Subject: Marine Will MacIntyre
Current Status: Medical leave
One day a year Will MacIntyre lets himself remember the woman who left him after he enlisted. But seven years later, on the anniversary of that fateful day, Will is defusing a bomb in Afghanistanand it explodes.
Dr. Oliva Eklund can barely find the boy she loved inside the hard, chiseled body of the man Will is nowa Marine who knows just how to tempt her, just how to seduce her. Olivia is well aware that Will plans to return to his unit after he recovers, but she cant resist trying to heal him. Even if it means sending him back into a war zone. And breaking them apart forever.
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BRING ME TO LIFE
by Kira Sinclair
December 2014
SEDUCING THE MARINE
by Kate Hoffmann
January 2015
A SEALS SECRET
by Tawny Weber
February 2015
Dear Reader,
As youre opening this book, I suspect many of you are wondering where the Quinns are. Well, everyone, even romance writers, needs a vacation from family. And it seems like the Quinns have moved into my career and set up housekeeping.
With Seducing the Marine, I had a chance to write a different sort of story. My editor mentioned the Uniformly Hot! series and I jumped at the chance to write a book. Little did I know that the series followed only military heroes, and not policemen and firemen.
Of course, I needed a little help with my Marine hero, and I found an obliging colonel willing to answer all my questions. Thank you, Colonel Kurk. And thanks to all those in service to our country, for your sacrifice and dedication.
Happy reading!
Kate Hoffmann
Seducing the Marine
Kate Hoffmann
www.millsandboon.co.uk
KATE HOFFMANN has written over ninety books for Mills & Boon, including stories for Mills & Boon Temptation and Mills & Boon Blaze, since she was first published in 1993. When she isnt searching the world for Quinns to write about, she enjoys working with high school actors in local theater productions. She also enjoys cooking and baking, reading about cooking and baking, and watching cooking and baking shows on television. She does not enjoy doing dishes. She lives in southeastern Wisconsin with her cat, Chloe.
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To Colonel Kurk A. (Marines, Retired) for all your help in bringing my hero to life.
And to his lovely wife, Paula A., for steering me in the right direction.
Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
Introduction
Dear Reader
Title Page
About the Author
Dedication
Prologue
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Extract
Copyright
Prologue
THE HEAT SURROUNDED HIM, smothering him like an impenetrable blanket. Staff Sergeant Will MacIntyre focused his attention on the explosive device in front of him, ignoring the drop of perspiration that clung to the end of his nose. He carefully followed the trip wire, tugging it out of the sand until he reached the trigger. It didnt appear to have an electronic switch that would allow remote detonation.
He could hear his heart beating inside the Kevlar bomb suit. Inside his helmet, the radio earpiece crackled and the voice of one of his team members split the silence. What do you need, Mac? Talk to me.
A cold beer and a hot woman, he murmured. When did the cooling system go out on this suit?
The voice of Staff Sergeant Josh Fletcher crackled over the radio. Last time I wore it everything was working fine. Are you all right?
Just a little warm, he replied.
Will thought about home, about the winters in upper Michigan, where the weather was so cold a persons fingertips could freeze in a matter of seconds. It was late October now, long past the first snow. The days were getting shorter. The lakes would freeze in a few weeks and then the ice-fishing shacks would go up on Thayer Lake. The silence of a cold winter night would be broken only by the high whine of a snowmobile engine.
For Yoopers, as citizens of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were affectionately known, winter was like a months-long battleexcept it was nothing like a real war. They could retreat to their warm houses and their crackling fires. He was the one fighting the war. And with every day that passed, Will wondered when the odds would catch up with him.
Whats going on, Mac? Josh asked. Maybe youd better pull back. We can send in the robot.
No, Will said. This is a simple one.
Theres no such thing as a simple IED. Let me send in the robot.
Im not going to frag another robot on something I can disarm myself. He pulled off his glove and bent closer, carefully brushing the gravel away from the payload, an old mortar shell.
Hernandez, check the perimeter, he ordered, trusting the third member of their crew to rule out a remote detonator.
Though the bomb didnt appear to be capable of remote detonation, Will knew not to put anything past the Taliban bomb makers. They seemed determined to blow up every last American left in Afghanistan. And when they couldnt do that, they settled for members of the Afghan security forces.
Will drew a deep breath and waited for another droplet of sweat to fall off his lashes. As he stared down at the half-buried shell, an uneasy feeling came over him. Something wasnt right. Whats the date today? he asked.
September eighteenth, Fletcher replied.
He closed his eyes and cursed softly. Hed lost track of the date. For the past nine years hed spent this rather dubious anniversary in the relative safety of his bunk, reflecting on the one mistake hed made in his life. He drew a deep breath. Leaving her. Walking away from Olivia.
Theyd been high school sweethearts and oblivious to anything that didnt have to do with their romance for such a long time. But then 9/11 and the Afghan war had happened. A few years later, the invasion of Iraq. Wills father, a veteran of the Vietnam War, had talked about the honor of serving in the military and Will, wanting to make his father proud, had decided to join immediately after high school graduation.
