Baby, It's You (Uncharted SEALs Book 5)

  Baby, It’s You

  An Uncharted SEALs story

  Delilah Devlin

  Copyright © 2016 Delilah Devlin

  Kindle Edition

  Carter Vance, Jr. stands at the fork in the road. Wounded in action, the Navy SEAL has a decision to make: whether to find work with a spec ops unit or return to his family ranch in Texas and repair his fractured relationship with his dying father and the woman he wronged. Complicating the decision is his reignited attraction to Melanie Schaeffer and his confusion over his feelings for his dead brother’s little girl, whom Melanie has raised since his brother’s and her sister’s deaths by a terrorist’s bomb.

  From the Author

  As a retired member of the armed forces (Army Signal Corp and a veteran of the Gulf War), whose sister, brother, and father also served, I’m well aware of the sacrifices our military members and their families make in defense of our country. To the men and women of the United States military, formerly and currently serving—thank you for your service. This book is dedicated to you.

  Sincerely,

  Delilah Devlin

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  About the Book

  From the Author

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  About Delilah Devlin

  Uncharted SEALs Series

  Excerpt from Before We Kiss

  Chapter One

  ‡

  The morning that would change Melanie Schaeffer’s life forever began quietly enough. The whoosh of a curtain opening sounded a moment before sunlight spilled across her bed. Melanie rolled to her back to see the maid picking up clothing Melanie had left draped over a chair the night before.

  A blush crept into her cheeks. She didn’t think she’d ever grow accustomed to having someone else handle her intimate items. “You don’t have to do that,” Melanie said as she pushed another pillow behind her head. “I can clean up after myself.”

  The maid gave her a cheerful smile. “It’s my job. And I wouldn’t have woken you at all, but you did say you wanted to get used to the time change…”

  Yes, there was that. After two days, she still felt a little muzzy-headed. The nine hours’ difference in time zones from Austin to this little city bordering Asia and the Middle East took some getting used to. Melanie rubbed her eyes and blinked, focusing on the sun peeking through the arched window and the view of the lovely, lush garden beyond it. Bushes exploding with large cabbage roses and tall, fruit-laden palms nearly obscured the ten-foot wall surrounding the estate nestled in the diplomats’ sector.

  Never had she stayed in such a luxurious place, never slept in a softer bed, especially one covered in a plush white-and-blue damask duvet that felt as light as a cloud. So many luxuries to be enjoyed, but she felt uncomfortable surrounded by the opulence. And the last thing she wanted was to grow used to the amenities. At the end of summer, she would be heading back to her small, cramped apartment. Handsome U.S. ambassadors weren’t in her cards. More likely, she’d marry another teacher, and they’d settle into suburbia, worrying about the mortgage and their next car payment, and she was okay with that.

  She glanced at the designer suitcase, the logo prominent on the side—something that cost more than the clothing inside it—a gift from her sister. One to which Cassie likely hadn’t given much thought, or she would have gifted Melanie with something simpler and sturdier.

  Cassie wasn’t intentionally thoughtless. She’d likely told an aide to buy a case and ship it to her sister, never thinking the case itself would be an issue. Cassie had always been destined to have more in life. Always simply expected it. Stunning and smart, she looked like a movie star but spoke seven languages. That Cassie wanted her to be part of her life pleased Melanie, but she knew over time, they would drift farther and farther apart. Their worlds would never intersect.

  The maid continued to tidy her bedroom, so Melanie rose and moved to the suitcase she still hadn’t unpacked. She laid it open on an upholstered bench and rummaged for an outfit, nothing anywhere near elegant enough for her present surroundings—plain dark slacks and a blue, long-sleeved cotton blouse. Something appropriately demure should she be seen by any of the locals employed by her brother-in-law. “Are my sister and the ambassador still here?” She threw the question over her shoulder as she strode to the bathroom.

  “They’re taking breakfast in the kitchen. You’ll catch them if you hurry.”

  Glad she’d managed to drag herself from bed earlier than the day before, she hurried through her ablutions and skipped down the stairs.

  Melanie took a step through the kitchen door, then quickly backed out, not wanting to interrupt the tender embrace between Cassie and Daniel. Since her arrival, she’d witnessed several such kisses, and she doubted they’d be embarrassed. She was the one with the problem. Their passion made her edgy…and a little bleak.

  Daniel couldn’t help that he looked so much like his brother that every time she saw him she felt a little twinge in her chest. After three years, she would have thought the nostalgic pain had diminished, but maybe she was a one-man woman. And maybe she needed to date more. She’d never forgotten her first real crush. No other man had ever made her feel the same intense desire.

