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The moment off-duty navy SEAL Tristan Bartoni meets feisty yet vulnerable Brynn Langtoine, he's a goner. He sure didn't have plans to be attracted to a recently widowed pregnant woman who is already mother to a troubled, grieving young son. Nope, the struggling SEAL came home to Ruin Bayou, Louisiana, to finally deal with his haunting past decisions—not to start a new relationship.
Brynn has enough problems without her hormones going crazy whenever Tristan is near. Her son, Cayden, constantly lashes out at her. Her baby will be fatherless. So…what does Tristan think he's doing, making her life even more topsy-turvy than it already is?
But when it comes to putting her heart on the line, who could be more trustworthy than a navy SEAL?
- Sales Rank: #533469 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-01-01
- Released on: 2013-01-01
- Format: Kindle eBook
About the Author
Laura Marie Altom of Tulsa, Oklahoma is the best-selling, award-winning author of twenty-four books. Her works have made several appearances on both the Barnes and Noble and Waldenbooks’ Best-seller lists. This mother of fifteen-year-old twins has spoken on numerous occasions at both regional and national conferences, and teaches reading at a Tulsa middle school. She’s been married to her college sweetheart for nineteen years.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Come on, baby… You can do it.
Brynn Langtoine crossed her fingers so tightly her knuckles shone white. Six-year-old Cayden had already been through so much in losing his father, he just had to make a home run for his little league tryout. Or, she prayed, for once come close to at least hitting the ball.
The metal bleachers were the only remotely cool thing on this muggy mid-April afternoon. Ruin Bayou, Louisiana, had its nicer points, but an agreeable climate wasn't one. Fanning herself with the parent information sheet the coach's wife had distributed to all team hopefuls, Brynn tried shifting to a more comfy position—no easy feat at eight-months pregnant.
"Relax," her friend Vivian urged.
"Easy for you to say. Dom not only hits home runs, but sinks soccer goals and makes touchdowns—and that's all before breakfast. Meanwhile, poor Cayden…" Brynn cupped her bulging belly as her son tripped on his way to home plate. "Well, let's just say when it comes to athletic talent, he unfortunately inherited my family genes."
"Stop. Little Cayden's just going through a rough patch. Losing his dad like that…" She added a few clucks to her shaking head.
As was usually the case when recalling Mack's untimely demise, Brynn threw up a little in her mouth.
When Cayden looked to her for reassurance, Brynn blew him a kiss. He might be trying out for a big boy team, but he'd never be too old for some good, old-fashioned mommy sugar.
As the pitcher wound up for his throw, Brynn's stomach churned. Please, please, please, she prayed to her disaster of a dead husband, who had also happened to be one of the most celebrated hitters to ever come out of the state. If you ever had so much as a shred of decency in you, send your sweet son a smidge of your batting skill…
"Strike one!"
Not only had Cayden missed the ball, but he'd cowered when it came near him. Having grown up watching his dad play from a box seat in Busch Stadium III, Cayden had worshipped the man and the game, literally wearing a Cardinals baseball cap nearly every day since he'd been born. Any sane person would've thought Mack spent his free time playing catch with his son, but nothing could be further from the truth.
The pitcher threw again.
"Strike two!"
This time, Cayden had ducked to avoid the ball. Vivian let loose with a low wolf whistle. "Who is that?"
Brynn's gaze drifted to where her friend pointed. A giant of a man strode to the outfield, kneeling to talk to a pint-size player. His faded jeans, white T-shirt and Geaux Saints baseball cap didn't mask hard-edged masculinity. A certain larger-than-life, take-charge essence emanated from the man even as he had a simple conversation with a child. The way the man leaned in, seemed to genuinely listen to whatever the distraught child had on his mind, told a different story from the guy's tough outer shell. His body language said he cared like a father, but Brynn was familiar with most of the little league crowd and was sure she'd have remembered a dad who looked like him.
"Whew…" Vivian was also using her info packet as a fan. "What I wouldn't give to be single right about now."
"Excuse me?" Sean, Vivian's husband, nudged her shoulder. "I'm sitting right here."
"Oh, yeah." She apologized with a kiss. "Looking at that hunk, I temporarily forgot."
Brynn fought not to roll her eyes. Vivian had it all. A great husband who adored her and a perfect son and home. She had everything Brynn had once taken for granted, but now knew she'd never have again.
The pitcher wound up for Cayden's third and final try as he'd already had four other turns and failed to hit a single pitch. In the span of a heartbeat, the ball flashed straight for her son, only to clang the chain-link fence behind him.
"Strike three! You're out!"
