A SEAL's Devotion (SEALs of Chance Creek Book 7)

by Cora Seton

  “When it’s time to propose—if it’s time to propose—I’ll do the honors.” Anders nudged her with his shoulder. “Does this mean you’re considering it?”

  “For God’s sake, talk, talk, talk,” Angus shouted from the audience. “Are you waiting for the pope himself to jump out and put the ring on her finger for you?”

  Even Eve had to laugh at that. She risked a look at Anders and found a smile tugging at his lips.

  “Marrying you? I don’t expect you to want to marry me,” she said onscreen, “but with Clem practically dictating that you do, it’s hard for me not to at least think about it—abstractly.”

  “And what do you think about marrying me and living at Base Camp for good—abstractly?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t come here looking for this, you know?”

  “Say yes!” Avery yelled at the screen. “Put the poor guy out of his misery!”

  “I do know. You had a boyfriend,” Anders said onscreen.

  “Oh, for the love of—have you lost your mind, man?” Angus turned around in his chair to point a finger at him. “You brought up her ex-boyfriend during your proposal?”

  “I… like it here,” Eve said onscreen. “I like… you.”

  Avery cheered and clapped. A few other people joined in.

  “That’s a good start,” Anders said onscreen.

  “That is a good start,” Boone said loudly, standing up from his chair as the show’s credits rolled. “I look forward to hearing better news soon.”

  “No pressure,” Angus called out.

  Eve was thankful for the man’s comic relief. The situation would be unbearable otherwise. Clem, standing to one side with his arms folded, looked more than pleased with himself for creeping them all out with his sneaky tactics. Renata’s mouth was pinched into a thin line. As everyone stood up and stretched, her phone buzzed, and she slipped off gratefully to the bathroom to read the text in private.

  Merry Christmas, Melissa wrote.

  You, too. How’s it going?

  I’ve got some news.

  Eve decided she could use the distraction. Good news or bad news?

  Both. Brace yourself.

  Eve sighed. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take today. Tell me.

  The good news is Jana called. She asked around about Clem Bailey. Turns out he got canned from Tracking the Stars for harassing one of the camerawomen. Got drunk at a party and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She got some of it on film, got away and turned him in. He took a payout in exchange for keeping quiet and left the show. She took an even bigger payoff to do the same.

  Ugh. I’ll warn the women here, Eve texted.

  Jana is working on getting the footage.

  Great. That was good news. Leverage she might very well need before all was said and done. What’s the bad news?

  It’s really bad, Eve.

  Tell me!

  First tell me—are you falling for Anders for real now that you’ve met him?

  What does that have to do with anything? She felt exposed enough after viewing the Base Camp episode.

  Answer the question.

  Eve thought about what she’d said onscreen. I like him.

  I was afraid of that. Okay, here goes. Clem was right. Anders Olsen only appears when he’s 18. Before that he was someone else.

  Someone else. Who? The muscles in her neck tightened. Melissa didn’t exaggerate. If she said it was bad, then it was bad.

  Anders Hansen.

  Eve lowered the phone. Hansen?

  No.

  Her phone buzzed again. He’s Johannes Hansen’s son, Eve.

  No. There was no way Anders could be connected to that man.

  I’m sorry.

  Eve stared at the screen, unable to take in Melissa’s words. Anders was an environmentalist. He was a good man—

  How? Eve texted, her heart sinking. Did he infiltrate the show? Is he going to sabotage it?

  I don’t know. Maybe not. He changed his name years ago. Maybe he turned his back on his family.

  He said he has differences with his father. Eve thought about it. I’ll have to ask him.

  NO!

  A knock sounded at the bathroom door.

  I have to go.

  You can’t let Anders know you know. He’ll get you kicked off the show. You have to stay until New Year’s. Otherwise Hansen Oil wins!

  Melissa was right, but Eve couldn’t gather her thoughts fast enough to answer her. It was as if the ground had tilted beneath her feet and everything was beginning to slide.

