Cathie Linz - Married To A Marine

What was she doing kissing Justice Wilder, letting him kiss her?

This was exactly what she had to avoid.

She’d started this, and she had to end it, before she melted into his arms and things got completely out of control.

In the end, they both pulled back at the same moment.

Kelly pressed trembling fingers to her lips, as if to keep the memory of his kiss there forever.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, not sure quite what it was she was apologizing for.

“Forget it,” Justice said, his voice as curt and unemotional as ever. “It won’t happen again.”

But Kelly knew she’d never forget that kiss, not if she lived to be a hundred and fifty years old….

Dear Reader,

Summer is over and it’s time to kick back into high gear. Just be sure to treat yourself with a luxuriant read or two (or, hey, all six) from Silhouette Romance. Remember—work hard, play harder!

Although October is officially Breast Cancer Awareness month, we’d like to invite you to start thinking about it now. In a wonderful, uplifting story, a rancher reluctantly agrees to model for a charity calendar to earn money for cancer research. At the back of that book, we’ve also included a guide for self-exams. Don’t miss Cara Colter’s must-read 9 Out of 10 Women Can’t Be Wrong (#1615).

Indulge yourself with megapopular author Karen Rose Smith and her CROWN AND GLORY series installment, Searching for Her Prince (#1612). A missing heir puts love on the line when he hides his identity from the woman assigned to track him down. The royal, brooding hero in Sandra Paul’s stormy Caught by Surprise (#1614), the latest in the A TALE OF THE SEA adventure, also has secrets—and intends to make his beautiful captor pay…by making her his wife!

Jesse Colton is a special agent forced to play pretend boyfriend to uncover dangerous truths in the fourth of THE COLTONS: COMANCHE BLOOD spinoff, The Raven’s Assignment (#1613), by bestselling author Kasey Michaels. And in Cathie Linz’s MEN OF HONOR title, Married to a Marine (#1616), combat-hardened Justice Wilder had shut himself away from the world—until his ex-wife’s younger sister comes knocking…. Finally, in Laurey Bright’s tender and true Life with Riley (#1617), free-spirited Riley Morrisset may not be the perfect society wife, but she’s exactly what her stiff-collared boss needs!

Happy reading—and please keep in touch.

Mary-Theresa Hussey

Senior Editor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Special thanks to Julie Murphy, P.T., for answering my questions about physical therapists, and to Cleo Pappas from the Lisle Public Library. This book is dedicated to the families of the men and women in our armed forces.

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*Daddy in Dress Blues #1470

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*The Marine & the Princess #1561

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*Married to a Marine #1616

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left her career in a university law library to become a USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary romances. She is the recipient of the highly coveted Storyteller of the Year Award given by Romantic Times and was recently nominated for a Love and Laughter Career Achievement Award for the delightful humor in her books.

Although Cathie loves to travel, she is always glad to get back home to her family, her various cats, her trusty computer and her hidden cache of Oreo cookies!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

Lightning flashed against the distant night sky and reflected on the dark water. “You sure you’re expected?”

Kelly Hart nodded at the fisherman she’d hired to take her from the small North Carolina coastal town out to the island known as Pirate’s Cove. The impending thunderstorm didn’t bother her. She doubted it could hold a candle to the storm of protest U.S. Marine Justice Wilder would generate when he saw her.

It was fitting that Justice had holed up on a place called Pirate’s Cove. There had always been something of a renegade about him, something dangerous and sexy.

“Don’t worry about me,” Kelly said. It was something she said often. At twenty-eight, she’d grown into the kind of woman who could take care of whatever came her way, even a furious Marine. “I’ll be fine.”

She repeated the words to herself as she hauled the provisions she’d brought with her the short distance from the beach to the only house visible from the boat dock. There was a single light on inside. Kelly heard the first distant boom of thunder as she pounded on the door.

It was yanked open a moment later.

And there he was. Justice Wilder. Looking none too pleased to see her. And looking far better than a man in his condition should look. But a second glance showed the paleness of his face, the lines of pain around his mouth, the cuts and bruises on his muscular legs, the sling holding his right arm.

His dark hair tumbled over his forehead. It was longer than when she’d seen him last. He was wearing military-green boxers and a T-shirt emblazoned with the USMC logo. He’d barely been twenty that last time she’d seen him. He’d made her heart pound then, and he had the same effect now.

She drank in the sight of him. His lean cheeks, his tempting mouth, his tall ranginess. The teenager had grown into a man—a man who still had the power to go straight to her heart. It was amazing. Even after all this time, even under these conditions, she still felt a zing.

He apparently did not. His blue eyes were dark with fury as he glared at her. “What the Sam Hill are you doing here?”

Marines don’t swear, he’d once told her. Swearing shows a lack of discipline.

His words snapped her out of her reverie. Making the most of the Southern accent she’d acquired during her time in Nashville, Kelly drawled, “I heard you were having a pity party for yourself and I decided to come join you.”

Justice appeared taken aback by her blunt reply.

Good. She wanted to jar him out of whatever idiocy was preventing him from taking care of himself and his injuries properly. He had no right to make his poor mother so frantic with worry. Not to mention that he had no right to look so sexy that her knees were mushy.