Hold On (Delos Series Book 5) Read online

  Hold On

  Lindsay McKenna

  Praise for Lindsay McKenna

  “A treasure of a book … highly recommended reading that everyone will enjoy and learn from.”

  —Chief Michael Jaco, US Navy SEAL, retired, on Breaking Point

  “Readers will root for this complex heroine, scarred both inside and out, and hope she finds peace with her steadfast and loving hero. Rife with realistic conflict and spiced with danger, this is a worthy page-turner.”

  —BookPage.com on Taking Fire

  March 2015 Top Pick in Romance

  “… is fast-paced romantic suspense that renders a beautiful love story, start to finish. McKenna’s writing is flawless, and her story line fully absorbing. More, please.”

  —Annalisa Pesek, Library Journal on Taking Fire

  “Ms. McKenna masterfully blends the two different paces to convey a beautiful saga about love, trust, patience and having faith in each other.”

  —Fresh Fiction on Never Surrender

  “Genuine and moving, this romantic story set in the complex world of military ops grabs at the heart.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Risk Taker

  “McKenna does a beautiful job of illustrating difficult topics through the development of well-formed, sympathetic characters.”

  —Publisher’s Weekly (starred review) on Wolf Haven

  One of the Best Books of 2014, Publisher’s Weekly

  “McKenna delivers a story that is raw and heartfelt. The relationship between Kell and Leah is both passionate and tender. Kell is the hero every woman wants, and McKenna employs skill and s empathy to craft a physically and emotionally abused character in Leah. Using tension and steady pacing, McKenna is adept at expressing growing, tender love in the midst of high stakes danger.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Taking Fire

  “Her military background lends authenticity to this outstanding tale, and readers will fall in love with the upstanding hero and his fierce determination to save the woman he loves.

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Never Surrender

  One of the Best Books of 2014, Publisher’s Weekly

  “Readers will find this addition to the Shadow Warriors series full of intensity and action-packed romance. There is great chemistry between the characters and tremendous realism, making Breaking Point a great read.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “This sequel to Risk Taker is an action-packed, compelling story, and the sizzling chemistry between Ethan and Sarah makes this a good read.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Degree of Risk

  “McKenna elicits tears, laughter, fist-pumping triumph, and most all, a desire for the next tale in this powerful series.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Running Fire

  “McKenna’s military experience shines through in this moving tale … McKenna (High Country Rebel) skillfully takes readers on an emotional journey into modern warfare and two people’s hearts.”

  —Publisher’s Weekly on Down Range

  “Lindsay McKenna has proven that she knows what she’s doing when it comes to these military action/romance books.”

  —Terry Lynn, Amazon on Zone of Fire.

  “At no time do you want to put your book down and come back to it later! Last Chance is a well written, fast paced, short (remember that) story that will please any military romance reader!”

  —LBDDiaries, Amazon on Last Chance.

  Also available from

  Lindsay McKenna

  Blue Turtle Publishing

  DELOS

  Last Chance, prologue novella to Nowhere to Hide

  Nowhere To Hide, Book 1

  Tangled Pursuit, Book 2

  Forged in Fire, Book 3

  2016

  Broken Dreams, Book 4

  Cowboy Justice Bundle/Blind Sided, Bundle 2, novella

  Secret Dream, novella epilogue to Nowhere to Hide

  Hold On, Book 5

  Hold Me, novella epilogue to Hold On

  Unbound Pursuit, novella epilogue to Tangled Pursuit

  Dog Tags for Christmas Bundle/Snowflake’s Gift, Bundle 3, novella

  2017

  Never Enough, novella epilogue to Forged in Fire

  Dream of Me, novella epilogue to Broken Dreams

  Harlequin/HQN/Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  SHADOW WARRIORS

  Danger Close

  Down Range

  Risk Taker

  Degree of Risk

  Breaking Point

  Never Surrender

  Zone of Fire

  Taking Fire

  On Fire

  Running Fire

  THE WYOMING SERIES

  Shadows From The Past

  Deadly Identity

  Deadly Silence

  The Last Cowboy

  The Wrangler

  The Defender

  The Loner

  High Country Rebel

  Wolf Haven

  Night Hawk

  Out Rider

  WIND RIVER VALLEY SERIES, Kensington

  2016

  Wind River Wrangler

  2017

  Wind River Rancher

  Wind River Cowboy

  Hold On

  Copyright © 2016 by Nauman Living Trust

  ISBN: 978-1-929977-32-1

  Kindle Edition

  Excerpt from Hold Me

  Copyright © 2016 by Nauman Living Trust

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Blue Turtle Publishing, PO Box 2513, Cottonwood, AZ 86326 USA

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Blue Turtle Publishing

  www.lindsaymckenna.com

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to the Delos Series! Hold On is Book 5, a big book that is about Callie McKinley and Beau Gardner. Hold On is about Army Delta Force operator, Sergeant Beau Gardner and Callie McKinley. If you read Forged in Fire, then you met Callie because she was the younger sister to Dr. Dara McKinley.

