Jack Approached His Daughter With A Gentle Hesitancy That Touched Melanie’s Heart. “Look What We Made, Melanie.”

He leaned down to kiss the top of his daughter’s head.

Melanie’s heart melted just a little. She’d been alone with Juliana so long that sharing her with Jack felt strange…and sweet. She hadn’t known what to expect from Jack Singer, Navy SEAL, but watching him fall in love with their daughter in less than a second wasn’t it.

He looked at Melanie, his gaze moving over her with the same intensity as it did with their child. “I’m here. I’m staying, and I’m in her life whether you want it or not.”

“I know.”

“You don’t like it.”

“Nope.”

“I think you’ve forgotten why we came together in the first place.” Jack brushed his mouth over Melanie’s. She tried a retreat, but he wrapped his arms around her and held tight until she responded to his kiss.

The instant she did, he drew back.

“Expect me in your life, Melanie. Constantly.” He grinned. “Daddy’s home.”

Dear Reader,

This season of harvest brings a cornucopia of six new passionate, powerful and provocative love stories from Silhouette Desire for your enjoyment.

Don’t miss our current MAN OF THE MONTH title, Cindy Gerard’s Taming the Outlaw, a reunion romance featuring a cowboy dealing with the unexpected consequences of a hometown summer of passion. And of course you’ll want to read Katherine Garbera’s Cinderella’s Convenient Husband, the tenth absorbing title in Silhouette Desire’s DYNASTIES: THE CONNELLYS continuity series.

A Navy SEAL is on a mission to win the love of the woman he left behind, in The SEAL’s Surprise Baby by Amy J. Fetzer, while a TV anchorwoman gets up close and personal with a high-ranking soldier in The Royal Treatment by Maureen Child. This is the latest title in the exciting Silhouette crossline series CROWN AND GLORY.

Opposites attract when a sexy hunk and a matchmaker share digs in Hearts Are Wild by Laura Wright. And in Secrets, Lies and…Passion by Linda Conrad, a single mom is drawn into a web of desire and danger by the lover who jilted her at the altar years before…or did he?

Experience all six of these sensuous romances from Silhouette Desire this month, and guarantee that your Halloween will be all treat, no trick.

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

The SEAL’s Surprise Baby
Amy J. Fetzer

AMY J. FETZER

was born in New England and raised all over the world. She uses her own experiences in creating the characters and settings for her novels. Married more than twenty years to a United States Marine and the mother of two sons, Amy covets the moments when she can curl up with a cup of cappuccino and a good book.

For Rhonda Pollero, Cherry Adair and Maureen Child

Our careers made us friends

Our support and love for each other made us sisters

Our circle is joined and powerful

ASPEN is just the beginning….

I love y’all.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

One

Congratulations! It’s a girl!

Still in his field uniform, Lt. Jack Singer blinked and read the postcard again. The card was a picture of an old plantation and he recognized his sister’s handwriting.

“Hey, I’m an uncle. I have a niece!”

Jack’s SEAL teammate, Reese Logan, smiled. “Great! Tell Lisa and Brian I said congrats.”

A girl. Jack frowned. That was all she’d written. Odd for shutterbug Lisa not to send pictures. Odder still that his sister hadn’t even told him she was pregnant. Not that she could have reached him by any other means than this post-office box. He’d been gone fifteen months on special operations, and no contact with the world beyond his commander and his team had been allowed. It was the toughest part of being a SEAL. Cutting ties, or letting them blur badly enough that people often forgot about you.

Melanie Patterson obviously had.

He flipped through the mail, not finding what he’d hoped. A letter. A message that the woman he’d spent a mind-blowing night with after his sister’s wedding hadn’t really dismissed him from her life. Closing his mailbox and pocketing the key, Jack strode to the command center, tapping the postcard against his thigh. He had thirty days’ R and R coming and knew exactly where he’d spend it. He’d take the time to see his sister, his new niece—and maybe find Melanie and ask why the hell she’d cut him out of her life with the precision of a surgeon.

The reality hit him that maybe she’d forgotten about him.

Bad news, when all he could remember about his sister’s wedding was Melanie. She’d been the maid of honor, Lisa’s best friend and three years older. And the kind of woman who made men damned glad they were men.

Jack headed for the phones and dialed Lisa’s number, realizing he should be more excited about his new niece than getting the chance to grill his sister about Melanie Patterson. That was a signal, Jack thought, he should be glad the woman didn’t expect anything from him. But he wasn’t.

When he’d managed to get near a ship-to-shore phone months ago and had clearance to call, he’d discovered Melanie’s phone was disconnected. It was as if she didn’t exist anymore. He’d phoned his sister and asked, but Lisa’d said she hadn’t seen or heard from Melanie in months. He was worried and irritated at the same time.

Why wouldn’t she speak to him? They were good together, in and out of bed, and Jack, sifting through junk mail, replayed that night in his mind for the millionth time. The memory of making love with Melanie was enough to drive him crazy, just as she had that night.

“No mail from her?”

Jack shook his head, listening to the ringing on the other end of the line as the SEAL team members stripped off their gear and turned the most expensive components into the requisition officer.

“Give up, pal. I got the message, even if you didn’t.”

Jack’s gaze shifted to Reese. “SEALs don’t give up.”

“They fight the battles they can win, and the woman has made her feelings damn clear.”

Jack shook his head, wondering why his sister’s answering machine wasn’t turned on. “Melanie Patterson is worth going after for a straight answer.”

Reese smirked. “Grab a life vest, Lieutenant, because your ship’s already sinking.”

Jack scowled, more at himself than at his friend’s words. He’d never really thought of himself as that far gone. Sure, he’d thought about Melanie a lot and wanted to hook up with her now that he was stateside again. Yet there was more to it. They’d connected in more ways than in bed, and he wanted to see her again to find out if that connection was reality or just the memory laced in fantasy.

Fifteen months earlier

The wedding was over.

In his late father’s place, Jack had walked his little sister down the aisle, given her to the man she loved and, as of a few minutes ago, put them both into a limo and sent them off to start their life together. His mom was off with her friends. Now he could focus on the object of his torment for the past two weeks.

