Her Last Line of Defense

When I learned the Harlequin Blaze editors were putting together a yearlong military-themed miniseries, I immediately threw my writing hat into the ring. I come from a long line of army men—my husband is an army veteran, and several of his family served, as well. And I really wanted to write about a Green Beret hero. My mother was a social worker in Vietnam during the war and knew several Green Beret soldiers. She used to tell me stories about them, and as I have learned, not much was an exaggeration. Green Berets then and Green Berets now are smart, tough, multilingual, highly trained U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers whose motto is De Oppresso Liber—to free the oppressed.

My weary Green Beret hero, Luc Boudreau, has been through several difficult deployments and all he wants to do is go home to his family. But heroine Claire Cook needs survival training, and Luc is the only one who can teach her. Duty keeps him from home once more, but maybe he can make a new home with Claire. After all, life is more than just survival!

Happy reading!

Marie Donovan

Donovan worked for a large suburban public library for ten years as both a cataloguer and a bilingual Spanish storytime presenter. She graduated magna cum laude with two bachelor’s degrees from a Midwestern liberal arts university and speaks six languages. She enjoys reading, gardening and yoga.

Please visit the author’s Web site at www.mariedonovan.com and also her Sizzling Pens group blog at www.sizzlingpens.blogspot.com.

302—HER BOOK OF PLEASURE

371—BARE NECESSITIES

470—MY SEXY GREEK SUMMER

Luc Boudreaux clamped his mouth shut and wondered who in the hell he had pissed off badly enough to lead him to this. He thought he’d made it through his Afghan tour of duty without stepping on his crank. He’d stayed away from the local girls, avoided shooting anyone who didn’t deserve it and brought some decent health care to several tribes whose only technology was Soviet-era weaponry.

He took a deep breath. “Sir, may I ask why I am being selected for this task?”

Captain Olson, his commanding officer snorted. “Can the ‘sir’ shit—you haven’t called me ‘sir’ in years. Now pull the stick out of your ass and sit down.”

Luc dropped into the beat-up office chair and stared at his boss across the equally beat-up desk. Special Forces spent their budget on gear, not furniture. “Okay, Olie, what the hell?” He spread his hands wide in frustration.

Magnus Olson, or “Olie” as he was known to his men and half of Afghanistan, stroked the long blond beard that made him look like a recruiting poster for Viking pillagers. Luc guessed his own black beard made him a pirate poster boy. “Like I was trying to say before you ripped me a new one, here’s the rest of the deal, and I have to admit it’s a crappy one—you train Congressman Cook’s daughter in jungle survival skills, and the fine congressman won’t torpedo your career.”

“What?” Luc leaped to his feet.

Olie let him blow off several choice remarks before lifting a meaty hand. “Okay, okay. Sit down, Rage, and I’ll go over this again real slow with you.”

For once, Luc was living up to his nickname of the Ragin’ Cajun. Most of the time it was a team joke since he was usually a mellow guy. But now, no. The battle lines were drawn.

Olie reached behind him, pulled a beer out of the minifridge and tossed the bottle to Luc. “Drink up. We deserve it.”

Luc popped the cap and took a long pull of the icy brew, suddenly weary. “Seriously, why me? Get a jungle survival school instructor. I have lots and lots of leave coming my way, and I need to get back to Louisiana.” His parents and grandparents had had serious home damage from the last hurricane that blew through, and Luc was going to help them rebuild.

“‘It has to be you, it has to be you-u-u-u,’” Olie crooned to the old show-tune melody. “You’re the only guy I know who survived the jungles of San Lucas de la Selva alone for more than a month with only the clothes on his back and a machete.”

“Oh,
mon Dieu.
” Luc sat up in horror. “His daughter is going to San Lucas de la Selva?”

Olie nodded, all traces of laughter gone from his face. “That she is. The lovely country San Lucas de la Selva, joke of the jungle, armpit of the Amazon.”

Hellish nightmare here on earth was more like it. Luc was firmly convinced that his survival—and a close thing that had been—had rested entirely on his grandmother’s daily rosary for his health and the fact that he shared a name with
le bon père
Saint Lucas of the Jungle, the rugged nineteenth century priest who had disappeared into the jungle to bring the natives to Christ. Three years later, explorers from the outpost had been stunned to find Saint Lucas alive and well, ministering to his local parishioners. Every stinking, nasty day in that jungle, Luc had prayed to Saint Lucas to, well, basically intercede for his sorry ass and get him the hell out of there. He’d prayed for other things, too, but they hadn’t been granted.

And now it looked as if Saint Lucas was collecting on the promises Luc had made him. “This girl, she can’t know what it’s like down there, or else she wouldn’t even think of going.” Luc still got a chill down his spine when he saw a map of the Amazon.

“According to the congressman, his late wife grew up in a missionary settlement in San Lucas, where her parents were doctors.”

“They lived there on purpose?” Luc couldn’t even imagine. “And why can’t the congressman talk his daughter out of it? Is she dumb or something? Has a death wish?”

“He’s tried everything short of having the State Department pull her passport but she has apparently grown up on exotic tales of the jungle.” Olie waggled his fingers in a fake-mystic way. “She’s signed up to teach the locals in the same settlement—wants to follow in the family footsteps.”

“And she’s picking the jungle over politics.”

Olie laughed. “Might be fewer snakes in the jungle.”

Luc snorted. “So what the hell do I do, Olie? This jerk-off would really screw me over?”

“In a heartbeat.” His CO looked away and drank some beer, flicking his forefinger against his thumb.

“What is it?” Olie only did that little thing with his hand when he was jittery.

“Nothing.”

“Olie…” Luc cajoled him.

“Nothing. I said it was nothing, and I mean nothing, Boudreaux.”

“No way.” Luc shook his head in amazement. “He threatened you and the rest of the team, too, didn’t he? And you didn’t want to tell me ’cuz that would pressure me to agree.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Sergeant Boudreaux, I am a big boy whose career doesn’t depend on the good opinion of some shit-eating congressman—and yours doesn’t, either.”

“Shit,” Luc said. He never figured on making general someday but didn’t want to leave the army before he was good and ready. Or slink out with his tail between his legs as if he’d been dishonorably discharged. And to let Olie and the team get screwed over, too?

“I’ll do it.”

“You sure?” Olie gave him a steely glare.

“I’m sure.” Luc managed to fake a laugh. “Maybe once Daddy’s Little Princess sees what survival training is like, she’ll go back to the snakes in Washington, D.C.”