by Susan Stoker
Sean Taggart had hung around for a week and had been joined by his wife, Grace. They’d wanted to make sure their niece was all right after everything that had happened. Chase actually owed both of them a huge debt of gratitude. Sean had helped Sadie rent the large apartment near the Army post—and move all of his belongings out of his old apartment and into the new one before he was discharged from the hospital.
It was a ground-floor unit so he didn’t have to do stairs.
He and Sean had had a long talk late one night. The older man had wanted to know what his intentions were toward his niece. Chase had no problem looking the notorious man in the eye and telling him how much he loved Sadie and wanted to marry her.
As Chase stood against the wall, watching Sadie putter around in their kitchen, he momentarily closed his eyes in gratitude for all he had. He would heal, and he’d be able to rejoin his unit soon. Sadie was living with him and they shared a bed every night. She’d officially quit her job at McKay-Taggart up in Dallas and was currently looking for a job in the Fort Hood area.
“Chase?” came her soft voice.
When he opened his eyes, she was standing right next to him with a hand on his biceps.
“I’m good,” he reassured her.
“You sure?”
“I’m sure. But I do have something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
Chase hated that Sadie looked freaked, so he quickly said, “I was wrong.”
Her brow crinkled. “About what?”
“About women being in combat. You were right. Women are just as capable. I was being hardheaded and sexist. If you hadn’t been there…” His voice trailed off as he struggled to contain his emotions.
Sadie didn’t gloat or even say “I told you so.” She simply squeezed his arm in support.
Chase cleared his throat and continued his thought. “I think Rayne being in the middle of that coup in Egypt really screwed with my head. Not to mention that I’ve been hanging out with the Delta teams. I promise to be better at not jumping to sexist conclusions.”
“Thank you. I’ve been in the unique position of watching all the operatives at McKay-Taggart in action…men and women. I’ve seen what they can do, and how capable they are, firsthand.”
“You think, if I asked nicely, Ian would let me come up and train with him and his operatives sometime?” Chase asked.
“Are you serious?” Sadie asked.
“Of course.”
“I think they’d love that. They’d love to get the chance to kick your ass.”
Chase smiled at Sadie. He felt better after getting that off his chest, but now he had something else he wanted to ask her. He had decided he was going to wait to do this until a more appropriate time, but he couldn’t wait one more second.
“I was mad at you when you refused to tell me you loved me. I knew I was probably dying, and I couldn’t believe you wouldn’t grant me that one last wish.” Chase hated the tears that filled her eyes, but he pressed on. “I haven’t told anyone this, but I had a dream when I was on the operating table. I don’t know that that’s even the right word, but whatever. Anyway, I was in a field of sunflowers. They were all taller than my head and I couldn’t see anything. I kept calling for you, but you weren’t answering. I thought that Jonathan had gotten to you. That I hadn’t protected you.
“Then I heard you. Your voice was faint, but you kept asking me to come back to you. That you wanted to tell me something. I yelled and screamed that I was there. That I was coming, but you couldn’t hear me. I started walking toward your voice, determined to get to you. The sunflowers turned into hands grabbing at me, trying to keep me from you, but I refused to let them hold me back. The only thing going through my head was getting to you so you could tell me whatever it was that you needed to say. The next thing I knew, I was waking up and you were standing over me.
“You were right, Sparky. Right not to tell me. To make me wait. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have fought to get back to you if you’d said it before, I truly believe I would’ve, but it helped. Gave me something else to fight for. I love you. I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t understand Ghost’s obsession with my sister, but I get it now. I would do anything for you. Will do anything for you.”
Chase tried to ignore the tears dripping down Sadie’s face as he carefully lowered to one knee in front of her.
She gasped. “Get up, Chase! You’re still healing!”
She apparently hadn’t figured out what he was doing yet. “I love you, Sadie Jennings. With all that I am. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to be by your side when you have our babies. I want to grow old with you and sit on rocking chairs watching our grandchildren together. I’m going to stay in the Army as long as possible. I love it. But I swear to you right now, I’ll do my best to be there when you need me, no matter what. Being an Army wife isn’t the easiest job in the world, but you’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met. I would be honored and humbled if you’d agree to spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me?”
Sadie stood there a moment, staring down at him with her mouth open, but within seconds of the last word leaving his mouth, she was on her knees too, nodding frantically. “Yes, Chase! Of course, yes! I love you. So much, you’ll never know how hard it was not to tell you when you were lying in the dirt.”
