Geri Krotow - Navy Rules

A navy man. A hero. A father?

Wounded during a military rescue, Commander Max Ford returns to a naval base on Whidbey Island to recover. And part of his treatment involves working with a therapy dog. Max is surprised to learn that the dog’s owner is Winnie Armstrong, widow of his closest friend. She and Max were close in those months following her husband’s death. But they drifted apart, until that one night two years ago. The night friendship turned to passion…

Now he’s even more shocked to learn that Winnie has been keeping a secret from him. A baby girl. His daughter. It’s even more important he heal so he can be a part of his child’s life—and Winnie’s. Because all the attraction that pulled them together that one night is still there…only stronger.

“Is this a former girlfriend? A wife?”

Max followed Miles’s gaze to where it rested on Winnie and forced a smile. “You know I’ve never been married, Chief. And Winnie, well, she’s my best friend’s widow. We lost Tom over five years ago—EA-6B Prowler crash. I was the CACO.”

Miles shook his head and let out a low whistle. “Sorry, boss. That sucks.”

“It’s part of our business, isn’t it?” Max rubbed his chin. “It did look like we might have something between us a while back. But it was only a lark.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Ahh, let’s see. That was the summer before I took the squadron on deployment, so…” His mind leaped onto an unexpected tangent with lightning speed.

No way.

“Boss, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m...just figuring something out.” How old is her daughter? What’s the time line?

The tightness in his chest had everything to do with the reality of what Winnie had revealed to him. And what she hadn’t.

Dear Reader,

I’m a navy veteran and navy wife, so the military has played a pivotal role in my life. Our family has lived all over the United States and the world, including Whidbey Island in Washington State, the setting for Navy Rules.

I have wanted to bring the dedication and sacrifice of military families to light in my work for a long while. I’ve been so blessed, as my husband, the father of my children, came back from war alive. Others have not been so fortunate. Husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers—the list goes on—have paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we may live in peace and continue to cherish our freedom.

Winnie is a navy widow and mother to two beautiful girls. Max is a battle-scarred war hero. They’ve known each other for years—Max was Winnie’s Casualty Assistance Calls Officer, CACO, when Winnie’s navy husband was killed five years ago. Their attraction to each other is unexpected after years of being family friends. It’s further complicated when Winnie conceives their daughter, Maeve, after only one night together, two years before the story starts.

This story is dedicated to the strength and courage of all military spouses, men and women, who have to endure while their loved ones are in harm’s way for the sake of freedom. To my U.S. Naval Academy classmates who made the ultimate sacrifice—I salute you and I salute your surviving families. May God bless and keep you.

Peace,

Geri Krotow

P.S. Please get in touch with me through my website, www.gerikrotow.com.

Navy Rules

Geri Krotow

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A former naval intelligence officer and U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Geri Krotow writes about the people and places she’s been lucky enough to encounter. Geri loves to hear from her readers. You can email her via her website and blog, www.gerikrotow.com.

Books by Geri Krotow

HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

1547—WHAT FAMILY MEANS

1642—SASHA’S DAD

HARLEQUIN EVERLASTING LOVE

20—A RENDEZVOUS TO REMEMBER

Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

For Kathy Coughlin and Ellen Stoner

You taught me what being a military spouse means. I miss you both dearly.

Contents

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

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

EPILOGUE

BPA

CHAPTER ONE

WINNIE PERRIN ARMSTRONG stared at her computer screen while she stroked her dog’s belly with her foot. Sam, a medium-size shepherd mix, lay under the desk in her bedroom while she indulged in her morning luxury of reading the news before the girls woke up.

The only light in the room came from the glow of the screen. Winnie read the national news highlights, then switched to the local news. She kept an eye on the time—the girls would wake up in the next ten minutes or so.

Former Whidbey Commanding Officer Gives Back to Community

The headline didn’t surprise her. But the accompanying photo and its caption, Commander Max Ford Plans to Coach Youth Soccer, made her sit up straight and grasp her desk.

Commander Max Ford, USN, brought his EA-6B Prowler Squadron back from war. He saved dozens of the sailors from a suicide bomber attack just weeks before the squadron was due to depart from Afghanistan. Ford returned to Whidbey last month after a lengthy stint of rehabilitation at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He has signed up to coach community youth soccer. With so many of our children’s parents deployed, the soccer teams are in need of dedicated coaches. Ford leads the way for returning vets to fill the gap and help our young soccer players.

Good thing she planned to tell Max about Maeve—the result of their night together after the Air Show two summers ago…

Winnie looked back at the article and bit her lip. It didn’t mention Max’s wounds, no doubt out of respect for his privacy. She knew about his injuries because she and Sam were going to pay Max a visit today.

You should’ve done it ages ago.

Sam wagged his long, silky tail and she caught a glimpse of the blond fur beneath the black. It matched the fur that grew horizontally out of his pointed ears and in swirls on his belly.

“Good boy, Sam. You’ve got a big day ahead of you.” The first Monday in March. Time to finally come clean with Max. And after she met with him, she’d have to talk to her parents.

So he was going to coach community soccer. Was that going to be another complication? What if he coached Krista’s team?

Sam licked her hand as if he wanted her to know he understood. Of course he didn’t; he was a dog and while his gifts of compassion and companionship were priceless, he wasn’t the human partner Winnie had once had.

Tom.

She let a happy memory of them walking on the sand in Penn Cove wrap around her heart. It’d been more than five years since he died and she still missed him more than she’d ever told her family. Because they lived so close, less than an hour away in Anacortes, they saw her and the girls regularly. They saw how bereft she still was, yet they never pressed her about finding a new man. Even after Maeve was born last year. Winnie loved them for that.

“Mom!” Krista barged into her room, all arms and legs at thirteen. “Maeve’s up and you forgot to dry my jeans again.”

“I’ll get her. Throw them in the dryer. They’ll be done in time for the bus.” Winnie got up and headed for the baby’s room.

Krista let out a long-suffering sigh as she followed her into the hallway.