Convincing Lina: A Bachelor of Shell Cove Novel (The Bachelors of Shell Cove Romance Book 2)

by Siera London

  A reflection was all he saw, before Lina jabbed a syringe into Moon’s neck and pushed the plunger. A trail of air bubbles left her nose. Lina started to sink away from him. Everything in him rebelled.

  Gideon grabbed Lina just as her eyes drifted closed. With the last of his strength he kicked for the surface, breeching the water, like an escape pod jettisoned under pressure.

  “Lina, sweetness…open your eyes.” For once she listened without challenging him.

  “I love you, Gideon.” The ladder dropped from the helicopter. “I love you too, grab the rope ladder and climb up, don’t look down. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Reaching for the rope, his hand slipped when something large brushed by his leg. He had fought for freedom, and for ten years he was captive to the past. He had disconnected from his family. His unwillingness to accept the bruises and the blessings life had given him had destroyed Lina’s trust in him. He’d risked the love of the one woman that gave him everything. For what? He was alone. Rhythmic ripples of water slammed into her left side before he felt the brush of a shark against his leg. Gideon reached for his ankle holster. His blade was gone. Would he live to see Lina again?

  Frantic, Lina searched the water line, looking for any sign of Gideon.

  “Gideon!” She screamed his name until her throat burned and ached. The familiar green and black interior of the Rice family helicopter humbled her. Gideon’s family had come to aid. Phoenix appeared on the yacht’s railing, then did a swan dive in the man-made feeding tank. Please don’t take him from me.

  At the sight of a shark’s fin, Lina’s heartbeat halted in her chest. Where were they? The seconds seemed like hours. The helicopter’s light bounced along the yacht’s hull then circled back to the water. Phoenix shot out of the water holding Gideon’s limp body.

  “I see them. They’re next to the boat,” she yelled over the noise of the rotating blades.

  Let them both be okay.

  “I’ll drop lower, then we’ll get out of here,” came a deep voice Lina didn’t recognize within the helicopter cockpit. Relief flooded through her.

  “We have to find, Janna.” The helicopter swayed. Lina gripped the seat strap to steady herself.

  “Janna Williamson is on that yacht?” His eyes were sharp with concern. Lina stared at the pilot with wide brown eyes and dark skin. Who was he?

  “I’m Dawson,” the pilot stated at her continued silence. “My brothers call me D. Wright.” Oh my goosebumps.

  Gideon hoped someone got the license plate number of the car that hit him. Every nerve ending in his body screamed in pain. He winced as the stinging smell of antiseptic hit his nostrils. Shifting his arm caused sharp pain to ricochet across his upper back. Increasing frequency of a hospital monitor’s beeping echoed in the background. He sucked in a breath, gritting his teeth against the pain. Maybe, he’d been run over by a high speed rail car.

  “I swear Gideon Rice if you are trying to die on me, I’ll marry Jace Harper faster than the speed of light, I’ll give him a house full of pale, big butt babies.”

  What the heck was she talking about? It wasn’t happening on his watch.

  Gideon roused to Lina’s soulful serene voice at his ear. Slowly his eyes blinked open. Lina had been crying. Even with blood shot eyes, and puffy eyelids, Lina was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He looked down at the bed. His larger hand was encircled in Lina’s smaller grip.

  “You’d marry Jace, huh? Not even over my dead body,” he croaked out. His throat felt drier than clay dirt in the Florida sun. He licked his dry lips. Lina leaned forward from the chair at his bedside. Looking around he took in the neutral colored beige walls, a television hanging from a ceiling mount. A dry erase board mounted to the wall directly in front of the bed, listed RN Tucker as his nurse for the morning shift.

  “Drink this.” Lina held a turquoise cup with a fluorescent flexy straw to his lips. The cool water coating his throat was better than cashmere.

  “How long have I been here?” He remembered the bullets tearing through his arm and thigh. He and Lina going overboard. Memories of Sky’s yacht breached the mental fog.

  “Three days. You’ve been drifting in and out of consciousness for the last forty-eight hours.” Though she smiled at him, tears filled her eyes. Gideon’s chest filled with such love for this woman, he thought he would burst.

