Her Temporary Hero (a Once a Marine Series book) (Entangled Indulgence) (14 page)

He smiled. “We’ll have tonight together. After the ballet, a chef is cooking us dinner, and we’ll eat on the balcony overlooking the bay.”

It sounded perfect.

“In the morning, we’ll take Sophie and the nanny—”

Laughter bubbled around the lump of pure happiness in her throat. “Quit calling your sister that.” It touched her how much Pam was doing for her. She and Sophie had their own room and Pam seemed delighted to get so much time with the baby. Which reminded her. “Thank you for bringing Sophie.” It made her feel better, being near her daughter and able to feed or comfort her.

Fierceness weighed down his brows. “We’re not leaving your daughter behind. She’s a baby and needs you. Besides there’s no way you’d have gotten on that plane without her. If we were staying close by, then maybe we could have snuck away for a night and left her in Pricilla and Pam’s care.”

Her heart just kept going in that free fall. It didn’t even phase him to include Sophie. He held her more and more now, or laid on the floor, playing with her and Jiggy. But what really got her was that her baby’s welfare was important to him.

“Anyway,” he went on. “Tomorrow we’ll take Sophie out to see the city before we fly home.”

A riot of emotions erupted in her chest. Throwing her arms around his neck, she went up on her toes. “You’re the best husband ever. I think you should win a prize.”

His grin turned wicked. “Oh I will, sugar. I’m taking the prettiest woman out on the town, bringing her back here to feed her, and then I’m going to claim my prize.” He slid his hand around her hip, his fingers clamping possessively. “Slowly, with careful attention to every bit of skin I reveal as I peel that dress off you.”

Looking up into his light green eyes, Becky really did feel like Cinderella. For the moment, she had it all, everything she ever wanted.

Becky had a home and a family. She belonged.

But what would happen when the clock struck midnight or, in their case, the three months were up?

Chapter Fourteen

Becky couldn’t tear her eyes from Pam as she raced her horse around the barrels. Sophie was so excited, Mac laughed. “Damn, girl, that baby loves the rodeo.”

She didn’t answer. Her heart was in her throat as Pam took her horse around another barrel at an angle that made Becky’s lungs seize. Becky leaned as if she were on the horse, not her sister-in-law. “Go Pam!”

All of them were as close as they could get to watch Pam in her timed event. Brian, Pricilla, Abby, Logan’s lawyer-friend Brody, and Mac all watched. More people came and went, many angling to get a chance to meet Becky.

Kendra hung out there, too.

Pam cleared the last barrel and road full bore to the finish line.

They all turned to the clock.

“First place!” Logan roared and turned. “Did you see that, Sophie? Your aunt took first place.”

Sophie craned her head, trying to see Pam as she rode out of the ring. The baby’s face crumpled and she protested when Pam was out of her sight.

“I’ll be damned. She really did recognize her,” Mac said.

Becky hugged her daughter, rocking and soothing her. “You can see Aunt Pammy soon.” Her daughter adored Pam even more after their San Francisco trip.

“I got some great shots. Look at these, Logan.” Kendra shoved her camera into his face.

Sophie sucked her fist, getting more agitated. “I’d better go feed her.”

Logan looked over. “I’ll walk with you.”

“Hurry back, I have more shots I want to show you.” Kendra patted Logan’s arm.

Becky gritted her teeth and started walking, willing herself not to overreact. The last couple weeks with Logan had been amazing, and they spent each night wrapped in each other’s arms. Today they were surrounded by family and friends enjoying the rodeo. But Kendra bugged Becky with her possessive tone around Logan and his family. And Logan…

We just fell into bed a couple times. Now it’s over, it was nothing.
His words haunted her—what if that’s how Logan would feel about her at the end of three months?

He caught up to her. “Something bothering you?”

What did she say? She didn’t own Logan, not really. Basically they had a three-month agreement. Yeah, things were going good, but Logan had said no promises.

“Talk to me, Becky.”

“Kendra. She’s always around.” The thought of him touching Kendra, kissing her… Becky closed her eyes, struggling to swallow the vile emotion churning in her. She’d fallen deeply in love with her husband, but not knowing if he felt anything real for her brought out her vulnerabilities and jealousy.

