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

  She smiled up at him. “No, what do you think?”

  “That you’re the most beautiful woman I know.”

  * * *

  His words made Teri smile.

  She was fully aware that other women found her husband sexy and could understand them doing so. She was cognizant of walking into rooms where women nearly drooled when they saw him. And she could honestly say she had never felt threatened. Mac made it a point to assure her how much he loved her and how beautiful he thought was. He said he didn’t mind if his compliments ever went to her head.

  He leaned down close to her ear and whispered, “And you know what else I think?”

  “Um, you’re on a roll, so you might as well confess all.”

  He leaned closer. “I think you would look even more beautiful pregnant again.”

  She fought back tears. For him to say that meant he wanted to see her pregnant again. They had been using a condom for all their sexual encounters after being rescued. Was he hinting that he wanted to have unprotected sex with her again? That he was willing to not only risk her getting pregnant but also was hoping that she would be?

  “I’m on board if you are, Mac. It will take two for that to happen.”

  He cupped her face in his hands. “Then let’s get it on, Ms. McRoy.”

  He leaned down and kissed her breasts and when he did so, she closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. When he sucked a hardened nipple between his lips she felt her breasts swelling in his mouth, making her moan.

  When he pulled his mouth away, he said, “Not sure I’m ready to compete with my baby for these breasts, Teri.”

  Since she breastfed all her babies, she knew what he was referring to. “Poor baby.”

  He chuckled. “For some reason I don’t think your sympathy is sincere. That means I’m going to have to torture you for a while.”

  Teri knew all about Thurston McRoy’s type of torture. She didn’t want to admit it, but she loved it.

  “Please don’t.” Inwardly she hoped that he would.

  He bent down and licked his tongue across her stomach. When he did so, every cell inside her body flared to life. And when the tip of his tongue began swirling around her navel, she felt every nerve ending in her stomach flare to life. This was torment, and with every flick of his tongue she felt a pull, a tingling sensation between her legs.

  As if he sensed her predicament, he glanced up at her and smiled. “You haven’t felt anything yet, baby. Get ready. Here I come.”

  Getting down on his knees he stared down at the juncture of her thighs, and at that moment her legs began to quiver with the intensity of his gaze. He uttered a growl before leaning in and burying his mouth there.

  * * *

  Mac intended to show no mercy. Just pleasure. With that goal in mind, he used the tip of his tongue to stir a fervor within Teri, widening her thighs to capture the bud of her womanhood.

  He took his time and showed no signs of letting up, intending to pleasure her. Even if it took all night. Already she was rocking her body against his mouth. He had no problem with her doing that since the more she rocked, the deeper his tongue intended to go.

  Then he felt it, the first sign that she was about to come. Her thighs were quivering around him and when she suddenly threw her head back and screamed his name, he knew a maelstrom of pleasure was engulfing her. He could taste it.

  When her trembling ceased, he stood and pulled her into his arms, capturing her at the same time his hand settled right between those legs.

  “Now for something else going in here,” he said, after breaking off the kiss. Using his fingers, he began stroking her there.

  “You’re torturing me again, Mac,” she accused breathlessly.

  “Guilty as charged,” he whispered in her ear.

  And then he edged her closer to the bed and eased her down on her back and joined her there, sliding on top of her. Teri lifted her hips and Mac knew why and what she wanted.

  Deciding he’d teased her enough, he eased inside of her, and instinctively, she opened her legs. Then he began thrusting in and out, back and forth. She moaned his name when he increased his strokes and he felt her body shudder again beneath him.

  A growl escaped Mac’s throat when he became caught up in the same pleasure he was giving his wife. Over and over, their bodies worked in unison as her hips rose off the bed at the same time his came down on hers.

  “Mac!” She screamed his name when they both exploded in an earth-shattering climax that seemed never-ending.

  He kissed her, slowly recovering from the effects of one hell of an orgasm and knew that before the night ended, there would be more, and all just as powerful.

  Sixteen

  Teri glanced across the table at Mac as they enjoyed breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant. “What do you mean we aren’t going home today?”

  Mac smiled. “That’s what I mean. Do you know that of all the days we’ve spent together this week, not a single one has been relaxing?”

  She raised a brow, remembering all the hours spent in his arms making love. “So, you don’t consider any of our time together relaxing?”

  “I’m not talking about the lovemaking, Teri. I’m talking about just normal, uneventful time with you where we aren’t trapped in mineshafts or you’re not risking your life saving little girls or you’re not showing me our future on the ranch. I want to go out and do something. Together. You like this area? Then show me why. The only time I’ve been to Dallas is when we came for Flipper’s mom’s birthday celebration. I didn’t get to see much of it then.”

  Teri smiled, glad Mac was truly interested in the area she called home. “There’s really a lot to do here. I can show you all my favorite places.”

  “Then let’s spend the day together. When we go back up to our room, you can map out places for us to visit.”

  Teri appreciated Mac’s thoughtfulness. Although he’d told her that he was looking forward to moving to Terrell, what he’d just said meant that he truly was. She would include getting together with Flipper and Swan in their plans since they were still in Dallas visiting Flipper’s family.