  “You got your dress ready?”

  He was alive and Lina had stayed with him, even when he wasn’t aware of her presence.

  “What?” She stared at him in disbelief.

  “Tomorrow is Friday, our wedding day.” He gave her a determined look.

  “Gideon, be serious,” she said, avoiding eye contact. Had she changed her mind about marrying him?

  Against his body’s objections, he pushed himself forward, grabbing her chin, “What’s changed?”

  The stucco beat of his heart, threatened to topple him over. He loved Lina more than life itself. Was she sorry she’d taken a chance on him?

  Please God, let her still love me.

  “I lost my baby, Gideon.” He sat up taller, never breaking eye contact. She looked at him, but it was as if she didn’t see face. Her concentration was elsewhere. Did she expect him to walk away?

  “Troy told me about the baby.” She gasped, mouth open, with wide eyes.

  He caressed her cheek. Closing her eyes, she bit her lip and he instantly hardened. There had to be a hospital policy against sporting wood in an open air gown. “I am sorry about the miscarriage.”

  “So am I. I don’t know if I can carry a baby until full-term.” The sorrow of loss filled her words. He would give her children. Children she could lavish with love and acceptance.

  “Your ability to conceive is not a factor for me making you my wife. You gonna marry me or what, sweetness?” He had to know how she felt.

  “After everything that’s happened, you are serious about taking me to the altar?”

  “As a shark attack. All I need is a suit and to know you love me. Where’s my family?”

  “Your Dad has been keeping my mother busy. They left for coffee about thirty minutes ago.” Gideon smiled to himself.

  “I’m glad they worked out their differences. He could use some company.”

  “Yeah, they get along pretty well, considering the circumstances.”

  “Have Thane or Ian bring me a suit for tomorrow.”

  “Ian is dealing with Monica. She stopped by when you came out of surgery.” Lina mentioned Monica with a casual tone, hope soared in him that she might forgive him for having kept the truth from her. “Thane is with your father. They’re probably at my momma’s house. Jacob is keeping her close.”

  “D.Wright should be back shortly. He had to check-in on base.” Lina continued to fill in. Gideon remembered the relief that flooded his system when he spotted the familiar green and black Rice helicopter circling over Sky’s yacht. Thank God, he’d invited his family for the wedding days earlier. Without their help he and Lina would be swimming with the fish. “You could’ve told me D.Wright’s first name was Dawson. Janna and your brother know each other well.” Lina giggled like a schoolgirl with a secret.

  A knock sounded at the door, “Hold up,” Gideon yelled and then turned to Lina. “You didn’t answer my question?”

  “Which one?” Lina tilted her head.

  “Do you love me?”

  “With all my heart, I love you.” She kissed his cheek, then tried to move away.

  He cupped her face in his hands, “We are getting married tomorrow, just like we planned.” Lina’s eyes lit up. She sprang to her feet. Her sweet lips pressed against his, and he forgot all about the pain. The only thing that mattered was the woman in his arms. He slid his right arm around her waist. Pulling her closer, he savored the exotic taste of her. Heat spread through his veins when her fingers skimmed his chest.

  At the rapid succession of knocks at the door, Lina broke the kiss.

  “Enter,” she called ou
t.

  An ashen faced Janna walked in, followed by a stoic Troy.

  Janna crossed the room, gave him a stiff hug, “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear before taking the seat adjacent to Lina. Troy’s eyes immediately fell to Lina’s before settling on him. Gideon expected Troy to reference his connection to Lina. Gideon knew to the depths of his soul Lina was his. And soon they would be signed, sealed, and delivered into matrimony. She would be his forever.

  “It’s good to see you awake.” Troy’s face held genuine concern and Gideon felt his muscles relax. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself more upright in the bed.

  “Thanks, did you get Sky?” Troy’s head fell to his chest. He seemed to be having trouble getting air into his lungs.

  “Divers recovered Moon’s body two days ago. They are still searching for Sky,” his voice was barely above a whisper.

  Sky was still out there? Would he come back for Lina? Troy responded to his unspoken question.