She flung her arms around him, and while her actions made a twinge of pain shoot through his body, he didn’t even care. He smiled and leaned back to take her face in his hands. “I don’t have a ring yet; I thought I’d let you help me pick one out that you like. I want nothing more than to take you into our bedroom and have we-just-got-engaged sex, but I’m not up for that quite yet. I didn’t want to wait though. I love you, Sadie. I know what you’re giving up…a job with McKay-Taggart, your life in Dallas. I won’t take that for granted.”
“I can get another job, and Sean and the others aren’t going anywhere. I can still see him and my aunt Grace whenever I want. And sex can wait. Although I do expect you to make it up to me later.”
Chase grinned. “Absolutely. Can I ask something else?”
“Of course,” she said immediately.
“Do you think you can help me up off the floor?”
She giggled and immediately stood. She held out her hand and Chase took it with a smile. He knew without a doubt Sadie Jennings, soon to be Jackson, would always be there to lend a helping hand, just like he’d be there for her.
* * *
Dear Reader,
If this is the first book you’ve read by me, I hope you enjoyed it! You can spend more time with the characters you were introduced to in this story—and many others—in both my Delta Force Heroes and my Badge of Honor series.
Learn more about Sadie and Milena, and how they first crossed paths with Jonathan and Jeremiah Jones, in JUSTICE FOR MILENA. Sadie’s trip to visit her old friend turns deadly when they unknowingly become the focus of a madman’s revenge—and Sadie becomes the object of Jonathan’s obsession.
For some quality time with Ghost & Rayne, or Emily, Fletch & precocious little Annie, start with RESCUING RAYNE (which is FREE!), and then try RESCUING EMILY. I hope you’ll get as much enjoyment out of reading their stories as I did writing them!
I am forever grateful to Lexi Blake for letting me write Sadie’s story. She’s an amazing character, and I wish I could be just as tough as she was under those circumstances.
I also want to thank the beautiful people at 1001 Dark Nights. They are amazing to work with, and I’m blessed to have been given the opportunity to be a part of the 1001 DN family.
* * * *
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Close Cover by Lexi Blake
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Remy Guidry doesn’t do relationships. He tried the marriage thing once, back in Louisiana, and learned the hard way that all he really needs in life is a cold beer, some good friends, and the occasional hookup. His job as a bodyguard with McKay-Taggart gives him purpose and lovely perks, like access to Sanctum. The last thing he needs in his life is a woman with stars in her eyes and babies in her future.
Lisa Daley’s life is going in the right direction. She has graduated from college after years of putting herself through school. She’s got a new job at an accounting firm and she’s finished her Sanctum training. Finally on her own and having fun, her life seems pretty perfect. Except she’s lonely and the one man she wants won’t give her a second look.
There is one other little glitch. Apparently, her new firm is really a front for the mob and now they want her dead. Assassins can really ruin a fun girls’ night out. Suddenly strapped to the very same six-foot-five-inch hunk of a bodyguard who makes her heart pound, Lisa can’t decide if this situation is a blessing or a curse.
As the mob closes in, Remy takes his tempting new charge back to the safest place he knows—his home in the bayou. Surrounded by his past, he can’t help wondering if Lisa is his future. To answer that question, he just has to keep her alive.
* * * *
Her Guardian Angel by Larissa Ione
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After a difficult childhood and a turbulent stint in the military, Declan Burke finally got his act together. Now he’s a battle-hardened professional bodyguard who takes his job at McKay-Taggart seriously and his playtime – and his playmates – just as seriously. One thing he never does, however, is mix business with pleasure. But when the mysterious, gorgeous Suzanne D’Angelo needs his protection from a stalker, his desire for her burns out of control, tempting him to break all the rules…even as he’s drawn into a dark, dangerous world he didn’t know existed.
Suzanne is an earthbound angel on her critical first mission: protecting Declan from an emerging supernatural threat at all costs. To keep him close, she hires him as her bodyguard. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that she’s in over her head, defenseless against this devastatingly sexy human who makes her crave his forbidden touch.
Together they’ll have to draw on every ounce of their collective training to resist each other as the enemy closes in, but soon it becomes apparent that nothing could have prepared them for the menace to their lives…or their hearts.