As he scuffed his little sneakered feet off the field, Cayden dropped his chin to his chest. Brynn's heart ached for him. Why, at this age, did Ruin Bayou's team have to be about competition? Why couldn't it be purely about fun and learning good sportsmanship? Once Cayden was old enough to learn the facts about his father, he'd receive harsh truths no child should ever learn. Until then, Brynn wanted to shelter him and hold him close. She'd tried a dozen times to talk him out of even going for this team, but he'd insisted.
He'd been so despondent ever since Mack's death, Brynn hoped maybe for once luck would be on his side.
"He gave it a good try…" Brynn resented Vivian's stab at comfort when she slipped her arm around her for a supportive squeeze. "He's a full year younger than a lot of these other boys. You wait and see, next year at this time, Cayden's going to set this field on fire."
"Give it a rest," Sean said to his wife. "Coach hasn't even posted the team yet. Let's not count Cayden out until this is official."
Though Sean's words were kind, Brynn wasn't delusional. Boy after boy strode to home base, swinging and hitting for all they were worth. Six home runs had been made. Twelve triples. Not only didn't her son make a single hit, but no catches.
When tryouts were over, the coach, surrounded by players and parents, called the numbers of the kids who'd made that season's Ruin Bayou Mud Bugs.
Cayden's number wasn't called.
While around him, his friends gave each other high fives, Cayden's eyes welled and lower lip trembled.
Brynn took his hand, leading him away from the crowd. "You did a great job, sweetie. Your dad would be proud."
"No, he wouldn't." Her son kicked the dirt in the parking lot. "I'm a loser. Dad hated losers. That's why he left us. He hated me."
Stopping short of their SUV, Brynn knelt in front of her son. "Don't you ever say that about yourself again," she said fiercely. "Baseball is just a stupid game, you hear me? Life is about much more. Your dad—"
"Baseball isn't stupid!" Cayden cried, pitching his bat and glove on the ground. "You are!"
Brynn reached for him, trying to grab the red T-shirt that had been so thoughtfully provided in return for the Mud Bug's fifty-dollar tryout fee, but he was too fast. He took off across a weed-choked field.
She started after him, but a male voice behind her called, "Let him go. He'll be all right."
Brynn turned to find the man she'd seen earlier in the outfield. Up close and personal, he was as intimidating as he was impressive. He'd also inserted himself smack in the middle of an intensely personal conversation to which he hadn't been invited. "If you don't mind, I'll be the judge of what's best for my son."
"By all means." The stranger held up his hands. Hyper kids and their parents made their way to their cars. An audience compounded the awkward factor. "Sorry. Last thing I want is to get into your family business, but I remember the sting of being cut from my grade-school team. Only by my senior year, I'd filled out a little and we went on to win the AA State Championship."
Mack had been on that team. Had this man known her husband?
"Anyway," he went on to say, "your boy might think this is the end of his world, but he'll turn out okay."
With everything in her, Brynn fought a flippant comeback. This stranger had no idea what Cayden had already been through—not to mention the baseball legend he'd had for a father. It was a cruel twist of fate that a sporting talent that should've come to the boy as naturally as breathing had escaped him.
"Thanks for your insight," Brynn muttered, "but instead of letting my six-year-old run away, I'd rather handle this loss by the traditional mom method—with plenty of ice cream and hugs."
"Sure." Hands tucked in his jeans pockets, the guy backed off. "And for the record—I never said either of those things were bad." Then as abruptly as he'd appeared, the stranger melded into the crowd.
Brynn was again alone, worrying about her son, only she now carried the additional burden of being embarrassed by her snippy attitude toward someone who was undoubtedly a friend of a friend and had meant well. She never used to be this angry, bitter shell of a woman, but then Cayden never used to run off crying, either.
Glad she'd worn jeans with sneakers, Brynn chased after her son as quickly as her pregnant belly allowed. "Cayden! Come here, sweetie!"
"Leave me alone!"
The closer she got, the deeper into the boggy woods he ran.
With sunlight fading, Brynn's stomach knotted. Not only were the woods home to whining mosquitoes, ticks and other biting bugs, but poisonous snakes and gators. "Cayden, sweetie, I know you're upset, but this is getting dangerous."
"Go away! I wanna be alone!"
Brynn wasn't especially prone to panic, but she honestly was at a loss as to what to do. Hands to her temples, she urged her mind to think and her pulse to slow. Her single-parenting books frowned on rewarding a child's poor behavior, but it wasn't as if Cayden had run off with malice in his heart. He was understandably hurt that his friends had the God-given skills to play baseball and not him.
The ground squished beneath her rubber soles and the air smelled dank. Darkness was closing in, accompanied by a cacophony of foreign sounds. Though the ballpark wasn't that far behind them, they might as well have been in a different world.
"Cayden, please, come here!" she called. "This isn't funny!"
When he failed to answer, her blood ran cold.
Anything could've happened.