The maid of honor, Melanie Patterson. Just being near her was enough to make his mind fog. He didn’t want to think about what she did to the rest of him. He’d been fighting it for more than 336 hours. Since he’d first laid eyes on his sister’s best friend.

He’d suffered through about forty snags in what he considered a well-thought-out plan for his sister’s wedding, yet through it all there was Melanie. Calming Lisa, running errands and running Jack ragged.

Leggy, opinionated and so damn sexy he thought he’d burn up with his need to touch her.

When he wasn’t fixing a problem that threatened to ruin his little sister’s big day, he was with Melanie, talking to her long into the night, sailing on the river with her when they could grab a moment from the chaos of the wedding. When she wasn’t near, he was thinking about her, waiting till he could get the sassy redhead someplace private and dark. And find out if she tasted as good as she looked. He’d bet a month’s pay she did.

He wasn’t alone in this. He knew that for certain, or he’d have mentally shut down his libido and kept far away from her. They were subtle, the hints coming from her, and caught him dead in the chest. They made him want her even more.

As the limo rolled away from the officers’ club, he waved to his sister and looked at Melanie. She was holding the hem of her gown, bending down to pick up a ribbon-tied pouch of birdseed. The officers’ club wouldn’t let them throw rice, and Melanie had convinced them that birdseed was environmentally safe. She only wanted the tradition for Lisa, she’d said. No bride should leave without the wish of prosperity from those who loved her.

And no man should have to stand here, look at a woman like that—and behave. “Melanie?”

She looked up, smiled, then straightened. “Hey, Lieutenant. Did I tell you how very dashing you look in that white uniform?”

“You can start now.”

“A Navy SEAL with an ego,” she teased. “How rare.”

He held out his hand for hers. She dropped the pouch of birdseed into it. He glanced down, then stuffed it into his pocket.

“Sentimental?”

“No, I’ll have the bills to remind me of this.”

She laughed and said, “So, the cynic emerges. I knew you weren’t all patience and knightly duty.”

Around them, the caterers began cleaning up. The band still played one last song, and while the guests departed, Jack pulled Melanie into his arms and onto the dance floor.

“You looked great this morning.”

“As opposed to right now?”

He smiled. She kept him on his toes, he’d give her that, and found himself wanting to give her a hell of a lot more. “The belle of the ball.”

“Thank you, and I won’t tell your sister you said that.”

He pulled her more firmly against him, and the single touch of her hand in his, her body to his, set off fireworks under his skin.

She inhaled a soft breath. “Jack.” She tried to ease back.

“Shh,” he murmured, sweeping her across the dance floor like a duke at a summer ball. “You feel it, don’t you?”

“Oh, yeah,” she breathed, and held on to him, laying her head on his broad shoulder.

He loved it, the feel of her; she fit perfectly in his arms. And he knew they’d be a perfect fit elsewhere. “Good. I was hoping I wasn’t in this torment alone.”

“Not a chance, sailor.” Her arms tightened around him, her hands moving up his back in a heavy caress.

He wished they were on his skin. Wished the two of them were naked and rolling across his bed. “You’ve been driving me crazy, you know,” he whispered close to her ear, and sent gooseflesh cascading over her skin.

“You’d never know it.”

“It wouldn’t be nice to go after the maid of honor while Lisa was falling apart over those flowers, would it?”

“You’re to be commended for your restraint, then, Lieutenant.”

“With what I’ve been thinking about, I should be court-martialed.”

Melanie lifted her head from his shoulder. Her gaze moved over his handsome features and understood the message she saw there. Heat, hunger. Need. She’d been receiving it for more than fourteen days.

Jack Singer had walked into Lisa’s living room amidst yards of tulle and satin, and one look had struck Melanie with the force of charged lightning. It wasn’t so much that he was good-looking, which he was, or that his naval uniform fit like a glove and the sight of him in it would make any woman weak-kneed. It was his eyes, eyes that shouted his emotions, as well as hid them from the world.

She remembered the way he’d looked at Lisa this morning, in her gown, the picture of a fairy princess, and she’d seen those deep-blue eyes gloss with tears. Of love and pride. Who’d have thought such a strong man with a dangerous job could melt at the sight of a bride? But just as easily, she recalled the stare he’d delivered to the florist who was going to ruin his sister’s big day, and the words “If looks could kill” came to mind in an instant.

“What have you been thinking?” she asked suddenly.

“Dangerous territory,” he warned, his blue eyes smoldering as they raked over her.

“I’m up for the adventure.”

“With me, right now?”

She slid her arms to his shoulders, the fingers of one hand sliding up the back of his neck and tipping his head down. It was as if she’d done it a hundred times before, as if she’d known him for a thousand years.

“I was wondering when you’d get busy,” she whispered, and pulled him closer. His mouth covered hers, devoured with savage need as his hands climbed up her satin-covered spine and crushed her to him.

It was all-consuming, as he’d known it would be. Hot and fast and too private to be seen in public. His body was hard, hers firm and yielding against his.

“Whoa, Singer!” he heard from somewhere in the distance, and he pulled back. His breathing was hard.

“Can it, Reese,” he said to his buddy without taking his gaze from Melanie’s.

“Sir, yes sir,” came the response.

“Let’s get out of here?” The words came like a question.

She blinked and licked her lips. “We aren’t gone yet?”

He smiled and let her go grab her purse. Then they rushed from the club. During the cab ride to the hotel, he didn’t touch her, didn’t kiss her, not trusting himself if he did. He only held her hand. It was the most erotic thing he’d ever done. Fingers laced, palms tight. Intimate.

More than he’d been with any woman in a very long time.

At the hotel he climbed out of the cab, paid the driver and took Melanie’s hand again as they entered the building and stepped into the elevator. He couldn’t look at her. Her body was still imprinted on him from the dance.

He still felt her warmth. Smelled her scent. It was eating him up inside.

People smiled and nodded. A man mentioned being in the Navy during the Gulf War, and Jack hoped he made the proper respectful response. People got on and off and the elevator kept moving. Slowly, slowly. Then, finally, they were alone, the only ones in the elevator shooting to the top floors. He couldn’t stand it and turned toward her.

She smiled, reaching for him at the same time, and when he backed her up against the wall, he kissed her like a madman.

