A SEAL's Triumph Read online

  “That’s good.” But it wasn’t enough. Walker deserved so much more.

  “When I got to school age, I spent the weekdays with them. Diane passed away only last year.”

  “How old was Elizabeth when Worth and Tricia died?”

  “Four months. Netta and Sue saved both our lives. Made sure we grew up surrounded by love and family. Made sure we knew our heritage and honored our parents, no matter what they did. I have to hand it to Netta for never making Sue feel bad for what my dad did. She was a friend to Sue until the end, and Sue worshipped her.”

  “All your dad did was be a stupid teenager,” Avery pointed out. “I ran off to Vegas and married a stranger when I was his age. If you blame Joe for Worth’s and Tricia’s deaths, you should hold me accountable for what I did, too.”

  Walker stared at her. Blinked. For one moment, anguish creased his face before he got control of his emotions again. “He got in that fight. He was driving erratically on the highway. He should have pulled over.”

  “What if he had? What if that other man pulled over, too, and pulled out a gun—or came back and ran them over.” Avery stepped closer to him. “Walker, sometimes people make mistakes. Big, messy ones, but they’re still mistakes.” She tried to see it from his point of view. “I understand that’s why it was so important to you not to break your promise to Netta that you’d marry Elizabeth. You wanted to right your father’s wrongs. Or at least let Elizabeth be the one to break it off. But, Walker, remember that Netta never blamed Sue. She didn’t hold on to resentment or anger. She just kept loving everyone.”

  Walker turned away. Avery put a hand on his back, waiting. She knew better than to think Walker would cry; that wasn’t his way, but she felt the tension of his pain in every muscle in his body—and then, some time later, its release.

  She didn’t know how long they stayed like that, and it didn’t matter. She could do this for Walker for eternity. Stand with him. Let him know she was with him.

  Wait.

  When he turned again, she went willingly in his arms and held him tightly, hoping he could read everything in her heart. This was the man she loved, and she’d take his past along with everything else he could offer her.

  “You must miss your father so much. Did he die in combat?”

  Walker stiffened. Let go of her and made as if to step back but in the end stayed where he was.

  “Killed himself” was all he said.

  Avery absorbed the horror of it like a blow, feeling the bile rise in her throat. Walker had been seven when his father died.

  Seven.

  Couldn’t his father have found the strength to stay for him?

  She held on to him tightly and thought she could sense everything he couldn’t say: that he missed his father, was sorry not to have known Worth and Tricia. Wished Netta was still here, along with his grandfather and her husband. That he’d grown up in a world of ghosts and pain and loss, death taking the people he loved one by one.

  Was afraid he’d lose her, too.

  “I’m here,” she told him. “I’ll always be here. You’ll never lose me. I promise.”

  When he lowered his mouth to hers, she went up to meet him willingly. Now she knew this man. Knew he had always wanted her. He hadn’t held back because he didn’t care; he’d held back because he did. Because he knew if he got too close, he’d lose himself and wouldn’t be able to fulfill the debts handed down to him from his father. He must have thought giving in to his desire—and hers—would only make it worse if they were separated again by those obligations, but to Avery’s way of thinking they’d lost months of precious time. She wanted all of Walker she could get, and damn the consequences.

  She didn’t waste another moment trying to put that into words. Instead, she found his mouth. Kissed him, then kissed him again, her hands cupping his jaws, her passion telling him what she couldn’t.

  No matter what their circumstances, she wanted him. Always had. Always would.

  She would never leave.

  Walker pulled back, his dark eyes searching hers. “Avery—”

  “Yes. Please, Walker.” She pulled him close again. Pulled him right down to the ground.

  To her relief, Walker didn’t argue. He kissed her back with equal hunger, gathering her beneath him, crushing her to him, unleashing the full force of his desire in a way he never had with her before.

  Avery trusted him utterly and let herself go, allowing him to take the lead, glorying in the feeling of a man of Walker’s size and strength focusing every ounce of his attention on her. She laughed when he fumbled with his backpack while still kissing her, pulling things out of it and flinging them away until he found what he’d wanted, a picnic blanket. He tossed it out beside them, spreading it as best he could, making clear he wasn’t going to let go of her if he didn’t have to, then rolled her onto it.

  When he tugged at the fastenings of her dress, Avery pushed him away, sat up and undid them herself, knowing he was likely to tear the fabric. She made it a game, teasing him as she undressed until he nearly growled.

  “I can get that off a lot faster.”

  “I don’t doubt it.” But she took pity on him, finished the job, undid her corset and drew her chemise over her head, then faced him on the blanket clad in only her panties. “Your turn.”

  Walker was a lot faster as he got to his feet and stripped down, and he tossed away his boxer briefs without a second’s hesitation.

  Avery could only stare in admiration. Walker was handsome with his clothes on.

  With them off, he was magnificent, a monument of muscle and bronzed skin.

  He offered her his hand. She took it, got to her feet and approached him. When he hooked his thumbs in the tiny waistband of her panties, she nodded. He tugged them down to her feet, and she kicked them away.

