Make Mine a Marine (82 page)

With his daughter in one arm, he lifted his wife in the other and spun them around. With Kerry's giggles of joy serving as a backdrop, he lost himself in the youthful beauty of Emma's wide smile.

When he set her on her feet, she stretched the length of his side, waking every male nerve in his body. She brushed her fingers along his jaw, studying his mouth, making him crazy with want. Then she cupped his cheek and turned his face to hers. She looked into his eyes, into his heart, into his soul, and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"I love you," she repeated, and the last of his doubts crumbled away.

"I love you," he echoed, claiming her mouth and making her his.

Some moments later, keeping Emma tucked to his side, Drew greeted his old friends with laughs and hugs and prolonged handshakes. He looked into Hawk's familiar, fathomless eyes and grinned. "I've got one hell of a story to tell you, shadow man.

"I thought you might."

It was thanks enough for believing in him.

Brodie's firm grip nearly crushed his hand. "I'm sorry I doubted you."

"I'm not." The big man's eyes widened in surprise. "I counted on you to take care of my family in my absence. You protected them like they were your own. There aren't many men I'd trust with that responsibility."

"So, Colonel. Are you gonna tell us what happened?" Rafe Del Rio asked the question they all wanted to hear.

Emma took over before he could answer. "It has something to do with switching bodies and love everlasting." The confidence in her voice reflected a real belief, not that corporate boardroom show Drew had learned to distinguish in her husky voice. "And a guardian angel who never gave up on us."

"Daddy, look!" The wonderment in Kerry's voice drew the attention of both her parents and the other adults. He followed the direction of her pointing finger and saw her love-worn, hand-sewn doll sitting on the rail at the front of the church. A mysterious hand had crafted a new addition to the doll's body.

"Angelica's got wings," said Emma, her awestruck whisper a caress to Drew's ear.

Drew looked down at his daughter and exchanged a knowing wink.

"It's called faith, my love." Drew beamed at the doll's miraculous appearance and knew the doll's namesake had finally received her wings as well.

"Faith. What a perfect name for an angel," Emma said.

Startled by the accuracy of her comment, he looked down and saw a knowing, Mona Lisa smile.

Maybe she did know what she was talking about.

Drew laughed and hugged Emma and Kerry to either side, basking in their circle of love. "Absolutely perfect."

USA TODAY
bestselling author Julie Miller writes breathtaking romantic suspense. She has earned a National Readers Choice Award and two Daphne du Maurier Awards among many other prizes for both her series and single title books.  She was also honored to receive the RT BookReviews Career Achievement Award for Series Romantic Suspense. For a complete list of her books, monthly newsletter and more, go to
www.JulieMiller.org