And she answered him, clinging, her mouth hot and wild beneath his.

Jack felt himself fracturing inside. She grasped his hand and put it on her thigh, under the slit in her gown, and Jack groaned, driving it higher, feeling the stockings, then skin. He cupped her buttocks and wedged her closer. Little soft sounds came from her, and he wanted to hear more, hear her cry out with pleasure.

Then he dipped his hand between her thighs, rubbing.

She gasped, her fingers digging into his shoulders as he stroked her. She broke their kiss, whispered, “This is so naughty.”

And he said, “Yeah, I know. I’ll never forget it,” then hooked the edge of her panties and pushed a finger deep inside her.

“Oh, Jack,” she said, bowing away from the wall, gasping for air.

Jack toyed with her, a single fingertip sliding over slick, soft flesh. Her panting breath tumbled from her lips and filled the elevator. He introduced another finger.

“Oh, my!”

“Oh, yes,” he growled, kissing her throat. She was wet and slick and tense against him, tuned for the explosion. Then the ping of the elevator made them draw apart, both moaning in disappointment. He muttered a curse and when the doors opened, grabbed her hand and damn near ran to his room. The hall was empty and he fumbled with the key card.

She took it, met his gaze, then inserted it in the slot. The door sprang open and he dragged her inside, kicked it closed and pushed her against the door.

She laughed at his impatience and he kissed her. Deep and heavy and thick. She popped the buttons of his dress white jacket and kicked off her shoes. He toed off his own and shrugged out of the stiff coat. Then she turned around, her hands braced on the door. Jack pulled the zipper of her satin dress down. His eyes flared and his body tightened when he saw the matching lavender bra and panties. He laid kisses down her spine, taking the dress with him as he did, and when it was a pile on the floor, he turned her around and looked his fill.

“Man, oh man,” was all he could say.

She arched a brow and unhooked her bra. His gaze raked her, his breathing quickened, and he stripped off his T-shirt.

She grasped his wrists and placed his hands over her breasts. Jack didn’t need encouragement. He was ready for her now. Had been ready for this for two long weeks.

Each time he’d brushed against her, electricity shot through him.

Each time she’d smiled or laughed, he felt alive and rewarded.

He rubbed her breasts, his palms brushing over her nipples. They hardened and he couldn’t wait to taste them. Then he did, taking one nipple into the heat of his mouth and sucking deeply.

Her leg lifted, her foot sliding up his calf.

Melanie felt her world tilt and shift. Pleasure radiated outward from her breasts, singing through her like music, making her blood run fast and hot and to the rhythm of Jack’s touch. He nibbled and licked and her nerve endings grew taut. His teeth scored, his tongue soothed, over her breasts, her ribs and lower.

Deliciously lower.

He caught his thumbs in the sides of her panties and drew them down as he sank to his knees. He touched and kissed her legs, hands smoothing down to her toes, then back up. Then he hooked her knee and drew it over his shoulder.

He met her gaze. She smiled, running her finger over his lips.

Then he tasted her. And everything she knew shattered.

“Jack,” she groaned softly.

His tongue plunged and laved and flicked, and she cried out, wanting more. She was greedy for this man. Greedy for everything she could get because she more than liked him, much more, and she knew he would leave, knew he’d disappear into the mist. A quiet warrior. It was his job, his life. There was only right now. And she wanted all he had.

And he gave it, finding and teasing every sensitive pulse point, every bit of flesh that was charged and waiting for ignition. He lit the fuse and she burned. Oh, how she burned!

Jack felt it, the spiral of heat racing through her, the tightening of her muscles, the liquid softness of her desire. He spread her wider and thrust two fingers inside her.

Desire exploded, shuddering through her, clutching at him.

“Jack!” she moaned. And he wanted to hear more, wanted to be the only man she did this with, wanted to be the one she shared herself with. A possessiveness he’d never known rose in him.

He didn’t ignore it. But he didn’t need it. Couldn’t encourage it. Not when he might be a thousand miles away from her in a few hours. So he savored the moments, the small and big ones, as he had for years, as he would for the next decade.

He took her past her climax, beyond madness and satisfaction, and back into his world, his arms.

He stood and she fell against him, limp for a moment, only a moment. Then she kissed him and fire kindled as she reached between them to unfasten his belt. She shaped him, the bulge in his trousers, then pulled the zipper down. His hands braced on the door beside her head, he smothered a groan as her fingers dipped inside his trousers and freed him.

“My turn.”

“Nah-ah.”

“What’s the matter, Lieutenant—running out of steam?”

“No, afraid of launching without a target.”

She laughed and increased pressure, stroking him wildly and pushing his trousers down. He kicked them aside, pulling her flush against him. The impact of flesh to flesh left them shuddering, weak.

His hands mapped her body, stroked and dipped, and he wasn’t the only player. Her touch taunted him, made him grow harder, and he scooped her into his arms, then strode to the bed. He set her in the center and she pulled him down, opening for him, eager for him to be inside her.

Skin met skin and he held her, wrapping her in muscle and man, and Melanie thought, Never in my life has it been this perfect. When he reached for the end table, she took the condom from him.

He arched a brow.

She grinned and pushed him onto his back and straddled his thighs. Jack sat up. She pushed him down, then opened the packet and drove him wild as she rolled it down.

“Melanie! Sweet mercy!”

“I don’t think so,” she said, and shifted to straddle his hips.

He grinned, loving her openness, and cupped her breasts, leaning up to take her nipple into his mouth.

Melanie forgot almost everything when he did that. “Oh, Jack, you do that so well.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She smiled, kissing his face, then rose. “My hero.”

He guided himself into her, and she held on to his shoulders, meeting his gaze as she sank down. He filled her, thick and throbbing. Jack experienced more than the feel of this woman around him, of being so deep inside her. But he didn’t understand it. He tipped his head back and she smoothed hair from his brow, let her fingertips stroke his face.

“Melanie—”

“Shh,” she said. “Not now.” She saw it, the connection that went deeper than sex. All wild and hurried eagerness was gone. The rush had died to a sweet poignancy. They had to have each other. It was as if pieces were missing and here they came together. Joined. One.

She moved, releasing him and taking him back, claiming a man she could never have. He was a mustang. Free. Noble.

