“I think that Grandpa always wished Mom had had a son instead of two girls.” She smiled a little. “And I see the warm relationship you two have with one another. You’re kind of like the son he never had, Beau. You two get along so well, it’s amazing. He’s not like that with most people.”
“Well, we’re cut from the same military cloth, gal. That breeds a bond right there. I might be Army and he’s a Marine, but we have that unspoken brotherhood between us.”
She sighed and lay down at his side, nuzzling him and kissing his neck. “When I talked to Dara earlier …”
“Yes?”
“She told me she got engaged to Matt. I think that’s so wild that we both got engaged on the same day!”
“‘Kismet’ is what my ma would call it,” he laughed, seeking her lips, which parted to accept his, filled with promise. Filled with love. As he eased away, he said, “Your sister has a fine man who will make her a wonderful husband, so don’t worry about her, Callie.”
“Oh, I always liked Matt.” She laughed a little. “I mean, it was pretty obvious he’d fallen for Dara. The way he looked at her when he met us in back of the chow hall after we’d finished our dance told me everything.”
“They’ll be a beautiful couple together, but so will we. Dara will be happy working down there at her hospital in Alexandria, and Matt’s happy working with his parents for their charity nearby. It will work out.”
“Yes, and you’ll be up here riding the fence line, herding cattle and getting a sore butt,” she laughed.
Beau eased her onto her back, watching the shadows and light caress the valleys, hills, and curves of her luscious, warm, and loving body. “I’ll gladly suffer a sore butt to live my life with you, Ms. Callie McKinley.”
She sighed and framed his face with her hands, looking deep in his eyes. “Beau, how do you feel about getting me pregnant right after we marry? I don’t want to wait to have children. I want at least three. Maybe four.”
“Heck,” he teased her, “we can have our own family of new ranch hands over time.”
Callie laughed and hugged him to her, feeling the warm weight of his body moving over hers. She was aware that he wanted her again and she could feel herself wanting him just as much. “Four little buckaroos. Think you can handle them?”
His smile deepened. “I’ve got your grandpa and grandma, who I’m sure will be tickled pink, and so will your parents. But Graham and Maisy will spoil them all rotten.”
“They sure will,” she whispered, searching his gleaming eyes. “And you’re so good at diapering.”
He chuckled indulgently, kissing her brow, nose, and cheek. “I’m fine with the idea, Callie. I’ve always dreamed of having a big family. I come from one myself.”
“This is like a dream coming true,” Callie said, suddenly serious, “after almost dying.”
“Well, Christmas is a special time, gal. Always has been. Always will be.”
She felt his lips begin to worship her once more. “You are the ultimate gift, Beau. Without you, I wouldn’t be here. And for what you are, and what you have given me,” she whispered fervently, “I will love you forever.”
THE BEGINNING …
Don’t miss Lindsay McKenna’s next DELOS series novella,
Hold Me
Available from Lindsay McKenna and Blue Turtle Publishing and wherever you buy eBooks!
Turn the page for a sneak peek of Hold Me!
Excerpt from
Hold Me
Callie tried to stuff her fears deep down inside herself. She stood with her fiancé, Beau Gardner, an Army sergeant in Delta Force, at the Butte, Montana airport. He was leaving on this cold January, the skies clear, typical of a Montana winter morning. His arm was curved around her shoulders. It felt comforting to her, but the terror that he was going back to complete his fifth tour over to Afghanistan, raged through her. He could be killed. Callie felt his fingers move soothingly up and down her upper arm as she leaned against his tall, hard body. Was he reading her mind? She tried to appear relaxed and calm, but there was a hellacious storm of anxiety inside her.
People were making their way home from the Christmas and New Year holidays. Beau was dressed in civilian clothes and Callie didn’t think anyone in the bustling airport would know he was a deadly operator. He had saved her life when her civilian charity van was attacked by Taliban on the way to a ‘safe’ Afghan village to render medical aid to its people. She had worked for Hope Charity, spent six months out of every year in Kabul, the capitol, where she worked with fifty orphaned Afghan children. She loved her work with them, even knowing that Kabul wasn’t truly safe, either.
She sighed, resting her brow against his Levi jacket, closing her eyes and squeezing him around his narrow waist. Instantly, Beau responded, dropping a light kiss on her hair and holding her a bit more tightly for a moment, as if to reassure her. He knew she was worried about him going back over there. His enlistment wasn’t up until June of this year and it was only January. Six months. Callie knew that in the winter, the Taliban attacks slowed down or stopped because of the heavy snowfall didn’t allow the enemy to travel around the country very easily. They all trooped back to Pakistan to wait until the spring thaw in April, to return and begin systematic attacks against anyone, Afghan, American or otherwise, who did not believe as they did.
