GINA WILKINS - The Soldier's Legacy

Booklist Also By Gina Wilkins Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Introduction Dear Reader Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Epilogue Extract Soldiers and Single Moms The Soldier’s Forever Family The Way to a Soldier’s Heart Proposals & Promises The Boss’s Marriage Plan A Reunion and a Ring The Bachelor’s Little Bonus Bride Mountain Healed with a Kiss A Proposal at the Wedding Matched by Moonlight A Match for the Single Dad The Texan’s Surprise Baby The Right Twin His Best Friend’s Wife Husband for a Weekend Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Title Page The Soldier’s Legacy Gina Wilkins www.millsandboon.co.uk

Copyright ISBN: 978-1-474-08106-1 THE SOLDIER’S LEGACY © 2018 Gina Wilkins Published in Great Britain 2018 by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental. By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher. ® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries. www.millsandboon.co.uk

Introduction “Anything that might develop between us has to be strictly casual. No strings or expectations—and no involving our families.” Whoa. Was she suggesting—? Jade smiled, and Trevor felt his throat close. “Just in case something should happen,” she murmured. “Something...like this?” With a grin and a rare surrender to impulse, he reached out with his right hand to snag the back of her neck. She made no effort to draw back when he lowered his head—and he would have stopped immediately if she had. Instead, she met him halfway, seemingly as curious as he. The kiss was light, carefully restrained. Just an exploratory meeting of lips, a brief, testing sample. Jade tasted exactly as he’d expected: sweet, with just a touch of spice beneath. Had it not been for the resented crutches, he’d have moved closer to prove that the rest of her felt as good against him.

Dear Reader Dear Reader Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Introduction Dear Reader Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Epilogue Extract , Coming from a large family with many distinguished veterans among the generations, I married the son of a career army/air force veteran who served in two wars, and we live near the US Air Force base in central Arkansas. I have a great regard for those who have served in the military. I’ve seen the scars, both physical and emotional, that remain after that service ends, and I was intrigued by the idea of writing a series of romances with veteran heroes, each with his own issues to overcome before finding his happily-ever-after destiny. I’ve also seen the dedication required by the loved ones who keep the home fires burning while their warriors are away. The Soldiers and Single Moms trilogy came from that initial idea. And, as a mother of three now-grown “kids” and grandmother of two little boys, I always enjoy writing about the rewards and challenges of parenthood. I’ve loved spending time with the characters I’ve grown to know during their journeys in these three books—and I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting them along the way! Happy reading! Gina

Dedication As always, for John, who has been with me through forty years of marriage, raising a family and more than a hundred books. I couldn’t have done any of it without him!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

Extract

Chapter One

ALWAYS-PRACTICAL SINGLE MOM Jade Evans had made detailed plans for the coming weeks for herself and her three children. A fire ignited by a careless construction worker had sent that carefully-crafted schedule up in smoke along with the kitchen of their new home, only days before they were to have moved in. Their furniture and most of their belongings had already been delivered before the fire, though fortunately most of the damage had been confined to the kitchen and roof.

“Wow.” Twelve-year-old Caleb stood with his mother and two sisters in a soaring entryway with a dining room on the left side and a front parlor on the right. Glass sliders at the back of the big den ahead looked out over a spacious deck, a glistening pool and a beautifully landscaped lawn that sloped gracefully down to a private dock on the Intracoastal Waterway. His brown eyes wide, Caleb pushed his floppy brown hair off the top of his glasses. “Nice place, huh, Mom?”

“Yes, it’s lovely.”

Jade could understand why her son was impressed. It was hard to imagine that this spacious house was home to only one man—Trevor Farrell, the son of her mother’s closest friend. An army veteran and now-successful resort owner, Trevor had been tragically widowed at just twenty-eight—almost a decade ago while he was deployed overseas. Jade didn’t think he’d owned this place when he was married. So, he’d bought it after his wife’s death, either as a private escape or as an investment. Perhaps he had plans to remarry eventually. His mother hadn’t given up hope for grandchildren to enjoy as much as Jade’s mom. Linda McGill relished being Nanna to Jade’s children.

Mary Pat Rayburn, the short, pleasantly rounded woman who’d opened the door and ushered them inside waved a hand toward the staircase in a warm welcome. “Let me show you up to your rooms.”

“We’re going to live here?” six-year-old Bella asked, slipping her hand into Jade’s. With her golden curls and huge amber eyes, Bella was the youngest and most skittish of the children, the one Jade thought of as her “loving little worrier.”

Notoriously impatient, ten-year-old Erin sighed as she pushed back her darker blond hair to focus on her sister. “We talked about this, Bella. This is Ms. Hester’s son’s house. We’re only staying here until our new house is fixed so we can move in. Right, Mama?”