And she wouldn’t dare try to tie him down. Or ask him to stay. Though she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him when she’d only just found him.

Two weeks was not enough. Yet in his eyes, in the eyes that could be cold as ice and tender as a lamb, she saw more. More than he could give. More than sex.

Jack grasped her hips, his gaze never leaving hers as he gave her motion, never leaving hers as he pulled her down onto the bed beneath him and pushed deeply into her.

Her legs trapped him and he went willingly into the snare.

Her heart beat against his and he danced to the tune. Sinking. He withdrew and plunged, and she rose to greet him, to take him into her and into her soul. And when feminine flesh gripped him in a slick glove, pulsing as he pulsed inside her, Jack knew he’d relive this night a thousand times in the future. And want it never to end.

He pushed, long deep strokes that brought cries from her, brought pleasure in mounting waves. Their tempo increased, bodies moving in a damp and primal rhythm, his gaze locked on hers and refusing to let go. Flesh throbbed and squeezed; he drove deeper.

Then it came, the hot prickling rush that fought the surface of skin and bone and erupted. Sensations folded in on each other, breaking apart and coming together in a blinding moment that hung for seconds, then minutes before releasing them.

He thrust hard once and final. A claim. He watched her green eyes darken, watched her smile bloom and felt warmth spread through him. She pulled him down onto her, holding him as the rapture faded.

She whispered his name in a throaty purr, then kissed him with a power he’d never felt before.

He knew then and there he’d never stop wanting her. And that the night wasn’t over yet….

The phone rang at 0600 hours and Jack groped for it, knocking it off the cradle and then dragging it to his ear.

“This better be good, Reese.” Otherwise, his good buddy was going to earn himself a black eye.

“Lieutenant Singer? This is Colonel Walsh.”

Jack was instantly awake and sitting up. “Yes, sir.”

“Plans have changed. Report ASAP.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How was the wedding, son?”

Jack’s gaze moved to the slender bare back tucked against his thigh. “Memorable, sir. Perfect.”

“Outstanding. See you in a few hours.” The colonel hung up.

Hours. Damn.

Melanie turned her head and met Jack’s gaze. “You have to go, huh?”

He nodded, sliding down into the bed and pulling her into his arms. She scooted on top of him, resting her folded arms on his chest.

“I knew this would come,” she said, and her eyes teared. She was going to miss him. “I was just hoping for a few days with you.”

He ran his hands over her naked spine. “Me, too.”

She inched up to kiss him. “Don’t ask me to wait for you, Jack. I don’t know if I could stand not knowing when or if you’ll ever come back.”

“I’ll come back and when I do, I want to—”

She shook her head. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I’m not.”

“Why?”

“Because I more than like you.” Oh, she was falling for him too fast, she thought. “And I can’t put my hopes on a man.”

Jack frowned softly, and realized he knew very little about this woman’s past. But he could tell she’d been hurt. Badly.

Melanie wasn’t going to cling to Jack, nor to any man. She’d been left alone with only her broken heart to hold more times than a woman should have to suffer. She had to go on with her life as if he’d never touched her heart so deeply, as if they’d never joined so intimately.

It was almost good that he was leaving so soon. Two more weeks of Lt. Jack Singer and she’d find herself hip-deep in love with him. And that was dangerous. And pointless.

He rolled her onto her back. “I’m not one of those guys—”

“Shh,” she said, and spread her thighs, urging him between. “Come to me, Jack,” she whispered, and tried to keep her voice even. “Before you head to parts unknown for who knows how long. Give me all you hide from the world.”

He searched her eyes. “Why?”

“Because I’ll keep it safe.” It was all she could offer.

He pushed inside her, losing himself in her, giving her what she wanted. All that he had.

And little did they both know, leaving a bit of himself behind.

Two

The front door swung open and Jack’s sister glared at him. “Well, that’s not the fine welcome I expected from my only sibling,” he said.

“I’m wondering if I should claim you as my brother.” Lisa made a sour face and spun about, striding into the living room. Jack stepped inside and reached for her.

“Hey, what’s up? Bad day with the baby? Who I’m dying to meet.”

“Really?”

“Hell, yes. Uncle Jack wants to pamper the little lady. My right, you know.” He produced a stuffed koala bear.

Lisa softened a little, but not for long. She gestured to her house. “See any baby things around here?”

He looked. The little house she and her husband, Brian, owned was immaculate, homey and adult. He frowned. “I don’t get it.”

“I didn’t have a baby, Jack.”

He stepped back, scowling. “Then why did you send me that card?”

Lisa glanced to the side, avoiding his gaze, something she never did.

“Hey, darlin’, what’s going on here?” he said in the voice that always got her to share with him.

She looked at him. “I sent the card to get you to come home and face your responsibilities.”

His brows shot up. “What responsibility?”

“The one to your daughter, Jack.”

He paled. “I don’t have a child. I’m not a father.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, she’s six months old and her name is Juliana. She has your hair and your eyes.”

Jack choked on his own breath. A baby? There was a baby in this world that was his? His gaze snapped to his sister’s. Reality slammed into his gut.

“Melanie. Where is she? I tried to call her.”

“You called?”

He gave her a look that said, “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” and he wasn’t pleased about it. “Yes, I did—when I got to a ship-to-shore phone. I sent her a few notes while I was out at sea, but she couldn’t write to me.” His look said what he was doing with the SEALs wasn’t up for discussion. “Still, when I got stateside, there was nothing, no phone listing, no address.”

Lisa met his gaze. “You really called her, huh? When she said she didn’t want you to know, I thought it was just a…well, that she was hiding her feelings.”

“Don’t you think I had the right to know?”

“Of course! That’s why I sent the card. Good grief, Jack, I thought you hadn’t contacted her. That’s the impression she gave me.”

“How did you find out?”

“Brian and I were in Charleston on a little vacation and I went into the bank to cash a check. Melanie was the bank manager. She’s moved back here now, but she really doesn’t want you in her life.”

“Well, she’s getting me, dammit,” he muttered, heading to the door.

“Jack, wait! She’s not going to like this.” Lisa moaned and folded her arms over her middle. “What are you going to do?”

