Priceless Marriage

by Bonnie Gardner

  * * *

  Honorable Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States of America

  This is to certify that Captain Sam Cade is hereby honorably discharged from the United States Air Force due to medical reasons and expiration of the term of service (thereby allowing him to reunite with his soon-to-be ex-wife).

  This certificate is awarded as testimonial of Honest and Faithful Service.

  * * *

  Harlequin American Romance presents MILLIONAIRE, MONTANA, where twelve lucky souls have won a multimillion-dollar jackpot.

  Six titles in this captivating series—

  JACKPOT BABY by Muriel Jensen (HAR#953)

  BIG-BUCKS BACHELOR by Leah Vale (HAR#957)

  SURPRISE INHERITANCE by Charlotte Douglas (HAR#961)

  FOUR-KARAT FIANCÉE by Sharon Swan (HAR#966)

  PRICELESS MARRIAGE by Bonnie Gardner (HAR#970)

  FORTUNE’S TWINS by Kara Lennox (HAR#974)

  Dear Reader,

  Our yearlong twentieth-anniversary celebration continues with a spectacular lineup, starting with Saved by a Texas-Sized Wedding, beloved author Judy Christenberry’s 50th book. Don’t miss this delightful addition to the popular series TOTS FOR TEXANS. It’s a marriage-of-convenience story that will warm your heart!

  Priceless Marriage by Bonnie Gardner is the latest installment in the MILLIONAIRE, MONTANA continuity series, in which a “Main Street Millionaire” claims her “ex” as her own. Jacqueline Diamond pens another charming story in THE BABIES OF DOCTORS CIRCLE series with Prescription: Marry Her Immediately. Here a confirmed bachelor doctor enlists the help of his gorgeous best friend in order to win custody of his orphaned niece and nephew. And let us welcome a new author to the Harlequin American Romance family. Kaitlyn Rice makes her sparkling debut with Ten Acres and Twins.

  It’s an exciting year for Harlequin American Romance, and we invite you to join the celebration this month and far into the future!

  Melissa Jeglinski

  Associate Senior Editor

  Harlequin American Romance

  PRICELESS MARRIAGE

  Bonnie Gardner

  To Mud, as always.

  To Paige for having faith in me when

  I wasn’t sure I did. Thanks a bunch.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Bonnie Gardner has finally figured out what she wants to do when she grows up. After a varied career that included such jobs as switchboard operator, draftsman and exercise instructor, she went back to college and became an English teacher. As a teacher, she took a course on how to teach writing to high school students and caught the bug herself.

  She lives in northern Alabama with her husband of over thirty years, her own military hero. After following him around from air force base to air force base, she has finally gotten to settle down. They have two grown sons, one of whom is now serving in the air force. She loves to read, cook, garden and, of course, write.

  She would love to hear from her readers. You can write to her at P.O. Box 442, Meridianville, AL 35759.

  Books by Bonnie Gardner

  HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

  876—UNCLE SARGE

  911—SGT. BILLY’S BRIDE

  958—THE SERGEANT’S SECRET SON

  970—PRICELESS MARRIAGE

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Prologue

  Trembling with excitement, Ruby Cade stumbled back into the Mercantile, the closest thing to a department store in hardscrabble Jester, Montana. She turned the sign to Closed, then locked the door behind her. Whether she was shivering from the bitter January cold or the startling, wonderful, absolutely fantastic news she’d just received, Ruby didn’t know, and she didn’t really care. All she knew was that she couldn’t contain her excitement anymore. She had to share the news with her husband, Sam.

  Right away.

  Now.

  The unbelievable had happened!

  She’d won! They’d won!

  One of the Big Draw lottery tickets that she and her friends purchased every week had actually won!

  They were rich. No, more than rich.

  They were millionaires!

  The twelve of them would split forty million dollars! Ruby was too excited to do the math about what the total would be after taxes, but whatever their share was, she and Sam would be millionaires!

  As she rummaged frantically though the cubby-holes of the ancient rolltop desk in the store office, her mind reeled with the implications of what this unexpected infusion of money would do for the town of Jester, which had been barely holding on during the recent economic downturn. Finally, Ruby located the emergency contact number that Sam had left her.

  Sam was an elite Air Force Special Operations combat controller who was currently stationed overseas, close to one of the dangerous hot spots in the Middle East. Usually, she waited for Sam to call her from his overseas military base for their twice-weekly chats, but this news was too spectacular to put off until Saturday. Sam had left the number in case of an emergency. Her good news wasn’t an emergency, but it certainly was urgent.

  Sam was going to flip! Their whole life was going to change, Ruby couldn’t help thinking.

  As she dialed in the endless string of digits to connect with the base where Sam was stationed, Ruby hoped that this would be the news that would finally bring her husband home. For good.

  Brimming with excitement, she listened impatiently as the phone on the other end seemed to ring forever.

  Finally, someone answered. Sam’s commanding officer, she realized.

  Ruby drew a deep breath, swallowed and managed to steady her nerves in order to speak around the enormous lump in her throat. “This is Ruby Cade. May I speak to C-Captain Sam Cade, p-please,” she stammered, hoping that Sam would be nearby and available to take the call.