“You doing okay?” Beau asked as he leaned down, his lips brush the curve of her ear.
“I’m doing okay,” she lied. The last thing Callie wanted was to have Beau’s attention and focus on her and not his job in black ops missions. She heard a rumble in his broad chest.
“You’re such a beautiful liar, Ms. McKinley, but I love you anyway.”
She absorbed his West Virginia drawl, loving the low, husky sound, feeling how much he loved her. Callie thought she knew what love was through a series of mistakes with other men. At twenty-seven years old, Beau had more or less crashed into her life when she was working at Hope Charity in Kabul. Rousing herself, she lifted her head, angling it so she could meet his amused looking gray eyes focused solely on her. Lips twisting, she whispered, “I’m not lying, Beau.”
“You’re a first class worry wart, sweetheart. I’ll be fine,” he promised, dropping another kiss on her wrinkled brow. “I’ll be home before you know it. I’ll be meeting you right here in this regional airport.” He lifted his head, angling his chin. “And Grandpa Graham will be here with you.”
Callie rallied a small smile. Her Grandpa Graham, once in the U.S. Marine Corps sniper and black ops when younger, was standing near the swinging doors, looking around like he always did. She supposed it was his top secret security background that made him more alert to the situations around him. “Yes, Grandpa will be here with me, for sure. But the whole McKinley family will probably be here to meet you, too. Everyone loves you. You know that.” And her Montana ranch family truly did love Beau. He fit in well to the ranching way of life. His own folks, Cletus and Amber Gardner, lived on Black Mountain in West Virginia. They were from a long line of Hill people who had lived over a hundred years on that mountain. Beau might not have come from a ranch life, but he was used to living close to nature, was rural in his soul, a hunter and fisherman, and helping his father who was a furniture maker.
“Yes, I love your family,” he agreed, rocking her in his arms, squeezing her once more to comfort her. “I can hardly wait for you to meet MY family. They’re dying to meet you.”
“Ugh, don’t use that word ‘dying,’ Beau,” and she wrinkled her nose.
“Oh … sorry … well, yes, they want to meet the woman I’m gonna marry after I get home in June. The good news is that they’re driving up here to be with us when we get married at the Eagle Feather Ranch. It’s going to be a great big shindig, for sure,” and he smiled down into her eyes.
Beau’s love drenched Callie and she saw it in his gaze, in the way he was holding her against him, rocking her just a little, as if he were rocking a scared child in order to calm it.
And right now? Callie felt exactly like that scared child. No matter how much she tried to mentally tell herself Beau was going to be all right once he returned to Bagram and conducting winter missions, her heart screamed the opposite. Her emotions were on tap, anyway, because she’d gotten a good dose of PTSD from that ambush late last year, running and hiding and trying to get back to Bagram with Beau’s help and protection. “I can hardly wait,” she whispered, her voice off key.
The Books of Delos
Title: Last Chance (Prologue)
Publish Date: July 15, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/last-chance
Title: Nowhere to Hide
Publish Date: October 13, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/nowhere-to-hide
Title: Tangled Pursuit
Publish Date: November 11, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/tangled-pursuit
Title: Forged in Fire
Publish Date: December 3, 2015
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/forged-in-fire
Title: Broken Dreams
Publish Date: January 2, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/broken-dreams
Title: Blind Sided
Publish Date: June 5, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/blind-sided
Title: Secret Dream
Publish Date: July 25, 2016
Learn more at: delos.lindsaymckenna.com/secret-dream
Everything Delos!
Newsletter
Please sign up for my free quarterly newsletter on the front page of my official Lindsay McKenna website at lindsaymckenna.com. The newsletter will have exclusive information about my books, publishing schedule, giveaways, exclusive cover peeks, and more.
Delos Series Website
Be sure to drop by the website dedicated to the Delos series at delos.lindsaymckenna.com. There will be new articles on characters, publishing schedule and information about each book written by Lindsay.
Quote Books
I love how the Internet has evolved. I had great fun create “quote books with text” which reminded me of an old fashioned comic book … lots of great color photos and a little text, which forms a “book” that tells you, the reader, a story. Let me know if you like these quote books because I think it’s a great way to add extra enjoyment with this series! Just go to my Delos Series website delos.lindsaymckenna.com, which features the books in the series.
The individual downloadable quote books are located on the corresponding book pages. Please share with your reader friends!
Hold On (Delos Series Book 5) Page 31