A SEAL's Triumph Read online

  Maybe he could still fix what he’d nearly ruined.

  He didn’t know what he’d do if he couldn’t.

  “We have to help her,” Avery insisted.

  “We can’t. All we can do is be patient. Nature works on its own timetable. Think of Nora. She was due more than two weeks ago.” Walker moved nearer to Avery. Maybe it was unfair; he knew his presence had an affect on her. When he came within a certain distance, Avery couldn’t seem to bridge it the rest of the way. Even now she was reaching her hand toward him. He took it softly in his before she could remember they were supposed to be fighting.

  “You’re right.” Avery made a face. Poor Nora was so uncomfortable it was hard to watch. If she didn’t go into labor naturally in the next couple of days, she’d have to be induced.

  Heartened by her willingness to talk, Walker gave Avery’s hand a light squeeze. She’d spurned all the gifts he’d given her these past few weeks, making it clear how inadequate they were to make up for the betrayal of his accusation, but yesterday he gave her the fan that had started all the trouble between them, and since then she’d been wary and thoughtful. He hoped she understood he’d never doubt her again.

  He wished he could take her into his arms right now. The past year had been a type of agony he’d never known before in his life. Avery so close—and so untouchable at times he thought he was already in hell.

  He didn’t want to let her go, but he couldn’t pursue a relationship with her until Elizabeth finally came home, and Elizabeth kept cancelling at the last minute.

  He wasn’t even the only one hounding her to come and sort things out. His grandmother, Sue, had been emailing her since the moment his feet touched Chance Creek soil.

  “It’s time,” she kept proclaiming. “It’s finally time!”

  Time to break that old promise, Walker thought darkly. Time for Elizabeth to finally tell the truth about what she’d said all those years ago. She’d promised to arrive tomorrow, and this time she said she wouldn’t call off her trip.

  Sue would be disappointed when she heard what Elizabeth had to say, but she’d have to see that marrying Avery was the only way he could fulfil the promise he’d made to his friends at Base Camp. Sue believed in keeping your word, after all, and he had just over forty days to marry someone in order to secure the ranch.

  “She’s in pain.” Avery cut into his thoughts, leaning forward as if she might climb through the fence and soothe Ruth herself.

  “She’s getting ready to give birth. It’s uncomfortable, but she’s okay. Ruth will know exactly what to do when it’s time.”

  Avery fidgeted in distress, and Walker’s heart went out to her. She felt whatever those around her felt, whether human or beast. Avery wore her heart on her sleeve, and her emotions were as intense as the summer squalls that drifted across the Montana plains.

  “What if something goes wrong?”

  “It won’t,” he assured her, sending steadiness through his hand into hers, willing her to accept nature’s rhythms the way he did.

  She looked up, seemed to notice he was holding her hand and lifted hers as if to pull away. Walker stilled, breathing only when she lowered it again.

  “Avery.” He didn’t know how to say everything that was in his heart. How sorry he was for doubting her, how painful it was to know he’d hurt her. “I wish I’d never—”

  “But you did.”

  She wouldn’t look at him.

  “I always—”

  She half turned away, and he thought she’d pull free from him. Leave altogether.

  Instead, she surged closer to the fence. “What’s happening?” she cried.

  Walker held on to her tightly. A herd of bison was a wild force that could be unleashed by any sudden movement. If Avery darted through the fence, her green dress flapping, she’d likely set off a stampede and do more to interfere with this birth than anything else.

  “Just watch,” he told her.

  A ripple passed over Ruth’s flanks, and another and another. She was close to her time.

  “Get ready,” he whispered.

  Another ripple.

  Ruth gave a low, painful sound, and something poked out of her—a small nose. She gave another lowing sound, and a fierce ripple passed through her flanks.

  “Oh!” Avery went up on tiptoe. “Walker!”

  Ruth lowed again, her muscles working in waves to expel the baby from her womb. A small, shaggy head emerged along with a tangle of hooves.

