Maureen Child - Marooned With a Marine

Well, she didn’t have to sound so damned insulted, Sam thought. He hadn’t intended to register them as husband and wife, but the leer in the motel owner’s eyes had decided him. He wasn’t letting any man’s sleazy imagination loose on Karen.

And what did he get for his protective instincts? A woman appalled at even pretending to be his wife.

Frustrated now, Sam asked, “What happened to our truce?”

A long minute passed before she nodded and said, “Okay, you’re right. Truce. After all, how long can a stupid hurricane last, anyway?”

As she gathered her chocolates and her purse, Sam actually thought about that for the first time and realized that he and Karen would probably be together…alone…for the next three days. And nights.

Oh, man.

He had a feeling this hurricane was going to make boot camp look like a Tahiti vacation!

Dear Reader,

Thanks to all who have shared, in letters and at our Web site, eHarlequin.com, how much you love Silhouette Desire! One Web visitor told us, “When I was nineteen, this man broke my heart. So I picked up a Silhouette Desire and…lost myself in other people’s happiness, sorrow, desire…. Guys came and went and the books kept entertaining me.” It is so gratifying to know how our books have touched and even changed your lives—especially with Silhouette celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2000.

The incomparable Joan Hohl dreamed up October’s MAN OF THE MONTH. The Dakota Man is used to getting his way until he meets his match in a feisty jilted bride. And Anne Marie Winston offers you a Rancher’s Proposition, which is part of the highly sensual Desire promotion BODY & SOUL.

First Comes Love is another sexy love story by Elizabeth Bevarly. A virgin finds an unexpected champion when she is rumored to be pregnant. The latest installment of the sensational Desire miniseries FORTUNE’S CHILDREN: THE GROOMS is Fortune’s Secret Child by Shawna Delacorte. Maureen Child’s popular BACHELOR BATTALION continues with Marooned with a Marine. And Joan Elliott Pickart returns to Desire with Baby: MacAllister-Made, part of her wonderful miniseries THE BABY BET.

So take your own emotional journey through our six new powerful, passionate, provocative love stories from Silhouette Desire—and keep sending us those letters and e-mails, sharing your enthusiasm for our books!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MAUREEN CHILD

was born and raised in Southern California and is the only person she knows who longs for an occasional change of season. She is delighted to be writing for Silhouette Books and is especially excited to be a part of the Desire line.

An avid reader, Maureen looks forward to those rare rainy California days when she can curl up and sink into a good book. Or two. When she isn’t busy writing, she and her husband of twenty-five years like to travel, leaving their two grown children in charge of the neurotic golden retriever who is the real head of the household. Maureen is also an award-winning historical writer under the names Kathleen Kane and Ann Carberry.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

What else could go wrong today? wondered Gunnery Sergeant Sam Paretti as he looked up at the darkening sky.

Standing on the small, elevated wooden platform overlooking the Field of Fire Range, he shifted his gaze to the empty landscape surrounding him. By rights, the place should be bursting with the sound of rifle fire. He should be stalking up and down the rows of Marine recruits, watching them firing their weapons.

Instead, he was out here making sure that the place had been properly policed before the recruits had been marched back to their barracks. A perfectly good day of rifle-and-pistol firing shot to hell because of a damned hurricane.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” he demanded, tipping his head back so his shout could be heard in the heavens. A rumble of thunder was his only answer, and Sam figured that was the Almighty’s way of letting him know that God’s plans counted just a shade higher than a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine Corps.

The wind picked up and tugged at the material of his camouflage pants and shirt. He reached up and firmly pulled down the brim of his cover onto his forehead, then stepped off the platform, planting his boots ankle-deep into the thick mud.

From the corner of his eye, he caught the glint of something shiny lying in the muck, and he bent down to pick up a brass cartridge. Thumbing the cold metal, he shoved it into his pants pocket and walked on, giving the grounds one last check before heading to his apartment to pack up for the evacuation.

“Gunnery Sergeant Paretti,” someone shouted, and Sam stopped, turned around and watched as Staff Sergeant Bill Cooper hurried toward him.

“What’s up, Cooper?” he called as the other man approached.

The Sergeant stopped right in front of him, snapped to attention and focused his gaze straight ahead.

“At ease, Marine,” Sam said.

Instantly, the man’s stance relaxed. Hands behind his back, he looked up at Sam and asked, “What isn’t up, Gunny?” The wind plucked his cover from his head and sent it hurtling back along the path he’d just taken. “Damn it,” he muttered, throwing a fast glance at it before turning back around. “Are you leaving now?”

Sam shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. Bracing his feet wide apart, he felt his body sway with the push of the wind, but he stood fast. “Not yet. Hell, traffic’ll be blocked up for miles.”

“Yes, Gunny,” the younger man said, “but my wife is ready to go now. She’s from California, y’know. They’re used to traffic and earthquakes, but they don’t do hurricanes.”

California, Sam thought, remembering. It had only been a few months since he’d been to the Sunshine State to watch his older brother get married. And it had been only a couple of months since Sam himself had been dumped by a California girl right here in South Carolina.

Karen Beckett. Just thinking of her set explosive charges off in his bloodstream. She’d stormed into his life and then stormed back out again, leaving it a helluva lot lonelier than it had been before her.

He wondered where she was now. If she’d evacuated. If she was scared. He laughed to himself at that last one. Karen? Scared?

“So,” the Sergeant said, splintering Sam’s thoughts and mentally dragging him back to the here and now. “Is there anything else you want me to do before I leave?”

“No,” Sam said with a shake of his head. “I’m going to walk the range one last time, but you can go.”

“Aye-aye, Gunny. Then I guess I’ll see you when this is all over.”

“I’ll be here,” Sam said. Hell, if he had his way, he’d stay put right here on base and ride out the storm. But when evac orders came down, you didn’t get a choice. You either evacuated as ordered, or you faced going up on charges for disobeying a direct order. “Say hi to Joanne.”

The man grinned. “I will. You watch your back, Gunny.”

“Always,” he muttered as the Sergeant turned and jogged down the muddy track back toward his still-flying hat and the parking lot beyond.