“I’ve known her since I was eight. She’s just a family friend.”

“Who you had sex with.” She winced, hearing her snappish tone. She didn’t want to be that clinging, desperate girl who’d do anything for affection from a man.

“Are you jealous?” He tugged her to a stop and tucked a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. “I told you it was over. I don’t hound you about men you had sex with.” His eyes darkened. “I don’t want to think about another man touching you.”

“I haven’t slept with anyone here, so you aren’t running into them, imagining—”

“Shit, yeah that would piss me off.” He put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her and Sophie into his side and resumed walking. “I get it, but I don’t want to rock the boat too much. You saw the piece on you, me, and Sophie. She’s showing us as a committed family, and that’s good for both our goals.”

“True. Even the social worker has seen it.” They’d had a surprise visit from Molly Grover this week. She’d conducted their first interview for the court-ordered home study.

“Kendra knows we’re over. I slept with her twice. I’d come home, she’d broken up with a boyfriend, and we used each other. That was it. I didn’t feel anything for her, not like I feel for you.”

Everything in her cried out for a commitment. Something more than
let’s take two months and find out
. And,
no promises, no pressure.
They reached the area where the Knights had parked their trailer. “I’m fine. I’ll feed Sophie and if she sleeps, I’ll rest in here, too. Go on, go hang out with Brody and Mac.”

“But not Kendra. You’re the woman I want.” He kissed her then strode off.

Becky went into the front half of the trailer that was as nice as any motor home. The back portion housed the horses and tack. She quickly changed Sophie and settled her into breastfeeding. They had both dozed off when she heard a commotion.

“Let me go.”

She snapped awake, recognizing Pam’s voice. After quickly fixing her shirt, she laid Sophie in the travel crib.

“Cade, stop it. I’m not in the mood.”

“Well I am.”

Chills went down her spine at the man’s ugly tone. Becky opened the door, went out, and looked around.

“No.” Pam’s upset voice came from the horse trailer.

Becky strode around to the opened back end. Inside, the man had Pam pinned to the wall. “You couldn’t get your mouth on my dick fast enough last time. You want it, all whores want it.” He shoved his mouth on Pam’s while his hand went to his belt buckle.

Whore.
That word exploded in Becky’s head. She stormed into the trailer and grabbed a broom from the wall mount. “Let her go!” She wacked the broom against the bastard’s back.

Cade yelped and spun around. He was about even with Becky in height, but he had more meat on him and his face turned purple with fury.

Pam ran past Becky.

“Bitch, you’ll pay for that. You want to play with a broom?” He advanced on her.

Shit. Sophie was alone in the other part of the trailer. She turned to tell Pam to get the baby away from here, but the girl was gone.

A wall of pissed off male slammed into her. Becky hit the floor of the trailer. She felt a shock of hot pain in her left forearm. Dang, that hurt. She tried to roll off her arm, but she was trapped by the heavy weight. “Get off.”

Becky fought, her muscles straining but he had her pinned. Sick fear spread through her.

A roar sounded, and Becky lifted her head as Logan exploded into the trailer. He picked up the man as if he weighed nothing and threw him clean out of the trailer.

Logan leaped out after him.

“Becky, oh God.” Pam knelt by her, crying. A blur of people filled the trailer.

My baby is alone in the trailer. Have to make sure she’s safe
.

Worry for her baby drove out any thoughts of pain. Rolling over, she blurted out, “Sophie’s in the living quarters.”

Pricilla whipped off her jacket and wrapped Becky’s arm. “I’ll go get her, but honey, don’t move for a few minutes. Your arm’s bleeding, and we need to make sure you’re okay. ” She got up and said, “Abby, take a look at Becky, see if we need the EMTs.”

Becky couldn’t lay there on the trailer floor, so she carefully sat up. Heat prickles broke out on her body, black spots danced in front of her eyes for a few seconds.

“Breathe, Becky,” Abby knelt next to her and Pam. “Did you hit your head?” She unwrapped her arm, examining it.

“No. Just my knees and arm.” Taking a couple breaths, the pain in her arm eased and everything slid into focus. It was just shock, she wasn’t really hurt. Outside the trailer, Cade was crumpled and moaning on the ground. Logan stood over him, every muscles and tendon bulging.

