Navy Christmas (Whidbey Island)

  Home is where the love is. Especially at Christmas!

  Commander Jonas Scott got through a tough deployment by thinking about his family home on Whidbey Island. The same home his deceased stepmother, Dottie, had promised him. His Navy homecoming turns sour when he discovers that Dottie left his house to a stranger named Serena Delgado….

  Serena, an Army widow with a young son, is fixing up her house. But as Christmas approaches and she gets to know Jonas, Dottie’s plan becomes clear. It wasn’t about fixing up the house, it was about fixing up Serena and Jonas!

  This was the woman Dottie had given his house to.

  Serena had ruined his homecoming—and his Christmas. Jonas couldn’t forget that. But he didn’t like the tired lines under her eyes. He disliked even more that he cared about her exhaustion at all.

  Best stick to the basics. “ID?”

  She handed over her military ID card and her son’s.

  Jonas’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he automatically typed in the last name, the active-duty sponsor’s social security number—

  His hands stilled.

  Delgado, Philip. Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps. Deceased.

  He knew Serena was a war widow. That she had a son. But to read it, in black and white, made him wish he could have been there and been the one to save her husband. Anything to take the sorrow from her eyes.

  He glanced over at her. Her gaze was intent on her son, and Jonas waited for her to look back at him. When she did, he saw the cold edge of distrust on her face.

  His mind kept going over his last conversation with Dottie.

  “You’ll love Serena. It’s as though she’s always been here.”

  Dear Reader,

  I was delighted when Harlequin Superromance asked me to include another World War II subplot for Navy Christmas, much as I did with my very first book, A Rendezvous to Remember. In Navy Christmas, we meet Dottie Forsyth’s parents and find out how her family settled on Whidbey Island over a century ago. Dottie isn’t even in the contemporary story—she’s already passed on. But as the story between her stepson, Jonas, and niece, Serena, progresses, it becomes certain that Dottie had a hunch they’d make a good pair. Because of reservations on both their parts, it takes them a while to acknowledge their romantic feelings for each other. Serena is a war widow and not looking for a new father for her six-year-old son. Jonas is fresh back from deployment and still smarting over Dottie’s amendment to her will—leaving Serena the family house instead of Jonas, as she’d once promised.

  Serena discovers, along with the reader, the history of Dottie’s parents, which includes her father’s service as a Flying Tiger in World War II.

  When the opportunity arose to donate to a fundraiser for the National League of POW/MIA Families (www.pow-miafamilies.org), my editor suggested I donate a character’s name for Navy Christmas. The successful event found Dawn Dempsey as the winner. Dawn graciously gave the name of her grandfather, Charles G. Dempsey, for a World War II sailor. Charles served in the navy during WWII and in the Pacific theater. You can find out more about him on my website (and on the following pages!). While my characterization of Charles is fictional, I used details of his life that Dawn provided to make the character authentic. I hope I did his memory, and Dawn’s family, proud.

  If you like reading about Whidbey Island during Christmas, don’t miss Navy Joy, a novella in the anthology Coming Home for Christmas, which also has stories by sister veterans Lindsay McKenna and Delores Fossen. It’s out this month, too.

  I love hearing from you—please reach me via my website, www.gerikrotow.com, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter and be automatically entered into the Geri Krotow Loyal Reader program, where you have a chance at winning a signed book each month.

  I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, and may the peace of the season find you wherever you are, whatever your walk.

  Peace,

  Geri Krotow

  GERI KROTOW

  Navy Christmas

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Former naval intelligence officer and U.S. Naval Academy graduate Geri Krotow draws inspiration from the global situations she’s experienced. Geri loves to hear from her readers. You can email her via her website and blog, www.gerikrotow.com.

  Books by Geri Krotow

  HARLEQUIN SUPERROMANCE

  1547—WHAT FAMILY MEANS

  1642—SASHA’S DAD

  1786—NAVY RULES*

  1865—NAVY ORDERS*

  1925—NAVY RESCUE*

  HARLEQUIN ANTHOLOGY

  COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS “Navy Joy”*

  HARLEQUIN EVERLASTING LOVE

  20—A RENDEZVOUS TO REMEMBER

  *Whidbey Island books

  Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

  Don’t miss any of our special offers. Write to us at the following address for information on our newest releases.

  Harlequin Reader Service

  U.S.: 3010 Walden Ave., P.O. Box 1325, Buffalo, NY 14269

  Canadian: P.O. Box 609, Fort Erie, Ont. L2A 5X3

  To My Loving Family Steve, Alex and Ellen. You’ve given me the best Christmases of my life. I love you with all my heart.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  EXCERPT

  CHAPTER ONE

  Whidbey Island

  One week before Thanksgiving

  “MOM, MY EAR IS FINE. How much longer do we have to wait?”

  Serena Delgado looked up from the pair of socks she was knitting. Her six-year-old son Pepé’s brown eyes and earnest expression looked so much like his father’s it made her smile.

