Colonel Daddy

A short breath shot into her lungs and caught. “I know.” Of course she knew. Wasn’t that what had been driving her quietly insane for the last month? Wasn’t that why she was wearing a path in his linoleum? Wasn’t that why she felt like crying, for goodness’ sake?

Another long minute passed in silence. Finally Thomas said, “Then you know what the answer to all this is.”

She held her breath again and absently wondered if all of this breath holding would hurt a baby currently no bigger than a peanut.

“I would be honored if you would consent to marry me, Kate.”

That pent-up breath exploded from her in a rush. Even though she had half suspected he would do exactly this, she was still almost shocked to hear the words out loud.

Marriage.

She should be happy, damn it.

Over the past three years, she’d secretly clung to the hope that one day, he would propose to her. Of course, she had also hoped that a little thing like love would prompt his proposal. Instead, it was duty and responsibility guiding the oh-so-honorable man in front of her.

No orange blossoms, candlelight and soft music for them, she mused. Nope. Marine green and Duty.

Lord, how romantic.

She lifted one hand and rubbed at a spot between her eyes, hoping to ease the throbbing headache centered there.

It didn’t help.

Kate knew he was right. Their getting married was the only possible solution. But her heart cringed at the notion of a dutiful marriage.

How strange. She’d managed to avoid marriage and motherhood all of her adult life. Now suddenly she was jumping feet first into both.

“Kate?” Tom asked, watching as her expressive face displayed each of her emotions in turn. “This is the best way. The only way.”

She nodded stiffly, but he could see she wasn’t convinced.

“Kate, this can work,” he said, walking across the room to her side. Hands on her shoulders, he held her gently but firmly, ignoring the sudden, white-hot jolt of desire that shot through him like a mortar blast. If she accepted his proposal, there would be plenty of time to indulge in the passion they shared. “We like each other. We get along well.”

“Like,” she repeated numbly and crossed her arms in front of her before letting her gaze slide from his.

He cupped her face in his palm and turned her back to look at him. “This will work,” he repeated, warming to his theme. Sure, he’d never intended to get married again. One failure in that department had been more than enough for Tom Candello. And here was another chance to show the world what lousy fathers the Candello men made. Like his own dad before him, Tom had failed at fatherhood. And the thought of another failure wasn’t a pretty one. But this was a special circumstance. Kate was pregnant. With his baby. Their child. He couldn’t let her down.

She needed him.

And for now, that was enough.

On that thought, he suggested, “Think about this as if it’s a Corps assignment, Kate.”

“What?”

“We’re fellow officers. We like each other. We understand each other’s work.”

She smiled sadly. “Not much to base a marriage on, Thomas.”

“More than some people have,” he said, and smoothed her hair back behind her ear.

“And less than others.”

He knew what she was talking about. Love. Well, love wasn’t something he was interested in. Desire at least was honest. And he did desire her. Plus he genuinely liked her. Wasn’t that better than some indefinable emotion that broke as many hearts as it healed?

Stroking her cheekbone with the pad of his thumb, he said quietly, “Love’s not all it’s cracked up to be, Kate. I believe we can have a better-than-average marriage just by keeping love out of it. We’ll still manage to raise our child in a happy enough environment.”

Kate stared up at him for a long, thoughtful moment. The knot in her throat seemed to grow to colossal proportions, threatening to choke off her air entirely. His words keep repeating themselves over and over in her mind, like a tape stuck on Playback. “Keep love out of it. Happy enough environment. Better than average marriage.”

Not at all what she’d secretly yearned for the moment she’d first laid eyes on Colonel Thomas Candello. But fantasies and dreams had to give way to the realities of life...didn’t they?

And the cold, harsh reality was...she was pregnant. She was a Marine. And without the Corps she would have nothing to offer either herself or her child.

Because she really did have no choice at all here, she finally said, “All right, Thomas. I will marry you.”

He let out a pent-up breath and pulled her to him. As he wrapped his arms around her, Kate let herself lean against him, drawing on the strength he was offering her. Hoping they were doing the right thing.

For the baby and for them.

All she knew for sure was that the man she loved was marrying her—not because he couldn’t live without her—but because of a baby neither of them had counted on.

Two

“Now that that’s settled,” he whispered against the top of her head, “how about dinner tonight? We can talk about the specifics.”

Kate pulled back from him, despite the reluctance to leave the circle of his arms. Staring up into those dark brown eyes, she repeated, “Specifics.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Wedding date. Place. Time. Guests.”

“Oh, my,” she muttered, and shook her head. “Suddenly this is getting so involved. So complicated.”

“Would you prefer a whirlwind trip to Vegas?”

“Do I detect a hint of surliness in your tone?” she countered.

He frowned, walked to his desk and leaned one hip against the edge. “Not surly. Confused.”

“Join the club,” she muttered. For pity’s sake, she’d hardly gotten used to the idea of being pregnant. Not to mention his spur-of-the-moment proposal. Now she was supposed to pull out a pad of paper and eagerly make out a guest list?

Come on. Even Wonder Woman would have needed a few days.

He folded his arms across his chest, cocked his head to one side and looked at her as though she was a particularly intriguing germ on a glass slide under a microscope. “I don’t get it.”

“What?” Stupid question.

“This about-face,” he said. “A minute ago, we agreed that a marriage was the only answer. You did say yes, didn’t you?”

She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Of course I said yes...”