“Talk to her, marry her, give my daughter my name. My child isn’t going to grow up like I did, Lisa. I won’t allow that.” He let out a breath. “Tell me where she lives.”

Jack marched up the neat path to the little house. It was a perfect cottage in the woods, far back enough from the street to be private and surrounded by a small picket fence to protect a child from the traffic.

He stopped short. A child. His child. Good God. Melanie had given birth to his baby. Alone, without him. Without him ever knowing he’d become a father. And his daughter was already six months old! He’d missed everything. Missed seeing Melanie round with his baby, missed the baby’s birth, those moments when dads go into complete panic with the coming of labor pains. He’d missed his baby’s first smile, her mother’s first look of pride… Damn. Inside, anger as wide as the Chechessie River warred with a strange feeling of absolute joy.

He was a father. There was a baby in that house that was half his. A life he and Melanie had created that night. And she’d tried to take that from him, take away his chance for something more than what he was.

Anger boiled and he continued to the door, knocking hard.

It flung open an instant later.

And his breath punched out of his lungs.

She looked incredible. More incredible than she had during those two weeks. His heart pounded like a hammer in his chest. His gaze ripped and dipped over her body. Jeans never looked so good on a woman. A T-shirt never looked so sexy. Red hair spilled over her shoulders, and if he hadn’t been staring at her body he would have noticed the look of surprise and anger on her face.

Then he did. Well, so what, he thought. She was the liar. She was the one who’d denied him his rights to his own child. “I hear you have something to show me.”

Her features yanked taut. “I’m gonna beat your sister up, just so you know.” The day in Charleston when his sister had walked into her bank, her whole world had crashed. Melanie had been feeling so alone then, and seeing her best pal had opened a floodgate of anguish she hadn’t known she’d held back. She’d missed Jack so much. Really missed him.

“Yeah, well. That won’t compare to what I’m ready to do to you.”

Her look was leery. “Perhaps you should come back when you’ve calmed down a bit.”

“I am calm.”

She arched a brow, trying not to let her heartbeat shoot through her throat at just the sight of him. “Try again, Jack. You look ready for battle.”

He stepped closer and enjoyed her indrawn breath. “I’m always ready—it’s my job. Or did you forget that about me, too?”

Melanie didn’t forget a thing. Not the look in his eyes when he wanted her, not the one he got when he was mad. And he was furious. But then, she knew he would be.

“So are you going to invite me in or do I have to push my way inside?”

She didn’t say anything, the inevitable too clear to argue. She stepped back, waved him inside and closed the door.

He stood close, looming over her, and Melanie wanted nothing more at that moment than the feel of his kiss. His arms around her. Seeing as that was dangerous, she went for reason. “I didn’t try to keep this from you, Jack.”

Her soft tone and liquid eyes caught him in the gut. “Then how come I’m the last to know?”

“I couldn’t reach you. You’re a SEAL.” She moved into the living room. “Everything you do is top secret and cloak-and-dagger. I called your unit and spoke to an Ensign Frostbite—”

“Frostbite?” he interrupted.

“As in, his attitude was chilling enough to give me some.”

Jack tried not to smile. She’d called, he thought, removing his cover and tucking it in his belt. She’d tried to contact him. Some of the fire went out of him.

“He said that since I wasn’t your wife or next of kin, I couldn’t speak with you. Even Lisa tried to contact you for me once, but no one was dying or anything, so they wouldn’t oblige.” She shrugged, understanding in the movement. “And well, tell him he’s the father of a girl, eight pounds seven ounces, is not something you want to leave in a message.”

She moved behind the sofa, dragged her fingers over the edge, tweaked a pillow, and for a split second he saw her as she was then, pregnant, hanging on to a phone and talking with a by-the-book ensign, wanting to tell Jack, but unable to reach him. “Yes, I guess not.”

“I decided I had to wait.”

“I called you a couple times and wrote. My letters came back unopened, undeliverable as addressed.”

Something old and smothered in Melanie tried working itself out just then. “I’d moved home to be near my parents. But I’d always liked it here, so we came back.” She wasn’t going to admit to a soul that it was because of Jack. She’d survived fine without him. She’d had a baby alone, hadn’t she? But then she’d moved back to this place, where she knew he’d be able to find her if he wanted. Real brave, she thought.

Jack glanced around at his surroundings. The interior had a sudden calming effect on him. While the furnishings were elegant—cherry tables, wing backed chairs—the fabrics were casual. Tiny checks and crumpled velvets in sage-green, cream and little splashes of maroon and emerald. Fat pillows with tasseled corners were strewn on the sofa and floor. Elegantly rumpled, he thought and realized he liked it.

Then he noticed the toys. His heart slammed into his chest as he bent to pick up a doll. He rubbed his thumb over the belly, the little gingham dress, and tried to imagine his child playing with it.

“Where is she?”

“She’s sleeping.”

He met her gaze. “I want to see her.”

“I’m not waking her to see a stranger, Jack.”

“I’m not a stranger.”

“But to her you are.”

“I won’t wake her up. I just want to look at her.”

“In a few minutes, okay?”

As long as she knew he wasn’t leaving without a look at his baby. “So what did you tell your parents?”

“Nothing more than they needed to know.” And once Juliana arrived they were the grandparents any child could hope for.

His temper quick-started like an engine. “Dammit. So they think I’m some sort of jerk that would let their daughter have a baby without helping?”

“No. They don’t think that. They understood.”

In truth, her father had been the hardest to handle, and given a moment of free rein, Dad would have turned over mountains to find Jack, punched his lights out, then make him marry her. Which was the last thing Melanie wanted.

She didn’t want a husband because of a child.

But Jack was honorable, a real hero type, and though he hadn’t gotten to it, Melanie suspected there was a bigger battle coming.

He folded his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “So, enlighten me. How did this happen?”

She sent him an innocent blinking look. “Gee, sailor, think maybe we forgot protection one of those times?”

“Don’t get cute. That I figured. It happens. I was as willing as you were. I have no regrets.” He arched a brow, the question unsaid.

She felt the heat of that night spin through her and light her from the inside out. She could almost fall into his arms again if he wasn’t looking at her like a new target to assault. “Neither do I, Jack.”