  After changing into more comfortable clothes and shoes, they hit the streets. They walked and checked out the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, a museum dedicated to the life and death of President John F. Kennedy. Since she was a history major, she was able to tell Mac a lot of things she figured he hadn’t known.

  They went to several other museums and the botanical gardens, as well. Holding hands, they walked through the gardens with rows and rows of both flowering and nonflowering plants.

  “Do you think the girls will have a problem leaving their friends?” he asked her when they left the gardens to head out to the Reunion Tower.

  She was excited about taking him on the high-speed elevator ride that went to the top in sixty-eight seconds. It had always been a fun place for her while growing up.

  “I think they will at first, but I also think they’ll love it here and make new friends. I can’t wait for them to see it,” she said.

  “Neither can I.”

  After visiting a number of other sights, they drove into Terrell, and she took him around town. News had traveled fast about her buying back her family farm and everywhere they went people told her how glad they were that she’d decided to move back home. They visited her old high school and she even took him to the rodeo school where she’d learned to rope her first calf.

  She knew Mac had an ulterior motive for wanting to meet some of the people in Terrell. He would be gone for long periods of time during covert operations and needed the peace of mind that she would have a similar network of friends in Terrell like she had in Virginia. He soon saw that this was home for her and everyone in the area around the ranch knew her and looked forward to her return. He mentioned that he was glad Flipper’s parents lived
close by, too, in Dallas.

  Teri was happy, too. She was excited to meet Flipper and Swan for lunch. The couple were thrilled to hear that Teri and Mac had bought back the ranch that had been in Teri’s family for years. Flipper and Swan had their own good news to share. They were expecting their first child. Teri was happy for them. She would never forget how Flipper had risked his life by swimming into that flooded mineshaft to save them.

  Later, on the drive back to the hotel that evening from Terrell, she tried calling Mac’s parents to check on the kids. When she didn’t get an answer, she turned to Mac. “That’s odd.”

  He looked over at her when he brought the car to a traffic light. “What is?”

  “I can’t reach the folks.”

  “What’s odd about that? This isn’t a school night so they probably took the kids out for pizza or something. You know how the girls wrap them around their fingers.”

  Teri chuckled. “If anybody knows about their ability to wrap someone around their fingers it would be you. The girls have you wrapped so tight it isn’t funny.”

  “Whatever. And about it being not funny, you don’t hear me laughing, do you?”

  Teri smiled. “Although I totally enjoyed our time together today, I really miss the kids.”

  “I do, too, and I enjoyed our time together, as well. We need to do it more often. How does the idea of date night sound?”

  “It sounds great and the Wilkersons’ daughter turns seventeen this year, and old enough to babysit for us. She’s smart and levelheaded.”

  Once they got back to the hotel, they stopped at the ice-cream shop and enjoyed a bowl of ice cream together. When they reached their hotel room, Mac opened the door and then stepped aside for Teri to walk in ahead of him.

  “Mommy! Daddy!”

  A surprised Teri shrieked upon seeing the girls and raced across the room to give them hugs. She gave her in-laws hugs, as well. She then turned to Mac. “You arranged this?”

  He grinned as he walked across the room to give her a hug, since she was obviously in a huggy mood. “Yes. I knew that although you were enjoying my company, you were missing the girls as much as I was. I called Mom and Dad after you went to sleep last night and made arrangements to get them here.”

  “That’s why you kept me away all day?” she asked, grinning back at him.

  “No, I kept you away because I wanted to spend time with you,” he said, leaning in and kissing her across the lips.

  “Do we really have a ranch, Mommy?”

  “Will we have horses?”

  “And plant our own food to eat?”

  “And make new friends?”

  All the questions came at them from the girls seemingly at once. Together Mac and Teri answered each and every one of them to the best of their ability, although the reply to a number of them was “We’ll just have to wait and see.” It was important to them that their girls looked forward to making the move as much as they did.

  “So when can we see this ranch?” Mac’s father asked, and Teri could hear the excitement in his voice.

  “Tomorrow,” Mac said, wrapping his arm around Teri’s waist. “I talked to the owners and they are looking forward to showing you around.”

  “And it’s the house where you lived as a little girl, Mommy?” Tia asked her.

  Teri smiled down at her daughter. “Yes.” She wished she could tell Tia about her and Mac’s plan to get her a horse, but she knew it would be a surprise. Tia had a birthday coming up and that would be soon enough to share the news.

  School would be out for the summer in three weeks and they intended to put their current home up for sale and begin packing. They hoped to be settled in at the ranch before school started in the fall.

  That night when they went to bed, Mac held her in his arms. He had arranged for the girls and his folks to have a hotel room next door with a connecting door. It was hard to deny Tasha when she wanted to stay and sleep with them, and Teri was surprised Mac couldn’t be charmed by their youngest daughter. Usually he would give in to her, but this time he didn’t. He told Tasha that she needed to stay with her grandparents because Mommy and Daddy needed time by themselves together. Teri could tell Tasha didn’t agree, but she left with her grandparents anyway.