Brynn now trekked through sloppy mud, making her footing treacherous. The vegetation was dense, choked with brambles and vine...
Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
3.5 Star Review
By Harlequin Junkie Blog
Neither widowed, pregnant Brynn Langtoine, mom to a young son Cayden, nor divorced Navy SEAL Tristan Bartoni is in the market for a new relationship, but when they meet in the small southern town of Ruin Bayou, the sparks fly. "Stick with SEALs and your every problem will vanish," Tristan kids Brynn at one point, and in some ways that pretty much sums things up as the story unfolds: he helps her find her little boy when he gets lost, coaches Cayden in baseball, and generally becomes increasingly involved with Brynn and her growing family as weeks go by. But Tristan has a failed marriage behind him, a young son of his own whom his ex-wife has removed to California, and a career as a Navy SEAL, always on the go and in danger. Under the circumstances, what kind of a husband and father could he possibly make?
Brynn and Tristan are convincing, likable characters, each facing the challenges of past mistakes and second chances, and Alton is excellent at imbuing them and their story with an all-American small town ambience and appeal: "The fresh scents of laundry detergent and just-mown grass and the wholly masculine aroma of a man who'd spent hours working hard in the sun blended into an intoxicating balm that, had it been possible to bottle and sell, might have been called Home." That small town ambience, plus some well-drawn secondary characters (my favorite is Tristan's matchmaking mother), and the emotional connection between Brynn and Tristan with its flashes of passion, are the story's strengths.
On rare occasions, the exposition of Brynn's and Tristan's back stories seem a little labored, and while the alternating point of view between the two of them is effective, the inclusion of Cayden's direct perspective interrupts the flow a bit. On the other hand, this is definitely the story of three people in search of love.
Will this SEAL get his Valentine? Will Cayden get a new dad? Can Brynn learn to trust again? Read the novel and find out!
Reviewed at HarlequinJunkie.com
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Mixed review. Starts fine, but deteriorate
By Hope This Helps
Note: Stands alone read. 3rd book in Operation: Family series
EASY READ. Likable characters and a touching storyline. HOWEVER, THE ROMANCE doesn't work on two levels. 1) Bad timing -- after witnessing her husband's murder seven-months earlier, a romance for 8-month pregnant heroine seems rushed. 2) The hero tells her up front he is a career SEAL and must return to duty, so her angry, accusatory behavior when he gets ready to leave is annoying and destroys the romantic storyline.
THE STORY revolves around pregnant widow Brynn Langtoine, moving to a small town with her angry 6-year old son, Cayden. There she meets gorgeous hunk, Navy SEAL Tristan Bartoni, taking a break from his job, his divorce, and loss of joint custody of his son. The book chronicles their attraction throughout the summer, until she goes ballistic when he insists on returning to his unit as ordered.
OVERALL, great characters, but the story barely holds the reader's attention long enough to finish the book. MY ADVICE, hmmm, there are better books out there.
OPERATION: FAMILY books are A SEAL's Secret Baby, The SEAL's Stolen Child, The SEAL's Valentine, A Navy SEAL's Surprise Baby, The SEAL's Christmas Twins, and The SEAL's Baby.
You may also enjoy the complex characters and storytelling of N. Bruhns, A. Stuart, L. L. Miller, R. C. Ryan, or L. Wilde (worst endings ever). For sweet, funny, romances with great descriptive imagery and heart touching angst, try S. Fox, C. Colter, and E. Palfrey.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Strong start, but loses it
By Beckymmoe
This novel started out fairly strongly. Brynn and Tristan's respective baggage and hesitance to get involved struck a chord, and their attraction to one another was nicely written. Everyone else's constant matchmaking eventually got to be nearly as annoying to me as to the main characters, though it did have its moments (Tristan: "We got to playing one of Cayden's video games and she beat the pants off me." His mother: "So pants were off?"). Most of this book would have been a three, three-and-a-half star read for me...until Tristan decided that he had to get back to his job and Virginia Beach--which hello, he's a career SEAL, he's going to have to do. That's when it all went downhill, and fast. Brynn's attitude was over the top, immature, and unrealistic. She knew he was career military, and he was always going to go back--he never lied about that to her or anyone. Her response, though...as an army widow, I just didn't appreciate it. Throwing the Nook across the room crossed my mind more than once, but I managed to hold back. At least by that point I was nearly done with it.
There is, of course, a happy ending, nicely achieved by Tristan. It was a bit of an obvious fix, though, and really had me wondering why on earth he hadn't thought of it earlier (*I* had thought of it already, thanks to my extensive reading of Suzanne Brockmann novels!), since it would have solved the initial problem that had him on leave in the first place....
But then of course he'd never have met Brynn. Hmmmm.
See all 11 customer reviews...
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