His stance softened. “Then if you accept that, why couldn’t you accept that I would want to know, to help?”

“Other than I couldn’t contact you,” she reminded him. “I didn’t need it.”

“And that makes it right?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” She moved to the kitchen and started preparing a pot of coffee. Maybe by giving up on hunting him down she thought she was doing him a favor. A man like him, with a dangerous job, he didn’t need to be worrying about her and a child when he was supposed to be concentrating on keeping his head down and staying alive. Just the thought of him being distracted by her when he was in the line of fire gave her nightmares and kept her from charging into his unit office and embarrassing herself and Jack by demanding he be contacted. Then she just got used to thinking alone, doing alone. But all she’d wanted then, when she was round with his baby and wondering what he’d think, was to hear his voice.

Jack followed her and said, “What about what I needed, Melanie?”

She glanced over her shoulder. “And you needed a daughter?”

“How the heck should I know? I’ve never had one. And if it was up to you, I never would have known about her.”

Melanie glanced toward the hallway. “Keep your voice down.” She flipped the switch on the coffeemaker.

Jack moved to her, gripped her arms and stared down at her. “Talk to me, Mel.”

He was hurt, she could see. More deeply than she’d thought.

“You kept my baby from me,” he went on. “That’s not easily forgivable.”

“I did what I had to do, with the resources I had. You were unreachable. They wouldn’t even tell me if you were in this country.”

He hadn’t been, but he couldn’t tell her that. “Did you even once think of me?”

She blinked, hurt and insulted, and pushed off his touch, stepping back. “How can you say that? I had your baby growing inside me, Jack. All I thought about was you. When I was screaming in pain delivering her, I thought about you and I wanted to beat you senseless, by the way.”

She looked down, her throat tight. She’d been angry with him then, she remembered. Angry because he wasn’t there to see his daughter being born, that he wasn’t there sharing the responsibility thrust on her. But he was off fighting evil, being the hero, a higher purpose, she’d finally reasoned. And she’d just…accepted. Oh, she knew she should have never let this man touch her. Not because of Juliana, but because his touch left an imprint that went clear down to her soul.

“If I’d known, I would have let you.”

“But the Navy wouldn’t have. I know, having a child is no big deal in the military. Women do it alone all the time. But I knew that the first chance Lisa blabbed, you’d be here.”

“And now that I am, we’re getting married.”

“Oh, so now it’s ride-to-the-rescue Singer? Do I look like a damsel in distress?”

“You look like the mother of my child, and that child needs my name.”

“Mine’s been doing quiet well for me for twenty-nine years. It’s good enough for her.”

“Why are you being so stubborn?”

“I don’t want a husband who would marry me for the sake of a child.”

“Why? Is that so archaic to you?”

“Yes.” And it’s full of doubts to start with, she thought. She couldn’t go through life, through a marriage, with him, a man she barely knew. And she didn’t want to live with the constant uncertainty of does he want me for myself, or me because I’m the mother of his child? Or because it’s the right and honorable thing to do? And Jack was up to his eyeballs in honor and duty.

Jack let her go, dragging his hand over his head, then his face. “You are about the strangest woman I know.”

“Isn’t that why we jumped into bed in the first place? Because I wasn’t falling all over you like the other women?”

“No, it’s not, and if you can’t see that, then it’s probably good that I wasn’t around when you learned you were pregnant with my child.”

“Why?”

“Because I would have made certain you knew the truth of my feelings for you, Melanie.”

“You don’t love me, Jack, so don’t say it.”

“I won’t. It’s not true.”

Her heart fractured. Well, that was honest, anyway.

“But whatever it is I feel for you is strong enough that thoughts of you have been dogging me for months.” He headed to the hallway and Melanie was still reeling in reaction to that.

“Excuse me? Where do you think you’re going?”

“I need to see my baby.”

“Jack, wait.”

He stopped short, his features sharpening with anger. “I’ve been waiting. I’ve missed six months of her life. I’m not going to miss another minute.”

A soft cry filtered from the hall and Jack froze.

“Now you’ve done it,” Melanie snapped, then shifted past him and headed down the hall.

His temper defusing like a puff of smoke, Jack followed, but she was already out of sight. He listened for sounds, following them, and stepped into a small room decorated with pink and lavender fairies. But he wasn’t interested in wallpaper and mobiles, but the woman who stood near a crib.

There was a coolness about her, a reserve that hadn’t been there before. He could feel a wall neatly erected between them and she was doing her best to keep it strong. Was it to keep him from her or his daughter? Things were too brittle between them right now for Jack to make huge waves in Melanie’s life, but he wasn’t going anywhere. He was well-known in his unit for his patience, and he’d exert some of it now. Because she still set him on fire with just a glance, it was all he could manage not to grab her in his arms and kiss the living daylights out of her. His memory was damn good, and he pushed down the need to satisfy the hunger that had simmered for nearly a year and a half. Patience, he warned himself, his gaze sliding over her as she hung over the crib.

Everything in him went still as she reached inside. She lifted the baby, fat little legs pumping the air. The child squealed and Melanie held her close.

Jack felt his heart fill and explode at the sight of his daughter.

“Juliana,” he said, and Melanie looked at him. “Lisa told me, and…” He gestured to the name in stuffed letters hanging on the wall and held by two pink fairies. He stepped closer, his gaze moving over his daughter. Round-faced and healthy, she had dark hair like his, eyes like his, but her beauty was all her mother’s. Her head tucked under her mother’s chin, she stared at him with wide eyes the color of cornflowers. Jack had never seen anything so beautiful. And he loved her instantly.

“Hey, princess.”

Melanie watched Jack, the wariness she’d never thought to see in him coming to the surface. He faced bullets like most people faced the morning. But he approached his daughter with a gentle hesitancy that touched her heart.

“She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Melanie replied as he ran a fingertip along Juliana’s arm. The baby simply stared at him, as if familiarizing herself with his face.

Jack moved as close as he could, their baby between them. “Look what we made, Melanie.” He leaned down to kiss the top of his daughter’s head, thinking she smelled of powder and innocence.

Melanie’s heart melted just a little. She’d been alone with Juliana so long that sharing her with Jack felt strange…and sweet. She hadn’t known what to expect from Jack Singer, Navy SEAL, but watching him fall in love with their daughter in less than a second wasn’t it.