  Callie spends six months of the last five years at Hope Charity in Kabul, Afghanistan. She helps to take care of fifty young Afghan children. Her hobby is belly dancing and at the Thanksgiving USO show at Bagram Army Base, she and Callie bring the house down with their belly dancing routines. And that is where Beau Gardner, who is on Matt Culver’s team, falls for her.

  And when he goes to the charity to help out, but also to meet Callie, he hits a proverbial brick wall. Callie knows he’s chasing her. She’s tired of military men running her down out of lust just to get her in bed with them. Beau, however, sees much deeper into fiery, redhead, Callie, and he goes about proving it. Just as they connect, the next day they are going out to a ‘safe’ Afghan village to render medical aid. On the way there, Dara, Callie, Matt Culver and Beau, are ambushed.

  Beau is willing to give his life to get Callie back to safety, but there is a daunting thirty-five miles between them and protection. Can he get her home? Will they be attacked? Beau is falling in love with the courageous civilian who doesn’t quit and does everything he asks of her. Is there a future for them?

  Let me hear from you about the Delos series. Happy reading!
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  Dedication

  To my readers, worldwide, who loved Morgan’s Mercenaries. Thank you for supporting this 45-book family saga-series! Now, you have a NEW one to read … Delos series! I hope you fall in love with the Culver family as you did with the Trayhern family. Happy reading!

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Praise for Lindsay McKenna

  Also available from Lindsay McKenna

  Copyright Page

  Dear Reader

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Excerpt from Hold Me

  The Books of Delos

  Everything Delos!

  CHAPTER 1

  Sergeant Beau Gardner wasn’t Delta Force for nothing. Black ops sometimes required stealthy moves, and after seeing fiery redhead Callie McKinley belly dancing for the troops at Bagram, he set his sights on her. Of course, four thousand other salivating, panting males wanted her, too. Dara McKinley, a tall, gorgeous blonde, and Callie, her younger sister, had sent every man in the chow hall into erotic spasms as they watched the women’s pulse-raising belly dances.

  Of course, his team was with him, and their leader, Sergeant Matt Culver, had already set his sights on the blonde, so that was one sister off the table. Beau didn’t care; he really wanted that green-eyed beauty who’d danced into his heart as she twisted, turned, and swayed to the music in her purple and silver costume.

  Callie had taken the fast dance, whereas Dara had performed a slow, sensuous version. It was Callie’s flashing green eyes, wicked smile, and gyrating hips that had sent the men leaping to their feet, wolf-whistling, clapping, and yelling their approval. These women certainly knew how to bring the house down, big-time.

  Beau had been at Bagram for five deployments in a row with the same Delta Force team, and the two gals and their sensational belly dances were a welcome relief during an otherwise depressing Thanksgiving holiday, when all present were half a globe away from their families. As Beau watched Callie’s full breasts, flared hips, and statuesque body swaying before him, he decided he had to meet her—one way or another.

  Oh, he wasn’t fooled. He knew there would be a hundred or so men crowding that hall to the room where the women would be changing into their regular clothes afterward. They’d be knocking on the door repeatedly, calling out their names, asking them out to dinner, lunch, or whatever they might want.

  Beau grinned and enjoyed the rest of the sisters’ act. He knew all the guys, including him, really appreciated that the women had given up their time to come here and entertain them. They didn’t have to, and in Beau’s heart of hearts, he tried to tamp down his own lust. But not having a woman for nine months was a monk’s choice, not his.

  If his ma, Amber Gardner, could have read his mind, she’d have boxed his ears proper and sent him to sit in the corner like a dunce. A wolfish smile tugged at his lips. Good thing she was in Black Mountain, West Virginia, and he was here in Afghanistan! Beau always liked a challenge.

  Two days later, Beau had done enough sleuthing to find out all about Callie McKinley. She was a volunteer with an NGO named the Hope Charity. She worked at a Kabul orphanage five days a week and lived here on base on weekends. There was a section of B-huts for women, which was where she stayed when not working, and Beau was able to find out exactly which B-hut was hers.

  He wasn’t about to show up on the porch of her B-hut and introduce himself, because that would be too pushy. No, he needed a better mousetrap than that.

  Given that it was Thanksgiving week, and blizzards were dumping snow on the mountains twenty-five miles north of Bagram, causing havoc with flights, the folks on the base were pretty much on vacation.

  His captain had released Matt’s entire team for the next seven days, but they couldn’t go anywhere other than Afghanistan. However, Beau saw that as a golden opportunity. He also found out that Matt Culver was already playing security guard at the orphanage because he had his eye on Dr. Dara McKinley.

  Beau decided to corner him in the locker room when Matt returned to base. Beau was catnapping in the locker room when Culver waltzed in later that night.

  “Hey, bro,” Beau mumbled, rousing himself.

