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“What’s up?”
Effie was already behind the wheel with the motor running when Marsh approached the window.
“I wanted to tell you to drive careful and thanks again for the laughs. It felt good.”
“I know, right?” There went her pulse again. He’d pressed his open palms against the door frame, which raised his T-shirt enough to bare a strip of skin and his wholly masculine abs.
Mouth dry, she forced her gaze to his eyes, but that didn’t do much to stop the tingly awareness that lately took hold whenever he was around.
“Anyway, good night, Effie.”
“Night.” The sound of her name, pronounced nice and slow with a hint of a Southern twang, produced all manner of havoc in her belly. If she hadn’t been crammed into an old minivan that smelled like Cheerios with her grandmother and a pack of kids, would he have kissed her?
The SEAL’s Second Chance Baby
Laura Marie Altom
LAURA MARIE ALTOM is a bestselling and award-winning author who has penned nearly fifty books. After college (Go, Hogs!), Laura Marie did a brief stint as an interior designer before becoming a stay-at-home mum to boy-girl twins and a bonus son. Always an avid romance reader, she knew it was time to try her hand at writing when she found herself replotting the afternoon soaps.
When not immersed in her next story, Laura plays video games, tackles Mount Laundry and, of course, reads romance!
Laura loves hearing from readers at either PO Box 2074, Tulsa, OK 74101, USA or by email, [email protected].
Check out www.lauramariealtom.com to win fun stuff!
This story is dedicated to my precious family: Terry, Not-So-Little-Anymore Terry, Hannah & her sweet Steven, Russell, Mom & Dad, and my adopted sisters—Margaret & Amy. You all make my life worth living. Xoxo
Contents
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
Epilogue
Effie Washington stopped humming to hold her hand to her forehead, shading her eyes from the brutal August sun. Was she seeing a mirage? Was that a mule deer or man on horseback, slumped in his saddle?
From her vantage atop the roof of her grandmother’s run-down adobe ranch house, she narrowed her gaze. In southeast Colorado, judging distance could be tricky. On a clear day, she had the front range to her west, but with miles upon miles of rolling grassland and the vast wide-open sky, the object she thought might be a few hundred yards in the distance could turn out to be a mile away.
“Colt! Remington!” she called to her six-year-old identical-twin boys. They were supposed to be on ladder guard duty—a fancy way of ensuring they didn’t run off by making them believe they were charged with a highly important job.
“Yeah, Mom?” As usual, they answered in tandem.
“Did you ever put your boots back on after I caught you messing with the hose?”
“Uh-uh,” Remington said.
“I will now!” Colt darted around the side of the house.
Remington followed.
A few minutes of silence alerted Effie to the chance that her angels were up to no good.
“Cool! A scorpion!”
She peered over the roof to find both boys beneath the yard’s sole tree—a century-old cottonwood—engrossed in poking a stick at the potentially harmful creature.
“Leave it alone!” Effie closed her eyes and sighed. Those two would be the death of her. At least once she finally finished her nursing degree, she’d know how to tend to most of their health emergencies. Abandoning the much-needed roof-patching project, she hurried down the ladder to disperse her boys, who not only hadn’t left the scorpion alone, but had scooped it into a tin can they’d snatched from the trash barrel.
“But it’s awesome!” Colt jabbed a weed at it to watch it rear up and strike.
“Quit!” Remington shouted. “He’s gonna sting my eyeballs!”
“Give me that.” Effie took the can, carrying it far from the house to fling the offensive creature over the back fence.
“Aw, why’d you have to go and do that?” Colt pouted. “We was gonna take it to school.”
“We were going to take it—and since school doesn’t start for another week—no, no and no.”
“You’re mean!” Colt kicked a dirt clump near the toe of his boot.
“But I love you.” Sometimes, Effie silently added with secret smile. Motherhood had never been easy—her twins had been a challenge from day one. “How about you get in the house and see if Grandma needs help with Cassidy?”
Colt scrunched his face. “We don’t wanna go inside. Grandma’s always watchin’ her stupid soap boperas, and Cass is boring.”
“Go!” Effie pointed toward the back door. “If Grandma doesn’t need help, clean your room.”
With the twins grumbling and moping their way into the house, Effie scanned the horizon for the odd sight that had started