  Excitement turned to shock. The answer the faceless voice on the other end of the line gave her was not the one Ruby had expected or wanted. Sam was not at the base at this time, the officer said. He had volunteered for a mission, the nature of which the man could not divulge. He wasn’t expected back at headquarters for several days.

  “No!” Ruby gasped. It couldn’t be. Not again! Sam had promised not to volunteer to go into danger again. He had sworn he wouldn’t leave her alone at home, worrying, anymore.

  Her body went weak with the impact of Sam’s lie, and the phone fell out of her nerveless hand to the cluttered desk.

  “Mrs. Cade, do you want to leave a message?” the tinny, faraway voice asked.

  Ruby picked the receiver up again, holding it gingerly as if it were hot. “No. No message,” she mumbled. Then she carefully placed the receiver back on the hook and sank into the swivel chair.

  Shock and fear for Sam were quickly replaced by anger at his duplicity. He can’t do this to me, Ruby railed inwardly. He had promised. With the world in chaos, he had sworn that he would leave the dangerous missions to the younger men and that he would stay safely behind the lines.

  If Sam valued the excitement and danger of his career in air force combat control more than he did his wife or their marriage, then so be it, Ruby thought. She wasn’t going to waste her life listening to empty promises or waiting around for him to come home to her anymore
.

  This was the last straw. She was tired of playing second fiddle to Sam’s career. He could have all the freedom he wanted. She was done.

  With the lottery winnings, she was now a woman of independent means, Ruby realized. She didn’t need Sam, no matter how much she loved him. She’d spent most of their ten-year marriage worrying and waiting at home while he’d gone gallivanting around the world into all sorts of dangerous situations, some so top secret he wouldn’t even talk about them. She had hoped that her good news would be the one thing that would finally allow him to leave his dangerous job and start to build a real life with her.

  But now all that had changed. He had lied.

  He had broken the one promise that had kept her hanging on until now.

  She couldn’t take the worrying and the waiting anymore. She wouldn’t take it.

  If Sam wanted to live his life without regard for her needs and feelings, that was fine. But she wasn’t going to stand helplessly by and watch. First thing in the morning, she decided, she was going to file for divorce.

  Then Ruby crossed her arms over the clutter on the desk, rested her head on them and cried.

  Chapter One

  Sam Cade gritted his teeth as he bumped along the rutted farm road, that was undoubtedly doing a number on the suspension of the Corvette, until he finally spotted the house that his soon-to-be ex-wife Ruby had purchased after she’d decided to end their marriage. Why she wanted to end the marriage, or buy the farm, he didn’t know. But he damned sure intended to find out. Today.

  He’d heard that the old Tanner hog farm that she’d bought was a ramshackle mess. From what he could see, the intelligence he’d gathered as he’d quietly nosed around town, hoping to get some insight into what had made Ruby resort to such drastic measures, hadn’t been far from wrong.

  He chuckled as he thought about his stealth campaign around town. He hadn’t spent a lot of time in Jester since he and Ruby had eloped ten years ago, so it was a simple matter to slip into some grubby jeans, not shave, and just lurk around and listen. It was amazing what people talked about when they thought nobody could hear. And he’d heard plenty.

  After so many months of anticipating a wonderful, happy homecoming after all his months away, whatever he faced today would be a definite letdown. He drew in a deep breath and pressed on.

  Finally, a rambling old ranch-style house came into view, paint peeling and front porch sagging though it proudly held two brand-new wooden porch rockers. He smiled as he noticed the Southern-style porch swing that reminded him of his home in southern Georgia. The house sat on a rise overlooking a field of wildflowers, and it looked like a place Ruby would love. The vista, complete with several cottonwood trees flanking the house, was picturesque, but was the house solid? As Sam drew closer, he could see that the roof had recently been reshingled. Maybe new paint would come next.

  Behind the house was a collection of dilapidated sheds and fences, and what appeared to be several new outbuildings. A battered, silver-colored travel trailer the size of a C-130 transport plane was parked behind one of the sheds, flanked by an equally beat-up pickup truck. The only thing that appeared to be new and in one piece was a late-model sport utility vehicle parked in front of the house. Had Ruby spent part of her lottery winnings on that SUV?

  The only way to find out was to go in the house and ask. He gunned the engine and surged forward, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.

  Sam pulled the dusty silver Corvette up next to the SUV and maneuvered his stiff leg out of the low-slung car. He knew that the Corvette wasn’t exactly practical out here in Montana, but until he found out for sure where he stood with Ruby, he would not part with his prized possession which he’d had for years. Well, Ruby had once been his prized possession…Now he wasn’t so sure.

  Sam had come back to Jester to try to convince Ruby to give him another chance. He truly, honestly loved his wife, and in the past few months he’d had plenty of time to think about where everything had gone wrong. He wanted their marriage to survive. He would do whatever he could to make it work. First he had to convince Ruby to call off the divorce.

  And it would really help if he actually knew what had set her mind on ending their marriage. Ruby had always had a temper, but usually she kept it in check. And she was more likely to yell and bluster and quickly get over it than do something as drastic as file for divorce. Usually all it took to distract her was to grab her and kiss her senseless and tumble into bed.