“What the hell happened?” Brian bellowed.

“It’s my fault,” Pam burst out, her eyes wet with tears.

Her father turned on her. “What did you do?”

Pam gestured to Cade writhing on the ground. “He attacked me. I went home with him the other night—”

Brian’s face turned purple. “When you act like a whore this is what happens! First you got thrown out of college and now this.”

“Brian!” Priscilla stopped at the edge of the trailer, her lips white. “What is wrong with you? That’s our daughter and she’s just been attacked.” The woman was so angry, her voice shook. Charging into the trailer, she handed Sophie to Becky and hugged Pam.

Her aunt’s sobs caused the baby to wail in distress.

Becky held her daughter to her chest, and tried to keep from crying, too. How could this happen? Pam had been attacked and now Brian was calling his daughter something so awful.

…

Logan leaned against the trailer that housed the first aid station for the rodeo. He still couldn’t believe Becky hit Cade with a broom to protect Pam. She should have come to him, or called him on his cell. That guy could have killed her. When he’d run up and saw Cade on top of Becky, heard her cry out, he’d gone right into kill mode. It’d taken Brody and Mac to pull him off the man.

All he wanted to do now was scoop up his wife and stepdaughter and take them home. Pricilla was having none of that—she was mothering Becky by cleaning and bandaging the cut on her arm. Logan had been firmly kicked out of the first aid station. Pam and Sophie were with them, too.

His father strode up and Logan shoved off the trailer to confront Brian. “What the hell was that, calling Pammy a whore?” His sister’s ravaged face twisted his guts. He wanted better than an animal like Cade for his sister, but she wasn’t a whore. She was a sweet, beautiful girl who loved animals, clothes, and, judging by how she adored Sophie, babies. She just didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life yet, and last time Logan checked, that was part of growing up.

His father glanced at the trailer then back at him. “I won’t have my daughter running around with lowlifes. She’s not going to end up like your mother, singing in dive bars, sleeping on buses and chasing tail.”

Logan wasn’t even shocked. Nothing changed. Somehow, someway, his father always brought everything back to his mother. Always.

“Nor will I have my son making a fool out of our family name.” Brian ran his hand through his hair. “All this psychobabble about a bullshit camp with a bunch of long-haired hippies crying because they had to do a man’s job. It makes me want to puke.”

Logan refused to rise to the bait. The entire battle between him and Brian was wearing on him. “Do you have a point? Because I have a wife to take care of.”

“A wife who had another man’s kid four months ago.”

It took every technique he’d learned to keep his temper. “Be very careful how you talk about my wife. Becky’s better than all of us. In case you didn’t notice, she saved Pammy’s ass tonight.”

“Yeah, she’s got mettle, I’ll give her that. Now it’s time you prove your manhood. No more chasing after your dreams like your hippie mother.”

“You mean the woman you were in love with and married?” Hmm, guess he was rising to the bait after all. Would he and his father ever break out of this same old routine?

“Fine, I loved her. But you know what? She wanted me to choose between her and the ranch. She ran off and I chose to be a man and do my duty. I learned my lesson. Love means nothing. I found a decent woman, married her, and made it work. Love has nothing to do with it.”

The gasp in the doorway caused both men to spin.

Pricilla stood with Becky, Sophie, and Pam. His stepmom stomped down the steps and slapped her hands on her hips. “You never loved me? All these years, I gave you two kids, took in your son from another woman as my own, and you don’t love me?” Hurt and anger colored her face and vibrated in her voice.

Logan couldn’t believe how the family was unraveling. Scaling the steps, he took Sophie from his sister, kissed her cheek, then helped Becky down. “Come on, I’m taking you and Sophie home.”

Becky hesitated, her gaze sliding around the uneasy group. “Uh, while we were in the first aid station, I told Pricilla and Pam they could stay at our house tonight. They don’t want to go home with Brian after what he called Pam.”

“No! Absolutely not.” Brian bellowed. “My wife and daughter are coming home with me.”

Pricilla got right up in his face. “Not until you apologize for calling Pam a whore. And even then, Brian…” Sadness dragged her shoulders down and softened her voice. “I don’t know if I want to return to a man who doesn’t love me.”

