His To Claim (The Westmoreland Legacy Book 4) Read online

  He reached out and caressed her cheek. “The same thing we agreed long ago to tell them if I never returned home. That I love them and will always love them. Just so you know, the same applies to their mother, as well. I love you.”

  Mac leaned down to kiss her. She knew it was supposed to be a brush of his lips against hers but the moment their lips touched, their passions were inflamed. It didn’t matter that water was still increasing around them. Nothing mattered but this kiss and she refused to believe this was their last.

  Mac finally broke off the kiss and whispered against moist lips, “And if you are pregnant, Teri, please let our son or daughter know I would have welcomed them into our world with all the love a father could give.”

  She fought back her tears. “Don’t do this to me, Mac. You just said that your teammates are coming. Are you now doubting their abilities?”

  “No. They are SEALs. They just might not have enough time to save us both and you are more important.”

  “Says who?”

  “Says me.” Then, in an unexpected move, he quickly pulled her up to sit upon his shoulders. She tried struggling free and he said, “Stay put or you’ll knock me off-balance and we’ll both drown.”

  “Don’t do this, Mac. Let me down.”

  “No.”

  Mac was six-foot-three and water had already reached the upper part of his chest. Had she remained standing beside him, it would be up to her neck now.

  It seemed the water was coming in faster and when she felt her backside get wet she knew the water was up to Mac’s shoulders. Tears she couldn’t hold back anymore began to flow.

  Then suddenly, when she knew the water was close to Mac’s neck, she heard him laugh out loud and say, “About time.”

  She glanced down from her place perched on Mac’s shoulders to see one of his teammates. Flipper. Where had he come from?

  “Whatever,” Flipper said. “Stop being an unappreciative ass.” He then glanced up at her and smiled. “Hi, Teri,” he greeted, like it was a normal thing to find them trapped in a mineshaft that was quickly filling with water.

  “How did you get in here?” she asked, needing to know. Mac had said they would be coming, but honestly, she truly hadn’t believed him.

  “We figured it would take longer to remove all the debris from the entrance, so they made an opening large enough for me to swim through,” Flipper explained. “We need to hurry up and leave out the same way. Here,” he said, handing her a snorkel mask and then giving Mac one, as well.

  “Where is yours?” she asked him.

  He gave her an arrogant smile, his blue eyes flashing. “I don’t need one. Now quickly put it on.”

  Teri did as he said, remembering Mac’s claim that Flipper, master diver, could hold his breath underwater longer than any human he knew.

  “You can release Teri off your shoulders now, Mac, to put on your mask.” The water was close to Mac’s face and he reluctantly released her to Flipper so he could put on his mask.

  “I will lead you guys out. Follow me. We need to be careful. Some of the pieces of debris floating around in the water have jagged edges.”

  Flipper dived into the water, and Mac motioned for Teri to follow. She dived in behind Flipper, knowing Mac was bringing up the rear.

  Eleven

  “I am so glad to see you guys,” Mac said to his friends. He was surprised to see Nick as well as Flipper’s four SEAL brothers. “I had no idea that the mine would flood.”

  “We didn’t, either,” Bane said, grateful their mission had been accomplished and Mac and Teri were safe.

  “Had we known we would have rescued you sooner. We’ve been here for two days,” Coop added.

  Mac lifted a brow. “Two days? Then what took you guys so long?” he asked.

  Viper’s shoulder lifted in a careless shrug. “We assisted the sheriff in finding a little boy. That took an entire day. Besides, your brain waves were signaling you were in a pretty calm state, so we figured you and Teri could use that time to work out a few issues.”

  “Oh, you did, did you?” Mac said, frowning deeply.

  “Yes, we did,” Bane replied. “When we talked to you the day you got here you were in a foul mood, already eating nails, shooting fire and ready to give your wife hell. We were hoping the time alone would help. Did it?”

  Mac glanced over at his wife, who was being checked by one of the first responders. Damn, he loved that woman. She’d been a real trouper and he could credit her with saving his life. He looked back at his friends. “Yes, but it will be an ongoing process, guys. I admit I’m seeing things in a different light, but...”

  “You’ll still resort to being an ass when the mood suits you,” Viper said, frowning.

  Mac gave Viper a daggered look. “You act like I enjoy being difficult.”

  “Don’t you?” Coop asked. “You’ve had plenty of time to clean up your act and accept Teri as your equal.”

  “I do accept her as my equal. Damn it, she saved my life in that mine,” he snapped out.

  Surprise and shock appeared on his friends’ faces. “She did?”

  “Yes.” He then told them what happened.

  “Wow,” Flipper said. “It’s a good thing you married a cowgirl with smarts. Some people would have freaked out.”

  Mac nodded. “Teri has a level head on her shoulders.”

  “She just doesn’t know how to spend your money, right?”

  Instead of waiting for his answer, his friends walked off.

  * * *

  Out of the corner of her eye, Teri had watched Mac talk to his friends. Even across the distance, she could feel the closeness he had with them was unlike what he had with her. Of course, it would be different since they were his friends and she was his wife, but he trusted them unequivocally. He trusted her but with conditions.

