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The Cowboy SEAL's Triplets

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Год написания книги
2019
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“And yet he’s handling me just fine,” Daisy said, and that shut John up for the space of five blissful minutes.

Of course, John had to start fielding calls on his cell phone. From the backseat, she could hear him gossiping about today’s wedding plans. He told everyone who called that she and Sam were running off—which of course brought on a flurry of phone calls, all of which John seemed pleased to discuss in laborious detail. Daisy’s nerves were stretched tight, and Sam looked positively unlike himself.

Handsome Sam had turned into a shadow of his former devil-may-care self.

Daisy was relieved when Sam finally pulled up in Vegas. He’d found a quaint little chapel, a white incongruous place that didn’t shout Elvis.

“I’ll take the groom in and tidy him up,” John said jovially, and Daisy snapped, “Fine.”

“Ooh, bridal nerves,” John whispered to Sam, but he made sure his whisper carried. “I think she’s got ’em bad!”

She was going to clock John Lopez Mathison a good one if he didn’t take his annoying self far from her. A delicate, elderly woman approached. “You must be the bride.”

“Not today,” Daisy said. “I’ll give you five hundred dollars if you sneak me out of here and keep those two hunky cowboys I came in with busy long enough for me to get to the nearest airport.”

* * *

KNOWING THE FIRST place Sam and John would look for her was Bridesmaids Creek or Branch Winters’s place in Montana, Daisy took herself somewhere she knew she was totally safe. She went to New York, waited a day for her father to overnight her passport, and flew out to Australia, where Robert Donovan had recently purchased properties. It was a great excuse to check out the real estate, which made her father happy, but most of all, it gave Daisy time to think through her situation.

For a girl who loved riding fast on her motorcycle, her life had become way too fast-paced. She was going to be a mother. It was time to sit and think, figure out what she was going to do. Here she was completely safe from the game-playing duo of John and Sam.

She put a hand on her stomach as she looked out over the Sydney skyline. John had never suspected the baby was his—which had annoyed the heck out of her, but they’d been completely faithful about using condoms, so she guessed she could understand why he might assume the baby was Sam’s.

Then again, he was still an ass. She might have been wild, but she’d never been promiscuous, and John knew that. Part of her wondered if Sam would tell him the truth—but one never knew with Sam. He marched to the beat of his own unseen drummer, one that played a tune no one could predict.

It would all work out. She had to believe that. To think otherwise would mean giving up on the BC magic—something she would never do. Her father owned buildings around the world; she could live anywhere she liked. But Bridesmaids Creek was home.

And that’s where her baby would be born.

She just needed to let the smoke clear. Once John and Sam cooled their jets, she’d return.

It was time to make up for her part in the problems in BC—and she’d never been a girl to back down from what she knew had to be done.

She couldn’t wait to get started.

* * *

“THAT’S THE FUNNIEST story I ever heard!” Sheriff Dennis slapped his thigh, causing the biggest frown he could muster to crease John’s face. Cosette Lafleur and Jane Chatham didn’t appear to be any less amused by the tale of Daisy ditching both him and Sam at the altar, so this was just one more BC legend John was going to have to live down.

He didn’t mind admitting that he didn’t understand Daisy. He prided himself on being able to catch anything that moved on the planet—anything. He’d been an excellent sniper—hence Squint, short for Squint-Eye—he’d been proud to protect his fellow countrymen. He had no trouble bagging any kind of game, and horseshoes and hand grenades were right up his tree of fun.

But the sexy brunette with the key to his soul—she confounded him. Eluded him, and stunned him. He’d had every intention of making her go all the way up to the altar with Sam, for the sheer pleasure of watching her back out at the last second.

Oh, she’d backed out big-time. They were lucky she hadn’t taken the truck and stranded them in Sin City.

One day he’d have to thank her for not doing that. He couldn’t really have blamed her if she had.

The worst part was nobody knew where she’d gone—or if they did, they sure as heck weren’t telling. John sent a sour look to his booth mates at The Wedding Diner.

“One of you has to know something. She couldn’t have just disappeared.”

The three haphazard matchmakers shook their collective heads in the negative.

“You won’t find her, wherever she went,” Cosette said. “Robert’s got ventures all around the world. Last I heard, he’d bought up something in Shanghai.” She frowned. “Or maybe it was Bangkok.”

John tipped his hat back. “It’s all my fault, anyway. If she wants peace and quiet, she should get all she wants.”

“Your fault?” Dennis asked.

“Yeah. I pushed her.” He sighed. “Sam’s mad as the dickens at me, too. He said I was being a louse, and that he was doing his very best to get me moving.”

“To be fair, Daisy never gave you a whole lot of encouragement until lately.”

“I wish I could use that as an excuse, but I can’t.” Since she’d seduced him in Montana—or had he seduced her?—it had all happened so fast and seemed so beneficially organic.

“It’s funny how we used to call her the Diva of Destruction.” Sheriff Dennis laughed. “That seems a long time ago now.”

Daisy was still a diva to him—the Diva of Delights. They couldn’t understand how mad he was about her, had been from the moment he’d laid eyes on her zooming around on her motorcycle.

“Patience has never been a virtue of mine.”

They laughed. “Nor ours,” Cosette said.

“In the meantime,” Jane said, “you can be our fall guy. Just until Daisy gets back. She will come back one day, you know.”

“Fall guy?” He perked up. This sounded distinctly dangerous. One didn’t sign up to be a fall guy in Bridesmaids Creek willy-nilly. This crew could think up some wingdingers.

Jane nodded. “We need you to find out whose baby Daisy is having. We must be prepared.”

The blood left John’s head. “Whose baby?” He couldn’t bear thinking about it. “I thought they were just making up that tale.”

The ladies looked at him, concerned. “Daisy’s really expecting,” Jane said.

He sat dumbfounded, shell-shocked.

After a moment, Jane sighed and went on. “Well, it’s clear Daisy thinks she’s going to do this all on her own. She’s just that kind of independent woman. Goodness knows she doesn’t need a man for financial reasons.” Jane shook her head. “If that’s not your baby—”

“I’m afraid not.” His ears were ringing, to go with the light-headedness assailing him. He couldn’t bear to think of Daisy even kissing another man, much less having a baby! “Do you have anything stronger than tea, Jane?”

The three gentle folk looked at him with grave concern.

“I keep some whiskey in the back for after hours,” Jane whispered. “On occasion, our close-knit group likes to sit in one of the circular booths and enjoy a small tipple.”

“I could use a small tipple.” John couldn’t imagine Daisy being held in another man’s arms. Oh, Sam had tried to make him jealous, but no one was jealous of Handsome Sam.

But he hadn’t thought through the fact that Daisy might be with child by another man.

“We’re wondering if Branch Winters did more than reroute Daisy’s brain,” Dennis said, and cold and hot swamped John in nauseating waves. “Something happened up there, something big.”
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