Once a Marine (Those Marshall Boys)

by Loree Lough

  “Well, when you talk to them, say hi for me.”

  “You bet. Thanks for everything. And you’d better call me soon, to tell me all about your, ah, you-know-what with you-know-who.”

  Blushing, Libby stepped back as Zach revved the engine. “You guys drive safe, hear?”

  He steered onto the highway and asked, “What was that all about?”

  “Libby’s secret meeting, you mean?” She grinned. “Seems she has a mad crush on the band’s lead singer.”

  “What! That old geek?”

  “He’s the same age as you are!” She let that sink in for a moment.

  “Really?” He stroked his jaw. “Man. A musician’s life must be tough. Accent on musician. On the road all the time, fighting off beautiful wo…” He snickered. “Okay, so that part of my argument falls flat.” He glanced over at her. “What do you suppose she sees in him?”

  Summer shrugged. “I think it’s just that he’s completely different from everyone else she’s dated. Or that he’s talented. He brought her a dozen red roses, one for every month of the new year. So he’s thoughtful and romantic, too. And I’m guessing she’s thinking of all those nights when he’ll sing sweet nothings into her ear.”

  “Sweet nothings.”

  “You know,” she said, and sang a bar of their song, ending with the word happy.

  “Another one of those ‘means different things to different people’ words.”

  Summer remembered their “people overuse the word love” conversation. And since she had no intention of finding other ways to express her appreciation for pizza and chocolate and daisies, she decided to change the subject. Besides, she had much more important things to tell him on the drive home.

  “I have something to tell you,” she began.

  “And I have a confession to make.”

  “You first.”

  “I overheard you talking to that…to that guy at Pink’s.”

  But how was that possible, when Libby hadn’t texted him until after Samuels left the dressing room area?

  “Libby figured out pretty quick who he was and sent me a message to get over there, in case you needed backup.”

  “I didn’t see you.”

  “I was behind a post. Next to the sports coats. Or whatever it is you call those suit-type jackets.”

  “Blazers. Not that it matters. How much did you hear?”

  “Enough to wonder if you’re going to take that tape to the cops.”

  “I didn’t tape anything. I just wanted him to think I did.”

  “Doesn’t matter. Libby heard everything. So did I. We’d testify. In a heartbeat.”

  “Testify?”

  “You could reopen the case. And with the new proof, he’d get more than a couple months behind bars. This time, he’d go away for a long, long time.”

  She thought of those long, exhausting days in the courtroom, and sitting in the hallway while witnesses who could influence her testimony were on the stand. She’d hated the pitying looks of the jurors, and the long-suffering attitude of the defense attorneys, the bailiff, the judge. If she had to go through that again, she might end up right back at square one.

  “I don’t want to reopen the case.”

  “Why not? He caused you nothing but grief. Altered your life a hundred and eighty degrees. You’ve suffered, physically, mentally and emotionally since that night. Help me understand why you don’t want him to pay for what he did to you!”

  If Zach had heard her say she was recording Samuels’s admission of guilt, he’d also heard what she said right on the heels of it: Worst of all, I may never be able to have children because of you.

  “Each day of the trial was almost as torturous as that night.” Summer stared straight ahead. “I can’t… I don’t want to relive it.”

  “Not even if he gets what he deserves?”

  “There’s no guarantee he’ll get what he deserves. I won’t go through it on a big fat if.”

  From the corner of her eye, Summer could see him working his jaw. She’d been around him enough to recognize the signs of impatience.

  “Okay. All right. We’ll just agree to disagree on that one. But I still don’t understand why you forgave that no-good, lousy—”

  “You were there. So you know very well that what I said was blatant sarcasm.”

  “But he’s an arrogant idiot. You shouldn’t have given him the satisfaction of thinking you might have meant it.”

  “I’m going on the assumption here that you’re reacting this way because you feel like it’s your duty as my…as my friend to defend me. Let me remind you what I said that night in your office. I am not a marine under your command. Much as I appreciate your somewhat clumsy attempt to protect me, I don’t need it. But if I do ever need your help, I promise to ask for it.”

  He fell silent for what seemed like ten minutes. And then he said, “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “Did you hear that, Keeper?”

  The dog woofed quietly from the backseat, inspiring soft laughter from Zach.

