For Love or Duty
Growing up in the military is not always peaches and cream. Valerie knows it first hand. That's why she has spent an entire lifetime avoiding men in uniform. But meeting Captain Morgan is more than she counted on because he makes her laugh and shows her that sometimes love comes before duty.
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Yes! It's finally available! [and just to get this out of the way]
BUY LINKS!
SMASHWORDS, where all formats are available: ePub-for Nook, Mobi-for Kindle, pdf [and a few others].
AMAZON
BARNES and NOBLE
I want to thank my friends from Passionate Critters for being here with me.
Thanks to Debora Dennis, Jennifer Shirk, and Nina Croft for offering their books as giveaways.
Congratulations to Molly Mclain, Becky Doughty, and Moira Keith!
And to the one person who commented this week and won MY BOOK!
[hey! i have a book I can giveaway. LOL][drumroll please]
Mooshercat!
All of you. Thank you for sharing my excitement over this book. I've had such a fun time creating this story, my first ever that didn't involve dead bodies. It is truly a sweet romance. I smile because I think of movies like Return to Me and Fools Rush In. They made me laugh and cheer for Love.
I hope this book does the same for you...and that you'll come back for more, because
there's definitely more where this came from...
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EXCERPT
Two days later, Kevin slapped a small amount of cologne onto his neck and loosened the collar of his shirt. Tonight he had plans to loosen up and enjoy an hour of absolutely nothing. No meetings, no soldiers, no superiors or subordinates. A woman might be nice, but it had come to him recently that he needed to settle down and get serious about finding a wife. Ever since then, his desire to hook up had sorta disappeared.
Procrastination, probably. The thought of marriage had forced his brain to shutdown where women were concerned. What he needed was one last hoorah fling. Then he could go about the business of finding a wife. He'd pulled his black book and made lists of all the women he knew, separating them first by availability and then by characteristics.
The problem was they all liked him too much for a short fling.
If he could find a woman who didn’t even like him, he might be able to enjoy himself. No pressure. No expectations.
Valerie’s face with her hard, disapproving glances that had slid down her stuck up nose came to mind, and he grinned. Yeah, she’d be perfect. Not young. He didn’t want them so young they looked at him with stars in their eyes, like he was some kind of hero.
She was probably about his age, thirty or so. Maybe a little older.
Unfortunately, besides showing up at the convenient store, he had no way of finding her except to call Cheryl. Not an option. Calling Cheryl would surely make his conscience come to life and, after the weekend he had in the field, he could use some time out to relax for an evening--let off some steam.
He drove the short distance through town to his buddy’s restaurant. It wasn’t exactly a single’s bar, but he could still hope for a date. A date, he convinced himself, that could possibly lead to something else but not something more.
Good God! Who was he trying to convince? He could go on a date if he wanted without hearing wedding bells in the background.
He slammed his truck into park outside Dougherty’s Restaurant, took the stairs two at a time, and opened the front door for two young ladies. With a smile, he ushered them in. They giggled, making him cringe inside. He couldn’t help but be thankful the days of moony-eyed girls and courtship were over.
“Ladies.”
They laughed as they passed him and met up with two soldiers. The younger men apparently appealed to the women, and though Kevin tried to squeeze past without being seen, he caught the look of startled recognition before the men straightened. Don't salute. They didn't, but he could see they thought about it.
Now he felt old. “At ease, men. I’m on my own time, same as you are.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Kevin held in a groan as he continued toward the back of the rough-hewn, wood-floored room. At the rear was a pool table, standard fare with a few bar stools lining the walls. It wasn’t crowded, probably because it was Monday night.
A band played a mix of southern rock and grass roots blues on the small stage to the right of the front door. The rhythm of the drums and earthy sounds of the guitars convinced a few couples to the dance floor.
“Hey, Kevin, can I get you a beer?” Joe tended bar most nights, and though Kevin never thought of himself as a regular, he’d gotten to know the man. Liked him, too. His wife worked the kitchen, and together they ran a good show. Didn’t own the place, but maybe that’s what allowed them to relax on the weekends. Whatever, it worked.
Kevin leaned over an empty stool and tucked a five into the tip jar. “Sure. That sounds great.”
He turned his head, the urge to at least smile politely at the person next to him too strong to ignore. His jaw dropped as the scent of Valerie filled his nose—a subtle hint of vanilla mixed with the exotic scent of her perfume—and he locked his gaze on her suspiciously narrowed eyes. “Well, I’ll be danged.”
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ps to those who made it down this far. Giveaway for the first three commenters today. shhh... don't tell. :D
If you've made it this far, you've also noticed there isn't a BN link yet. Just a small glitch they don't tell you at the start of the process, but you can still get the epub and load it to your Nook manually through
Smashwords. I'll update as soon as I have a viable BN link. Enjoy FRIDAY. Enjoy the weekend.
With Love
Bethanne Strasser