  “It’s a breech birth!” Avery cried.

  “It’s exactly what it should be,” Walker assured her. “Ruth’s got this.”

  Avery was clinging to his hand, twisting and turning in a shared agony with the mother.

  “Now,” he said, and another ripple of Ruth’s muscles expelled the calf all the way. The tiny bison landed on the ground ungraciously, accompanied by Avery’s cry.

  “Is it all right?”

  “It’s fine.” He had to put an arm around Avery’s shoulders to restrain her as Ruth turned in a slow circle, nudged her baby with her nose and gave it a good lick. “See, she’s cleaning it up, exactly the way she’s supposed to. Ruth’s a good mom.”

  “Of course she is!”

  Avery’s fierce shift from terror to indignation made him bite back another smile. “Of course she is,” he affirmed. “She’s a natural.” Just like Avery would be if she ever had children.

  Avery leaned into him as her relief overtook her and buried her face against his chest. “You always fix things.” Her words were muffled, but he understood her perfectly and circled his arms around her. He’d learned this, too; she needed to let out her feelings when they got too much for her, and happiness, worry and anger came out as tears as often as sadness did.

  “I didn’t do anything,” he pointed out. “Ruth’s the one you should be praising.”

  “She’s amazing.” After another moment, Avery emerged enough to watch the bison groom her calf, wiping her cheeks. “But you fix things just by being here.”

  He stilled again, love and pain welling within him in equal measures. He wanted to be here for Avery—always. If Elizabeth would come home and sort things out, he could be.

  “One more day.” He didn’t realize he’d said it out loud until Avery shifted to look up at him.

  “One more day until what?”

  He hated the wariness in her eyes. He couldn’t blame her for it—he’d let her down before.

  Could he tell her what he planned? He’d kept his secrets for so long their corners should have worn down, but he felt each one as sharp and ragged as when they were new. He was tired of having to hold back from her, and he was beginning to wonder if that had been a mistake from the start.

  Why not say something true?

  “One more day until I can be to you what I want to be.”

  Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”

  “I’m going to ask you to marry me,” he clarified. He couldn’t pretend any more that he didn’t want Avery. Needed to let her know exactly what she meant to him. Elizabeth hadn’t come home yet despite promising to several times. There was no guarantee this time would be different, except this time, he promised himself, he would be different. If she didn’t show tomorrow, he’d tell Sue himself about Elizabeth’s lie. “Give me one more day.”

  Her lips parted, and Walker would have given anything to kiss her right then, but he was a man of his word, and he’d promised—

  “Just one,” he told Avery.

  After a long moment, she nodded.

  He held her as the sun rose and the baby calf struggled to its feet.

  Avery sucked in a breath when the calf pushed up on its two front legs as if determined to stand. When its mother’s vigorous washing knocked it over again, it scrambled to regain its balance.

  Could the baby bison see her? Avery wasn’t sure. All she knew was she’d never forget this—coming face to face with such beauty, such newness on the day that Walker had finally let h
er know what was in his heart. The newborn took an uncertain step, and its mother licked him. The tightness in Avery’s chest intensified. She’d just witnessed a miracle.

  It was as if the universe was giving her a tiny gift, something to make up for all the loneliness she’d felt in her life. The promise that a new phase was about to begin.

  The phase in which Walker wanted her to be his wife.

  She was aware of every rise and fall of Walker’s chest as she leaned against him. The circle of his arms created a kind of safety she’d come to crave. She’d fallen for this man the moment she’d seen him, and he’d monopolized her thoughts ever since. When he’d believed Clem’s ruse, she’d been furious—heartbroken, really—but ever since he’d placed his fan in her hands yesterday, her anger had bled away.

  That fan represented Walker’s heritage. More than that—his family. She knew he’d lost both father and mother young, his grandfather, too. That fan was a physical testament to all the generations of his past, and aside from his grandmother, he had no other links to them. When it had gone missing, he must have been frantic.

