by Cindy Dees
“You talked to the other guys in the Blackjacks?”
“Yes. I needed more information for my report to the Senate Arms Committee, and my lawyers wouldn’t let me call you. So I asked them. They were very helpful. Nice guys.”
“They’re all nearly unstoppable killing machines, too, you know.”
She laughed. “Yes, I know.” Her gaze went serious and she leaned forward to grasp his cold hands in her warm ones. “I also know that you’re a sane, decent, honorable man. You’re no psychopathic ax murderer. And neither are the men you work with.”
She was for real, all right. His jaw sagged.
“When I saw that mock-up of the White House, something snapped inside me. I realized there are a few things out there worth dying for. Once that clicked in my mind, the rest fell into place pretty fast. I believe in what you do, Tex. I believe in you.”
He stared at her, not quite able to believe what he was hearing. “You’re okay with what I do. With who and what I am.”
She nodded readily. No hesitation. No doubts. “Yes.”
She hadn’t cut and run. The thought burned across his brain like a shooting star. She’d stood by him at that fork in the path in the jungle when she could’ve left. Again, during the big firefight when she could’ve slipped away in the chaos. And today, in front of Congress, for God’s sake. His heart felt as if it was actually getting bigger inside his chest as it expanded to embrace the reality of Kimberly’s unswerving loyalty to him.
He jumped when a plate of hamburger and fries was thunked down on the table in front of him. He hadn’t even heard the waitress coming.
“How about you, Tex? Are you okay with who I am?”
He stared at her in disbelief. “Of course!”
“Don’t answer that so fast. I actually am considering running for my father’s old seat in the House of Representatives.”
So. The rumors were true. What were the implications of that to a long-term romantic relationship between them? His heart, so light a moment ago, crashed back to earth like a brick. “You’ll make a great congresswoman,” he said quietly. He felt as if she’d just dragged a machete across his body and spilled his guts out onto the floor.
“I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to run, yet.”
He frowned. “Why not? It’s exactly what you wanted. A chance to make a difference and be heard.”
Her gaze skittered away from his and she chewed absently. Whatever was holding her back from running for Congress must be huge. She’d just chowed down a greasy French fry slathered in ketchup without a single word of complaint.
She continued to eat, oblivious to her food. She might as well have been popping termite grubs into her mouth for all the attention she was paying.
“What’s up, darlin’?” he finally asked. “What’s keeping you from running for Congress?”
She hesitated a long time and finally answered, “You.”
A knife twisted in his gut, cutting his heart wide open. It felt as if all his blood was draining out of him. Sonofabitch. Just when he’d started to believe in her…
He dragged a French fry through the pile of ketchup on his plate, drawing deep, slashing lines in it. He managed to grit out, “I gather I’m a skeleton you’d rather leave in your closet? I’ll sign a legal release swearing never to say anything about it if that’s what you want. I’d never stand in the way of your political career, Princess. And besides, what happened between us is in the past.”
He risked a glance up and saw Kimberly’s eyes fill with tears. Dammit. Now what was wrong? He’d given her what she wanted. Even if it was ripping his heart out.
KIMBERLY SWIPED AT HER CHEEKS, mad that she was giving away her feelings so blatantly. She closed her eyes against the searing pain cutting through her. He’d already moved on with his life. Like the straightforward, honest guy he was, he’d taken her at her word in that helicopter when she’d questioned the cost of their survival.
She’d been exhausted and scared out of her mind, and they’d just avoided dying by the narrowest of margins. Thinking about those last moments on the roof of that burning building still gave her the willies. She’d spoken out of fear in the helicopter. Babbled the first thing that came to her mind. And she’d driven Tex away for good with that one stupid question.
Yes, there’d been a cost to their escape. A high one. But it was a price that the United States government had been more than willing to pay to get the RITA rifle and its dangerous technology back. It hadn’t been her fault or Tex’s that all those rebels died. She’d finally seen that when she talked to her father about Vietnam.
Her dad wasn’t responsible for being drafted and sent to Southeast Asia where he’d dutifully carried out his orders. The men in charge, the men who gave the orders—the president, his cabinet, Congress—they were the ones responsible for what had gone on in Vietnam.
She and Tex had been tools of their government in Gavarone, the warm bodies on the ground in the right place at the right time. Colonel Foley had made it crystal clear in his talk with her that if she and Tex had failed or died trying to get the RITA rifle back, somebody else would have been sent in to take their place.
After witnessing the RITA rifle’s deadly accuracy and the carnage it could wreak, she understood why the people in charge had sent Tex after it.
She was determined to become one of the people who gave the orders to the men and women like Tex. Level-headed people, who really knew the price of force, needed to be the ones with their fingers on the triggers of men like Tex and the Blackjacks. Hence, her run for Congress.
“Hey, you solving world hunger over there?” Tex’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Uh, no. I was thinking about what you said.”
He threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Honest. You don’t have to kill me to ensure my silence. I can keep a secret.” A flash of remembered passion glinted in his gaze, belying the casual tone of his voice. “I’ll take the memory of our time together in Gavarone to my grave.”
“Is that what you want?” she barely managed to whisper past the constriction in her throat. She’d so hoped there was a way she could have both her career and the man she loved. “To leave what happened between us in the past?”
“Hell, no, it’s not what I want,” he answered savagely. His voice ripped into her, rending her flesh with its serrated edge.
Her gaze snapped to his. His eyes were as hard and brilliant as diamonds. “What do you want, Tex?” she choked out.
“I want you. All of you. To myself. Forever.”
They were exactly the words she’d longed to hear for the past two, long, miserable weeks without him. Exactly the words she’d feared most.
Some of her inner conflict must have shown on her face because Tex asked abruptly, “What the hell’s going on in that purty li’l head of yours? Spit it out, darlin’.”
She smiled reluctantly at his abruptly thick drawl. “Tex, my feelings for you haven’t changed one bit since we lay on that burning roof together.”
Fierce light leapt in his sapphire gaze as bright and hot as the inferno around them had been that night.
She continued doggedly. “But I don’t know how you’d feel about being married to a politician.”
He shoved back abruptly in the booth. He stared at her for a long time, his expression completely unreadable. It took all her self-control not to fidget under his intense scrutiny.
Finally he drawled, “Are you proposin’ to me, Princess?”
She blinked in surprise. “I suppose I am.”
“You’d better be sure, darlin’. It ain’t fittin’ to lead a guy on about something as momentous as that.”
Was she sure? She looked inside her heart and found nothing but jubilance at the prospect of a lifetime with him. A slow smile spread across her face. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m definitely proposing to you, Tex Monroe.”
Still, he showed no reaction whatsoever. No hint at all of his thoughts on the subject. Sh
e rushed onward, saying her piece before she lost her nerve. “The thing is, I’d really like to run for Congress. I think I could win, and I think I’d be a good representative of the people. But I don’t want to lose you, either. If you don’t think you can deal with all the media badgering, I need to know now before I accept any nominations.”
Tex leaned forward, his voice deadly serious. “Are you telling me you’d give up running for Congress if I asked you to, so we could be together?”
She nodded, her heart in her throat.
His gaze bored into her, looking straight into her soul. “I’ll be damned,” he breathed.
What did that mean? “Tex, help me out here. Throw me a bone, a scrap, anything. Tell me what you’re thinking!”
“Well,” he drawled slowly, “I’m thinking I’d better give you a horse and a bridle for a wedding present. Any woman with enough starch in her britches to propose to her man is going to need a little reining in, now and again.”
Her heart skipped a beat and then kicked into overdrive. “Really?”
He moved so fast, she hardly saw him slip out of the booth and come around to her. She only knew she met him halfway and his arms were suddenly wrapped around her, hard and strong. And then his mouth was on hers, warm and possessive.
Where he ended and she began, she stopped being able to tell. Their two loves swirled together and mingled into one, passionate and powerful enough to last a lifetime.
Eventually, the noise of a bar full of cheering bikers intruded upon her consciousness. Heat flooded her cheeks as Tex lifted his mouth away from hers.
Without releasing her, he nodded slowly. “I’m thinking a sweet, palomino filly with hair as gold as yours, and a hand-tooled leather bridle with some fancy silver trim would be just right for you.”
“If you ever even think about pulling me around by some leather contraption…”
The waitress, check in hand, threw up her hands. “Whoa! Too much information! Don’t need to be hearin’ about your love life in here!”
Kimberly jumped. She hadn’t heard the woman approach.
“Honey,” the woman continued. “There’s a whole slew of reporters outside. You want me to send out the boys to run ’em off?” The waitress hooked a thumb over her shoulder at the row of bikers at the bar.
Kimberly looked up at Tex. “It’s your call.”
He stared down at her gravely for a moment, and then a slow smile, the one she liked best, spread across his face. “How about if I be the one to announce our engagement since I didn’t get to do the askin’ in the first place?”
She grinned. “Be my guest.”
He flipped a bill at the waitress and told her to keep the change. While the woman blew a kiss at him, Tex took her elbow and steered her toward the exit.
“One more thing, darlin’. I’d like us to announce our engagement before you tell the press you’re running for Congress. That way I’ll be old news first and the press will leave me alone sooner.”
She laughed. “You catch on fast.”
His broad smile matched hers. “Have I told you today that I love you?”
“I don’t think so,” she answered, her heart so full it felt ready to burst right out of her chest.
“Well, I do.” He dropped a quick kiss on the end of her nose.
“Glad to hear it,” she murmured as they stepped outside and emerged into the rosy glow of the setting sun. Flashbulbs went off and camera lights flared all around them.
Tex stiffened momentarily beside her and then the muscles in his arm gradually, forcibly, relaxed under her hand.
“Welcome to my war zone,” she murmured to him.
