Issued to the Bride: One Soldier Read online

  Issued to the Bride:

  One Soldier

  Cora Seton

  Copyright © 2018 Cora Seton

  Google Play Edition

  Published by One Acre Press

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Author’s Note

  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

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Excerpt from A SEAL’s Oath

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  Issued to the Bride One Soldier is the fifth volume of the Brides of Chance Creek series, set in the fictional town of Chance Creek, Montana. To find out more about Logan, Lena, Cass, Brian, Sadie, Connor, Jo, Hunter, Jack and Alice, look for the rest of the books in the series, including:

  Issued to the Bride One Navy SEAL

  Issued to the Bride One Airman

  Issued to the Bride One Sniper

  Issued to the Bride One Marine

  Also, don’t miss Cora Seton’s other Chance Creek series, the Cowboys of Chance Creek, the Heroes of Chance Creek, and the SEALs of Chance Creek

  The Cowboys of Chance Creek Series:

  The Cowboy Inherits a Bride (Volume 0)

  The Cowboy’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 1)

  The Cowboy Wins a Bride (Volume 2)

  The Cowboy Imports a Bride (Volume 3)

  The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire (Volume 4)

  The Sheriff Catches a Bride (Volume 5)

  The Cowboy Lassos a Bride (Volume 6)

  The Cowboy Rescues a Bride (Volume 7)

  The Cowboy Earns a Bride (Volume 8)

  The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride (Volume 9)

  The Heroes of Chance Creek Series:

  The Navy SEAL’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 1)

  The Soldier’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 2)

  The Marine’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 3)

  The Navy SEAL’s Christmas Bride (Volume 4)

  The Airman’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 5)

  The SEALs of Chance Creek Series:

  A SEAL’s Oath

  A SEAL’s Vow

  A SEAL’s Pledge

  A SEAL’s Consent

  A SEAL’s Purpose

  A SEAL’s Resolve

  A SEAL’s Devotion

  A SEAL’s Desire

  A SEAL’s Struggle

  A SEAL’s Triumph

  Visit Cora’s website at www.coraseton.com

  Find Cora on Facebook at facebook.com/CoraSeton

  Sign up for my newsletter HERE.

  Prologue

  ‡

  “General? Phone call for you.”

  General Augustus Reed waved Corporal Myers inside the temporary office where he sat at a flimsy metal desk. This forward base was thousands of miles away from USSOCOM in Tampa, Florida, where he’d been stationed for years. It wasn’t often he found himself in the field these days, and much as he hated to admit it, he was feeling his age this morning. The desert heat left his mouth dry, his skin itchy and his temper quick.

  “I’ll be glad to get out of here tomorrow,” Corporal Myers said in a low tone, handing him his phone and setting a black briefcase on the desk. The General grunted. Myers was a godsend in many ways, always anticipating what he would need next, and doing his best to keep everyone else at a distance, but the young man talked too much. “What about you, General? Ready to go home?” Myers pressed.

  About to answer the call, the General’s gaze snapped up, and he took in the flush that spread over the corporal’s throat and face.

  “I mean—to USSOCOM, sir.”

  “I know what you mean.” He hadn’t been home to Chance Creek, Montana, in years. Eleven years, to be exact.

  “I… I’ll let you answer that.” Myers backtracked quickly out of the room and shut the door firmly behind him. When the latch caught with a click, the General rubbed a hand over his jaw and sighed.

  “General Reed here,” he said into the phone.

  “General? It’s Cab. I’ve got some bad news.”

  “Tell me.” Cab Johnson was the sheriff in Chance Creek, where the General’s five daughters still lived on the family ranch. Over the years they’d become estranged from him. He’d been sending them husbands these past few months with the hopes of keeping them safe and getting them back in line.

  “Your girls are fine,” Cab assured him quickly.

  The General let out the breath he’d held.

  “What’s the news?” he made himself ask, hoping Cab didn’t hear the tremor in his voice. He was getting too old for all this worry. Getting soft.

  Last spring, a passel of unscrupulous men had tried to take over Two Willows and turn it into an outpost for their drug operation, wooing his daughters to get control of the spread. In response, the General had assembled a team of hardened warriors, honorable men who’d each gotten into the kind of trouble the military frowned upon, and had made them a deal. Go to Chance Creek, run the infiltrators off Two Willows, marry his daughters—or else.

  He couldn’t believe how well things had gone. He’d sent four men home to Montana so far, and each of them had made a good match with one of his girls. Only Alice was left. Time to stay the course and get the job done.

  “Ron Cooper went missing three weeks ago,” Cab said.

  “And you’re just telling me now?” The General surged to his feet. Ron Cooper had taken part in one of the attacks on his daughters, but he’d been caught and sent back to Tennessee where he had prior felony charges. Neither the General nor Cab had been able to figure out the connection between Tennessee and Two Willows yet, but they hoped they would with Ron’s help.

