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“I’m here for one reason, Kathy,” he said lightly. “I love you and you love me. And you’d damn well better get used to the idea.”

  She opened her mouth to talk, but he cut her off. He hadn’t liked the idea of driving all the way to Vegas, just him and the baby, so he’d taken an early flight out of John Wayne airport, listened to Maegan crying the whole trip, risked their lives in a Vegas taxicab, and he wasn’t about to stop talking until he’d convinced her.

  “You can’t deny what we have, Kathy,” he said, letting his gaze sweep across her features. God, he’d missed her in the past few days. Being without her had been like missing a limb. She was a part of him. So deep a part, he couldn’t imagine a world where they weren’t together. “And I won’t let you toss it aside. Understand me, honey. I’m a marine, and we don’t know the meaning of the word retreat. And,” he added as she tried to talk again, “let me remind you that I’m a gunnery sergeant. I have all kinds of weapons and soldiers I can call on to help me convince you.”

  “Brian…”

  “We’re getting married, honey. Now. Today.”

  Spring gasped.

  Kathy blinked.

  Maegan laughed.

  “A real marriage, Kathy. No business deals. No easy-out clauses,” he said “The real thing. With love and kids and dogs and whatever the hell else a marriage is. Happily ever after, amen.”

  “If you’ll just let me say something—”

  “I mean it, Kath,” he continued, his fingers tightening on her shoulders, “we’re not leaving this damn town until we’re married. Now, we can walk into that chapel side by side, or I can carry you.” He took a breath, blew it out and asked, “Which’ll it be?”

  “Are you finished?” Kathy asked, smiling up at him.

  “For the moment,” he said, watching her warily.

  “Good, then I have something to say,” she told him.

  He nodded and kept watching her. She noted that he didn’t let her go, either. Which was just fine by her.

  Kathy looked up at him and wondered how she could ever have thought she could live without him. She needed Brian Haley in her life as much as she needed air and water. He’d given her so much more than she’d ever hoped to find. And she wanted it all, right down to the “happily ever after.”

  Worrying about possible pain in a distant future just wasn’t a good enough reason to give up so much happiness now.

  Later she’d tell him all of that. Right now she settled for saying, “Carry me, Gunnery Sergeant.”

  Relief flooded his features, and he gave her that crooked smile that would always touch her heart. Then he bent down, swept her up into his arms and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

  Glancing back at her mother, Kathy asked, “Will you be my matron of honor, Mom?”

  Spring kissed her new granddaughter and grinned at her own little girl. “Oh, sweetie, I’d be proud to.”

  Kathy smiled, then wrapped her arms around her almost husband. How had she ever gotten so lucky? “So, what are we standing around here for? Let’s get this wedding started.”

  “You’re my kind of woman, honey,” he said in a voice so deep it reached into every corner of her soul and warmed her through. And Kathy knew, no matter what, she would never be cold again.

  Brian lifted her high enough for a quick kiss and breathed easily for the first time in too many days. He’d been given a second chance, not only at being a daddy, but at a love deeper than he’d ever dreamed possible. And he wasn’t about to blow either of them.

  Shouting, “Ooh-rah!” he marched into the chapel, relishing the sound of Kathy’s laughter in his ears.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-6795-8

  THE DADDY SALUTE

  Copyright © 2000 by Maureen Child

  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 editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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