  “You still here?” Matt asked, surprised. He went to his locker and opened it up.

  “Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about your extracurricular activities at the Hope Charity.” He stood up, stretched like a lazy cougar, and walked over to the other wall of lockers, where Matt stood. “You’re taking those two belly-dancing gals to that charity every day, right?”

  Matt grinned and sat down on a bench, untying his combat boots. “Yeah. So what?”

  Beau straddled the bench. “So, I’d like to meet Callie McKinley.”

  Matt gave his friend an amused look. “She’ll turn you down, partner.”

  “Is she married?”

  “No. Dara says she’s single, and there’s no one special in her life right now.” He pulled off the boots, tossed them into his locker, and pulled out a set of Nikes. “You got that look in your eyes, Gardner. That never bodes well for me. And right now I’m connecting with Dara, and I don’t want you messing things up for me.”

  Beau gave his friend a wry grin. “Naw, I wouldn’t do that to you, Matt. I got my sights set on Callie. You can have Dara. She’s a fine-lookin’ woman, but not my type.”

  “Yeah,” Matt huffed, shaking his head. “She’s brainy as hell—and the biggest worrywart I’ve ever met.” And then he flashed Beau a grin. “But that hasn’t stopped me.”

  “I want to drop by tomorrow at the orphanage to casually offer my security services. Might be a good way to combine a good deed with getting on Callie’s right side.”

  “You’re truly a wily coyote, Gardner.”

  “Where I come from, back in Black Mountain, West Virginia, we call that being ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing.’ I just want to meet her and see if any sparks fly between us.”

  Chuckling indulgently, Matt pulled on the sneakers. “Oh, you’ll get fireworks all right, Gardner. Callie isn’t stupid, and she doesn’t suffer fools any more than Dara does. She’ll see straight through you and shoot you down quicker than you can say ‘wolf’!”

  “Well,” he drawled, “I gotta try.”

  Shrugging, Matt stood and shut his locker. “Okay by me.” He grinned, patting his friend’s broad shoulder. “I can’t wait for you to drop by so I can enjoy watching you get shut out of the belly-dancer sweepstakes.”

  *

  Callie collided with a tall, wiry Army man in a big hurry as she turned a corner in the building where the orphanage was housed. Gasping, she began to fall, but he reached out to straighten her, his large hand wrapping firmly around her upper arm.

  She was assailed by a wave of first impressions. First, his eyes, intense and gray, like those of a hawk. A hunter, she later recalled thinking.

  His face was oval, with high cheekbones, shaggy black hair, and a longish beard. She was acutely aware of his monitoring just how much strength he needed to set her upright.

  “Oh,” she gasped, “I’m sorry,” and she felt his hand fall away. Her skin tingled and it was pleasant, reminding her that six months without any sex made her yearn to be stateside once more.

  “My fault, ma’am.” He took off his green baseball cap. “I’m Sergeant Beau Gardner. You must be Callie McKinley?” He held his hand out toward her.

  Callie didn’t know if she was more shocked by h
is manners or by his knowing her name. This wasn’t her first rodeo, and as she pushed her hands against her jeans she was sure this guy was black ops. She shook his hand.

  “Oh,” Matt Culver said, entering the room with Dara, her sister. “Callie? Did you meet Beau?”

  Callie frowned. She gave a measured look to the tall, well-muscled soldier, who stood casually, his M4 rifle slung over his shoulder, the barrel pointed down. “No. Do you know him, Matt?”

  “Just a little,” he said, walking with Dara over to the coffee machine. “Beau is on my team.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Beau told her, drowning in her forest-green eyes. “I thought I might come over here and help Matt with security. Our team has the next week off, so it seemed like the right time to offer you some help.” He saw her fine, thin red brows flash downward.

  “Did you see us belly dance a couple of nights ago, Sergeant?”

  Ouch. Beau kept his face relaxed, but he was definitely detecting that this redhead had already outed him. “Yes, ma’am, I did. You two ladies were the hit of the evening. But then, I’m sure you’ve already been told that.”

  Callie jammed her hands on her hips, looking up into his face. “And the reason you’re really here, Sergeant?”

  This woman was not only smart, but she had the prettiest bow-shaped lips he’d ever seen. Beau could almost taste them beneath his hungry mouth. But first, he had a hellion standing here, her eyes flashing. Beau was never good at lying, and if he wanted a woman, he went after her, fair and square. “I saw you dance, ma’am. I wanted to introduce myself to you, hoping that you might consider going out to have a pizza and beer with me later, after we return to Bagram.”

  Callie glared at him. “Not even,” she said through gritted teeth. Huffing past him, she stalked over to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup. So why did she feel badly about catching him red-handed? Beau wasn’t bad-looking and he was Delta Force, the cream of the Army’s crop. And despite his patient, good-ol’-boy smile and that Southern drawl, he probably belonged to Mensa and had a sky-high IQ to boot.