The SEAL's Holiday Babies

“Well, they’d get married,” Frog said. “As sure as my name is Francisco Rodriguez Olivier Grant, I’d probably be best man.”

“That would be me,” Squint said, “as sure as my name’s John Squint Mathison.”

It could be serious if his lunkheaded buddies were already scrabbling over who was going to get high honor at this imaginary wedding. What possible difference does it make to me? Free country, like Dennis said.

He sneaked another glance at Jade, all long and lean and capable and sexy, with a mop of burgundy-red hair that was a siren’s call to Ty. She had a bright smile that teased, always laughing at him, and somehow with him. Captivating him. A laugh that never failed to bring a smile of response to his face, no matter what his mood was. No, when he’d thought up The Plan, the plan of bringing life back to BC, he’d put Jade on a pedestal out of sight, in a mental closet marked Private. Do Not Touch.

Mine.

Sam put his big, beefy hand over Jade’s delicate one, and Ty could hear that musical laugh across the aisle, reaching his ears with a pang that lodged in his heart. Something blew in his brain, like a transformer struck by lightning, and the next thing he knew, he was sliding into the white booth occupied by Jade and Sam, tucking himself up against Jade in the most friendly, brotherly fashion, because she expected friendly and brotherly from him.

Only he knew it was more of an ambush.

* * *

JADE GRINNED AT Ty when he bumped in next to her, jostling her arm away from Sam’s. “Look at you,” she said to Ty. “All buzz cut and ready to report for duty.”

Ty palmed his newly shorn head. She’d loved his hair long and wild, but he looked just as hot with it short, too. That was the problem with a rascal like Ty—he looked irresistible shaved or wild and woolly.

Spiritually, he was way too woolly for her.

“I let one of the ladies buzz me down,” Ty said, and Sam grinned.

“Your mother took the sheep shears to him,” Sam said.

“Betty didn’t have sheep shears,” Ty said, “but believe me, she was determined the brass wouldn’t be disappointed with me when I showed up for training.”

“It’s short.” Jade smiled. “I can just imagine Mom giving you the treatment. In another world, she could have been a hairstylist. The ice-cream shop just happened to get to her first.”

“A remarkable woman,” Sam agreed, and Ty elbowed Jade so that she looked at him again.

“Did you just elbow me? In a brotherly, somewhat obnoxious way?”

He looked pained. “I’m not really your brother. As much as it felt like that growing up, I’m not exactly brotherly material, as has been well noted by just about everyone.”

Including her, which was why she kept Ty very much on the outskirts of her radar. “Mom practically raised you, along with everyone else in this town. You even had a bunk at our place.” Her gaze softened as she took in Ty’s square, determined jaw and wide brown eyes. “You broke a lot of noses for my sake when we were growing up.”

Sam laughed. “He tried to break everything when we were on the circuit. Now go away, brother. This is a private lunch.”

“Private?” Ty glared at Sam. “Nothing’s private in BC.”

“This is,” Jade said. “You have to take your overprotective, buttinsky self elsewhere.”

She hated to send him off. But the thing about Ty was that the more he hung around her, the more her hopes rose. It was something she had almost no control over. He treated her like a little sister—and her heart mooned for him. Stupidly.

And this year, her resolution was to get on with her life and accept that Ty was simply too much bad boy for her. Her practical nature knew this, accepted that she wanted something completely different when she envisioned a husband.

But her heart—and her female side—wanted Ty. In fact, her mind and her body were practically enemies at this point, warring with each other, each convinced the other was right.

She’d done a darn good job of moving on, seeking new opportunities. And a new man. Okay, Sam Barr wasn’t “the one,” but he was the first man she’d gone out with in a long time, and he was nice, and she was looking for nice on her man list, wasn’t she?

“Go,” she told Ty, her voice a little urgent as she gave him a pointed push, practically edging him out of the booth.

He stood, put on his brown Stetson, looked at her a bit sadly with those big brown puppy-dog eyes and tipped his hat to her and Sam before returning to his own booth.

“Poor fellow,” Sam said. “Doesn’t know what he wants in life.”

“Poor fellow?” Jade refused to glance Ty’s way. “The man brought you here on a mission. He’s not a poor fellow at all. Don’t fall for the injured look he wears so well.” She sipped water, glad for the coolness, but couldn’t meet Sam’s eyes.

“He’s going to make it,” Sam said, his tone admiring. “He’s trained for a year to make it through BUD/S. Trained like a maniac. I predict he not only makes it, but he terrorizes all the other recruits.”

“Of course he’s going to make it!” Jade said, astonished. “All Ty’s ever wanted to do was be a SEAL. A lean, mean, fighting machine, as I heard one of the men call him once. He’s dedicated to his goal.” She swallowed hard. “Ty will make it, and once he does, we’ll hardly ever see him around here again.” The thought was so painful it physically hurt her stomach.

“Yeah, that’s what he told us.”

Jade’s gaze flew to Sam. “Told you what?”

He shrugged, a handsome lug of good intentions and impeccable character that she felt absolutely no zip, no zing for—not the way Ty kept her emotions all riled up.

“Ty’s working on his Plan.”

“Plan?”

Sam shrugged. “His life goal. Short list. One, settle some good friends of his—bosom buddies—in BC to tempt the local population of females.”

Jade felt her back stiffen. “Go on.”

“Two, see his dear friends happily married, with babies, to stifle Robert Donovan’s evil plan to turn BC into a concrete wasteland—a project already under way with Donovan in the process of bidding out parcels he owns to various government contractors.”

“Let me guess. You and Frog and Squint are the bait for Ty’s grand vision.”

“And Justin.” Sam grinned. “Justin was first, but he took so long to get down to business that Ty began to worry. So he brought the three of us along.”

Alarm bells rang inside Jade. “Well, wasn’t that thoughtful of Ty. And three?” she asked sweetly.

“Three is to clear his father’s name. The murder that was never solved was pinned on his father’s incompetence, and that’s something Ty also lays at Donovan’s door. He’s convinced Donovan had a plan to oust his father as sheriff and bankroll the election of his handpicked pawn of Satan, as Ty puts it.” Sam reached for her hand again, going back to the place where they’d been before Ty had butted into their booth.

But they couldn’t go back, because once Ty had leaned up against her side, invading her space and her every sense, she’d felt herself slipping. And now that she was hearing of the perfidy of his Plan—who did he think he was, anyway, bringing in men to charm the ladies, as if the BC women were simply a herd of goats—she was really annoyed.

“Fourth, and finally,” Sam continued, “the last part of The Plan is for Ty to make it into BUD/S, get his Trident and spend the rest of his days, as long as he can, in every far-flung locale of the world, chasing bad guys. Setting his brothers free.” Sam looked thoughtful. “In another life, I do believe Ty would make the perfect assassin. He likes the loner lifestyle. Says he’s most at peace when he’s alone. Probably because he’s adopted, is his theory.”

Jade was stunned. She pulled her hand from Sam’s, took another sip of her water to calm her racing thoughts. “That doesn’t make sense. Ty was never alone. He was part of our family.”

“But that’s not how my brother feels. In his mind,” Sam said, pointing to his own head. “Ty says he’s alone. Got no family, got no one. Says it suits him fine. He was born alone, plans to die alone.”

“Is that so.” Jade hopped to her feet. “Well, I have something to say to Mr. Loner Spurlock about that. If you’ll excuse me, Sam.”

Ty Spurlock had another think coming if he thought his Plan was going to work on her. It wasn’t—and he wasn’t going to zip out of BC under cover of night and leave without her telling his majesty what a nonsensical dumb-ass he was.