He smiled at her for the cameras and said through his teeth, “If you can stand beside me and face a rebel army, I can stand beside you and face the press.”
She smiled up at him, her heart shining in her eyes. “You’re a brave man.”
A reporter shouted out from the crowd, “Who’s the guy with you, Miss Stanton?”
Tex’s hand came to rest reassuringly over hers.
She answered proudly, “This is my hero. Tex Monroe.”
EPILOGUE
Sonofa—
Mac Conlon slammed the wedding invitation down on his kitchen table in disgust. His best bachelor buddy was biting the dust. What in the hell had happened to the Blackjacks’ long-standing death-before-marriage pact?
What was Tex thinking? There wasn’t anything a diamond ring could get from a woman that the proper amount of charm and strategically wielded sex appeal couldn’t get. And without the life sentence to follow.
The invitation’s fancy engraving leered up at him. “Captain Tex Monroe and Congresswoman Kimberly Stanton request the honor of your presence when they join in wedded matrimony…”
He swore under his breath. And caught sight of the liquor cabinet in the corner. Aww, hell. It wasn’t every day a guy had to miss his best friend’s wedding on account of a woman.
He didn’t drink often, but this was one of those times. He fished out a dusty bottle of whiskey and flopped in his leather recliner in front of the TV. The hell of it was that he actually wanted to go to the damned wedding.
But Susan would be there. Memories of her auburn hair, porcelain skin and laughing hazel eyes swirled around him. He could see them as if it was only yesterday she’d gazed up at him while he’d lain with her in a room filled with candles and white rose petals.
Her eyes had been dark with passion that night. But after he’d dropped his bombshell on her, he’d seen those eyes snap in outrage. Then fill with tears. Always those cursed tears haunting him across the lonely years since. His gut twisted in pain and loss.
No doubt about it. She was the one who got away.
The one he’d driven away.
God damn himself. He’d achieved stupidity of epic proportions.
No way would Tex’s only sister miss her big brother’s wedding. And no way could he face the only woman he’d ever loved. Not after…
Fuckety-fuck-fuck-fuck. He chugged a fiery slug of forgetfulness straight from the bottle. He aimed the remote at the TV and flipped through the channels until he found a John Wayne flick. The Duke and Jack Daniel’s would have to do for companionship tonight since he made it a policy never to get stinking drunk alone.
And he was about to tie on a big one.
BUY MAC’S BOOK
Read HOT SOLDIER COWBOY here, the thrilling tale of how Mac Conlon fights to win back the woman whose heart and life he shattered years ago here.
Dr. Susan Monroe never, ever, wants to see Mac Conlon again as long as she lives. But when the assassin who nearly killed her ten years ago shows up at her workplace—and worse, recognizes her—she has no choice but to call the Blackjacks. She can only pray that Mac has moved on to other Special Forces assignments.
Mac’s prayers are answered when he gets another shot at protecting Susan from danger. But can he win her forgiveness? And more importantly, can he win back her heart? Or will past history repeat itself and tear them apart again?
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PLEA TO READERS
Dearest Reader,
Thanks so much for being you! I deeply appreciate you spending your valuable time reading my story, and I hope I entertained you. Being a writer is an awesome job and I’m truly blessed that you make it possible for me to write my stories.
If you would like to know more about my other books, please visit my website at http://cindydees.com
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All my best, and happy reading…
Warmly,
Cindy
MORE BOOKS BY CINDY DEES
detailed descriptions and links to purchase all of these titles can be found at http://cindydees.com/shop/
The Blackjacks
Hot Soldier’s Chase (Oct 2017)
Hot Soldier Cowboy (Oct 2017)
Hot Soldier Down (Oct 2017)
Hot Soldier Spy (Nov 2017)
Hot Soldier Bodyguard (Dec 2017)
Hot Soldier Sniper (Jan 2018)
Hot Soldier’s Rescue (Feb 2018)
Hot Soldier’s Mission (Mar 2018)
Hot Soldier’s Heart (Apr 2018)
Women in Arms
Fever Zone
Kill Zone
Hot Zone
Doctors Unlimited
(Take the Bait, prequel novella to Close Pursuit)
Close Pursuit
Hot Intent
Code: Warrior SEALS
Undercover with a SEAL
Her Secret Spy
Her Hero After Dark
Her Mission with a SEAL
Code X
Deadly Sight
Flash of Death
Breathless Encounter
The Prescott Bachelors
High-Stakes Bodyguard
High-Stakes Bachelor
High-Stakes Playboy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cindy Dees is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over fifty books, a 2-time RITA winner, five-time RITA finalist, 2-time RT Category Romantic Suspense of the Year winner, and RT Lifetime Achievement Nominee.
She writes military romance and romantic suspense novels. A former U.S. Air Force pilot and part-time spy, she draws upon real-life experience to fuel her stories, and she stays very busy self-publishing and writing for Harlequin and Tor Publishing.