  A smile was a big improvement over the heart-crushing pain the thought of Philip used to bring.

  “Pepé, we have to be patient. I brought my new knitting project to keep me busy. Look, they’re the Army-green socks you asked for.”

  “Mom.”

  Pepé wasn’t impressed by her intricate stitches, or the fact that she was knitting both socks at once on her circular needles.

  “Are you that bored with your video game already?”

  “This waiting is taking a long time, Mom. I’d rather be playing soccer.”

  Serena checked her watch. She’d never attempted two-at-a-time socks before, and her absorption in the task must have been deeper than she’d realized.

  They’d been sitting in the pediatric waiting area of Naval Hospital Oak Harbor for forty-five minutes. Located on Naval Air Station or NAS Whidbey, it was the only military medical facility on the island.

  “Maybe you’re right, mi hijo. Let’s go see
if we can find someone to help us. They may have lost our paperwork in the shuffle.”

  She stuffed the needle and yarn into her tote and grabbed each of their jackets. They walked past the empty reception area and Serena’s hunch that they’d been overlooked grew stronger. She knew patients weren’t supposed to enter the hallway where the examination rooms were located without a nurse or corpsman to escort them, but since it was a Friday afternoon, she’d take her chances. She was as eager as Pepé to start the weekend.

  The first few exam rooms were empty, lights out.

  “No one’s here, Mom,” Pepé whispered, as if they were going on a spy mission.

  “We’ll find somebody.”

  Light spilled from the room in front of them and Serena paused, her hand on Pepé’s shoulder. She didn’t want to barge in on someone else’s exam.

  Pepé stilled next to her and a conversation became clear.

  “This is crap, Doc, and you know it.” A deep voice filled with frustration rumbled from the room.

  “You’re back home, Jonas. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s no battlefront here at NAS Whidbey.”

  Jonas.

  Serena’s spine stiffened. The one “Jonas” she knew of fit this scenario too well....

  “I’m putting you where the Navy needs you, and right now I need you in the regular pediatrics clinic for the next few weeks. You’ll treat the routine cases. When Petty Officer Reilly isn’t available, you’ll have to check in the patients, too. If you have any problems getting used to the system we’ve upgraded to, ask HM1 Reilly. I don’t think you will—it’s all pretty straightforward.”

  “I’m trained for so much more, Doc. At least put me in the E.R.”

  If this was the Jonas she had heard about—Jonas Scott—he had an awfully sexy voice. Nothing like his brother Paul’s, whom she’d met in person.

  “Mom, that’s Doc Franklin!” Pepé whispered his recognition of the second voice, but his excitement threatened to break his self-control. Besides being his beloved pediatrician, Doc Franklin shared the name of one of Pepé’s favorite heroes in American history. Pepé loved Dr. Benjamin Franklin, from the moment the Navy had assigned him to the family. Serena liked him, too, mostly for his easygoing manner with Pepé. She’d never heard this side of him, however. Military medical officers were more than doctors; they had to lead, too. And Jonas didn’t sound like he wanted direction from anyone.

  “Shh, we shouldn’t interrupt them.” Her lawyerly instincts seemed to vibrate as she did her best to ignore the twinge of guilt at admonishing Pepé. She was eavesdropping, pure and simple.

  But if Dr. Franklin was indeed speaking to Jonas Scott, the one man on Whidbey Island who could change Serena’s life, it behooved her to listen.

  Just a bit longer.

  “You can rotate through the E.R. as needed, but not until after the holidays. Peds isn’t always boring, Jonas. Right now, take advantage of being back from deployment. You weren’t even due to report to work until next week, after the Thanksgiving holiday.”

  “Sitting around my house isn’t a whole lot of fun.”

  Regret pierced through Serena’s stoic attorney mode. It had to be Jonas Scott. It had been as much of a surprise to her as it had been to Jonas that his stepmother and her biological aunt, Dottie Forsyth, had willed her family farmhouse to Serena. The tragic circumstances of Dottie’s unexpected death hadn’t helped. Dottie was supposed to grow old in the farmhouse, not be murdered by a crazy woman the previous summer.

  “I’m sorry, Jonas. It’s a crappy time of year to be single and alone.”

  “It’s not about that, Doc. I’m over it.”

  “I know you’re over your ex, Jonas. What you’re not over is deployment and the constant insane pace. You’re done deploying, trust me. With the drawdown in Afghanistan and your rank, you could finish out the rest of your time on shore duty. And what about your stepmother’s death? You’ve got a lot to process.”

  It was Jonas Scott, Dottie’s stepson.

  He had an ex?

  “I’ll deal.” His voice was little more than a growl.

  “I have no doubt that you will. But it won’t hurt you to scale it back a bit and enjoy the lighter schedule. Give yourself time to grieve, Jonas.”

  “There has to be something I can do besides weigh in snotty-nosed kids whose mothers are overreacting to the common cold.”