But Wills mother had insisted that if he wanted to serve, it would come after college and as an officer. So he and Olivia had started college at Michigan Tech, making the thirty-mile trip to school together every morning and returning to their homes in the late afternoon. Will had signed up for ROTC and Olivia had focused on premed studies. And as their affections matured, theyd planned a life after college. First a wedding and then, hopefully, for Will, flight school and a career as an officer in the Marine Corps.
But Will hadnt been much of a student, and when his grades had faltered, hed seen it as an excuse to cut his college career short and enlist. Hed been so stubborn back then, so certain of his decision. And hed just assumed Olivia would support his choice. But she hadnt.
Will had known hed made a mistake the day hed left for boot camp. There had been something in her eyes when shed said goodbye, a distance, a coldness, as if hed somehow betrayed her. And though theyd tried to make things work long-distance, their relationship had broken down. It had ended on October 18. The day hed received her Dear John letter, four and a half months after hed said goodbye to her.
He listened to his breathing, deep and even, his gaze fixed on the mortar shell. I got this, he muttered.
But as he exposed the connection, Will frowned. Something was wrong. The end of the wire wasnt attached to the shellit was simply buried in the dirt. Its a dummy, he said, straightening and stepping back.
He didnt feel the trigger beneath his foot, didnt hear the explosion inside the bomb suit. But an instant later, his body was flying through the air. In those long, slow-motion moments before he hit the wall, an image of Olivias beautiful face flashed before his eyes.
The odds had finally caught up with him. This was how hed die. Crumpled at the base of an ancient stone wall, in the dust beside an Afghan road. Alone and so many miles from home.
He gasped her name before he blacked out.
1
THE BLAST HIT his body, a rush of hot air and shrapnel picking him up off his feet and hurling him through the air. The moment he hit the ground, Wills eyes snapped open
His breath came in quick gasps and he blinked, looking around the room to get his bearings. He was home. He was safe. The explosion, so real and intense just a moment ago, had only been a dream. The same dream that returned every night.
Groaning softly, he threw his arm over his eyes and waited until his heart slowed to a normal rate. But someone was pounding loudly on the cabin doorthat was the sound that had invaded his nightmare, the sound his brain had interpreted as an explosion.
Cursing, he got up and crossed the room, dressed only in his boxer shorts. He grabbed a T-shirt hanging on the back of a chair and tugged it over his head, ignoring the incessant throbbing in his head that never seemed to abate. Pulling open the door, he squinted against the afternoon light. How long had he slept? Two hours? Or an entire day? Hed lost track of time.
His sister, Elly, stood at the door of their grandfathers cabin, bundled up against the cold. Will turned away from the door, shivering as an icy wind whipped through the interior. Either come in or shut the door, he muttered.
She followed him inside, slamming the door behind her. You missed your doctors appointment today, she said. The clinic called me to find out where you were. Dammit, Will, I told you if you needed a ride, Id come and get you. But you said J.T. was going to take you.
He couldnt, Will said, crossing to the kitchen. He yanked open the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice, took a long drink, then closed his eyes. Hed laced the orange juice with vodka last night, and the alcohol spread a soothing warmth through his bloodstream. There were times in Afghanistan that hed gone weeks without the taste of fresh fruit, and now all he had to do was open a refrigerator and there it was. He got a job over in Bayfield.
Get dressed, she said.
Ive already missed the appointment, he said. Its too late.
Elly hitched her hands on her hips. If youre not going to go to the doctor, then Im going to bring the doctor to you.
Will froze, his hand gripping the carton until it collapsed. He placed it back in the fridge, then slowly turned. If you bring her here, I will never forgive you, he said.
His younger sister had always been close to Olivia, but after the breakup, shed been smart enough not to mention Olivia in emails or phone calls. Even so, Calumet was a small town and Olivia was a doctor. Everyone knew her. Hell, his old high school buddy J.T. had heard enough stories about her to fill him in on all the details of Dr. Olivia Eklunds life over the past nine years.
After Olivia had tossed him aside, shed finished college and med school in record time. Shed married another doctor, but when hed refused to move to the Upper Peninsula, shed divorced him and returned to her hometown to set up her medical practice. She hadnt dated anyone in at least a year, but she had reconnected with some of her old high school friends. And shed delivered J.T.s son six months ago.
Will didnt want to care about Olivia; he tried not to be curious or imagine what she might look like now. But knowing that the one woman he could never have was living just a few miles away was more than he was able to deal with right now.
And what if I did bring her out here? Maybe she could talk some sense into you. Elly brushed past him and grabbed the orange juice, taking a long drink. She winced. Is there
Yeah, he said. It was New Years Eve. I wanted to celebrate and I didnt have any champagne.
She shook her head and dumped the rest of the juice down the drain. New Years Eve was three nights ago. And you shouldnt be drinking. She spun around and grabbed him around the waist, giving him a fierce hug. Im worried about you. She sighed softly. You cant avoid her forever.
And I cant erase the past nine years. Were different people, El. Im not going to magically transform into the old Will the moment I talk to her. I know thats what you expect, that seeing her again will solve all my problems. But thats just some stupid romantic fantasy.
Elly sighed. Im sorry. She crossed the room and grabbed a shirt from the back of the sofa. But you have to get out, Will. You cant stay cooped up here. You need fresh air and exercise. You look like death warmed over.