Logan had no idea how all this had happened. Christ, he came home to his land for peace, not a family war.

Chapter Fifteen

Becky woke to her dog nuzzling her face. “Jiggy.” The dog’s sweet warmth cleared the nightmare she’d been having, but damn, she hurt all over from Cade tackling her. Logan had been right that she’d tighten up in the middle of the night. Turning her head, she saw the empty space next to her. “He’s out on the porch, isn’t he?”

Jiggy didn’t answer.

She couldn’t feel abandoned, though. Logan had taken care of her. He had brought her home, settled Pricilla and Pam, and then Logan had taken her in the hot bath. He just held her there, letting the water ease her sore muscles. After that, he’d tucked her into bed and held her until she’d slept.

Forcing herself to her feet, she took the two Advil waiting for her. Becky wrapped a blanket around herself then stopped at the door to her baby’s room. She eased it open. Pam and Pricilla slept on the bed and Sophie slept in her crib.

Jiggy went to the dog bed beneath Sophie’s crib.

Becky left the door ajar and headed out to the porch.

“Becky?” Logan cut her off before she got two steps outside. “What do you need?”

The moonlight spilled over him, illuminating his stark bones and empty eyes. She hated his torment. “Just you.”

He glanced at the door, his jaw clamping with iron determination. “All right, let’s go to bed.”

She touched his face. “You’d do it, wouldn’t you?”

“What?” His gaze stayed locked on that door.

“Force yourself through the door. For me.”

“It’s okay, I can do it.”

She believed he could. That he’d done it many times before and no one noticed. He’d learned to cope with his symptoms and find a way to live, but not to heal his heart. “I don’t want to go inside. I just want your arms around me.”

Finally, he dragged his gaze to hers. “It’s cold. You’ll be more comfortable in bed.”

She shook her head, then winced at a stab of pain. “Not if you’re suffering. Please, Logan, let me stay out here with you. I already took the Advil you left for me, I just…you said if I ever needed you to hold me, you would. I need that.” She hadn’t meant to beg him, but it was the truth.

His jaw softened. “I’ll hold you.” He led her to the chair, sat, and eased her onto his lap so she rested against his steady heartbeat.

The nightmare weighed on her, and she blurted out, “Dylan called me a whore when I told him I was pregnant. He said I tried to trap him. So did his parents. In the hallway of the courthouse, they screamed at me that I was a gold-digging whore.”

His muscles flexed and swelled. “You’re not a whore.”

“I know that logically, but words have a strange power. They dig in deep, burrow where we can’t see them and release a slow poison that taints our lives.” She took a breath and added, “Like our first kiss. It was wonderful, the best kiss I’d ever experienced, but when I realized I was losing control, Dylan and his parents’ words echoed in my head.”

He leaned his face to hers. “There was nothing wrong about that, baby. Nothing. All I saw and felt was a beautiful, sweet woman trusting me enough to give her pleasure.” He kissed her hair. “You never hold back with me now, do you?”

How could she not have fallen in love with him? “No. When you touch me, I feel safe, sexy, and whole.” Like right now in his arms. Before she lost her train of thought, she went on, “Logan, that man and your father called Pam a whore. That’s going to sink deep and fester. She needs you to help her excise that.”

He recoiled. “Me?”

“You’re her big brother. She’s adored you forever. Promise me you’ll talk to her. Don’t let that word burrow too deep inside your sister’s heart.”

Logan eyes softened. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Good.” She rested her head on his chest.

He stroked her hair. “Did you come out here because you were worrying about Pam?”

“I woke, you were gone and…” What did she tell him? “I missed you. I guess having me in bed with you doesn’t ease your nightmares anymore.” Logan had told her that he had fewer nightmares when she slept with him, and if he did have one, having her close enough to pull her into his arms calmed him.

Logan stared into her eyes. “That’s not it. I—shit.” He rubbed his hand over his face.

“What? You can tell me.”

“Every time I went to sleep, I was right back in Afghanistan in a remote village, reliving the moment when I forced myself to go through the door of a tiny mud house, even though black dread filled every goddamned cell in my body. But I had a job to do, so I did it. I went through that door.”

Becky sucked in her breath.