  “Lina and Bernadean are safe. We will find Sky, dead or alive.” Lina squeezed Gideon’s fingers.

  “I’m glad you both are okay. I’d better get back to Estrella.” A glint of more than concern flashed in the other man’s eyes at the mention of Estrella.

  “Is she in custody?” Gideon watched, waiting for Troy’s response.

  Troy’s hands balled into fists at his side.

  “Estrella is three doors down the hall from you.” His voice was strained. “Her little sister is missing. We think Sky had her relocated to the US, shortly after he brought Estrella to Shell Cove.” Gideon raised a questioning eyebrow. What was the importance of the sister’s movement?

  “Sky forced Estrella to drug me by holding her nine year old sister hostage,” Lina offered in a voice filled with sorrow.

  “I didn’t realize.” Troy gave a stiff nod of acknowledgement.

  “Well, I should get going,” He said after a moment.

  Then Troy did the unexpected.

  Instead of exiting the room, he approached Lina. Gideon watched as she released her hold on him, turning to face Troy.

  “Take care, Candy.”

  Okay, he could handle the affectionate greeting, but then Troy opened his arms to her. What the heck?

  “That’s my fiancée,” Gideon said on a grunt.

  Lina’s laughter filled the room, “Yes I am.” Lina turned to face her pint-sized friend. “Janna, take a picture of Troy walking out of here. We can post it on the internet that we have no idea of his location following his visit to Shell Cove. None of us can afford a repeat of his kind of drama.”

  The room erupted in laughter.

  The woman he loved gave Troy a sisterly hug before he turned and exited the room. The door closed with a soft thud.

  “Call D.Wright. I need my suit for tomorrow.”

  Janna bristled in the bedside chair. “Don’t mention Dawson’s name,” she said.

  Everybody called his eldest adoptive brother, D.Wright. The fact that this stoic little Navy nurse addressed him as Dawson spoke volumes. Curiosity had him.

  “How do you know D.Wright?”

  “Dawson Wright is the most intrusive man I know,” she huffed. This was the most emotion he’d witnessed in the woman since they met weeks ago.

  “Is that so?” This was going to be fun.

  “Oh…yeah, he’s gotten worse since the wild, Wild West show happened on the open sea.” The lady doth protest much, he thought.

  Did Janna realize when she said Dawson’s name her posture relaxed? If Gideon knew his older brother, wedding bells would toll twice in the Rice family.

  Lina stood at the altar in the SCMC chapel her hand in Gideon’s larger one. She turned to find a tearful Jacob, in the first wooden pew, hugging an equally tearful Deanie James. Lina glanced around the room, flashing a smile at her friends and family. She had everything she ever wanted. Lasting love and family. A huge family.

  Lina’s wrists were abraded and swollen. Gideon’s face was bruised. They both looked like contestants from Survivor. Who would have thought her decision to start a man-fast would result in a trip to the mountains of West Virginia, a hit and run, an abduction, and a marriage to the man of her dreams. Married.

  Gideon had stood by her side for their vows, but now he was seated comfortably in a wheelchair with the Shell Cove Medical Center logo.

  Graham Hamilton approached with a determined look in his eyes. “Lina, I was looking for one of your bridesmaids. I can’t seem to find her.” Graham knew Ava, Janna, and Rebecca. Why was he looking for Ava’s sister, Shaylah?

  “That’s Shaylah.” He smiled, but she recognized the predator glint in his eyes.

  “She told me her name was Yvonne.” Lina sighed in relief.

  “It is. Her full name is Shaylah Yvonne Walters.” When had Graham spoken to her?

  “Gotcha.” Graham strode away from her without another word. That was odd. She was searching for Gideon when she spotted him wheeling his chair in her direction. He was grinning like a loon. She smiled as the gleam of his platinum wedding band caught her eye. She had everything she ever dreamed of. They would be packing out Gideon’s house when he was released from the hospital. Thane had decided to stick around and help them with house plans and designs.

  “Lina.” Her best friend calling her name halted her steps.

  “You are married, before I am,” Ava said.

