Tina Leonard - The SEAL's Holiday Babies

“Kissing Daisy?” Suz demanded. “You’re not a certifiable idiot. You’re a certifiable dumb-ass!”

“I did not kiss Daisy.”

Suz’s glare went DEFCON on him. “The grapevine says differently. You of all people know Daisy Donovan is poison to us!”

His brothers-in-mischief looked at him with great sympathy.

“She has a point, bro,” Frog said.

“Poison or not, Daisy’s hot, ” Squint said, earning himself astonished stares from everyone.

Sam grinned. “Doesn’t mean she’d be good for you.”

“You can talk, Sam,” Ty said. “You’re just going to ride away one day. This is my town. I have to stay on everyone’s good side because eventually I’ll be pushing up daisies here with the rest of my fellow residents, and I don’t expect to get any more peace in the afterlife than I’ve gotten in BC in the present life. Staying on everybody’s good side is an art form.” And right now, he wasn’t on Suz’s good side. “Look, little sister—”

“Don’t ‘little sister’ me.” Even with the wild hair, the piercings and the discreet tats, Suz was beautiful in her own way—and her expressive eyes right now stabbed him with guilt. “Daisy and her father tried to kill off the haunted house before it ever got started. If you’re so interested in saving Bridesmaids Creek, you’ll know that you can’t show up with the enemy. Or be sucking face with her, either.”

Suz shot the men a last look of disgust and departed. Ty’s friends checked him for his reaction.

“She has a point,” Squint said. “I’ll save you. I’ll suck face with Daisy.”

“She’s a fireball. Won’t ever glance your way unless there’s something she wants from you.” Ty looked at his boots, which he’d propped on the coffee table, in direct violation of the house rules he had engraved on his mind from years of living under Jade and Betty’s roof. “In fact, I think I got snookered.”

“What were you thinking?” Frog peered out the window after Suz. “That is some fine little lady, by the way.”

“And that’s not going to happen, either.” Ty got to his feet. “Not at the pace you three are moving.” He felt distinctly glum about his dilemma. “Do you knuckleheads understand I’m leaving town soon? I won’t be here to guide the reins of romance for you.”

Sam laughed. “There’s no such thing, bro. Romance isn’t guided. It’s a whirlwind of passion, joy, misunderstanding and longing.”

They all gazed at Sam, who shrugged.

“I’m just saying,” he told them. “If you really want romance, you have to let the whirlwind suck you into its vortex.”

“I’ve had enough of sucking faces and whirlwind vortexes. One of you is going to have to escort Daisy to the opening. You must go in my stead, as my representative. It’ll be a poor substitute,” Ty said grandly, “but a man doesn’t go back on his promise.” He pulled a quarter from his pocket. “Here’s how we’ll decide which of you will—”

“Lash himself to the mast of misfortune,” Frog butted in. “None of us wants to be saddled with the mistress of mayhem.”

“You’re all so poetic today. This is how this works.” Ty put the quarter on the top of his fist. “Each of you will call heads or tails. The one who calls wrong wins the prize.”

“Some prize,” Sam said. “I don’t see why we should have to clean up your mess, dude.”

“Because I brought you here.”

“In other words, no gain without pain. I call heads,” Sam said.

“Is it a two-headed coin?” Squint asked. “It’d be like you to have a two-headed coin.”

Ty gawked at his friend’s lack of trust in him. “Would a SEAL candidate scam his best buddies?”

“I’ll call heads, too,” Frog sighed.

“I’ll take tails,” Squint said, “just to liven things up.”

Ty tossed the coin, let it land on the Southwestern-style loomed rug. The quarter stared at them.

“That’s it, then,” Squint said, “I’m your fall guy.”

Frog and Sam leaned back on the leather sofas, oozing relief. Ty picked up his quarter.

“I thought you said you wanted to kiss Daisy,” Ty said to Squint.

“I thought I did. I think I just got really cold feet.” He looked suddenly apprehensive. “It was one thing to have the fantasy. It’s another to have the fantasy sprung on you in all its—”

“Soft, delicate flesh.” Sam hopped up, clapped Ty on the shoulder. “Thanks for the good flip. I’m off to hunt up trouble at the big house.”

“Big house?” Ty watched Frog shoot to his feet, following Sam to the door. “You mean the Hanging H? Are you going to see Suz?”

“I am,” Sam said. “Frog’s not.” He glared at his buddy. “You stay here with them. I don’t need any deadweight.”

Frog hurried out the door in front of Sam, in a rush to get to Suz first. Sam glanced back at Squint and Ty with a grin. “He’s so easy to work. A little spark of jealousy and watch those boots fly.”

He closed the door. Ty sighed. “Thanks for taking Daisy on for me. I just can’t afford any drama right now. Not when I’m leaving.” He sank into the sofa. Of course, his relief had nothing to do with his departure; it was all about Jade. Once he’d realized he had stepped in a huge pile of cosmic poo, he knew he had to back out on Daisy no matter what it took. There was no way he wanted Jade upset with him.

“You’re crazy about that little lady, aren’t you?”

Of course he wasn’t crazy about Jade. What a dumb thing to say. “Don’t try to make romance bloom in a desert, Squint.”

Jade blew in on a flurry of cold wind and a gust of snow that slithered from the bunkhouse roof. Ty straightened, stunned that she was here, glad as heck to see her.

“I think I’ll join the fellows and see what trouble we can conjure up,” Squint said, disappearing.

Some friend, taking off when it was clear there was going to be a sonic boom leveled at him. Ty looked at Jade, appreciating the tall redhead’s sass as she put her hands on her slender hips and gazed at him with disgust.

“Daisy Donovan,” she said.

“I felt sorry for her.”

“You did not.” Jade glared at him. “Daisy tried to ruin my business. She’s trying to ruin the Hawthornes’ haunted house, which, may I remind you, is something that could bring Bridesmaids Creek back to life. As I recall, that was your stated purpose in returning with three bachelors, wasn’t it? New blood to breathe new life into the moribund shell that is Bridesmaids Creek?”

He loved looking at this woman. He loved hearing her talk, even when she was railing at him. When she said words like moribund, her lips pursed so cutely it was all he could do not to jump up and take those lips with his mouth, hungrily diving into the sweet sex appeal that was Jade.

Hell, he wasn’t 100 percent certain what moribund meant—although it sounded distinctly dire—but maybe if he let her talk long enough, she’d say something else that started with m-o-r. He decided not to confess that he’d already dumped Daisy off on Squint, and to let the little lady fuss at him.

“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” Jade demanded.

“I’m content to let you do all the talking.” He settled himself comfortably, watching her face. “You have something on your mind, and I’m happy to let you clear the deck.”

She sat next to him, so she could look closely at him to press her case, he supposed. But the shock of having her so near to him—almost in his space—was enough to brain-wipe what little sense he had. Damn, she smelled good, like spring flowers breaking through a long, cold winter. He shook his head to clear the sudden madness diluting his gray matter. “You’re beautiful,” he said, the words popping out before he could put on the Dumb-ass Brake.