  How could Anders be Johannes’s son?

  What was he doing here? Trying to make amends for his family’s business—or trying to ruin everything?

  The knock came again. “Eve? Everything okay?” Avery called.

  “Just a minute!”

  Can you hold it together for one more week? Melissa texted.

  I think so. She was far from sure. How could she look at Anders without giving everything away? How could she let him kiss her—touch her—if he was part of the company she’d come here to expose?

  I’ll email you all the details as soon as I find them, Melissa texted. Go, but say nothing.

  OK.

  What else could she do?

  Eve pocketed her phone, faced her reflection in the mirror and stared into her own eyes. She hadn’t just been falling for Anders; she’d been falling in love with him. With the son of her enemy.

  She’d been acting ever since she came here, Eve reminded herself sternly. Now she’d have to up her game. How could she keep away from Anders without tipping him off?

  She wasn’t sure, but she was about to find out.

  Chapter Ten

  ‡

  Anders relaxed a little when the bathroom door opened and Eve rejoined Avery and the others. She looked pale, but she didn’t look like she’d been crying. He’d been afraid the show had put her off Base Camp—and him—for good. All around him people talked in small groups. Everyone was unnerved about the stealth footage, as Jericho had termed it. Clem had been sneaky about filming—and recording—people. Everyone wondered how far he meant to go. Meanwhile, Clem had opened a can of beer and was bragging about his inaugural episode to a knot of crew members.

  “Come on, people. It’s Christmas,” Boone called out. “Forget the episode. Let’s get some music going. Help yourselves to more food. Let’s try to enjoy ourselves.”

  Savannah went to the old upright piano and began to play some Christmas carols, and several people went to refill their plates, but the mood in the room was flat. When his phone buzzed in his pocket, and he saw it was his father, Anders crossed the room, grabbed his coat and stepped outside, more paranoid than usual about Clem recording him.

  “It happened again,” Johannes said, his voice husky on the other end of the phone. “Someone’s been asking questions about our operations—especially the Terrence field. It’s because you’re on that damn show. I know it is.”

  “No one here knows who I am.”

  “You sure about that?”

  Anders wasn’t. He knew Renata must have investigated him early in the show, and he was positive Clem would be trying hard to dig up dirt, too. “What if someone does figure out who I am?” he asked.

  “We don’t need the extra scrutiny right now. It’s not a good thing for either of us—you or me.”

  Anders’s scalp prickled. Even as Johannes blustered on about stockholders and investments, he knew his father. He had just inadvertently let something important slip.

  “Why don’t you need the extra scrutiny? Did something happen?”

  Johannes hesitated a moment too long, confirming Anders’s suspicions. “We’ve always got someone on our back, slowing us down,” he blustered. “We meet the current regulations, and those bleeding heart liberals come up with new ones. It’s all a scam. And profits—”

  “The rules are meant to protect people,” Anders contradicted him. “Especially the people whose backyards yo
u’re drilling in.”

  “We’re not drilling in anyone’s backyards.”

  “The Terrence field isn’t very far from North Run.”

  “We do our best. This is a business—things happen—the money—it just isn’t—”

  This was serious, Anders realized, awareness zinging along the back of his neck, as if someone was spying on him even now, hearing this conversation. His normally suave father was almost stuttering. If Clem got wind of any problems at Hansen Oil and put two and two together to figure out who he really was, he was in trouble.

  “You’ve come under fire plenty of times before. Why is it different this time?” As much as he hated to admit it, problems with Hansen Oil could all too easily become his problems.

  Another too-long pause. “There’s proof. And the wrong person has seen it. And this is a very delicate time.”

  “Proof? Who saw it?” That was different all right. Hansen Oil was generally good at covering its tracks.

  “Some underling at a satellite imaging company. Eve… something. I’ve got people on it, but so far we can’t get a line on her. She’s supposed to be on vacation in Maine, but we can’t track her down. God knows where she really is.”