“I want to hold her, but I know I’ll scare her,” he said softly.

“She’s still sleepy.”

“I’m sorry if I woke her. I didn’t think.”

“It’s okay,” Melanie said, watching his eyes, the way he touched Juliana, as if coaxing her into accepting him a little bit at a time. Yet when his fingertips slid up Juliana’s arm tucked against her mother, they brushed Melanie’s breast. Heat ripped through her, and her breath snagged.

He looked at Melanie, his gaze moving over her with the same intensity as it did with their child. “I’m here. I’m staying, and I’m in her life whether you want it or not.”

“I know.”

“You don’t like it.”

“Nope.”

He arched a brow, stroking the top of Juliana’s head and loving the sounds she made. “Then it’s war, huh?” He tipped his head, catching Melanie’s chin and tilting her face till she looked him in the eye. “I think you’ve forgotten why we came together in the first place.”

“We were both randy.”

The corner of his mouth curved. It scared her. He looked more dangerous at that moment than he would have if he’d been armed with an assault rifle and wearing camouflage paint.

“Yeah, sure.” He brushed his mouth over hers. She tried to retreat, but he wrapped his arms around her and held tight. Their daughter fussed and gripped his shirt, one of his medals. Jack felt something new and strong rocket through him, and he increased the pressure on Melanie’s mouth, molding her lips to his, and wanted to shout when she responded.

The instant she did, he drew back. She was breathing a little harder, her eyes a little glassy. Victory loomed on the horizon, he thought. He had to have patience for the long journey. “Expect me in your life, Melanie. Constantly.” He grinned. “Daddy’s home.”

He looked down at Juliana, touched the top of her head and suddenly knew this little girl was the best part of his life. Yet knowing Melanie was like a lioness protecting her cub right now, defensive and distrusting, Jack didn’t try to take his child into his arms. Yet they fairly ached to hold her, to feel her little body against his chest, hear her heart beat.

Instead, he said, “I’ll see you both real soon,” then spun around and left the room.

Melanie gripped the crib rail. Because her knees had melted. Her heart had stopped. She looked down at Juliana. The baby gurgled, and blew bubbles.

“That was Daddy. What did you think?”

Juliana jerked in her arms and smiled.

“Yeah, he does that to women. He’s going to be a real pain, honey. What are we going to do?”

Her daughter didn’t offer a solution and Melanie didn’t have one, either. All she knew was that Jack Singer could turn her inside out and upside down with a glance. And with a kiss…oh, she was useless.

But she wasn’t going to marry him. So it would be best just to keep him out of her life completely. Big talk, she thought, when just now his presence turned you into a puddle. Well, she wouldn’t let that happen again, nor would she give him any ideas that she’d agree to marriage. Going into a marriage with such low expectations wasn’t her dream of a future. She had a future. She and Juliana would be just fine.

Part of her dreaded Jack’s showing up again. And he would. She might not know a lot about the man, but one thing was for sure. He’d drawn a battleline in the dirt and she was scared of the first attack. Because Lt. Jack Singer, Navy SEAL and handsome as the devil, was a gentleman.

His attack would be subtle. But she didn’t doubt that when it came to something he wanted, he’d fight dirty.

Three

Jack drove his sports car around town for an hour with no destination in mind. He thought about calling his buddy, Reese, then decided that he didn’t want anyone ever to get the wrong idea about Melanie or his child. Not like they’d had about him when he was a kid.

His fingers tensed on the steering wheel and he pulled up to his hotel and shut off the engine. He didn’t get out, his mind tripping over plans, over ways to get into his daughter’s life.

And into her mother’s.

Man, he thought, rubbing his face. Melanie Patterson didn’t look like a mother. He didn’t think it was possible for her to look better than she had that night after the wedding. But she did and her kiss was just as hot. He tried to imagine what it had been like for her, tried to imagine her belly swollen with his baby, and when he did, something sparked inside him. Longing?

Did he want in her life because of the baby?

He checked that thought off the list in an instant. He’d done nothing but think about her for months. For fifteen of them. Being unable to talk to her all that time was like salt in the wound. She’d moved to live with her parents, sure, and her number here was unlisted, but the time wasted gnawed at him. He sighed. It wouldn’t have changed much. Hell, he would have gone nuts if he’d known she was carrying his child, anyway, he thought. He’d have wanted to be there. With her, for her. He’d have done anything for that chance, and with his job, that just wasn’t possible. He couldn’t walk out when his commander called. When his teammates and his country needed him.

But dammit to hell, he hated that he’d missed it all.

Sighing with resignation, he left the car and headed up to his room. He didn’t notice the women offering smiles as he passed. Didn’t notice the way they tried to get his attention. All he saw was Melanie holding his daughter to her breast, stroking Juliana’s little spine. He’d wanted to take the baby in his arms, feel the responsibility. But he didn’t have to touch the baby to know it. It was already inside him.

Juliana was his daughter. His flesh and blood. And he was going to give her everything he’d never had. And that included her daddy’s name.

Melanie looked at Lisa. “I know you’re sorry. Forget about it.”

“Well, you should have tried harder to tell him,” Lisa said insistently. “It would have been easier if he’d known from the start.”

“Yeah? How so? Would he have been any less…determined?”

“My big brother’s a handful, huh?”

Melanie rolled her eyes. Her sorority sister was a romantic. Melanie wasn’t. She’d given that up after her fiancé broke their engagement. Once was hard enough, but to be dumped twice? Melanie had a stellar record, falling for men who seemed to find the right girl after they’d already proposed to her. It was humiliating and the reason she didn’t ask a guy for promises. They couldn’t keep them. Jack wasn’t any different. Well, maybe a little. He knew the meaning of honor, at least.

When she had been with him all those long months ago, women had flocked around him. She didn’t want to see that he’d ignored them and focused only on her, but still. He’d had a few lovers before her. Lisa had mentioned them once or twice. Heck, any man who looked like a brick wall of muscle in Navy whites would have females young and old dropping at his feet.