  She’d met Carter Vance at her sister’s wedding. The intense attraction still mystified her. He’d barely smiled in her direction, although they’d been best man and maid of honor, and were forced into each other’s company constantly throughout the week of activities leading up to the wedding. She’d blushed and struggled to be nice to the taciturn Navy SEAL, and he’d eyed her with a look that bespoke his impatience with all the hoo-hah surrounding the marriage of her sister to the ambassador, a local celebrity in their tiny town in Texas. Because Cassie and Melanie had no family to speak of, Daniel’s father had stepped in to give the couple a wedding befitting a Vance, a proud Texas family that had owned the Rocking V Ranch since Texas became a state in the Union. His father been kind and gracious, as had his brother Lee. They’d welcomed her into the family right along with Cassie, going to the extreme of talking her into transferring from Old Miss to the University of Texas at Austin so that she could visit during her breaks. They’d even paid the remaining years of her tuition. She’d graduated just a couple of weeks ago, and now, had time to think about what she wanted to do next. Grad school? Her teacher’s certification? She hadn’t quite made up her mind, and she didn’t want to impose any longer on Mr. Vance’s generosity. She wanted to start paying her own way.

  Not that he ever voiced a bit of concern over the expense of her upkeep. All the Vance family had been wonderful to her, except for Carter, Jr. The week of the wedding, she’d noted she wasn’t the only one who’d earned his steely glances. A decided chill had been in the air every time father and son came too close together. Even after all these years, she didn’t know what had caused the rift or why it mattered so much to her. Why he mattered…

  She cleared her throat and entered the breakfast room again to find her sister grinning and patting her hair.

  “You’re up!” Cassie turned and smiled. “You really don’t have to see us off. You should have slept in. This is your vacation.”

  Melanie shook her head and made a beeline for the toddler in the high chair. “You paid for my flight to get me here. The least I can do is play nanny to this munchkin while your au pair is back in the States and you both have to work.”

  Cassie laughed. “I don�
�t work. Today, I’m just keeping the wife of the French attaché entertained while Daniel and his staff work on…whatever it is they’re discussing,” she said with a wave of her hand.

  Daniel smiled, never moving his hands from her sister’s hips or his gaze from her shining eyes. “Madame Boucher is a very exacting guest. You, my dear, will earn your husband’s undying gratitude by keeping her happy.”

  Her sister scrunched her nose then glanced downward at her outfit, a very stylish olive sheath.

  A color that would have made Melanie look like death warmed over, but against Cassie’s dark hair and tanned skin, made her look very sophisticated.

  “The last time we met she asked me if all consulate women shopped at Tar-zhay.”

  Melanie giggled then bent closer to her niece to tug at a strawberry-blonde curl. “It’s just you and me, babe. What do you say we make you a bottle and watch some Dora the Explorer?”

  “Doe-wah!” Emmy squealed and reached her chubby little hands upward.

  Melanie’s heart did a little flutter. Never would she have imagined loving anyone on sight, but she was surely smitten by the cherub with cereal stuck to the side of her cheek. “Let me get a cloth, and I’ll clean you up.” She headed toward the sink.

  Cassie gently pushed away Daniel’s hands. “I’ll get my purse. I wouldn’t want to add the sin of being late to the long list of things that woman will complain about.”

  Daniel checked his watch. “We’ve got plenty of time. Atkins scoped out an alternate route. We’ll completely miss the protesters gathering by the north gate of the embassy.”

  Cassie returned, pulling on a matching olive jacket, and paused beside the high chair to pat her little girl’s hair. “Be good for Melly today, sweetie.”

  “I good,” the baby said, again raising her hands, “Kissh?”

  “Last time I did, you mashed your food all over my clothes.” Instead, Cassie caught one hand and drew it toward her mouth to give the tip of each chubby little finger a kiss. “Love you, sweetums.” With a flutter of her fingers toward Melanie, her sister preceded her handsome husband out the door.

  With their departure, quiet fell over the kitchen. Melanie took a deep breath, feeling a little guilty about the fact she was glad they were both gone. She’d have time alone with the little one, for them to bond and for Melanie to feel more relaxed. Because hey, her brother-in-law was her country’s ambassador to this little nation and lived in a freaking mansion. Her relationship with her sister wasn’t especially close; too many years divided them.

  Cassie had gotten a job in the diplomatic corps right out of college and had only been home for brief visits, the last time to attend their parents’ funerals. And although Cassie did do her best to keep in touch—calling once a week, sending lavish gifts, even buying her a small, used car—Melanie didn’t feel comfortable around her more polished and sophisticated sister. Not like she did with the baby from the first moment they’d met.

  She finished wiping the little girl’s fingers clean, removed the food tray, and lifted eighteen-month-old Emmy into her arms, just as she heard car doors slam outside on the cobbled driveway. Turning with the intention of walking to the window so the baby could wave good bye to her parents, Melanie caught a bright flash of light in the corner of her eye, felt a brief moment of complete, airless silence, then felt herself hurled through the air as an explosion of sound and debris hammered against her body.

  The moment lengthened, searing pain stung her cheek, and a scream rent the air. And as her arms tightened around the precious bundle still held tightly against her chest, Melanie fell into darkness.

  Chapter Two

  ‡

  Two days into the mission, the SEALs found the band of insurgents responsible for the attack on an Army convoy, which had killed a dozen Americans soldiers in an ambush near Mosul. Because of the chatter they’d intercepted between the insurgents and their commanders, indicating a plan to move that night, the SEALs were taking the compound in daylight. So far, they’d met no resistance. Most of the ragtag combatants were settling down for an afternoon nap to escape the killer heat. The guards on the compound wall had been picked off one at a time by the SEAL team’s sniper, Wolf Kinkaid, without an alert being raised.