  He could be the sweetest, most thoughtful man, Summer admitted to herself. But sometimes, he could be equally exasperating…

  Zach had overheard the entire conversation with Samuels, so why hadn’t he addressed the “might not be able to have kids” part of it?

  She considered asking him, right now, how he felt about that, but decided against it. Better to practice a nonchalant reaction, because if his reaction wasn’t sweet and thoughtful, it would break her heart.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  FOR TWO DAYS and two nights, Zach racked his brain, trying to come up with a legitimate excuse to get Summer back to the Double M so he could put his plan into action.

  It had rankled him at first, holding his tongue when she’d stood up to him. Again. That didn’t last long, though, and by the end of that first sleepless night, he’d applauded her boldness. Gradually, over the past four months, he’d come to realize how darned near perfect his life was. The only thing missing, really, was a woman to share it with. Not just any woman, but Summer Lane, whose bravery and kindheartedness outshone her beauty. Which was saying something.

  He picked up the phone and dialed Libby’s number.

  “Libs,” he said when she picked up, “I need a favor.”

  “I dunno,” she said. “Last time you said that, I ended up storing five years’ worth of marine gear in my spare room.”

  “You have my word, this won’t take up one square inch of your precious real estate. I just need you to help me come up with a way to get Summer to the Double M.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to take her riding.”

  “Have you forgotten about that cold front that just blew through here? The temps haven’t hit thirty degrees in days, and there are two feet of snow on the ground. Tiny as she is, she’ll freeze to the saddle!”

  “No, she won’t. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “Hmm…why do I smell a proposal coming on?”

  “Because you’re an incurable romantic. Now concentrate. I need you to get her to the ranch.”

  “When?”

  “The sooner, the better.”

  “Well, I suppose I could invite her to go riding. And then at the last minute, you can show up, you know, like a knight in shining armor!”

  Zach groaned. “You’re hilarious. Just let me know when you’ve set things up so I can have the horses saddled and ready to ride.”

  “Y’know, this might just be fun.”

  “I’m only too happy to add enjoyment to your life, little sister.”

  “Hang up, already, so I can call her.”

  *

  “SORRY FOR THE SUBTERFUGE,” Zach said when they stopped at the bluff. “But I didn’t know how else to get you up here.”

  Summer rested gloved hands on Taffy’s saddle horn. “You could have just asked.”

  “How much fun would that have been?” he asked, climbing down from his horse. He tethered Taffy and Chinook
to the branches of a wild buckthorn shrub, then gently helped Summer to the ground.

  “So here’s the deal. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. A lot of thought, and I think I love you, Summer. From the minute that cookie crumbled between us,” he said, linking his gloved fingers with hers, “to this one. But more important than that, I like you. Respect you. Admire you. The better I get to know you, the more I like and respect and admire you.”

  “I can’t have kids, Zach.”

  “Be quiet, will ya, and let me finish my speech? Besides, it doesn’t make a lick of difference to me if our kids inherit our DNA, or we adopt a few. As I was saying, I want you to help me design a house for them to run around in. One with a big wraparound porch, where we can sit in matching rockers and watch the sun come up every morning.”

  “I’ve always been partial to sunsets.”

  Oh, how he loved this woman! Grinning, he continued. “Where we can sit in matching rockers and watch the sun set every night.”

  He turned one of her hands loose, leaving his free to touch her cheek and trace the scar that told the world she’d fought a hard fight, and won.

  “Remember when you called me a white knight, and you said you didn’t need a hero?” Zach bracketed her face with his hands, his thumbs raising her chin so that she had to meet his eyes. “Well, you were right. You don’t need a hero. You are a hero.”

  He kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, each wind-chilled, freckled cheek, then reached into his saddlebag. “I made this last night.”

  She held the dinner-plate-sized construction paper heart in trembling hands. “I’m Zach’s heart,” she read aloud, “and I’m yours for the taking.”

  Summer pressed it to her chest and blinked back tears. “Is this your roundabout way of asking me to marry you?”

  “Funny,” he said, pulling her close. “I didn’t think it was the least bit roundabout.”

  “I love being in your arms. And I’m not just saying that because it’s ten degrees, and you’re warmer than my electric blanket.” She snuggled closer, rested her cheek on his chest. “This feels good. Feels right.”

  He’d had a similar thought not so very long ago. A good sign, Zach told himself. A very good sign.

  “Is that your roundabout way of saying yes?”

