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The Songbird & the Soldier
Wendy Lou Jones
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
Contents
Wendy Lou Jones: About the Author
HarperImpulse an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2013
Copyright © Wendy Lou Jones 2013
Cover Photographs © shutterstock.com
Wendy Lou Jones asserts the moral right
to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are
the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is
entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International
and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
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No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,
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Ebook Edition © July 2013
ISBN: 9780007543939
Version 2014-10-01
Digital eFirst: Automatically produced by Atomik ePublisher from Easypress.
This book is dedicated to my dad, who sadly did not live long enough to see my name in print, but who gave me the courage to try. And to my long-suffering husband, who stood by my side every step of the way while I did.
Sergeant Andrew Garrington was in control: his house was in order, his shirts were crisp and his career was on track, so the fact that he had caught on to his men’s misplaced notion of finding him some new witless woman to pander to didn’t bother him unduly. He played with his beer mat as he listened to the men chat. His attention was caught by a rowdy set entering through the front of the bar and disappearing out of the back.
Corporal Dean Fletcher scanned the room for female life and Spike spotted him. “Uh-oh, Romeo’s on high alert.”
Dean looked back and grinned.
“Well, found anything?”
“No.”
“Aren’t we meant to be finding a bird for the Prof?” Miller asked.
Andy twitched an eyebrow. “Oh no you don’t.”
“Come on, Prof. You’ve been single for far too long now. You need to get yourself a woman,” Spike said.
“I seem to be managing quite well by myself, thanks.”
“But you need a good woman.”
“Oh, a good woman, well why didn’t you say so? No.”
“Andy, think about it. You need someone to keep you sane while we’re out there. Remember last time? It’s no good if you’ve got no one to drag you back up again when shit’s going down,” said Miller shaking his head.
Claire had walked out before his last tour in Afghanistan. Andy remembered. It had been hard, but he had got through it on his own. He was a stronger man now than he had been then, a better soldier. He had learned in that time that women and relationships were generally disappointing. They were too needy to fit into his lifestyle.
“One day you’ll meet a girl who really gets under your skin and it’ll completely poleaxe you. You might even find yourself getting…” Miller held up his hands to make parenthesis