A Soldier's Promise

  When A Promise Becomes A Temptation...

  Look after his best friend’s widow and kids. It was a promise Levi Talbot was determined to keep. But returning to Whispering Pines, New Mexico, where he was once known as the local troublemaker, wasn’t easy for the former soldier. Especially when gorgeous Valerie Lopez really wants nothing to do with him...and Levi can’t get her out of his head!

  Val knows she needs Levi’s help—her house is in chaos and she’s juggling two young kids with a fledgling business. So she lets him take over the repairs—but there’s no way she’s letting Levi make himself at home! Since her husband’s death, Val has kept her heart locked away...but what if the handsome veteran next door is the key to her future?

  I could be yours.

  Right. As if he’d ever in a million years be able to compete with the guy she’d just said she’d love forever. Besides, all his friend had wanted was for Levi to make sure Val was okay. He sincerely doubted falling for the woman had been part of his best friend’s plan.

  Then again...

  Maybe it was time to set aside his loyalty to a dead man for a shot at something far bigger. Maybe, just maybe, this was his chance to be everything to Val, to her girls, that he couldn’t have been before. Yes, it had to be her choice to move forward or not. But how could she make that choice if he didn’t give her the option? And if the odds were stacked against him...tough.

  Wouldn’t be the first time.

  * * *

  WED IN THE WEST: New Mexico’s the perfect place

  to finally find true love!

  Dear Reader,

  What really makes someone a hero? How do we define courage? Those were the seeds that eventually blossomed into this story about a former soldier whose quiet courage not only stood him in good stead while deployed in a war zone, but back home as well, as he now struggles to make good on a promise he’s not at all sure how to keep... A promise to a young, widowed mother who, with his help, finds the inner strength to not only overcome her past, but to fully embrace her new future, filled with hope and love.

  Variations of Levi and Val’s story play out every day, as soldiers return from war, and as widows—and widowers—call on reserves of strength they perhaps never knew were there, until eventually glimmers of joy pierce through the fog of pain and grief and loss. And, at least in some measure, happiness returns, even as those who didn’t come home are still remembered and honored...and those who do return find peace in what so often is a new, and often unrecognizable, reality.

  This story is for all those who have served, as well as for the families who support them, encourage them, love them.

  Thank you.

  A Soldier’s Promise

  Karen Templeton

  Karen Templeton is a recent inductee into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. A

  three-time RITA® Award–winning author, she has written more than thirty novels for Harlequin and lives in New Mexico with two hideously spoiled cats. She has raised five sons and lived to tell the tale, and could not live without dark chocolate, mascara and Netflix.

  Books by Karen Templeton

  Harlequin Special Edition

  Jersey Boys

  Meant-to-Be Mom

  Santa’s Playbook

  More Than She Expected

  The Real Mr. Right

  Summer Sisters

  The Marriage Campaign

  A Gift for All Seasons

  The Doctor’s Do-Over

  The Fortunes of Texas: Whirlwind Romance

  Fortune’s Cinderella

  Wed in the West

  Husband Under Construction

  Adding Up to Marriage

  Welcome Home, Cowboy

  A Marriage-Minded Man

  Reining in the Rancher

  A Mother’s Wish

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  To my oldest son, Christopher

  Whose own service continues to bless.

  Semper Fi, dude.

  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

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from The Doctor’s Valentine Dare by Cindy Kirk

  Chapter One

  Sweat streamed down Levi Talbot’s back as he sat in his pickup across the street, watching Valerie Lopez paint the window trim of a house he hadn’t set foot in for... Damn. Ten years, at least.

  She was even skinnier than he remembered, sharp shoulder blades shifting, bunching over the scoop of a white tank top that teased the waistband of her low-rise jeans. Her pale hair was still long, wadded on top of her head, pieces sticking out every which way. In a nearby play yard a dark-haired baby sat gnawing on a plastic toy, while her older sister lay on her belly on the mottled floorboards, quietly singing as she scribbled, bare feet swinging to and fro. Then the little girl shoved to her knees, thrusting the open coloring book toward her mother.