  This must be what Adam and Eve felt like in the garden of Eden, she thought, standing with Walker in the bright sunshine, not a stitch on. A rise of ground hid them thoroughly from the road here, and she doubted anyone else would come this way. Walker’s hands rested on her hips, drawing her inexorably toward him. When their bodies met, she went on tiptoe, needing more of his kisses.

  Walker obliged, moving his mouth over hers until she was breathless. His hands explored her body, the swoop of his fingers over her skin leaving her tingling with anticipation.

  When he laid her down again, she drew him to her. This was where he was meant to be: between her legs, in her arms.

  “I want you,” he whispered, his lips brushing her cheek and then her temple.

  “I’ve always wanted you,” she answered. Ever since she’d first laid eyes on him, she’d dreamed about this moment. She shifted her hips, wanting to feel his hardness, at the same time wanting this to go on forever.

  Avery shifted again until she found what she wanted. She opened to him, urging him with her hands on his back. “Don’t make me wait,” she told him.

  Walker hesitated only a moment, positioned himself—

  And pushed inside her.

  Now that he’d started, he couldn’t hold back.

  As Walker moved inside Avery, every stroke lit him up until his body blazed with heat. As she clung to him, moving with his rhythm, he forgot about his past—and hers. This was all that mattered. This was what love felt like, and nothing else could match it.

  He’d wasted so much time trying to protect his honor, and now he wished he could have all of it back. He needed a lifetime with the woman in his arms and swore from now on, she’d be the only thing that mattered to him.

  He needed to show her how he felt, but he was quickly losing control. Avery was hot, wet, coaxing him with the movement of her hips until he hung on by force of will.

  She was soft but insistent. Yielding but strong. Every fiber of his being focused solely on her need, he increased his pace, doubling the sensation, nearly succumbing to it.

  Not yet.

  “Avery.”

  She opened her eyes, and he read the
hunger there—and the love.

  He hoped she knew he loved her, too. Knew how much he craved her. Every touch of her hands, the brush of her breasts against his chest, the pulse of her hips against his, all sent sensation burning straight through him.

  “Will you marry me?”

  Her gaze filled with love. “Yes.”

  He crushed her to him, burying his face against her neck, pumping inside her, unable to hold back any longer.

  He wanted to spend forever like this, but that wasn’t possible. His body wasn’t having it.

  Avery arched back and gave a cry that swept away the last vestiges of his control. He thrust again and came with a groan half frustration, half blessed relief. As his release swept through him, he bucked against her, her cries sweet in his ears until they both were sated.

  Afterward, they lay together in a tangle of limbs under the strong sun, and Walker stroked Avery’s hair. She was thinking—

  And he was afraid of what she’d say. Would she change her mind?

  When she turned to him, he traced a hand down her shoulder to her back and over her bottom. Every curve of her body entranced him. What he would give to lie here with her forever.

  “This is heaven,” Avery said, gazing up at the sky.

  “This is.” He kept his gaze on her. Kissed her again.

  “I wish we could stay.”

  “You mean that?”

  “Of course. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here with you.”

  “Exactly how I feel.” He reached for the backpack. Rummaged through it until his hand closed around a small velvet box. He pulled it out. Opened it. Showed the ring inside to Avery.

  The ring he’d bought the first week he’d known her.”

  “Walker,” she breathed.

  “I love you. I’ve always loved you.” He took out the ring, slid it on her finger.

  “It’s perfect.” Avery held it where she could see it, tears sparkling in her eyes. “Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure. I knew you were going to be my wife the moment I saw you.” His mouth found the base of her neck. Traced along her collarbone. For several long minutes he lost himself in her again. He knew time was ticking away, though. They had to be ready for James’s return.

  “We have to go back.”

  “Why?” she complained, running a hand over his shoulder. “I want to stay here.”

  “I know, but this isn’t over yet. I might not be marrying Elizabeth, but I still owe her—and I owe Sue, too. We still have to play our parts.”

  A memory flashed into his mind. His father sitting on the end of his bed at Sue’s house, a photograph in his hand.

  “You’re the only good thing left,” Joe had told him. “My son. The question is—why are you even here?”

  At the time, Walker had thought he was in trouble—he’d snuck into his father’s room when he was supposed to leave Joe alone. His father was always a moody man on his infrequent visits home. Sue was forever telling him to be quiet—to leave his dad alone, let him rest.

  Now Walker thought the words had a different meaning. Why was he there? In other words, why was he even born? Why had Joe deserved the gift of a son when his mistake had taken the lives of two people he loved?

  Walker had thought he’d been born to right his father’s wrongs. To play a small part, then stand on the sidelines as everyone else took center stage.

  Now he knew he had a different role. He was Avery’s leading man. He was meant to share her days. Her happiness and pain. Her triumphs and tragedies.

  He wasn’t a bit player.

  He wasn’t relegated to the sidelines.

  He had his own life to live.

  “We have to go back,” he repeated to Avery. “But this is only the start of what we’re going to do together.”

  “I suppose I can’t wear this yet.” She held up her hand and touched the ring.

  He hadn’t thought about that.