“Only this time in my nightmare, it wasn’t eight young girls, a man, his wife, and a tiny baby that I found dead. It was you and Sophie dead. I got there too late.”

He’d suffered something awful beyond her ability to truly understand. “They were murdered?”

“The family was running an underground school for girls. The Taliban killed them all, even the baby.”

That was why he came outside and had to sometimes force himself to go through a door.

“They were dead..” He looked into her eyes. “I snapped that day. I’d heard the term red rage before, but the moment I saw that dead baby, that’s exactly what filled my mind. Hunt and I—”

“Who is Hunt?”

“Another Marine, Hunter Reece. He works for Once a Marine, too. We quickly picked up the trail of those baby killers and…ended them. Some of it I don’t remember, or maybe I just don’t want to remember it.”

She shivered at the utter ice in him. He was retreating, pulling back inside himself and could she blame him? God, what he’d seen. And what he’d probably done to the killers in his rage…that couldn’t be an easy thing to remember. She stayed quiet, unsure if he realized how much he’d told her. Instead, she pressed her palm against his, and laced their fingers together.

“It was worse in the nightmare tonight, seeing yours and Sophie’s faces like that.” He rubbed his thumb over her hand. “I jerked awake and needed you so damned bad I broke into a sweat trying to keep from touching you.”

“You’ve pulled me into your arms other nights, so why not tonight?” She couldn’t change what he’d lived through, but she could keep him from being alone when he hurt because of it now.

“You’re sore and need your rest. I didn’t want to wake you.” He pulled his fingers from hers, tried to press her head down. “I won’t use you like that.”

But he would make himself go through the door for her, even when it caused him anxiety? He’d come to her rescue without a second’s hesitation at the rodeo. But she couldn’t comfort him when he needed care? Fierce emotion boiled in her. Logan had been alone too long. No one had fought for him, no one had held him. Yet he’d been strong and smart enough to find a therapist to help him cope with the PTSD, and now he was building a camp to reach other veterans who’d felt as alone as he had.

And he was still alone with no one to help him heal his heart. Until now.

“You don’t get to do that. You don’t.”

Startled, he pulled his head back. “Do what?”

“Hold back when you need me. Earlier you said I don’t hold back with you anymore. But you should have woken me, told me you needed me.”

His eyes caught the moonlight and glittered. “And then what, Becky? Tell you to spread your legs because I needed you so bad I felt like I was dying? That I needed to prove we’re both still alive? That I need to be so deep inside your body I could feel your heart beating? Ask that of you when you just got knocked around by a bastard, because I wasn’t there to protect you? Is that what you’re telling me I should have done?”

She glared at him. “Yes.”

The sharp lines of his face throbbing with anger melted into utter confusion. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. You wouldn’t hurt me. You’d be gentle because I’d need that right now and together we would find comfort and pleasure. I know this because you are the man I not only trust with my heart and body—”

Fear rode into his eyes and set up camp, leeching away the beautiful green and leaving behind a sickly shade.

She refused to back down. He needed to know that she cared. “You are the man I love. I didn’t know what real love for a man was until you.”

He sucked in a tortured breath, then shook his head, trying to deny her words.

Catching hold of his face, she knew Logan would look at her, because he was too strong a man, too honorable to do anything else. This was the man who didn’t want to go through the door that hellish day so long ago in Afghanistan, but he’d done that, too.

With her eyes locked on his, she told him her absolute truth. “I love you.”

His warm hand covered hers, while his gaze undulated with regret. “People don’t love me. Not like that.”

He believed that, and her throat ached. “I do.” Before he could object, or try to sooth her feelings, she added softly, “I’m here for you as long as you want me.”

…

Want her?

He didn’t think he could breathe without her and that terrified him.

God, she gave him everything. Logan hadn’t ever had this. Was it real? Could he trust it? A part of him held back.

A part of him
always
held back.

While Becky exposed her heart and offered him her body.

Rising, he carried her to his room, eased the door closed, and settled her on the sheets. The moonlight streamed in, showing him his beautiful girl. Her honey blond hair spread around her face, brown eyes on him.

Only him.

With her good arm, she reached to shove her panties down.