  Four times trouble had arrived from the east. Four times the men the General had sent had fought them off—with help from his daughters, he admitted reluctantly. Some of the interlopers were dead. Some had escaped. Others were in jail.

  When Ron was extradited, Cab’s counterparts in Tennessee had begun to work on him, trying to get him to finger the man at the head of the organization who was causing them so much grief.

  Ron had finally started to cooperate. He’d agreed to wear a wire.

  Now he was gone? The General paced around the room.

  “I held off telling you because I hoped we could find him in time,” Cab explained.

  “What happened?”

  “He turned up dead last week. Another man was with him. Also deceased. Apparently shot by Ron.”

  “Last week?”

  “Calm down, General. We were trying to find answers before we let word get out. And we did.”

  The General forced himself to be patient. Cab wouldn’t keep him in the dark without a good reason. “What did you find?”

  “The other man was the head of the organization. Remember Beau Ellis?”
r />   “Of course I remember him,” the General snapped. Beau Ellis and his twin nephews had gone to Chance Creek ostensibly to start a horse-breeding business. Instead, Ray and Harley had tried to kill his daughter, Lena, steal her prize stallion and burn down his family’s home. Ray and Harley were dead now. Beau had skipped town too fast to be apprehended.

  “Beau’s father-in-law is the one behind all this mess. His name is Duke Manson.”

  “Duke Manson?” The General stopped in his tracks. “Did you say Duke Manson?”

  “That’s right. You know the man?”

  “Could be. It was a long time ago. A real long time.” Somehow he knew it was the same man, though, which meant that all this fuss and bother—all this danger unleashed on his daughters—might be his fault.

  The muscles in his neck, already tight, got tighter.

  “What’s the connection?”

  The General appreciated the way Cab got right down to brass tacks. “We were at boot camp together. He was one of those jokers you wondered why they even bothered to enlist. Hated the Army. Hated everything it stood for. Hated the discipline and the drills. He was bringing in drugs—all kinds. Passing them out like candy. Getting people hooked, then taking their money. I turned him in.” He’d do it again in a heartbeat. The Army didn’t need men like that.

  “You think he held a grudge?”

  “For thirty years?” The General thought it over. “I don’t know. Maybe. You think this is the end of it? Manson’s dead, so it’s over?”

  Cab was quiet a long moment. “My gut says no. Sorry—wish I could say otherwise.”

  The General’s gut was saying the same thing. “What’s your thought process?”

  “From what we can gather, Manson’s organization has been half-assed for a long time. He was squeezed between two other major crime families with no room to expand. So… he looks around. Where else can he go?”

  “Chance Creek, Montana,” the General answered for him. He started pacing again.

  “That’s right. Maybe Manson’s been tracking your career—the way we track down our high school nemesis on the internet, hoping he’s having a lousy life. Instead, you’ve risen to a general’s rank. You have five daughters. A beautiful ranch. Maybe Manson thinks he can kill two birds with one stone—expand to Montana and cause you some grief at the same time. I don’t think he was the sharpest tool in the shed.”

  “You’re right on that.” Sharp enough to cause trouble, but not sharp enough to make it to the big time.

  “He sends Bob Finchley, who almost pulls off marrying Cass—and getting his friends to marry your other daughters—before your girls catch on to what they’re doing. He sends Ron Cooper and Grant Kimball, who try to kidnap Jo. Bob, Ron and Grant are young men, probably only been with Manson a few years. They can’t get the job done, and Bob and Grant both end up dead, so Manson goes up the ladder to one of his lieutenants.”

  “Ramsey.” The General had gone through this same litany dozens of times in his head, sorting through all the men who’d attacked his home, trying to figure out the connection between them.

  “That’s right. Ramsey burns down your stable, but not before Jo gets all your horses out. He’s failed at his job, but at least he gets away. Manson sends his son-in-law next. But Beau and his nephews fail, too.”

  “And then Ron Cooper murders Manson.”

  “But not before Manson gets a shot off that takes him to his grave.”

  “Ron Cooper doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who’d kill his boss.”

  “I’d bet just about anything it was Manson who drew first,” Cab countered. “He must have sensed Ron was snitching. Ron must have known he was in danger and came armed.”

  “Now they’re both dead. Who’s heading up the organization? Beau or Ramsey?”

  “That’s the million-dollar question. We don’t know the answer to that.”

  “At least we know who to look for.” The General stopped his pacing in front of a photograph of his late wife. Amelia’s kind gaze held his. God, he missed her.

  “They can always hire new soldiers,” Cab cautioned him. “Whichever of them steps into Manson’s shoes will have Manson’s people, Manson’s structure, his war chest—and, we have to assume, his plans. Better tell your girls to be careful.”

  “I will.” He’d send a message to Brian Lake, the first man he’d sent to his ranch. Brian would tell everyone else. The General returned to his desk, sat down and pulled his laptop from the briefcase Myers had left.