  Satellite imaging? Eve? Anders’s grip tightened on his phone until he was surprised it didn’t shatter. His chest tightened, too, until he could hardly breathe.

  He nearly said her name out loud but just as quickly realized he couldn’t. Not until he knew what this was all about. If Eve knew something about Hansen Oil, why was she at Base Camp? Had she figured out who he was? Did she plan to… what? Come after him? Blackmail him?

  “I gotta go,” he told his father.

  “You’ve got to come home. It’s time to circle the wagons. Make some changes around here. For that, I need you.”

  “I’ll get back to you.” Anders hung up.

  Hell.

  Usually his father handled interference in his company with an iron fist. Johannes was a powerful adversary. Today he’d sounded… shaken. As for Eve, he couldn’t believe for a minute she’d come here to ruin him, but—

  Why else would she be here?

  He’d have to figure that out fast—without letting her know he was onto her.

  That episode they’d all just previewed would go live in a few days. His father would know Eve was here. Would know he’d covered for her.

  Would come after her.

  He didn’t have long to think about the implications. A sound behind him made him whirl around. He was relieved to find Renata exiting the bunkhouse behind him rather than Clem, given the circumstances.

  “Everything all right?”

  He searched for a way to answer that. “That episode was pretty intense. How is Clem getting all that footage?”

  She shrugged. “You’re the Navy SEAL. Aren’t you supposed to know about being sneaky?”

  Something about her tone put him on alert. “I thought so. Maybe I was wrong.” He’d obviously been fooled by Eve. Or had he? Could it possibly be coincidence that brought her here?

  Doubtful.

  But how would a woman in Virginia piece together his past when he—and Johannes—had been so careful to hide it?

  “It’s not going to be easy to convince Fulsom I should stay on as director when Clem is getting all the scoops.”

  “Guess not.” He’d forgotten to tell the others to come up with exclusives to give her. Was she fishing for one right now? How much did Renata know about him?

  “Thought you were going to get me something big. Something to upstage Clem.”

  “Working on it.” Of course, he wasn’t. He didn’t know what scoop he could give her that would work that kind of magic. He certainly couldn’t tell her about Hansen Oil. Or about Eve.

  “Well, that’s what I want for Christmas, and there’s still a few hours left in the day,” she joked, but she headed toward the vehicles parked nearby. “Figure I might as well go back to town. Nothing for me to do here now that Clem’s got it all under control.”

  Anders watched her go. He’d always thought of Renata as the adversary, standing between him and his friends and their goal of preserving Base Camp. Now he realized she was a powerful ally. One he’d miss if she left.

  He couldn’t think about that now, though. He needed to figure out the situation with Eve. If she had an image that proved Hansen Oil was doing something wrong, why hadn’t she exposed it already? She could have uploaded it to the internet. Gotten it to go viral on social media. Heck, she’d worked with NGOs for years. She must have a web of contacts ready to spread her information all around.

  So why end up here?

  He watched Renata get in one of the SUVs and drive off, considering the problem.

  Because Base Camp was a nationally acclaimed television show, and if she could spill the beans about Hansen Oil during an episode, news about it would spread like wildfire all over North America.

  She hadn’t been dumped by her boyfriend on the side of the road. She hadn’t come to marry him, either. Eve had come here to take down Hansen Oil once and for all.

  Should he stop her?

  Or help her?

  The door opened behind him again. Eve slipped out, Avery close behind her.

  “Eve’s sick,” Avery announced as she hustled Eve along the path. “I’m taking her up to the manor, where she can get away from the crowd.”

  “I just need to lie down for a while,” Eve said, not meeting his eyes.

  “Anything I can do?” Anders made himself ask as if he hadn’t just had the rug pulled out from under him.

