by Katie Knight
She leaned over one last time to kiss Jed goodbye, surprised when he cupped the back of her head and held her close to whisper, “I love you.”
“I love you too.” She kissed him one last time then straightened.
“See you tomorrow?” he asked, his icy gaze bright with affection.
“See you always,” Tess said before leading Nala from the room.
End of The SEAL’s Ward
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About Katie
It isn’t a big surprise Katie Knight ended up writing romances about the stellar, studdly men of the Navy SEALs; after all, she was a K-9 trainer for the SEALs and met her own Navy SEAL hero husband while preparing one of their K-9 partners for combat. A few years after their marriage, her and hubby decided to retire with their K-9 partner, Sam, to raise their children in the Midwest. It wasn’t long after that before Katie decided to write her own stories featuring the men of the SEAL teams and the women who love them.
When not imagining dangerously romantic scenarios for her heroes and their feisty heroines, Katie enjoys hikes with her husband and Sam, spending time with her children, and long runs (on and off the beach).
To learn more about Katie you can check out all her books on social media and her website.
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About Leslie
Leslie North is the USA Today Bestselling pen name for a critically-acclaimed author of women's contemporary romance and fiction. The anonymity gives her the perfect opportunity to paint with her full artistic palette, especially in the romance and erotic fantasy genres.
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BLURB
When Maria Blanchard asked Navy Seal Trevor Daniels to father a child with her, no strings attached, Trevor had no idea just how explosive his chemistry would be with the fiery woman who had been a wallflower during their high school years. He vowed never to contact her again after the positive pregnancy test. A year later, when one of Trevor’s dark ops missions ends with the death of his captain and suspicions aimed at him, Maria’s the only investigator he knows who can help him crack the case.
Maria Blanchard had been raised to be a proper Southern Belle, an archetype so wrong for her she’d retreated into books during her high school years. When the police academy finally gave her the guts to be the strong woman she’d always desired, she realized she didn’t need anyone to achieve her dreams. Not to get her dream job, and certainly not to get her dream baby. Still, when her childhood crush agreed to father her baby, she hadn’t expected her heart to open along with her legs.
When Trevor shows up on Maria’s doorstep in need of her help, he calls in his favor. However, being wanted for a military crime means that Maria won’t just be helping Trevor, she’ll be harboring a fugitive, and the father of her child. Unable to say no, when her pride and her heart are screaming yes, Maria agrees to help Trevor one final time before they break ties.
But as their bond grows stronger and love ignites, it becomes a rush to save Trevor’s life before they lose out on a future they could only dream of.
Grab your copy of Saving The SEAL Baby Daddy
at www.leslienorthbooks.com or http://leslienorthbooks.com/katie-knight
EXCERPT
Chapter One
If pre-baby Maria Blanchard could’ve seen her post-baby self now, she’d have been horrified.
Gone were her carefully dyed and pampered platinum blonde locks and perfectly applied makeup, her designer clothes and slick, sophisticated demeanor. In their place was long ombré-effect brown hair (well, more like missing-a-few-color-appointments-until-your-natural-color-grew-out effect hair), minimal makeup (and by minimal, she meant mascara only), and a top and pants she’d bought online during a late-night breastfeeding session. At least the color of her top was nice, a sort of teal-green that brought out the gold in her eyes. And the fit hid the last of the weight she’d gained during her pregnancy that never seemed to go away, no matter how much she dieted and exercised.
Yep. Things were definitely different. But she wouldn’t change it for the world.
She checked her watch, then walked into the living room to grab her phone. Tonight, she was going on a date, for the first time since her three-month-old daughter, Camille, had been born. A mix of excitement and nervousness swirled in her stomach. John was an attorney who worked in the law firm down the street from the offices she rented for her PI business. She’d been pleased when he had asked her out, finally, after months of casual hellos and conversations as they’d waited in line at the deli between their workplaces. He was smart, funny, and seemed like a genuinely nice person. And yeah, maybe he wasn’t heart-stoppingly gorgeous. She’d been with a man like that before and look what that had gotten her.
The child of her dreams. That’s what.
Now, she wanted stable, kind, safe. Those things were best for Camille’s future. Best for Maria’s future too. She’d gotten exactly what she’d wanted out of her affair with Trevor. No sense reconsidering her choices now. Even if he had offered her more then, she would’ve turned him down. Besides, she and Trevor Daniels had had a deal. A contract. He had given her a baby and she had given him his freedom. They’d both fulfilled their parts.
End of story.
Maria searched through the clean onesies piled on the couch in search of her phone. It had to be here somewhere. The babysitter she’d hired should’ve been here by now and she was going to be late meeting John if she didn’t leave soon. Thankfully, Camille was fully fed and sound asleep in her crib, so that was one less thing to worry about.