  “I will, too, when I go to Lena’s wedding. Wish I’d see you there.”

  The General didn’t rise to the bait. He wouldn’t be at his daughter’s wedding. He opened the laptop, turned it on and began to compose the email. “You know I’m overseas.”

  “Yeah, well, come home soon. I’ll let you know what else I learn.”

  “You do that.”

  Cab cut the call, leaving the General to think over what he’d just learned. Duke Manson had tracked him down after all these years. And now the idiot was dead, leaving someone new to contend with.

  He finished up his note, sent it off and sat lost in thought until his gaze touched on the black briefcase again. Inside it was a letter from his wife—one of the last two left from the box of letters Cass had forwarded to him after Amelia died eleven years ago.

  Amelia had been an uncommon woman with an uncommon gift for seeing the future, and the letters she’d left him had helped him through the years since her death. In them, she pointed out upcoming problems, gave him advice. Told him what to do. It had taken several years for him to learn to accept she’d known what she was talking about when she wrote them. Now he knew he ignored her wishes to his peril.

  Swallowing hard, he reached for the letter. He had to read it, no matter how hard it was to move that much closer to the time when there would be no letters left. He hoped her calm words would help untangle the thoughts swirling in his mind.

  Dear Augustus,

  It will be Lena’s turn to walk down the aisle soon, and I’m so happy she’s found a worthy man to share her life with.

  I know better than to think you’ll be walking down the aisle with her, helping our daughter bridge the gap from single to married life. Augustus, you can’t run anymore. You have to go home—before the choice isn’t yours anymore.

  A chill traveled down the General’s spine. Not his choice? What did she mean by that?

  You’re overdue, and our girls need you.

  I need you to mend things between you and them. I need to know my family is intact.

  Augustus, if you won’t do it for them—or for yourself—do it for me.

  I’m fooling myself, thinking you will. I love you so much, I can’t bear to see what comes next. Oh, Augustus—why are you such a stubborn man?

  My only consolation is that I see you with our daughters. With our grandchildren—

  Hang on, Augustus. This next bit is going to hurt!

  Love,

  Amelia

  A familiar ache squeezed his heart. It killed him to know how he kept letting his wife down. A real man would have faced his pain and gone home to Two Willows years ago. Would have raised his girls himself, keeping them close.

  Keeping them safe.

  Instead he’d stayed away. Sent overseers to run the ranch. Sent guardians to raise them when his daughters were younger. Dedicated his life to the Army—

  Faced his own death rather than facing his wife’s.

  If she said hard times were coming, then they were coming. If she said it was going to hurt, then it was going to hurt. Did she foresee a widening of the gap between him and their girls? If so, then all he’d done by sending husbands was waste everyone’s time.

  He needed to do better.

  Maybe Amelia was right. Maybe it was time to think about going—

  “General?” Myers opened the door and stuck his head in. “Your next appointment—”

  The room exploded in a burst of sound and ligh
t. Pain sliced through the General’s side.

  All went dark.

  Chapter One

  ‡

  Lieutenant Jack Sanders walked into the empty conference room at USSOCOM in Tampa, Florida, crossed to his desk and set a breakfast sandwich and a bottle of orange juice from a fast-food restaurant down by his computer monitor. He took a quick look around to make sure he was alone, kissed the palm of his hand and touched it to the photograph that hung close by.

  “Hello, baby girl,” he said softly to the image of Alice Reed, with a silent nod to Logan Hughes, the cocky man who’d started this silly tradition. He’d been surprised how much he’d missed Logan since General Reed had sent him to Montana. He’d missed all the men who’d been in the General’s bogus Joint Task Force for Inter-branch Communication Clarity. One by one, the General had sent them to Chance Creek. He’d sent Brian Lake, a Navy SEAL, to marry his oldest daughter, Cass; Connor O’Riley, a Pararescueman, to marry Sadie; Hunter Powell, a Navy SEAL sniper, to marry his youngest, Jo; and Logan, who was a Marine, to marry Lena.

  Now it was Jack’s turn to go to Montana. Soon he’d be with the other men again, and he knew he could work with them. That wasn’t the problem.

  Could he marry Alice Reed? Spend a lifetime with a woman he didn’t even know yet?

  More to the point—could he love her?

  Could she love him?

  If the answer was no, was he willing to give up his chance at future happiness to clear his name?

  Jack knew he had unrealistic expectations when it came to marriage. His birth parents had set the bar so high—at least in his memory—their example was impossible to meet. He’d never doubted their love for each other, or for him. His impression of his early years was all unrelenting blue skies and happiness. A huge ranch to roam, a father to show him how to ride and rope, a mother who gave him plenty of hugs and kisses. Ranch hands and hired help equally disposed to shower him with attention and praise.

  It wasn’t that he’d been spoiled. Jack had worked hard alongside his parents at their tasks. Both of them had demanded that he pay attention and learn when it was time for such things. Still, they had plenty of energy left over for laughter, games… fun.