  Serena’s face heated as she fought her maternal anger.

  “Save the tough-guy routine for someone who doesn’t know you as well, Jonas. You’re great with kids or I wouldn’t have assigned you to my unit.” Dr. Franklin’s tone reflected compassion. As if he knew Jonas better than most.

  “Give me a break, Doc. These folks wouldn’t know a medical emergency if it bit them in the ass. Did you see that last family? They had all three of their kids still on bottles, and the youngest was two. I don’t have time to treat overpampered, overfed, sugared-up kids whose parents need a lesson in nutrition and physical fitness. For heaven’s sake, Doc, I was stopping Marines from bleeding out less than two weeks ago, and the kids I treated had real, often life-threatening, needs. Now you want me to hand out cartoon-hero stickers?”

  Serena grasped Pepé’s hand. Enough was enough. Pepé didn’t need to hear any of this.

  That’s what she got for snooping like the lawyer she was—she’d exposed her son to a post-deployment tirade he’d had no part of. She bent to his ear.

  “Come on, mi hijo. Let’s find out what happened to our appointment.”

  * * *

  DOC HAD GONE quiet and Jonas wondered if he’d pushed his boss too far. Doc Franklin was an easygoing guy, and Jonas had enjoyed working with him overseas, in a combat zone. In war, they were teammates fighting to save every life, every person who came into their unit. And even back home where Doc was a pediatrician, he was still a naval medical officer. He thought he had the most important job in the world.

  “Well?” Jonas prompted.

  Doc’s stare should have tipped him off. Too late, the hairs on the back of Jonas’s neck rose and he knew someone was standing behind him.

  He mentally groaned and turned around, expecting HM1 Reilly, or worse, the naval hospital’s Commanding Officer.

  Instead, he found himself looking into the deepest, darkest mocha-brown eyes he’d ever seen. They sparked with anger and a knowing he couldn’t quite identify... He shook his head to clear it.

  The stunning woman in front of him had night-black hair that fell in a straight sheet past her shoulders, skimming around her generous breasts. Breasts that were covered snugly by her purple turtleneck. She didn’t cover up her sensuous figure with the added layer of a sweater or pullover like a lot of women, either. He gave her points for that. Her bottom was just as sexy and he couldn’t miss how her jeans emphasized every curve.

  This was a woman who knew her power over men.

  He knew it wasn’t some sort of vision brought on by deployment fatigue. But even in his dreams he’d never conjured up an image quite this...distracting.

  “Hey, Dr. Franklin!” A black-haired boy stood next to the woman, his enthusiasm for Doc making him bounce up and down while his mother held his hand.

  “Pepé, Ms. Delgado, how is my favorite Marine Corps family?” Doc walked next to Jonas and kneeled down to the boy’s level.

  Delgado.

  Son of a bitch.

  Not only had he shown his worst side to Doc Franklin, he’d made a mess of things with the one woman he needed to treat right, the one woman who had what he wanted so badly, what he’d waited to have for so long. He knew more about her than she knew, and they hadn’t met in person yet. Until now.

  How much had they heard?

  Serena Delgado. And her son, Pepé. The family living in the farmhouse that Dottie had promised hi
m.

  Pepé yanked his hand out of Serena’s and ran over to Doc.

  “We’re great, Doc! We’re going to Friday Island for Thanksgiving. I might get to swim in the heated pool.”

  “It’s San Juan Island, Pepé. Friday Harbor is the town.” Her voice matched her looks—deep and harmonious with a side of sexy.

  Serena Delgado kept staring at Jonas as she gently corrected her son. The daggers of light in her eyes were anything but gentle. If he were to guess, she was sorely pissed off.

  At him.

  And she had every right to be.

  “You’re Serena.”

  He’d planned to introduce himself in person to her later. After he’d been back long enough to get over his jet lag.

  More like get over your wounded ego.

  “Yes.”

  Her eyes reminded him of an iced coffee. Dark and rich, with a bite.

  Jonas held out his hand. “I’m Jonas Scott.”

  “I know who you are.” She flicked her gaze at his hand long enough to make her point. She wasn’t going to shake his hand or make this any easier for him. Why should she?

  “I’m not sure how much you heard of what I said—I’m sorry and please understand that I was just being a pain in the, um, you know.”

  “It’s clear you don’t usually work in pediatrics.” Her tone remained grave but he caught the slight tic at the corner of her mouth. “I hope I’ll be able to control myself. Being a mom and all, I never know when I’m going to get all hysterical and go crazy on you.”

  He wasn’t sure if her attractiveness or the fact that she was enjoying his discomfort rattled him more.

  “Touché.” They continued to stare at each other.

  He’d be turned on by any attractive woman after being downrange so long. It was just his luck that it happened to be the woman who’d upended his whole life.

  Unexpected disappointment punched him in the gut.

  Even if their shared connection hadn’t been so ugly, so life-changing, he wouldn’t stand a chance with her. Not after she’d overheard his harsh words.