The Poseidon team are hard-bodied, fiercely competitive navy SEALs. But when a sensitive mission goes disastrously wrong, three of the teams finest will have to trust their hearts and instincts to uncover the truth...
No man left behind is inscribed in the DNA of every SEAL and Lieutenant Diego Torres is no exception. But with a team member killedand the body missingDiegos honor is sorely tested. Now his career and reputation are on the line, and a traitor is hiding among them. Diego wants answers...and only one woman has them.
Single mom Harper Maclean has two prioritiesraising her son Nathan and starting a new life. Her mysterious new neighbor may be impossibly charming, but Diego asks too many questions about her pastand about the father of her child. Questions she fears will reveal her burning attraction for Diego, and ultimately put them all in dangers path.
Praise for New York Times bestselling author Tawny Weber
Tawny Webers characters generate enough heat to melt the polar ice cap! I double-dare you to pick up this book.
New York Times bestselling author Vicki Lewis Thompson on Double Dare
Fiery hot sex scenes, strong characters and exciting action make this one of the best stories in the Uniformly Hot! miniseriesand one of the best Blaze reads.
RT Book Reviews on A SEALs Seduction
A SEALs Secret is captivating, compelling and very sensual.... A truly exceptional book, Tawny Webers best ever.
Fresh Fiction
Forget the hot chocolate, the wool socks and the space heaterTawny Webers Sex, Lies and Mistletoe will keep you plenty warm this season!
USA TODAY
Tawny Weber has a gift when it comes to writing about hot SEALs and the women they fall for.
Lush Book Reviews
The story is well constructed, solid, believable, very deftly written, featuring the authors trademark humor, and the dialogue is spot-on... Tawny Weber remains THE class act when it comes to contemporary romance.
Fresh Fiction on A SEALs Fantasy
Deliciously blending sexual tension, heartfelt emotions, misunderstandings, humor and love, talented author Tawny Weber has penned a story you do not want to miss!
Romance Junkies on Just for the Night
Call to Honor
Tawny Weber
www.millsandboon.co.uk
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Table of Contents
Cover
Back Cover Text
Praise
Title Page
Dedication
Call to Honor
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
Night Maneuvers
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
Copyright
To my family.
For always being there.
Call to Honor
Tawny Weber
CHAPTER ONE
IT PAYS TO be a winner.
And Diego Torres was a big believer in winning.
But it was the winning that he liked.
But it was the winning that he liked.
The competition.
The thrill of testing his skills, pushing his limits. Of knowing he was better than his adversary.
Yeah. He liked knowing he was the best.
He didnt do it for reward.
Especially not when the reward came by way of the pomp and pageantry of a ceremony like today. Standing onstage in front of the various platoons that made up SEAL Team 7, listening to Admiral Cree pontificate was a pain in the ass. What made it worse wasnt the couple hundred sets of eyes inspecting him or the discomfort of his dress whites, too tight across the shoulders.
It was the damned shoes. Diegos toes pinched in the mirror-bright black patent leather, begging him to flex. He didnt, of course. Not while standing at attention. But damn. Give him a pair of combat boots any day.
As the sun baked through his cap and the heat of the morning swirled around, he wondered what yahoo had decided to hold this ceremony outdoors. And why it felt so much hotter standing in the San Diego sun in whites than it did in the Afghan desert in full combat gear. Probably because combat gear fit him better.
Diego had spent a large portion of his life fighting over the wrong things. Hed fought over turf. Hed fought over gang colors. Hell, if the mood struck, hed have fought over just how blue the sky was. Itd taken a bullet barely missing his heart to clue him in to the fact that maybe the things he was fighting over simply werent worth dying for.
Hed figured that out when he woke in a hospital bed, his mothers careworn face wet with tears. Wondering if hed see his eighteenth birthday, Diego had taken stock of his situation. Hed started out a street thug, worked his way up to gangbanger, then into the powerful role of First Lieutenant of the Marauders, an East LA gang determined to claw its way to the top of the food chain.
It wasnt the bullet that had made him reconsider his chosen lifestyle. Nor, he was still ashamed to admit, was it his mothers misery. It was the fact that his gang, his sworn brothers, had left him in that filthy alley to bleed out while they ran to save their own asses.
Thatd made Diego rethink his definition of brotherhood. Of honor.
Now that he was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy he still fought. But he fought for his country. He was still a badass. But he was a badass SEAL. And if he got shot now, he knew his team would lay their lives on the line to get him out.