  “Thanks for bringing them here,” she said to Mac when they were alone in bed. She wasn’t dumb. At some point during the night Tasha would get out of bed and knock on the connecting door. And when she did, Mac would get out of bed, open the door and let their daughter into their bed to sleep with them.

  “You were missing them and so was I. Besides, the folks wanted to see the ranch. It was the perfect time.”

  “And your parents are perfect with them.”

  “I have to agree with that,” he said. “I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of them once we move to the ranch.”

  “I hope we do. We’ll have plenty of space at the house, or they might prefer one of the cabins for privacy. One thing is for certain, we’ll have plenty of room.”

  “We will definitely have that.” He then pulled her deeper into his arms.

  When he leaned down and kissed her, every part of her yearned for him, aching in a way that had the area between her legs throbbing unmercifully. “I hope you know sooner or later we’re going to get a little knock on that door. Tasha never takes ‘no’ as an answer, especially when it comes from her daddy. You know what that means, right?” she asked Mac.

  He grinned. “Yes, I know what that means. We don’t have any time to waste.”

  Mac pulled her to him and kissed her, and she nearly drowned in the masculine essence of him. Something he always said rang through her mind.

  She was his to claim. Now. Forever. Always.

  Epilogue

  Five months later

  Bane Westmoreland opened the door and smiled at the couple standing on his doorstep. With the arrival of Mac and Teri, all his team members were accounted for.

  “About time you guys got here,” Bane said, leaning over to give a very pregnant Teri a kiss.

  “Stop complaining,” Mac said. “Teri doesn’t move as fast these days as she used to.”

  Teri glanced over at her husband and frowned. “Don’t you dare blame me for us being late, Mac, when you refused to move from in front of the television until that football game was over. I tried to get you to leave the hotel an hour ago.”

  Bane shook his head since it was obvious Teri was in a tiff about it. “I see it’s business as usual with you two.”

  “Not exactly,” Mac said, grinning and wrapping an arm around his wife’s protruding stomach. “We found out yesterday before leaving home that we’re having twins. Both boys.”

  “Congratulations!” Bane said, happy for his friends. “Now, get inside so everyone can congratulate you two, as well. Six kids. Wow!”

  Mac grinned proudly. “Yeah, that’s what I say. Wow! The good thing is my folks love the ranch and are crazy about the cabin we’re giving them. They will move in soon. Mom’s going to be a big help to Teri and our six kids while I’m away.”

  Bane nodded, smiling. “Sounds like you two have things worked out. After having only three kids I understand how important extra help is.”

  Mac, Teri and the girls had moved to their ranch in Texas a couple of months ago. Of course the SEAL team members had been there to help. Their ranch would be a horse ranch, and thanks to Bane’s family, who owned a horse breeding and training company, already several horses had been added. Like Coop’s ranch, Mac’s would also serve as a horse depot that housed the animals before they were shipped off to be trained. There was even some discussion about later making Mac’s ranch an official horse training site. The partnership was proving to be a financial incentive for Mac and Teri.

  Since Mac was still on active duty, one of the Westmorelands’ foremen, who wanted to move clos
er to his son, daughter-in-law and grandkids in Dallas, had accepted the job as Mac’s foreman. The McRoys’ ranch had been named Timberlake, a joint effort by their daughters.

  Mac had surprised his wife last month. On her birthday, he had given Teri a special gift. A horse. Namely, Amsterdam. Upon discovering how much the horse had meant to Teri, Mac had bought it from the owners of the Torchlight Dude Ranch. Mac had also bought horses for each of his daughters.

  Tonight they were all gathered to help Bane and Crystal celebrate their move to their new home on “Bane’s Ponderosa,” his stretch of land in Westmoreland country. Once Mac and Teri were inside, no introductions had to be made. Bane’s teammates knew all of his family members, those living in Denver, Atlanta, Texas and Montana. They also knew the Westmorelands from Alaska—who went by the last name of Outlaw.

  Also present tonight was the newly elected local sheriff, Peterson Higgins, better known to everyone as Pete. Pete had been best friend to Bane’s brother Riley and Bane’s cousin Derringer since grade school and was like a member of the Westmoreland family.

  Bane and Crystal circulated around the room and Bane couldn’t help noticing that the two senators in the family, Reggie Westmoreland and Jess Outlaw, had their heads together discussing a piece of legislation they intended to pass with the help of their colleagues.

  A couple of other Outlaws—Garth and Cash—were talking with Bane’s brothers Dillon and Canyon and his cousin Riley, hashing out how their two companies, the Outlaw Shipping Company and the Westmoreland Land Management Company, could benefit each other.

  In another corner of the room, Teri was getting tips about what to expect with the birth of her multiples from Bane’s wife, Crystal, and Nick’s wife, Natalie, both mothers of triplets, and Bane’s brother Jason’s wife, Bella, who had twins.

  Bane was happy for Mac and Teri. Mac would be retiring as a SEAL in a couple of years to become a full-time rancher and Bane knew his friend was looking forward to it. With Teri and six kids, Mac would certainly have a lot of help.