  She appreciated their time together in the mineshaft. They’d ironed out a number of things that had been eroding their marriage. But they still had work to do. She still had confessions to make. And she believed they would do that work because they loved each other and neither of them wanted what they had to end.

  Teri knew she still had to tell him about the ranch. She had been about to tell him when he’d detected something was wrong. Now she had to find time to discuss it with him. Right now, she was just glad they’d been rescued. She was ready to go home to their girls.

  First thing she wanted to do was check into a hotel and take a good bath and wash her hair. They’d been told the cabin had been destroyed and they would be allowed to go look through the rubble to recover any of their belongings. Then there was the issue of more clothes, which meant she and Mac needed to go shopping.

  For now, she didn’t want her husband out of her sight. She’d come close to losing him. They’d come close to losing each other and she was still having a hard time getting beyond that fact.

  “You’re free to go now, Ms. McRoy.”

  She glanced up at the first responder, who’d been treating the minor cuts on her arm from a piece of debris. “Thanks.”

  She stood and glanced back over at Mac. He was now standing alone and looking at her and doing so in such a way she could feel heat stir in the bottom of her stomach. No matter what, they had shared an experience in that mineshaft that would always be there, unifying them, bonding them.

  She broke eye contact with him and looked down at herself. She’d been given a blanket. His clothes were still wet and so were hers. They’d also been told the vehicles they’d driven to the ranch had been totaled. More bad news. The main ranch house had sustained a lot of damage and was now uninhabitable. But the good news was that Amsterdam and the other horse had survived the tornado. She’d been glad to hear that.

  “Ready to go to the hotel?”

  She looked at the man with the deep, husky voice. Her husband. “Ho
w will we leave?”

  He held up a key fob. “Bane left us his rental. I figured we could go get cleaned up, buy new clothes and then return to the cabin to see what we can recover. However, I have a feeling a lot of the stuff is lost.”

  She had a similar feeling about that. Luckily, she’d only brought a few things with her. “What about your things?”

  He shrugged. “All replaceable. Ready?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.” She had already thanked Mac’s teammates but wanted to thank them again. She looked round and didn’t see them anywhere. “Where did the guys go?”

  “They’re on their way back home.”

  She could understand that. Like Mac they’d returned to their homes only a few days ago from their last operation. Yet they’d left their families to come here to save her and Mac. And they had saved them. She and Mac had been just minutes away from drowning.

  “I really appreciated what they did, Mac. You are part of a wonderful team.” Teri figured he already knew that but wanted to speak the obvious anyway.

  “Yes, I am.”

  From Mac’s expression Teri could tell he, too, was filled with deep gratitude. They knew what the outcome would have been if Mac’s SEAL team hadn’t arrived when they had. And then for Nick Stovers and Flipper’s brothers to be included in the mix was super special. She truly appreciated everyone’s help.

  “Yes, I’m ready to leave. I need a bath and my hair needs washing.”

  “I’ll take care of both for you. Come on.” He took her hand and headed toward the waiting SUV.

  * * *

  Mac glanced over at his wife as he backed the vehicle out of the parking lot. Her eyes were closed and he figured it wouldn’t be long before she was asleep. She deserved to rest and he would be the first to say she’d been more than a great trouper. She’d been a real lifesaver. It was something he would never forget. His gut tightened at the thought of how she’d put her own life on the line. She had kept a level head and done what she needed to do.

  His friends had given him food for thought. But he’d been doing a lot of thinking long before they’d fed him any words. The problems in his marriage wouldn’t disappear with just a few days holed up in a mineshaft. It would take continuous work on their part. Especially on his.

  “Mac...”

  He glanced over at Teri when she said his name. She’d fallen asleep, so in sleep she was thinking about him. Such a thing touched him deeply. While at the hotel he intended to pamper her. What he hadn’t told her was that thanks to the wives of his teammates, certain arrangements had already been made.

  A smile touched his lips. He needed more time with his wife and intended to get all the time he could. They would be returning home to Virginia soon.

  When he stopped at a traffic light, he turned to look at her and saw how her head was resting against the back of the seat. Hair had fallen in her face and he couldn’t resist the temptation to reach out and brush a few dark curls back from her forehead. He didn’t stop there. The pad of his finger gently rubbed against her cheek. His action didn’t wake her, didn’t even make her stir. Instead she continued to sleep.

  He had a stop or two to make before they got to the hotel, one place in particular.

  * * *

  “We’re here, Teri.”

  Teri slowly opened her eyes. Yawning, she pulled up in her seat and looked through the car’s window. “Where are we?”

  “At a hotel in Cheyenne. All the ones in Torchlight were filled to capacity with so many first responders arriving. They still have a lot of people unaccounted for.”

  “I hope they find them. That first responder who treated me told me how your teammates helped find a little boy. That was special.” Easing her seat belt from around her waist, she asked, “Are you sure we can get a room here? The place looks full, if the parking lot is any indication.”