Near the bottom of a stack of pink and yellow cotton outfits, she found her phone and pulled it out, clicking it on only to see her screen flooded with text messages from Cindy, her office assistant, whose daughter was supposed to be babysitting Camille tonight. Apparently, Cindy’s daughter had come down with the flu and wouldn’t be able to make it.
Maria didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Part of her was disappointed that she’d miss out on some adult conversation and food she didn’t cook herself for a change. But another part of her was guiltily relieved that she could stay home and just rest, not have to put on her best manners and her prettiest smile because of a man she may or may not want to take things further with.
With a sigh, she flopped down amongst the fluffy cloud of onesies, the scent of fabric softener wafting around her, and called John to let him know the news. Of course, he was nice as could be about it, which made her feel even worse for being such a slug about her socializing.
Back in high school, she’d been little miss popular. The girl everybody knew and liked.
These days, she was Camille’s mom. Period.
Of course, her daughter wasn’t the sole focus of her life. She had her career, and she loved her work as a private investigator. But when it came to social interaction, there really was no one she’d rather be with at any given moment than her baby. Motherhood was everything she’d hoped it would be and more. A lot more. An occasionally exhausting amount of more.
After ending the call, Maria stared up at the ceiling, the sounds of some reality show on TV droning low in the background as she contemplated her choices for the night. She could do the responsible thing and fold all these onesies and put them away before washing her face, changing her clothes, and going to bed at a decent hour. She could lie there amongst the laundry and fall asleep in her makeup and c
lothes. Or she could leave the onesies, make a sandwich, watch a movie, maybe actually read a book again.
Ugh.
At thirty-one, she’d figured life would be more exciting than this, even with a kid.
Then her stomach growled and made the decision for her. Sandwich it was.
She’d just started to sit up when a knock at the door derailed her plans.
Her pulse quickened, and her muscles tensed. Her date was canceled. So was her babysitter. So who could it be?
Being a private investigator meant she made a living out of exposing the secrets of people who didn’t necessarily want to be exposed. As a result, she took her safety very seriously. Her home address was as off the record as she could make it, and anyone who knew her knew better than to drop by unannounced. Maria stared at the front door as a second knock came. She wasn’t expecting anyone else that night. Whoever it was, they were persistent too. Her gaze flicked over to the locked drawer in her desk where she kept her Glock. While there wasn’t any one she could think of as being a threat at the moment, being a woman in her line of work was to live with the constant fear of revenge.
Slowly, Maria edged toward the front door, praying that the knocking didn’t wake up Camille. The last thing she wanted was to clue in whoever was on her doorstep that she had an infant in here. Risking her own life on a daily basis was one thing. Risking the life of her child was something else entirely.
She hugged the wall and lifted the edge of the curtain covering the window closest to the door, hoping for a chance to ID her unexpected guest. As she peered out into the shadows, Maria saw the last person on earth she ever expected to see again.
With a curse, she unbolted and unchained the door, then whipped it open, lowering her voice to a harsh whisper. “Trevor Daniels, what the hell are you doing here?”
Grab your copy of Saving The SEAL Baby Daddy
at www.leslienorthbooks.com or http://leslienorthbooks.com/katie-knight
BLURB
After an “incident” on his last SEAL mission, Zachary “Z” Raybourn has been relegated to babysitting duty. He’s spent the last six months guarding the daughter of a small foreign nation, a girl so valuable to the US that she apparently can’t buy milk without him trailing along like a lost puppy. He’d joined the military to make a difference and stayed enlisted because of the SEAL team he considers family. Now all he wants is to get back to them ASAP.
Esme Hollycombe is her country’s last hope. Her father the King controls a very important port that serves as a naval base for the US. But with her father’s rapidly declining health, and her US-hating cousin next in line for the throne, Esme has been frantically searching for a loophole in her country’s law that says only a man can rule. The only thing she finds is that she can rule in the stead of any male heir she gives birth to. Unmarried and certainly not pregnant, the loophole isn’t of much use to her. Until her attention turns to the hot SEAL protector who has been pacing the palace for the last six months like a caged animal. He’d do anything to get back to his squad; and she’d do anything to keep her cousin off the throne, leaving him unable to evict the US and all their military protection from her country.
Esme offers a contract to Z: get her pregnant, marry her so the heir will be legitimate, and he can have his life back. Z eventually agrees. But being the partner of a princess comes with far more action and intrigue than he’d ever dreamed. He also finds that making a baby is an easy way to fall in love. Now, Z will have to choose: the military family he misses, or the nuclear family he’s creating.
Grab your copy of THE SEAL’s Contract Baby here.
EXTRACT
CHAPTER 1
“I’m twenty-eight years old. I don’t need a babysitter.” Her Royal Highness, Princess Esme Hollycombe of the tiny southern European country of Prylea, squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “I’ll take a regular security team with me to Washington, DC and be done with it.”