  Now he’d given it to her, which meant he must really love her, despite his lapse in judgement. Clem had aired footage of her stealing it, and Walker had believed his eyes. Could she really blame him for that? After all, she was the one who’d been filming a series called Stealing from SEALs.

  It was costing her to hold on to her anger and resentment, anyway. The last few weeks had been the worst in years, and it wasn’t like she hadn’t made her share of mistakes in life. Maybe it was time to let her anger go and get back to loving him. Just thinking about it made her heart lift. If Walker loved her, wanted to marry her, that meant they would be the ones to bring the competition for Base Camp to a close. They would win the ranch for all their friends and live here with them forever. Maybe have a baby. So many of the other women at Base Camp were pregnant, and she wanted that, too—so much.

  Ruth raised her head suddenly, and Avery experienced that strange transcendence that happens when an animal looks at you—sees you—is thinking about you even as you’re thinking about it.

  She wondered what Ruth saw. A short redhead in a green gown, watching this precious moment in her life?

  Ruth grunted at her, a reassuring sound, and Avery let out a shaky breath.

  “I love you, too,” she told Ruth as tears spilled down her cheeks again—tears of relief that all her waiting would soon be over. Like the bison had carried her calf, she’d carried the burden of her love for Walker for months, growing ever more uncomfortable with it. She was ready to give birth, too, to a lifetime commitment to this man she’d wanted for so long. “I will always love you—you and your baby,” she promised, since she couldn’t say those words yet to Walker. Not until she was sure of his intentions. “I’ll take care of you.”

  The little bison looked up and bleated. It had wonderful little hooves. Expressive eyes.

  Avery was entranced, and she stilled as a soft, warm breeze lifted the wisps of hair at her temples. Suddenly, she grew aware of how quiet it was out here, how startlingly beautiful.

  This was exactly where she was meant to be, she realized. On this ranch, with these animals, in Walker’s arms. Here was the life she’d wanted for so long.

  One more day.

  The bison bleated again, and Avery’s heart filled with joy. “Walker—” Before she could tell him how much this meant to her, voices intruded on the peace of the morning. Walker stiffened and pulled away. She missed him immediately.

  “I told you something important was happening!” William Sykes bellowed. A thickset blond man in his forties, laden with equipment, he was out of breath from hurrying toward them. Avery sighed and faced the camera crew that must have recently arrived from town.

  “I’m sorry!” That was Jess Sims, one of the younger crew members. Usually so quiet you didn’t notice her, it was obvious William had been giving her a hard time this morning.

  “Sorry doesn’t get the footage this show depends on. Morning, Walker. Morning, Avery.”

  Walker grunted something. Avery nodded. William wasn’t usually this grumpy, and she wondered what was wrong.

  “No coffee,” Craig Demaris, another crew member, filled her in as he pointed a video camera her way. “What kind of motel runs out of coffee?”

  “We could have stopped at the doughnut shop,” Jess said. She wore what Avery thought of as the crew uniform: cargo pants, T-shirt, boots and a long-suffering expression that said Craig had been chiding her since they left the motel. Her dirty blond hair was in a twist on top of her head, her soft features ruddy with embarrassment.

  “Yes, we could have—if you weren’t late,” William said. “What’d we miss?” he asked Walker. “You two looked awfully cozy.”

  “You missed the birth of the first bison calf.” Avery hurried to deflect him, not wanting her love life—such as it was—with Walker dissected by this cranky group. “Come and see.”

  “I’d better get to the other chores.” Walker met her gaze and held it a moment before turning away, and Avery’s chest warmed with the promise there.

  One more day.

  He was going to ask her to marry him.

  “What were you two talking about before we arrived?” William asked suspiciously. “Walker was holding you. Did he propose?”

  She shook her head. “We were talking about bison. Isn’t Champ adorable?”

  “Champ?” Craig asked, moving closer.

  “That’s the calf’s name. His mother is Ruth. She’s a prodigy among bison.” Avery kept talking until she’d deflected the crew’s attention. After months working alongside Walker to care for the herd, she could talk about bison all day long.