  “Mama! I gave her hair like mine! See?”

  Levi saw Val glance over, her smile gentle as she bent to get a better look. Chuckling softly, she fingered the girl’s deep brown curls.

  “A huge improvement, I’d say,” she said. The child giggled, making Val smile even bigger, and Levi flinched.

  How the hell was he supposed to do this? Whatever this was.

  And why the hell had it never occurred to him he might actually have to make good on that dumb-ass promise he’d made to Tomas when they’d first enlisted?

  A breeze lanced his damp shirt, making him shiver. Squinting in the bolt of sunlight glancing off the sharply angled tin roof, Levi frowned at the house, which seemed to frown right back at him. An uneasy cross between Victorian and log cabin, the house seemed to slump in on itself, like it was too tired to care anymore. Or had finally succumbed to its identity crisis. And slapping some paint over what was most likely rotting wood wasn’t going to change that.

  He could relate.

  He waited for an SUV to pass—not much traffic on this stretch of Main Street, the last gasp of civilization before miles of nothing—before getting out of his truck, his boots crunching on asphalt chewed up even worse than usual after last winter’s heavy snow. A hawk keened, annoyed, from a nearby piñon, whose branches tangled with the deep blue sky. From inside the house, a dog exploded into frenzied barking. Val and the child turned, the little girl’s gaze more curious than concerned. Her mother’s, however...

  Yeah. Considering she hadn’t exactly been a fan before he and Tommy had enlisted, Levi sincerely doubted that was about to change. Promise or no promise. In fact, what he saw in those blue eyes could only be described as... Well, fierce would work. Pissed off was more likely.

  He stopped at the bottom step.

  “Levi.” Val hauled the baby out of her little cage, tucked her against her ribs. Close-up, she seemed even smaller, probably not even coming to his shoulders. He remembered, though, how her smile could light up the whole town. Not that she’d ever given him that smile. “Heard you were back.”

  He nodded, unsure of what came next. Hating that this puny little blonde was unnerving him more than driving supply trucks along dusty mountain roads that might or might not have been booby-trapped by the Taliban.

  “Last week, yeah.”

  The baby grabbed hold of a hank of her mother’s hair, tried to stuff it in her mouth. The older girl—seven, he thought—sidled closer; Val looped her arm around the girl’s
shoulders as dark eyes exactly like her father’s regarded Levi with that same intense gaze. Had Val ever mentioned Levi to her daughter? Had Tommy?

  “For good?” Val said.

  “For now, anyway.” The dog’s barking grew more frantic. “So. These are your girls?”

  Val shot him an are-you-nuts look, but she played along. “Yes. This is Josie,” she said, giving the older girl’s shoulders a quick squeeze. “And this is Risa.”

  Laughter in Spanish. Levi’s heart knocked—Tommy had never even seen his second daughter.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Don’t,” Val whispered, her eyes shiny.

  “I couldn’t get back at the time,” Levi finished through a clogged throat, remembering his shock when he’d gotten the call from Tommy’s dad. “I asked, but they said no.”

  Her face said it all: And exactly what good would that have done?

  Along with: You can leave now. Except he couldn’t. Because he’d made a promise. One he fully intended to keep.

  Whether his best friend’s widow was good with that idea or not.

  * * *

  Val’d figured she’d run into Levi eventually—his parents didn’t live far, and there was only one halfway decent grocery store in town—but she hadn’t counted on him actually seeking her out.

  Of course, her rational side knew Levi Talbot wasn’t responsible for her husband’s death. That particular honor went to whoever had planted that roadside bomb near some godforsaken Afghani village with a name Val couldn’t even pronounce. But if Levi hadn’t joined the army six years ago, Val highly doubted that Tommy—who’d worshipped his best friend since high school for reasons Val had never understood—would’ve decided to enlist, too.

