only handle so much excitement.”
Everyone laughed, but Lily continued to stare at Zach as if bedazzled. “Where did you learn that?”
“I took lessons Tuesday nights when I told you I was teaching the Special Ops course. You said you wished I liked to dance. Turns out I do.” He stroked a gentle fingertip down her cheek. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“Ohmigracious, Zachariah, you certainly did that!” She grabbed his hand and tugged. “Come on. Show me what else you’ve learned.”
Jared, who had just rejoined the group, stared after Zach. “He teaches?” he asked, a hint of disillusionment tinging his voice.
“There comes a day when you’re too old for recon, kid,” Cooper said sternly. “Besides, he doesn’t just teach—he’s one of the best damn instructors the MOUT facility at Camp Lejeune has ever had, teaching the Urban Warrior program.”
“What’s MOUT?” the youth asked.
“Military Operations in Urban Terrain,” John explained. “Modern warfare is beginning to be fought more and more within cities and the Urban Warrior program is a series of exercises that the Corps Warfighting Laboratory puts on to examine new urban tactics and experimental technologies. We’ll have to take a trip to North Carolina before Zach musters out next year so you can check out the place for yourself. It’s awesome.”
Jared’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“You bet,” John replied.
“Damn straight,” Coop agreed and launched into a story about one of the exercises he’d witnessed. Victoria watched as all three males ended up lying on their stomachs on the old rug, sighting down phantom weaponry.
Seeing her brother blossom under the men’s attention, she counted herself one lucky woman. Not only had she captured the heart of the only man to ever engage her own, but in one fell swoop Esme had gained a dad, Jared a big brother and all three of them an expanded circle of friends.
John rolled over and sat up, grinning sheepishly when he saw her watching. “You can take the boy out of the Marines, darlin’, but you’ll never take the Marines outta the boy.” He jumped to his feet and came over to her. “Have I told you how beautiful you look today?” He fingered her white veil. “I wanna see you wearing nothing but this tonight.” Slicking his long hands down the sides of her slim satin-and-lace gown, he gave her a crooked smile. “Okay, and maybe those white thigh-high stockings and heels you’ve got on under this.”
“Oh, God, John, I love you so much.”
“Hey,” he crooned, “what’s this?” He captured a single tear sliding down her cheek and brought it to his mouth, where he sipped it off his fingertip. Bending his knees, he peered into her face. “You having one of those girly sentimental-fool moments, darlin’?”
She punched his arm. “You are such a chauvinist.”
“And proud of it,” he agreed, grasping her hand and running his thumb over the three-stone diamond band on her ring finger. “You won’t catch me getting all dewy-eyed.” His dark gaze, however, told a different story as he stared down at her with such naked love it made her breath catch.
Then he flashed a cocky smile, picked her up by the elbows, and planted a hard kiss on her lips. He set her gently back on her feet. “But look at it this way, darlin’. You’ve got years and years to reform my wicked ways.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3395-3
HOT & BOTHERED
Copyright © 2004 by Susan Andersen
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Copyright
Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
EPILOGUE
Hot & Bothered Page 32