And that was key for a man who put loyalty above all else.
As the admirals voice boomed out his pride in the elite power of Special Forces, Diego didnt look toward his superiors on the left, even though he stood shoulder to shoulder with Lieutenant Commander Ty Louden, who stood with Commander Nic Savino on his other side. Diego didnt look to the right toward his teammate, Lieutenant Elijah Prescott, or beyond him to Petty Officer Aaron Ward.
But in his minds eye, he could see them all standing as he did, eyes forward, shoulders back. Basking somewhere between pride and misery at such focused attention, their faces were as familiar to him as his own. Brothers in every way but blood, Diego wouldand hadput his life on the line for every one of them and knew theyd do the same for him.
With his mother dead three years past, these men were Diegos family. Theyd helped form him into the man hed become. Theyd been part of shaping him into a SEAL he could be proud of.
And these here onstage? Theyd led a raid to capture three high-level militants, doing so in the dead of night without detection. Proving, once again, that Poseidon kicked ass.
Which was pretty much why they were standing up here being recognized.
As SEALs, they were trained to be the best.
As members of Poseidon, they were expected to be better than the best. Twelve men had come out of BUD/S together, each earning his trident a decade ago. Thanks to Admiral Cree, all twelve served among SEAL Team 7s various platoons, allowing them to continue to train together, to study together, to excel together. And, when called up, to serve together. Team Leader Savinos doing, Diego knew. The man had had a vision in BUD/S of an elite force of warriors, all focused on one purpose. They trained longer, they pushed further, they fought harder than most.
They made their mark.
And now they were getting awarded for it.
Diego damn near rolled his eyes as the speech eulogizing that award droned on. And on and on and on.
But, thankfully, years of Navy discipline stepped in and kept his eyes still and his discomfort at bay.
Finally, the admiral wound up the ceremony by personally pinning a commendation to each mans chest. The weight of the mans congratulations was twice the honor of the bronze Expeditionary Medal.
There was one final salute, a few words of thanks from Captain Jarrett, then the band played, the color guard stepped in and the team was dismissed.
Thank God.
Diego didnt let his grin show, but he sure felt good as he stepped off the stage. He didnt rip off his hat, but he mentally tossed it in the air and, hell, why not, did a fist-pumping victory dance in his mind.
Oh, yeah. It paid to win.
You looked good up there, my friend. Chief Petty Officer Jared Lansky grinned, his boyish expression pure glee as he met Diego at the bottom of the platform.
Why the hell wasnt your pretty face up there, too? The entire Poseidon team was being honored.
Special assignment in Sudan. Plane got in late, so I didnt get here until Cree was winding down. Ill have to pick my medal up in private. Lansky pulled a face of fake regret, then grinned again. But lets talk about what this is really about. Dude, we are so going to get laid. Nothing like a commendation to impress the ladies.
Thanks for the perspective. Is there anything you dont bring down to sex?
Hmm, let me think. The other man tugged on his bottom lip, looking as if he were considering the weight of the world, before shaking his head. Nope. Im pretty sure the day Im not thinking about sex will be the day youre tossing dirt on my grave.
Since the man hadnt shifted focus in the ten years hed known him, Diego had to figure Lansky was in no danger of imminent burial.
You look like a combination of choirboy and Boy Scout. It always blows me away to realize what a complete horndog you are.
My looks are my secret weapon. Lansky beamed his pearly whites, those baby blues pure innocence. A woman looks at you, all dark and brooding, and she knows shes looking at trouble. Me, Im
What? Diego interrupted. Stealth trouble?
Yes, sir. That I am. Jared tapped his knuckle on the brim of his cap, then tilted his head toward the Officers Club. Celebration time. On base or off?
Off, for sure. But as Diegos gaze swept over the dispersing crowd, he knew the team leader, Commander Savino, would want to offer up thanks to those who hadnt been onstage. The rest of the teamthe ones who werent a part of Poseidon, the support personnel. Hed give a little speech, buy a round of drinks. Public relations, Savino would call it. Pure hell, in Diegos opinion.
Weve got a meeting first. Diego jerked his head toward the long white building that held the offices of command.
Jareds gaze swept over Savinos back as he and a few others accompanied Admiral Cree in that general direction.
Good times. Jared watched two more COs join the group and muttered, Wish the plane had been a little later.