  “Don’t worry, we have a room.”

  Teri glanced over at him. Something about his words sent heat flowing through her. They had a room? It wasn’t what he’d said but how he’d said it that made certain areas within her stir. “Good.”

  “Stay put. I’ll be around to open the door for you, Teri.”

  Last time he’d given her such an order she’d defied him, but not this time. She was too tired to move just yet. Swimming out of that mine hadn’t been easy and she had been grateful for Flipper being in front of her and Mac at the rear. Paramedics had been there to check them over the moment they’d reached solid ground. In less than five minutes after they’d gotten out, the sheriff announced the mineshaft was filled with water from top to bottom and she’d known there was no way she and Mac would have survived.

  “Do you need me to carry you inside?”

  She glanced up at Mac. He’d come around the side of the car and opened the door for her. He had a store bag in his hand. “No, I can walk. You made a stop somewhere?” she asked. He reached out and circled her wrist with his long fingers. He was wearing another Stetson and she wondered where he’d gotten it when the one he’d purchased the day he’d arrived had been destroyed in the flood.

  Mac smiled. “Yes, I made a couple of stops. You slept through them.”

  “Oh. I guess I was more exhausted than I thought.”

  “You’ve been through a lot, Teri.”

  She glanced over at him as they walked inside the hotel. “We both have.”

  Teri noted that instead of checking in at the front desk, Mac led her over to the bank of elevators. It was a beautiful hotel, one of the well-known chains. The lobby was filled with a lot of fresh flowers. She didn’t know how long they’d driven to get here. This hotel wasn’t located in downtown Cheyenne but on the outskirts of town.

  “We don’t have to check in?”

  He looked down at her when they stepped inside the elevator. “No. The guys took care of it.”

  She wondered what else the guys had taken care of and found out when they reached their hotel room. A bottle of champagne was on ice with a card that said Compliments of Team Six. There was also a huge bag from the hotel’s gift shop and another bag from a well-known clothing store in the middle of the king-size bed.

  “What’s this?” she asked, moving toward the bed. Although the hotel room wasn’t a suite, she thought it was larger than most. It even had a small balcony instead of just a window. They were on the tenth floor and the balcony overlooked some of the most beautiful valleys and meadows she’d ever seen.

  “Clothes that my teammates’ wives ordered for you from a clothing store downtown. I told them what we needed and the sizes. The guys ordered clothes for me from one of those western outfitters in town. They picked everything up and delivered it here before heading out to the airport.”

  “Who? Your teammates?”

  “Yes, thank God for online shopping.”

  Teri was touched by what everyone had done. His teammates and their wives. Women she’d gotten to know. “That was truly nice of them, Mac.”

  “Yes, it was.” He tossed the bags he was carrying on the bed to join the others. “Now for your bath. You prefer the tub or a shower?”

  “The shower will be fine. That way I can wash my hair.” She went through one of the bags and pulled out a pair of jeans and a Western shirt. There were also underthings—bra and panties. She also had more boots and another hat. She looked at the tags on the clothing. Of course they were her size. When it came to her, Mac knew every single physical detail.

  She glanced over at him. “You did good in telling them what I needed.”

  “I try. Now go ahead and get started on your shower. I have an important call to make and I’ll be in there in a minute.”

  He would be in there in a minute? Did that mean he planned to join her in her shower? It wouldn’t be the first time if he did, so why did the thought of him doing such a thing arouse her with anticipation?r />
  “Oh, okay.” She grabbed the underthings from the bag and quickly headed for the bathroom.

  Twelve

  Mac hung up the phone after ordering room service from the hotel’s restaurant to be delivered in a few hours. He and Teri needed to go back to the cabin, search through the rubble to see if they could recover any of their belongings. But not today. They had more urgent and pressing business to attend to.

  Going over to the nightstand, he pulled open the drawer to retrieve the bag he’d kept separate from the others. Pulling out one of several condom packets, he headed for the bathroom.

  The room was steamy and although he couldn’t see her, he knew Teri was somewhere behind the opaque glass wall. He placed the condom on the vanity before stripping off his clothes. Reclaiming the packet, he moved toward the shower door. All he could think of was a naked Teri, that fine body of hers and how much he needed to sink into it.

  When he opened the door, she had her back to him with her head under the sprayer as she washed her hair. But the swoosh of air as the door opened must’ve alerted her that she was no longer alone. He saw her body tense and go still.

  “Mac?”

  “Who else would it be?” he asked, placing the condom packet in the soap compartment before easing up behind her.

  She relaxed her body against his. “Can’t ever be too sure. I’ve watched enough NCIS to reach that conclusion.”

  He started to tell her that was television fabricated for her enjoyment and then decided not to bother. If watching those shows kept her cautious whenever he was gone, then so be it. “Then rest assured it’s me, baby,” he said, bringing her body back against him and leaning close to whisper in her ear.

  “Okay, it’s you. I thought we decided we wouldn’t do this.”

  “Because you’re not on any birth control,” he said, using the tip of his tongue to lick against the side of her ear.