Okay, so she’d been one of them. She’d wanted Jack. She’d always want Jack. He was under her skin, in her blood, whatever, but he was there. Fifteen months of trying to pry him out of her mind hadn’t done much good. She still wanted him. Yet, in her bed was far different from in her life.

The phone rang and Melanie rose to get it. The familiar voice on the other end of the line made her smile. “Mom, how are you?”

“Oh, we’re fine. How’s my granddaughter?”

Melanie smiled at her daughter sitting in her high chair. “Eating cereal and making a mess on my kitchen floor.” Her mother laughed. “So what’s up? I just talked to you yesterday.”

“That was before Jack called.”

“What?”

“Yes, just a little while ago. He talked to your father.”

Melanie groaned and leaned against the wall. “And Daddy said what to him?”

“I don’t really know. I know he was happy when he came out of the den, because he was laughing. He was still on the phone with Jack and took it with him out into the garage. Apparently your father and Jack hit it off. Did you know Jack makes furniture?”

Oh, great. Her father made furniture, too. The man had every tool ever made for woodworking, and now that he was retired, he produced more than her parents or Melanie had room for, so he’d branched out into taking special orders. And now it seemed Jack and Dad had bonded. Swell.

“Furniture, huh? No, I didn’t know Jack made furniture.” She glared at Lisa as if it was her fault that her father and Jack had things in common. Melanie asked to speak with her father, but he was out. “Ask him to call me, please, Mom.”

“I don’t think he’ll tell you what they said—he wouldn’t tell me.”

Well, that was devious, Melanie thought. “Jack’s hoping to butter up you and Dad to get to me.” She paced, her fingers tight on the receiver.

“Oh, he didn’t do anything like that, sweetie. He just introduced himself and told us what we already knew. That he hadn’t known about Juliana till now.”

“What else?”

“He said that he would take care of you and his daughter.”

“Well, Jack Singer is going to learn that I don’t need his financial help.”

Her mother’s voice held a smile as she said, “I don’t think he was talking about money, sweetie.”

The words sent a trickle of fear down her spine. What was he up to? Melanie said goodbye and hung up, then sat back down and cupped her coffee mug. She’d sulk if she had the time, she thought, feeling a little betrayed by her parents.

“He called your father,” Lisa said, her eyes wide. Melanie nodded. “Oh, gutsy Jack. That must have been interesting.”

A little smiled twitched at Melanie’s lips. “I bet it was.”

Lisa pushed Juliana’s cereal loops within reach. “You know my brother is a great guy, don’t you?”

“I plead the Fifth.”

“Hey, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

Melanie sighed. “Except threaten me.”

“What?”

“He said he was in my life and I couldn’t stop him.”

“Well, that is a threat, though weak and understandable.” Lisa made faces at Juliana and the baby imitated her. “What are you going to do?”

Melanie shrugged. When it came to Jack Singer, she felt pretty helpless.

“You know, Brian’s asked me to join him on his next business trip. For a month. I think I will.”

Melanie arched a brow. “Jumping ship on me?”

“No, I’m trying really hard to preserve what I have. A wonderful friend and a loving brother. I don’t want to have to choose.”

“Who says you’ll have to?” It was Lisa’s turn to look doubtful. And darn it, Melanie could see her friend’s point. She didn’t want to put Lisa in the middle, either. “Okay, go. I can handle Jack.”

Her friend stood and grabbed her purse, hitching it onto her shoulder. Lisa kissed the baby and smiled at the mother. “Good luck.” She headed to the door.

“Why did you write and tell him?”

“Because as much as I love you, I love my brother best.” Her eyes hardened.

So like Jack’s, Melanie thought.

“What if that night was all we had, Lisa?” Melanie called when Lisa reached the door. She couldn’t afford to get her heart crushed again.

Lisa looked at Melanie, sympathy in her eyes. “You have to give the relationship a chance to find that out, don’t you, Mel?”

Before Melanie could argue that she had to risk an already bruised heart to do that, Lisa slipped out. Turning to her daughter, Melanie picked bits of cereal out of her hair and watched her bang her pudgy palms on the high-chair tray. There was no mistaking that Juliana was Jack’s baby. She had his eyes. Intelligent, probing blue eyes.

“Hey, Jules,” Melanie said, and the baby looked at her, smiled brightly and offered a fistful of squishy cereal loops. Smiling, Melanie leaned down for a pretend bite. “I love you, munchkin. God, I love you.”

Melanie blinked back tears and wondered what would become of them. She’d had it all figured out till Jack showed up. She liked things neat and in order, to know the outcome of events. Which was why she was a banker. Figures didn’t lie. Figures didn’t cheat on you while you were selecting china and bridesmaids. Numbers didn’t leave you with the pitying gazes of everyone you had to tell about the broken engagement. Twice.

She wondered what was wrong with her that men left so easily. She was nice. She had a good sense of humor. She wasn’t a supermodel, but she wasn’t ugly. What was it about her that sent men running to someone more interesting?

Jack’s face loomed in her mind as she gathered up her baby. She held Juliana closely and prayed Jack would just leave. She’d handled Craig’s betrayal with his old love. She handled Andy’s with his bimbo secretary.

But with Jack? If he got her hopes up and dumped her, well, she’d never recover. She was certain of that. And she’d have his daughter to look at every day to remind herself of her failure. No, it was better her way. No chance, no heartache. Right?

She looked at the baby. “Right?”

Juliana didn’t answer. It was just as well. There wasn’t one, she thought. There just wasn’t.

Juliana was fussing for her dinner, Melanie was trying to get a load of laundry collected and into the washer before she started the evening phase of her day. Her day off, too, she thought. A heavy knock shook the door and for a split second, Juliana stopped whining and looked with Melanie at the door.

“Probably a salesman again,” she said to her daughter, and crossed the living room. Propping the laundry basket on one hip, she opened the door.

“Jack.”

“Good, you didn’t forget me.”

Like that would ever happen, she thought. Just looking at him made her insides turn to mush. “Why are you here?” Her voice sounded steady, right?

“Lisa and Brian took off and I was alone and hungry.”

“Good that you have a houseful of food, because Lisa is a great cook.”

Jack’s gaze slipped over Melanie. She filled out those jeans better than any woman he’d known, but her face showed signs of fatigue.

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