  A thought that ripped open barely healed wounds all over again.

  “Josie, why don’t you go inside?” she quietly asked, smiling down at her daughter. At least this one might remember her daddy. Although considering how much he’d been gone...

  “Mama?”

  “Levi and I just need to talk alone for a sec, baby. And don’t let the dog out, okay?”

  Josie shot Levi a questioning look before shoving open the stubborn door and wriggling past the dog to get inside. Only after the door clicked closed did Val turn back to Levi, as muscled and tall as Tomas had been slight. All the Talbot boys were built like their father, tough and rough and full of surprising angles, like they’d been hastily hewn out of the mountains holding silent watch over sleepy Whispering Pines. Oh, yeah, Levi Talbot was one good-looking sonofagun, despite badly needing a shave and a half-grown-out buzz cut that wasn’t doing him any favors—

  “So you’re living here now,” Levi said. Carefully, like she was a horse who might spook. Val set Risa back in her play yard and handed her a toy, then crouched, gripping the top of the pen.

  “Temporarily. Since Tommy’s grandmother moved in with his folks, the family said we can stay as long as we need.” She heard a creak behind her as he came up onto the porch.

  “Big place for three people.”

  As in, way bigger than Val needed. Five bedrooms, three baths. Dark. Dreary. “Yeah. It is,” she said, straightening in time to see Levi’s gaze flick over the worn porch floorboards, the gap-toothed porch railings.

  “Needs a lot of work.”

  Despite the situation, a smile pushed at Val’s mouth. “Part of the deal was that I get it fixed up. So they can get top dollar when it goes on the market. After everything they’ve done for me, I couldn’t exactly say no. Besides—” she almost smiled “—it would break Lita’s heart if I wasn’t here.”

  Levi’s brows dipped. “They expect you to foot the bill?”

  “Of course not. It’s not my house, is it?”

  He was staring at her. Not rudely, but intently, his muddy green eyes focused on her like lasers. Exactly like he used to do when they were younger, as though he couldn’t figure her out. Or more likely, why his best friend would prefer her company to his. And damned if it didn’t make her every bit as uneasy now as it did then—

  “For pity’s sake, Levi—why are you here?”

  If her outburst threw him, he didn’t let on. Although his Adam’s apple definitely worked before he said, “Tommy was my closest friend, Val. I was best man at your wedding. Did you think I’d come home and not check on you?”

  Risa began to fuss; Val picked her up again, pressing her lips into her curls, cool and soft against her hot face. “At least you got to come home,” she murmured, then lifted her gaze to Levi’s, the hurt in his eyes almost enough to make her feel like a bitch. Almost. Because there were days when her anger was about the only thing keeping her from losing it. That, and love for her daughters, she thought as Risa yawned, then plugged her thumb in her mouth and settled against Val’s chest.

  “And as you can see,” she said, ignoring her stinging eyes, “I’m okay. So. We’re good.”

  Levi did that staring thing again, his mouth stubborn-set, the earlier devastation in his eyes replaced by something else Val couldn’t quite put a finger on but knew she didn’t like.

  “This place was a wreck fifteen years ago. I can only imagine what it’s like now. Tommy’s kids...” He paused, his nostrils flaring when he took a breath. “They deserve better than this.” Another pause. “And so do you.”

  His words hit her. Hard. Not that people hadn’t been kind since her return. But it’d been an uncomfortable kindness mostly, a ragtag collection of mumbled “sorries” and brief, awkward hugs, soon replaced by either gaping silence or a false cheeriness that made her want to scream. With Levi, though—it wasn’t the same, that’s all. Although it wouldn’t be, would it?

  “Thank you—”

  “You can give me a list, if you want. Might as well start with this porch, though.” He shifted his weight into the next plank over, making it squawk. “Some of these floorboards look pretty sketchy—”

  “Levi.”