  “I’ll wear it like this.” She sat up, removed a locket she wore around her neck. Its chain was long enough that the locket slipped under the edge of her bodice. Avery threaded the ring onto the chain, too, and replaced it around her neck.

  Walker helped her with the clasp.

  “There,” she said. “I’ll have it on all the time, but no one but us will know.”

  “Good,” he said, but he couldn’t wait for the day when he could tell everyone he was marrying Avery.

  James Russell picked them up right on time. If he noticed a certain disheveled appearance about them, he didn’t mention it. He was downright chatty on the drive home, talking to them over his shoulder, paying so little attention to the roads Avery thought it was lucky his horses seemed to know their own way. Before she was ready, they were back at the ranch, being let out in the parking lot near the bunkhouse.

  She knew immediately something was wrong when she spotted most of the men gathered together near the fire pit, so when Riley saw them through the bunkhouse window and came to meet them, she had already braced herself.

  “Someone tried to kill Elizabeth!” Riley was pale, a hand on her belly as if determined to protect her baby at all costs. “Gabe thought he’d got him, but the guy still got away, and now we’re not sure.”

  “Got him?”

  “Shot him,” Riley clarified. “Did you know he was carrying?”

  She didn’t, and by the look on his face, neither did Walker, who strode away to confront the other man.

  “It was terrifying,” Riley said. “We were outside, gathering for lunch when I heard a sound I couldn’t even identify at first. I found myself on the ground. I guess my gut knew what it was before my brain did. Someone was shooting at us, at Elizabeth.”

  “How do you know she was the target?”

  “She was standing a little apart from the rest of us, and the shots were aimed her way. We all dropped to the ground. The men burst into action, but Gabe was there first. He was crouching behind that log.” She pointed. “Firing like you wouldn’t believe. We heard a shout. The men found blood, but the shooter was already gone on a motorcycle. The gunman must have had it parked in the brush over near the parking area. Boone thinks he probably walked it in from the highway sometime in the night and waited until he could get a good shot.”

  “That’s crazy.” The thought of walking past a man lying in wait this morning when she and Walker had gone to meet James’s carriage in the parking area sent shivers slipping and sliding down her spine.

  “So it’s Elizabeth they’re after, not us,” Riley said. “Why would someone want to kill her?”

  Avery couldn’t answer that question until she had Elizabeth’s permission. “Let’s go inside.” Her neck and shoulder blades were prickling like someone had a weapon trained on her even now. Gone was the light and warmth from her time with Walker. She hustled Riley inside, where it had to be safer, and waited until Boone and some of the other men returned, bringing Cab Johnson, the local sheriff, with them. Film crews followed, and soon the room was packed.

  Walker was stiff and watchful, and Avery wondered if he blamed himself for not being here when Elizabeth had come under fire. Elizabeth was composed, but her fingers twisted the fabric of her Regency gown.

  “I think you’ve got some explaining to do,” Boone told her.

  She nodded unhappily. “I know.” Avery could see she didn’t want to, though. She was still afraid Fulsom would make her leave. Avery wondered if she was regretting coming here altogether.

  “Wait,” Walker said. “We can’t talk in front of the crew.”

  “You know the rules,” Renata said sharply.

  “This is a matter of life and death,” Walker returned. “Fulsom likes to play with our lives, and I won’t let him put Elizabeth in danger.”

  “She put us in danger,” Savannah pointed out. “If she knew someone was after her, she should never have come.”

  “You’re right,” Elizabeth said loudly before Walker could argue with that. “And all of yo
u should know that I kept Walker in the dark about this until only recently.”

  “In the dark about what?” Nora asked. “What’s going on?”

  “I think everyone better start at the beginning,” Cab said.

  When Walker hesitated, she wondered if he’d cooperate with the sheriff. His loyalties were still to his family—and Elizabeth.

  Elizabeth spoke first. “It’s okay, Walker. There’s no sense trying to hide anything anymore. If I can’t stay here, I’ll find somewhere else to go.” She addressed the others. “In two days, I’m going to testify in front of the Senate about opening the Renning field in Alaska to oil exploration and drilling. I’m testifying against the bill that’s on the table to make it possible for that project to go forward. I have a lot of information and personal stories from observing conditions in the arctic—how global warming is running amok there, how the risk of fires above the arctic circle is increasing and how none of us can afford to let so much carbon, sequestered for now in the tundra, escape into our atmosphere. I don’t have to tell you all that’s enough to make powerful groups want to stop my testimony.”

  People around the room nodded.

  “That’s not all,” Elizabeth went on. “I have whistleblower information about the company that stands to be awarded the contract.”

  “And someone is trying to kill you in order to keep you from presenting it?” Nora asked.

  “They are,” Elizabeth said simply. “I’m the opposition’s prime witness. As soon as I knew that, I realized I needed a safe place to hide, or I might not make it to the hearing. There’s a lot of money riding on that project going ahead. I figured Base Camp was one of the safest places I could go.”

  Boone nodded. “Hiding in plain sight.”

  “You always had a camera on you while you were here,” Clay said.

  “And ten Navy SEALs watching out for me,” she said.