  Eve shook her head, and the women kept going. Anders was relieved not to have to pretend he didn’t know what he knew, but he couldn’t help tracing their path with his gaze. He found himself wishing he could talk over this conundrum with her. If it hadn’t concerned her, she would have been his first choice as an advisor.

  It did concern her, though. Eve was here on false pretences, and now he needed to reevaluate everything. He needed a plan.

  In the end he slipped away to his tiny house, shut the door behind him and wandered through the small space, trying to take stock. The wood finishes and custom touches couldn’t soothe his racing thoughts. Neither could the painting of Alice the bison that he’d hung on one of the walls.

  He needed to keep his identity secret.

  He needed a wife.

  Now what was he going to do?

  “I don’t think you should be alone,” Avery said. “What if you get worse?”

  “I won’t. It’s just a headache.” Eve climbed into one of the manor’s sumptuous guest beds and pulled the covers around her shoulders, grateful for the quiet in the large, empty house.

  “Back at the bunkhouse you said it was a stomachache.”

  “It’s both,” Eve groaned. A headache and stomachache brought on by finding out the man she was falling for—hard—was the heir to the Hansen Oil fortune.

  “Did something happen between you and Anders? He looked a little strange back there.”

  Eve had no idea why Anders would look strange. She was the one who’d just had her world rocked. “I just need to sleep.”

  “Okay. I’ll check on you in an hour or so. Meanwhile I’ll bring you a cup of tea.”

  Eve’s thoughts were whirling so fast she barely heard Avery leave or come back again with a cup she set on the bedside table. Avery must have thought she was asleep because she crept out of the room again quietly, and then the house was silent again.

  Over and over, Eve came back to the same questions. Why was a Hansen here at Base Camp? Why had Anders changed his name when he was eighteen? He’d said his relationship with his father was strained. Was that because he was an environmentalist and his father was an oil man, or had something else gone wrong between them?

  And even if he was estranged from Johannes, would he rally to his father if he learned Hansen Oil was under attack? Blood ties ran deep.

  Eve had never felt so alone.

  She di
dn’t have to be, though. Sitting up, she pulled out her phone.

  You there? she texted Melissa.

  Of course. You okay?

  Not sure. I don’t know what to do.

  Maybe it’s time to admit defeat.

  No. The answer came so swiftly, Eve knew it was right. I don’t want to give up. I have the perfect information and the perfect venue to force Hansen Oil to do the right thing for once.

  Agreed. Much as I want you to be safe and happy.

  Eve thought a moment. I’m calling you. She was alone, after all. It would be far easier to do this on the phone.

  “I wish I was there with you,” Melissa said when she picked up. “Harry’s gone to spend a couple of hours with family. He’ll be back later.”

  “I wish you were, too. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Eve admitted.

  “That’s what friends are for,” Melissa said. “Now it’s time to make a plan.”

  Eve settled back against the headboard. She and Melissa had hashed out their problems like this more times than she could count, and she was confident they would figure something out, but that didn’t dull the pain that came from knowing her relationship with Anders, such as it was, was over.

  “I have one chance to expose Hansen Oil,” Eve said. “Doing it in front of everyone at the New Year’s bash will certainly make it more likely for Clem to keep it in the episode—and for local news to cover it. Hopefully from there, national media will pick it up. It’s risky, though. Maybe I should give my material to Renata and let her run with it.”

  “You could do that, but isn’t Clem the one in charge right now?”

  “I think so.”

  “From the sound of it, he won’t do anything with footage like that if it doesn’t forward the show. I think we should keep to the original plan, if you think you can keep from blowing your cover before then.”

  “I think you’re right.” It wouldn’t be easy. She’d have to get through six more days.

  “I’ll prep posts for social media and press releases for local and national news outlets. I’ll get Jana involved, too,” Melissa said. “We’ll do all the legwork for that kind of thing, and I’ll case out the New Year’s bash venue to see how we can get your presentation live. Harry and I have our tickets.”