He caught her hand, his chest inflating at her love. “No.” His cock disagreed, but the rest of Logan meant it. “You’re what I need. Sex will wait until you’re feeling better.” Easing onto the bed, he turned her to her side and put a pillow beneath her injured arm. The cut wasn’t that bad, but Logan needed to take care of her. It felt…right.

“I want to. I love it when you’re inside me.”

She was going to kill him saying things like that. His cock twitched hard against her soft bottom, but he wasn’t taking any chances that could hurt her. All he needed was this—his wife in his arms. He wanted to share a part of him with her. “Becky.”

“Hmm?”

She was going soft and fluid. The Advil was working and exhaustion was pulling her under. Would she remember what he told her? “After I came to live at the ranch, I didn’t fit anywhere. Didn’t belong. I knew that this spot of land would be mine one day so I came here to escape. In those days, I had a little fort I built where the house is now.”

“I wish I’d seen it, a special place that was all yours. That’s why this land is so important to you, and why it’s been your touchstone when the PTSD rears up. It’s your safe place.”

She always did that, heard what he said and understood it as best as another person could. Made him feel seen and heard. Worthy. He slipped his hand beneath her tank to her belly. That connection with her soothed the ragged edge of his memories. “Yes.”

“Did you ever visit your mom?”

Barren emptiness opened in his chest. “The custody agreement required she visit me on the ranch. She couldn’t take me anywhere. She came a few times, but she left. Usually when I was asleep.” He’d wake and she’d be gone again.

Becky twisted her head, her eyes on him. “That’s cruel.”

Here it was, the truth he’d never said out loud. “I learned to stop needing anyone. It was easier. Alone is easier.” He was trying to give Becky a reason not to walk away when the contract ended.

Tell her you care, that what you’re feeling for her must be love.

But he couldn’t. “I’m trying to change, to learn how to be with you.”

She turned away, settling into sleep, while Logan hated himself for holding back. Deep down, he couldn’t help but admit the truth to himself. His mother hadn’t been able to commit—not to her husband or her son.

Was he just like her?

…

Becky opened the door and barely repressed a groan. “Kendra.” Fifth time in the last ten days the woman had dropped by. She was on Becky’s last nerve. “What’s up?”

Without waiting for an invitation, the other woman walked in. “I’ve brought by a few things from the house for Pricilla.” Kendra went to the table and held out a bag. “Brian really wants you to come home. He’s misses you.”

Resigned, Becky dropped into a chair by Pricilla. Kendra was working closely with Brian on photographing the ranch for new shots on the Knight Ranch website. And somehow, she’d ended up being Brian’s messenger girl, too.

Probably because Abby refused to get involved. From what Becky heard, she had told her father that he was wrong and it was his job to man up and apologize. Brian, evidently, didn’t like that advice. Which meant Becky got a steady dose of Kendra in her home.

But just because Kendra irritated Becky like a rash, didn’t mean she was wrong. “Maybe you should talk to him.” Her mother-in-law had dug in, not budging. So far, the standoff had lasted ten days. Pricilla had even cancelled the barbeque, which was telling. That woman loved a party. But the family was too fractured to even pretend unity.

Pricilla shook her head. “He wants to talk to me, he can come over here. Pam and I are waiting for an apology.”

Kendra shot a helpless gaze at Becky. “This can’t go on. Aren’t you guys cramped living in this house?”

“We manage.” She didn’t mind; she’d loved the family feeling and Sophie was thriving. They’d moved the double bed into the third bedroom that used to be Logan’s office.

Pricilla smiled at Becky then said, “Kendra, I know you’re trying to help, but this is between me and my husband.”

Kendra sighed. “You’re right. That’s exactly what I told Brian, but he keeps finding reasons to send me over here and try to talk to you and Pam into coming home.” She shook her head. “My dad’s the same way. Their pride prevents them from saying sorry, you know?”

“I’ve always made the first move and gone the extra mile, but he crossed the line saying Pam acted like a whore. If I don’t stand up for my daughter now, then I’d hate myself forever.” Pricilla stirred her cup of coffee.

Becky was trying to think of the least offensive way to tell Kendra it was time to go when the front door opened, spilling in Logan and a bubbling Pam. “Mom, you have to see the new horse! She’s gorgeous. Logan and I worked with… Oh, hi Kendra.”