  He looked up, his brow creased. “Yeah?”

  “Why?”

  It was all she could think to say. Not enough, however, to provoke an answer.

  “I’ll be back in the morning,” he said softly, then went down the steps and back across the street, where he got into a black pickup, slamming the door before taking off. Toward his parents’ house, she imagined, where she’d heard via the grapevine he was staying.

  Val rearranged the now sleeping baby in her arms and grabbed the wet paintbrush, then went back inside, where she dumped the brush into the chipped kitchen sink before hauling Risa upstairs to put her in her crib. This and Josie’s room were the only ones she’d painted so far: a pale aqua in here, yellow in Josie’s. The gouged pine floors still needed to be redone. Along with a dozen other projects that made Val’s head hurt to think about.

  Because the house was a wreck, the victim of decades of benign neglect and an old woman’s failing eyesight. Yes, being so close to Tommy’s parents was a blessing, and the family was being very generous in so many ways. But the idea of going through renovations on top of everything else...

  All of which had sounded perfectly feasible when Angelita Lopez had promised the house to them two years ago, for when Tommy came back home.

  A thought Val deliberately let linger, as though to toughen her heart. So when this one—she leaned over the crib to finger Risa’s soft curls—asked about her daddy, Val would be able to speak with love, not pain. Less pain, anyway.

  Risa flipped onto her back, arms splayed like she was making snow angels. A smile flickered across the baby’s mouth, making Val smile in return, her heart swell. Because life, she sternly reminded herself, was about cherishing what you had, not regretting what you’d lost. About accepting the gifts that came your way. Even those that, at first glance, seemed more trouble than they were worth. Like this butt-ugly house.

  Like, say, offers from the last man in the world you wanted to deal with right now—or ever—to help fix up said butt-ugly house.

  Val sighed.

 
Back downstairs, she peeked into the cave-like living room, a hodgepodge of dull, dark wood and mismatched furniture pieces. Eyes glued to the TV screen, Josie sat cross-legged on the sofa, pointy elbows digging into scabbed bare knees. The hound stretched on the cushion beside her, dead to the world, chin and paws propped on the sofa’s arm.

  “Is he gone?” Josie asked.

  “He is. Whatcha watching?” As if she didn’t know.

  “Elf.”

  Val smiled. “Again?”

  The little girl shrugged. “I like it,” she said, and Val’s heart twisted. On his last leave—two Christmases ago—Tomas and Josie had watched the movie together a million times. Then Josie forgot about it...until she found the DVD when they unpacked.

  “This was Daddy’s favorite scene,” her daughter said softly, and Val decided this was part of that toughening-up-her-heart thing. Although if a stupid movie helped her baby still feel connected to her father, she’d take it. Because Val knew those memories would fade, would be replaced by a whole life’s worth of new ones. Oh, there’d be scraps left, of course, but they’d be as soft and faded as the ribbons from Val’s wedding bouquet.

  “Fried chicken okay for dinner?”

  Josie nodded again, then pulled her knees up to her chin, her far-too-old gaze swinging to Val’s.

  “So that was Levi,” Josie said, and Val nearly choked.

  “It was. Did...Daddy talk to you about him?”

  “Uh-huh,” she said easily, her gaze returning to the TV. “He said if anything happened to him? Levi would take care of us.”

  Val could barely hear her own voice for the clanging inside her head. “When did Daddy say that?”

  Josie shrugged. “Before he left. The last time. He said if he didn’t come back, Levi would make sure we were okay. Because they were best friends, that Levi always had his back. That...” The little girl frowned, as though she was trying to remember, then smiled. “That, except for you, he trusted Levi more than anyone in the world.”

  Val dropped onto the edge of the craptastic armchair at right angles to the sofa, pressing her hand to her stomach as she rode out a new wave of anger. What the hell were you thinking, Tommy? To confide in Josie—who was only five at the time—rather than her...