Her father’s intelligence advisors exchanged a look, then the head of security—a slightly hunched older man named Greaves who’d been hired by her father before Esme was born—gave her a quizzical stare. “Yes, your grace. But please remember that this trip is not only about you. Your ailing father, the king, will also be making the journey to get a second opinion on his condition. We cannot afford to leave either one of you unprotected during these turbulent times.”
Darn it. He had a point. And he knew just the right buttons to push. Esme would do just about anything for her father, as Greaves was well aware. Never mind the fact that the king was dying. This new opinion he was seeking in Georgetown would only slightly prolong his life, at best, or put another nail in his already well-sealed coffin. But she couldn’t turn down the chance to extend her time with him, even by one more day.
She swallowed hard against the lump of sorrow that had been lodged in her throat since her father had first been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years prior. Since then he’d been in and out of treatments, traveling the world to seek a cure for what was, as of yet, incurable. Still, if it gave her father some small measure of hope, she’d do whatever she could to ensure he got to see the specialist in DC.
Her fingers itched to pull out the knitting she’d brought along in her purse, but she clenched her fists instead. The hobby kept her busy and sane during these dark times and also helped her with one of her dearest charitable causes. All of the blankets she made were distributed to a charity for Prylea’s poor—under a fake name, of course. It wouldn’t do to have the royal family seen as nothing but a bunch of crafters, even for a good cause.
Esme took a deep breath and looked across the room to where her usual contingent of security guards stood. Most of them were middle-aged and indistinguishable from the others. They blended into the background as their job demanded. Silently watching and waiting for danger to rear its ugly head, then they’d spring into action to defend and protect.
One man, though, a relative newcomer, stood near the window, the sunlight striking his blond hair and making it look like spun gold. After six months of service, he was still an enigma to Esme. She was intrigued by him, watching him as closely as he watched her, and not because he was gorgeous either. Sure, the guy had the ripped physique of an ex-military man. He was a former Navy SEAL after all. But there was something more about him, a lingering haunted look in his gray-green eyes that had her wondering exactly what had happened to him during his time as a SEAL. She’d tried to find out by snooping through his employment records, but with everything else going on, she hadn’t had time to do a proper in-depth search.
“Your highness, we need an answer before you leave tonight,” Greaves said, his stern, jowly look setting her nerves on edge again. She didn’t like being forced into a corner. “We must insist on the security detail, princess. If you refuse, we’ll be forced to send your cousin Silvester in your place.”
Oh, he was good.
Silvester had once been a friend who’d now turned rival. The guy was only interested in power—namely the throne of Prylea. Unfortunately, Esme’s father had failed to secure her place in the line of succession for the country by changing the outdated rule in the Prylean constitution that said a woman could not rule. So very nineteenth century. So very irritating.
The last person on earth she’d want representing her or her country in the United States was her cousin Silvester. Esme was having a hard enough time trying to figure out how to get around her country’s antiquated rules without thrusting her power-hungry cousin out on the world stage to strut about like the overblown peacock he’d become.
“Fine.” She took a deep breath. “But I choose the team lead.”
“Fine.” A muscle ticked in Greaves’s cheek, but otherwise his face remained stoic. He leaned closer to whisper to his cronies then turned back to Esme. “We agree. But you must choose from the current team members already in the room.” His beady black eyes glittered behind his wire-rimmed glasses, as if he’d just pulled off some wonderful c
oup. “May I suggest Sutherland. He’s quite accomplished and has long served your father with loyalty and distinction.”
Sutherland was a short, stout man of brisk manners and few words. He and her father were old friends. “He’s fine to guard the king. I’ve got someone else in mind for head of my detail.”
Greaves raised a bushy white brow but remained silent.
“I want him.” She pointed to the blond Adonis still leaning against the wall by the window, looking for all the world as if he were bored to tears. “Zachary Raybourn.”
“But, your grace—” Greaves sputtered. “He’s not even been with the team for a year yet. And he’s not a Prylean citizen. He’s American.”
“All the better.” Esme bit back a smile at the way the old man said that last word, more like an unsavory curse than a nationality. She pushed to her feet, blood pounding and knees wobbling. Her late mother had always said that being a good monarch demanded firm judgment and a will to succeed. Esme had the drive to become the next queen down pat. The judgment part was still in question. But Raybourn was really the only choice she had. All the other men were loyal to the Prylean constitution. At least Raybourn didn’t give two hoots about her country or its dark-age ways. He was here for the job, at least from what she could tell. And he kept his mouth shut, which was even more important. Heck, he’d barely said more than two words beyond the normal civilities to Esme the entire time he’d been in the family’s employ. “I want him to be the lead of my personal team or no deal.”