  Now, the team ringed the largest house inside the compound, ready to take the structure and any souls inside.

  “On my signal,” came the task leader’s voice in his ear, “three, two, one!”

  Special Operator Carter Vance’s heart rate settled into its familiar mission-thud, slow and steady, as he reached up with his flashlight and shattered the window above him. Ignoring the shouts from the largest house inside the compound, he quickly pulled the safety pin from his grenade, stretched his arm, and tossed it through the window.

  Covering his ears, he dove for the base of the cinderblock wall a second before the impact grenade hit the floor inside. The blast of several grenades going off at once ripped through the air.

  “Go, go, go!” came across the comms, but he was already on his feet, his cheek against the stock of his M4A1 as he moved quickly toward the door hanging open on one hinge. He sighted down the barrel and turned in quick, jerking movements, side-to-side, seeking movement around the building, then reached out and yanked the door the rest of the way off before darting inside.

  The dust hadn’t settled, but the team had to clear their target, look for any survivors among the insurgents occupying the house. Once he breached the door, he quickly moved out of the lit doorway into the shadowed interior. Splintered furniture and debris cracked and scraped under his boots.

  Behind him, two more team members, “Big Mac” McLane and Billy Yates, scrambled inside while more were poised to enter from the rear to take the staircase leading to the upper floor. Carter gave a soft whistle to draw their gazes then signaled he’d check the doorway to the left that led into the kitchen.

  Billy flashed a quick, easy grin—the young SEAL smiled no matter the danger. Big Mac nodded, pointed toward the corridor to the right, then hunched over the short assault weapon that looked like a kid’s toy gun in his massive hands and moved forward, Billy on his heels.

  Carter slid up to the kitchen entrance, pointed his weapon into the room, then peeked inside for movement before pulling back. The room appeared empty. Taking a deep breath, he entered, searching every corner, opening cabinets and the pantry door for anyone who might be curled up inside. “Clear!” he said into the mike on his headset.

  Glancing out the window, he noted the rest of his team moving around the compound, searching sheds, under tarps. They had the outdoors handled. “Big Mac, heading your way.”

  As he stepped out into the living room, he heard the sharp report of a weapon then the quick rattle of more bullets firing in rapid succession from down the corridor. “Son of a bitch!”

  “Three in the last room!” came Big Mac’s voice in his ear.

  More shots rang out. Carter pounded down the hallway.

  “Billy’s down!”

  Orders were shouted, the sounds of more of the team running through the house could be heard in the distance, but he was closest. He entered the room. A desk had been flipped. Billy sat against a wall, his head held at an odd angle as blood spurted from a gaping wound in the side of his neck.

  Hot fury spilled through Carter’s veins, but he couldn’t stop, couldn’t lose focus. Hardening his jaw, he kept his weapon level and his feet moving forward.

  Shots and scuffling sounded from another doorway at the far side. Knowing others would be there in a moment, he barely spared Billy a look and moved across the room, glancing around the frame before darting through. The darkened room was long, with three smooth lanes running down the center. A fucking bowling alley in a shithole building. He spotted Big Mac popping up like a whack-a-mole to fire blind shots over a counter toward the enemy. Rather than get pinned, Carter ducked to the left and ringed the room, making his way to the side of the pits at the end of the lanes where the enemy combat
ants had taken cover.

  Coming up beside the first opening, he tugged another grenade off his belt, pulled the pin, and tossed it inside before quickly diving to the side. A guttural curse sounded, followed by the sounds of men scrambling, but the grenade blew, hurling bowling pins and bits of softer, bloodier matter out of the openings.

  Silence followed. Carter crawled toward a blackened opening and looked inside. “Clear!” he bit out, then added, “Motherfuckers,” under his breath.

  “Helos are on the way,” came the mission commander’s voice in the earpiece. “The site’s secure.”

  Only then did he let himself feel. His heart thudded against his chest as he rested with his back against the wall, an arm slung around his bent knee as he leaned forward and let the tide of grief spill over him.

  A hand clapped his shoulder, and Big Mac knelt beside him, his mouth set in a grim line above his scruffy blond beard. “We gotta move, buddy.”

  Carter took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll ride with Billy.”

  “We both will.” Big Mac reached down a large hand and pulled him up.

  Together, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, they trudged into the room where their fallen friend rested.

  *

  Forty minutes later, Carter jumped to the tarmac from the open door of the Chinook. After moving away from the spinning blades, he stood beside Big Mac as corpsmen unloaded Billy’s body.

  Big Mac leaned toward him to shout into his ear. “Someone’s tryin’ to get your attention.”

  Feeling a hundred years old since the adrenaline of the mission had dissipated, Carter glanced in the direction of Mac’s pointing chin.

  Commander Callahan strode toward him, his expression hard as granite.

  Carter stiffened but didn’t salute. That courtesy was outlawed in a war zone to keep snipers from identifying officers. “Sir,” Carter said as the older man drew near.