  Summer stood on tiptoe, linked her fingers behind his neck and answered with a long, meaningful kiss.

  EPILOGUE

  Valentine’s Day

  MUCH TO ELLEN’S DISAPPOINTMENT, Zach and Summer decided on a small, close friends-and-family-only wedding at the Double M. Still, with all the Marshalls assembled, the party barn was just about filled to maximum capacity.

  They’d opted for the hoedown theme from Ellen’s fund-raiser. Same decorations, same food, same band playing the same songs, including the waltz—their first dance as man and wife—that had become their song.

  “You say you’re happy, here in my arms, and I hope it’s true,” Zach sang, “’cause I sure am lovin’, being close to you.”

  Summer remembered Mrs. Centrino whispering to her husband that Zach had a tin ear. The retired music teacher’s assessment still rang true, but from Summer’s point of view, he was making the most beautiful music she’d ever heard.

  When the first dance ended, Ellen pinged a butter knife against a half-filled goblet. “It’s time to cut the cake!”

  Theirs was not an ordinary wedding cake, three tiers tall with a bride and groom on top. Instead, pointy-toed boots—the left, big and chocolate frosted; the right, smaller, with white icing—perched on a double-layered horse shoe. At one end of the shoe, a dark-haired bride held one end of a rope. At the other, her lasso had captured a Stetson-wearing cowboy.

  Gentleman that he was, Zach didn’t smear icing all over Summer’s face. But Summer wasn’t a gentleman. He was still wearing a chocolate mustache when his mom said, “Gather round, all you unmarried ladies…Summer is going to throw the bouquet!”

  Summer’s spray of flowers was no more typical than the wedding cake. Daisies and Colorado blue columbines poked out of an old, hollowed-out saddle horn.

  “Wouldn’t want to knock anybody unconscious, so I’ll lose the horn,” she announced, fringed skirt twirling around her white cowboy boots as she put her back to the single women.

  Libby stood front and center, waving at the Buddy Holly lookalike who stood on the bandstand. Summer gave the flowers a toss, and after flying through the air, stem over bloom, they landed right in Libby’s outstretched hands.

  Libby and her beau were nowhere in sight when Zach knelt to remove Summer’s garter.

  “That’s odd,” she whispered. “I thought surely your sister would be here, fingers crossed and hoping her musician would catch it.”

  “She’s probably off somewhere putting the bouquet into water,” he said, “to make doubly sure the luck will hold.”

  He got to his feet and put his back to the bachelors, and just as he turned it loose, Libby reappeared.

  “Paybacks!” she hollered, and tossed a big cup of cold water at Zach.

  The garter had landed on Nate’s shoulder. “That doesn’t count,” he said, stretching it around his biceps. “And that’s a good thing, because no way, no how am I getting married, ever!”

  The Marshall clan laughed at their self-proclaimed bachelor.

  “We’ll just see about that,” Sam said.

  “You got into the line,” Zach’s dad said. “So it counts. You’re next, and we’re all witnesses!”

  Summer wiggled a finger, inviting Zach to bend down. He puckered up, but instead of the kiss he expected, she blotted water from his face with her grandmother’s lacy handkerchief—the “something old” she’d tucked into her tiny drawstring purse.

  “You know,” he whispered, “nobody would blame you if you changed your mind about becoming part of this wacky family.”

  “Are you kidding? I love these people.” Summer stood on tiptoe and grabbed his lapels. “And I love you.” Pulling him closer, she added, “Like it or not, you are my hero.”

  “Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m all through with that knight in shining armor stuff.”

  “I might let you off the hook…after you carry me over the threshold.”

  “It’s a deal.” He scooped her up as the band started playing an upbeat tune.

  “Are you happy?” she asked, laying her head on his shoulder.

  “Well, it’s one of those words that—”

  Laughing, she silenced him with a kiss.

  *

  http://www.harlequin.com/harlequinexperience

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Heartwarming title.

  You’ve got to have heart… Harlequin Heartwarming celebrates wholesome, heartfelt relationships imbued with the traditional values so important to you: home, family, community and love.

  Enjoy four new stories from Harlequin Heartwarming every month!

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Harlequin.com/newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

  Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

  HarlequinBlog.com

  ISBN-13: 9781460376225

  Once a Marine

  Copyright © 2015 by Loree Lough

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  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. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

  ® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

  www.Harlequin.com