  She wished Walker hadn’t left, though, and that the crew hadn’t arrived when they did. Walker had wanted to kiss her. Wanted more than that, if she wasn’t mistaken. There’d been that tension between them since the day they’d met, an instant attraction that took her breath away on a daily basis.

  She couldn’t wait to have the right to run her hands all over his body. She dreamed about being with him almost every night. Walker was—

  Everything.

  She knew they made a comical couple, him so tall and broad and her so… well… short. She knew they’d fit together perfectly, though, when they got the chance. Every molecule of her yearned to be close to him, and she was sure he felt the same way, even if he’d held himself back all this time.

  Would he really propose, though?

  They all knew he’d been promised to someone; the question was who? And where had she been all this time? Did she still want him? What would it take to dissolve whatever relationship was holding him back?

  And how would he resolve the problem in one day’s time?

  A cold prickle of premonition tripped down her spine. If something was going to be different tomorrow, that meant something had to happen to make it different.

  What could that be?

  Avery thought it over. Angus and Win would marry tonight, which meant tomorrow would be the beginning of Walker’s forty days to marry before his deadline was up. Was he simply waiting for his “turn”?

  That didn’t seem right. He’d been promised, which meant he needed to break a promise, and Avery couldn’t see Walker ever doing that. He was a man who valued honor above all else.

  She, on the other hand, valued love, she thought, watching the tiny bison calf wobble through its first tentative steps. Love was more important than anything else. It healed wounds, held families together—held the universe together, if you asked.

  Could it hold her and Walker together, too?

  She wasn’t sure. Could one day really resolve a problem that had existed for a year? Could her happiness be so close?

  She’d learned long ago not to rely on things going her way. What made her think this time would be different?

  She watched Ruth care for her baby and decided this time would be different because she and Walker were me
ant for each other and meant for this place, too, both of them glorying in the natural setting they found themselves in, the friends they spent their days with and the activities that filled their hours. Only Walker’s old promise kept them apart.

  “You know a lot about bison,” Jess said when the crew members had gotten all the footage of Champ they wanted. “And you’re lucky to have someone like Walker.” She followed Avery to the chicken house as the rest of the crew headed for the bunkhouse.

  “I don’t have him yet.”

  “Don’t you think you’ll have him soon? He’s got to marry next,” Jess pointed out as Avery unlatched the door to the chicken coop and the birds flocked around her.

  Jess dutifully filmed the interaction, but they both knew there was plenty of footage of Avery doing her chores and this would never appear on television.

  “I’m not one to count my chickens before they hatch,” Avery said wryly.

  “Ha, ha.” Jess lowered the camera. “Do you think Boone would find me a husband if I asked him? I wouldn’t mind sticking around when the show is over.”

  Avery nearly laughed. It had been months since she’d allowed herself to think of anything that might happen when the show was over. “You want a tiny house and a husband of your own?”

  “Maybe.” Jess shrugged. “You all seem happy.”

  “Boone has talked about expanding Base Camp when the year is done.” She’d never really pictured it, though. “If you want to stay, you should definitely tell him.”

  Jess put her camera down. “Can I feed them?” she asked, and Avery stepped back to let her handle the chore.

  “You’re a natural,” Avery said. “I hope Boone finds you a good husband.”

  “From your mouth to his ears,” Jess said.

  “You ready?” Walker asked Angus.

  “More than ready,” Angus said. He was due to marry Win Lisle in less than an hour, and Walker and the rest of the men had joined him in one of the large guest rooms at the manor, where the ceremony would take place. They were all wearing the Revolutionary War uniforms they customarily donned for Base Camp weddings, and Alice Reed was present to make sure any unraveled hems were stitched up and loose buttons sewn back on. Angus looked ready to burst with happiness, and Walker relaxed a little. His friend deserved to marry the woman he loved after all he’d been through. Walker could only hope one day soon things would go as well for him.