  Damn, he wished that would work now, but he was pretty sure it wouldn’t. Despite all those lonely nights he’d spent overseas, dreaming of their reunion, and the even lonelier nights in the hospital, he was certain this was not going to be the homecoming he had once envisioned.

  Concentrating hard to keep his limp from being noticeable, he strode up the dirt path to the house and onto the porch. Some of the boards had recently been replaced. Evidently, someone was taking care of the place, and Sam was pretty sure Ruby didn’t have a clue how to make such repairs it herself. During his undercover investigation around town he’d heard rumors about a stranger helping Ruby out, but nobody knew anything about him. Surely Ruby hadn’t turned to another man.

  As Sam started to knock on the frame of the screen door, he happened to glance up and catch a glimpse of Ruby through the open window. She was in the arms of a stranger.

  Sam stood there for a moment, stunned, and then he lowered his hand and turned. The rumors were right. There was another man in his wife’s life. Ex-wife, he reminded himself. Or soon to be.

  Looked like that old board wasn’t the only thing that had been replaced.

  RUBY LEANED into Nick’s embrace. Though she was truly longing for Sam’s arms around her, it had been so long since she’d been held by a man, any man, that even Nick’s brotherly hug felt good.

  “You don’t have to thank me, Nick. It’s the least I can do. If you can’t find someone to finance your venture, you know I’ll gladly help out.”

  Nick stepped back and looked down at Ruby. “Thanks, kiddo. It’s enough that you’re paying me to help out.” He glanced up and let go abruptly. “Uhoh. You’ve got company.”

  Ruby turned quickly, just in time to see the visitor turn away. “Sam,” she whispered, her heart skipping a beat. “Shelly O’Rourke said she thought he’d come into the coffee shop the other day, but she hadn’t been sure. I didn’t believe her.”

  Then her breath caught. “Oh, my, do you suppose he saw us?” she asked as she hurried to the door.

  Nick didn’t answer. “I’ll just leave you two alone,” he said, then disappeared out the back door.

  All Ruby could think about, all she could see, was Sam. She threw open the screen door and raced to the top step of the porch. Her heart pounding at his unexpected presence, she called frantically, “Sam! Wait! Don’t go.”

  He looked slowly back over his shoulder, and only then did Ruby notice that he seemed unnaturally pale in the bright May sunlight. He dragged his right leg as if it were too heavy to lift as he trudged toward the Corvette. He’d lost weight, too.

  “Please, Sam. Come back!”

  He stopped to look at her, his expression unreadable behind aviator-style sunglasses.

  “Please, Sam. Don’t go,” Ruby called after him.

  He reached for the car door, then hesitated as if trying to make up his mind. Then he lowered his hand to his side and turned back toward the house. “All right,” he said slowly in the deep Georgia drawl that never ceased to make Ruby’s insides quiver. He made his way back to her. “I reckon we need to talk.”

  “Yes, we do,” Ruby said breathlessly as he stepped onto the shady porch and removed his glasses. She caught the scent of his aftershave, and that brief whiff of fragrance mixed with the scent that was uniquely Sam made her go all warm and liquid inside, as it always had.

  When Sam had gone overseas, Ruby had kept a bottle of that aftershave. It had sat on the bedside table in her room. When she felt particularly lonely and could
n’t sleep for missing him, she’d remove the cap and breathe in the scent of the man she loved. Then she’d feel a little less alone. Then, after spending more time with that bottle of aftershave than with the man himself, she’d caught Sam in his lie. In a fit of disgust and anger, she’d emptied the liquid down the toilet and tossed the bottle out, getting a great deal of satisfaction in the thud when it had hit the trash can.

  Now all the love—memories of the good times, as well as the bad—came flooding back to her with one little breath of that fabulous fragrance mixed with the essence of Sam.

  She looked up at him. It was hard to tell in the shade of the porch, but he seemed sunken, almost gaunt. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, and even this close his skin looked far too pale in contrast with his dark brown hair, cut military short. And a sprinkling of gray dusted the short hairs at his temples. The gray hair was definitely new.

  She wanted to know where he’d been. Why hadn’t he gotten in touch with her in the months since she’d filed for divorce? Ruby wanted to know why he’d thrown it all away.

  Her heart was pounding. She swallowed, moistened her lips and drew in a deep breath. Then she pulled open the screen door and gestured for Sam to step inside. “Come in,” she said, ruing the breathless anticipation he could surely hear in her voice. “We have some catching up to do.”

  SAM STEPPED INSIDE and waited quietly while his eyes adjusted to the dim interior of the house. He looked around, recognizing the familiar furniture that had traveled with them from one air force base to another, making each house seem like home. Now it was in a home that wasn’t his.

  “I don’t want to intrude,” Sam finally said when Ruby didn’t volunteer to speak. “You had company.”

  “Company?” Ruby sounded genuinely puzzled. “Oh. That’s just Nick,” she said dismissively.

  Just Nick? That was rich. Seeing her in that other man’s arms had almost cut Sam off at the knees.