* * * *
Justify Me by J. Kenner
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McKay-Taggart operative Riley Blade has no intention of returning to Los Angeles after his brief stint as a consultant on mega-star Lyle Tarpin’s latest action flick. Not even for Natasha Black, Tarpin’s sexy personal assistant who’d gotten under his skin. Why would he, when Tasha made it absolutely clear that—attraction or not—she wasn’t interested in a fling, much less a relationship.
But when Riley learns that someone is stalking her, he races to her side. Determined to not only protect her, but to convince her that—no matter what has hurt her in the past—he’s not only going to fight for her, he’s going to win her heart. Forever.
* * * *
Say You Won't Let Go by Corinne Michaels
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I’ve had two goals my entire life:
1. Make it big in country music.
2. Get the hell out of Bell Buckle.
I was doing it. I was on my way, until Cooper Townsend landed backstage at my show in Dallas.
This gorgeous, rugged, man of few words was one cowboy I couldn’t afford to let distract me. But with his slow smile and rough hands, I just couldn’t keep away.
Now, there are outside forces conspiring against us. Maybe we should’ve known better? Maybe not. Even with the protection from Wade Rycroft, bodyguard for McKay-Taggart, I still don’t feel safe. I won’t let him get hurt because of me. All I know is that I want to hold on, but know the right thing to do is to let go…
* * * *
His to Protect by Carly Phillips
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Talia Shaw has spent her adult life working as a scientist for a big pharmaceutical company. She’s focused on saving lives, not living life. When her lab is broken into and it's clear someone is after the top secret formula she’s working on, she turns to the one man she can trust. The same irresistible man she turned away years earlier because she was too young and naive to believe a sexy guy like Shane Landon could want her.
Shane Landon’s bodyguard work for McKay-Taggart is the one thing that brings him satisfaction in his life. Relationships come in second to the job. Always. Then little brainiac Talia Shaw shows up in his backyard, frightened and on the run, and his world is turned upside down. And not just because she’s found him naked in his outdoor shower, either.
With Talia's life in danger, Shane has to get her out of town and to her eccentric, hermit mentor who has the final piece of the formula she’s been working on, while keeping her safe from the men who are after her. Guarding Talia's body certainly isn't any hardship, but he never expects to fall hard and fast for his best friend’s little sister and the only woman who’s ever really gotten under his skin.
* * * *
Rescuing Sadie by Susan Stoker
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Sadie Jennings was used to being protected. As the niece of Sean Taggart, and the receptionist at McKay-Taggart Group, she was constantly surrounded by Alpha men more than capable, and willing, to lay down their life for her. But when she visits her friend in San Antonio, and acts on suspicious activity at Milena’s workplace, Sadie puts both of them in the crosshairs of a madman. After several harrowing weeks, her friend is now safe, but for Sadie, the repercussions of her rash act linger on.
Chase Jackson, no stranger to dangerous situations as a captain in the US Army, has volunteered himself as Sadie's bodyguard. He fell head over heels for the beautiful woman the first time he laid eyes on her. With a Delta Force team at his back, he reassures the Taggart's that Sadie will be safe. But when the situation in San Antonio catches up with her, Chase has to use everything he's learned over his career to keep his promise...and to keep Sadie alive long enough to officially make her his.
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Justice for Milena
Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Book 10
By Susan Stoker
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Read more about Sadie and how Jonathan got obsessed with her in Justice for Milena.
It’s been years since Milena Reinhardt has seen TJ “Rock” Rockwell. The last time, he was nearly a shell of a man…but he was her man…and he tore her heart out of her chest. Circumstances unbeknownst to TJ have ensured Milena’s never fully recovered.
TJ left his sniper days behind—for the
most part—when he left the Army and become a respected Texas Highway Patrolman. He also left behind Milena. He’s convinced it was the right thing to do at the time, but that doesn’t mean he’s ever forgotten the woman who loved him in his greatest time of need…or has stopped thinking of her since.
Neither thought they’d see each other again, until a pedophile’s operation is taken down and the evil man sets his vengeful sights on Milena. This could be their second chance, even though TJ and Milena have enough secrets and trust issues to end any relationship before it starts. But when the bad guy closes in, they’ll have to set aside their fears and trust in each other, to save the one thing that means the world to them both.
** Justice for Milena is the 10th book in the Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes Series. Each book is a stand-alone, with no cliffhanger endings.
* * * *
“And did you?” Sadie asked.
“Did I what?” Milena repeated, not sure what they were talking about as she’d gotten lost in memories of TJ.
“Fall at his feet?”
“Of course not!” Milena said quickly—maybe a bit too quickly.