  Lina beamed at her.

  “You know me. I have no interest in engagements, receptions, or after parties. Give me the man and I’ll see you at the altar.” They both laughed.

  “I should have followed your lead.”

  “You still can. Where’s Logan?”

  “Probably looking for a stiff drink on hospital grounds.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I’ve been selected for deployment,” Ava said with cautious excitement.

  “Get out! That’s awesome news.”

  “I think so, but it wasn’t a hit with Logan.”

  “Uh oh.”

  “Logan wants to protect you. Darwin was prior Navy. Ask him to talk with Logan.” Lina suggested.

  “Ah, Darwin and Rebecca were in a corner kissing before the minister announced you and Gideon, Mr. and Mrs. Rice.” She was Mrs. Gideon Rice. Married to the hottest former Marine, now psychiatrist on the planet.

  “I noticed.”

  “Ava, can I steal my wife?” Gideon’s familiar scent filled the air. Her nipples beaded at the same time as her mouth watered.

  “Of course you can.” Ava bent low, throwing an arm around Gideon in an embrace. “Congratulations and welcome to the family.”

  Lina and Gideon were each other’s family now. They were two lone halves, made whole.

  “Where have you been, husband?” She would never tire of saying husband to her man.

  “Trying to break up a tiff between Olivia Tran and Bishop.” Lina quirked a brow in question.

  “They just met each other. What could have happened to result in an argument?” Lina would have to find out. She pivoted on her heel, scanning the chapel for her brother.

  “I recognize that look in your eyes. The answer is no. Bishop can handle himself. You have more pressing business to take care of.” She grinned, looking into the face of the man who had saved her from herself. She loved Gideon and he loved her right back. Ms. Independent had surrendered her heart, knowing she didn’t have to take on the world alone. Gideon would always be there for her. Mrs. Independent had a nice ring to it.

  “Can I talk you into wheeling me back to my room?” Lina bent low placing a quick kiss on Gideon’s forehead. His arm snaked around her waist. When his fingers met with the hard object at her waist he halted.

  “What is under your dress, Lina?” Did he have to ask.

  “BEYAS, of course. Sky is still out there.” She grinned. “And why would I take you back to your room before our reception?”

  “We have a union to consummate and a birthday to celebrate. You won’t be fasting anyti
me soon.” Stormy gray eyes bore into hers. Love, acceptance, and friendship shone back at her.

  “You convinced me. I’ll never fast off you, mountain man.”

  THE END

  Turn the page for a sneak peek at Siera London’s CATCHING REBECCA.

  Darwin and Rebecca’s story is book three in the Bachelors of Shell Cove series.

  Copyright Siera London 2015

  Catching Rebecca Excerpt

  Rebecca Lynn Holbrook stood prim and poised next to a Dick. The cream satin shoes the personal shopper provided pinched her toes. Richard Ascot, her father’s potential business partner, with his high-gloss gel hair rivaling a solar panel was at her side. She despised the man. He actually wanted people to call him Dick. Dick Ascot. Seriously? Stop the non-sense.

  When would this thing be over? The man standing in front of them droned on. For the love of Pete, Peter, and Pierre, was he reciting the remix? Finish, already. She didn’t hear a word. It was for the best. Who needed details, when she’d made a mess of her life? She wondered how many people were in this mammoth space with them. She hadn’t looked left or right when she entered the room. She kept her focus straight ahead.

  A bird flitted across the sky in no particular direction and she longed to feel that kind of freedom. To have her directions be for her own benefit and not that of the Holbrook family empire. Duty to the empire had landed her in this mess.

  She wondered what Darwin Masters was doing at this moment. He was the only man in her life that cared about what she thought. She could talk with him for hours or not. Being in his presence made her feel whole. But he was done with her.

  She’d rebuffed his advances one too many times. But she only did that for public appearances. For months, she’d left her back door unlocked and welcomed him to her bed, but that had been when she had been dating his brother. Yep, she was pretty twisted. Dating one brother, while sleeping with the other.

  “Do you take this man to be your lawfully, wedded husband?” Oh, this was her part of the dog and pony show.