The Marine's Baby by Deb Kastner

Author:Deb Kastner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: American Light Romantic Fiction, Religious - General, Christian - Romance, Fiction, Romance, Romance - General, General, Religious, Fiction - Romance
ISBN: 9780373876280
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2010-10-15T00:24:16.078000+00:00

Chapter Ten

Nate’s world was in overdrive, and all because of one little kiss. Okay, so maybe technically he’d gone in for seconds, but who could blame him.

Jess certainly had him off-kilter. He was a man who liked to act, not sit around mulling over his emotions. Yet here he was, checking and rechecking his handiwork on the chimney, knowing he ought to be concentrating solely on the final test to come and on whether or not this project of his was actually going to work and not smoke out the entire lodge.

He knew he should be nervous.

Instead, he was thinking about how similar his current emotions, those he experienced whenever he was with Jess, were to those of when he’d first received guardianship of Gracie.

Overwhelmed.

Confused.

Was this what it felt like to be in love?

He wished Ezra were here. He would know what Nate should do, or at least he would have had his back, leaving Nate feeling less exposed and vulnerable.

He remembered back to when Ezra first met Tamyra. Up until that day, Ezra had been a committed bachelor, just as Nate was. And then suddenly his friend was out to conquer the world, and he’d had the energy and confidence to back that up.

It had come, Nate knew, from the love of a good woman. Tamyra changed Ezra’s whole outlook.

Ezra would have added his renewed faith in God, which seemed to go hand in hand with Ezra and Tamyra’s deepening relationship. At the time, Nate had chalked it up to a man molding his life to please a woman, but now he was not so sure.

Had there been more to Ezra’s faith? Was that what his friend had been trying to tell him?

Nate ran his fingers along the edge of the dried cement all around the stones, making sure there were no cracks in his handiwork.

For his part, Nate had teased Ezra unmercifully, and he’d certainly never understood what had come over his friend, not only to give up his bachelor freedom, but to step into the heavy-duty responsibility of being an active-duty marine, a husband and, eventually, a father.

There was a good reason Nate had never pursued a serious relationship with a woman, for who would willingly want to take on the life of a military spouse? He wouldn’t have wished that on any of the women he’d dated over the years, and so he’d kept things simple, and the women at arm’s length.

Or at least he’d thought that was the reason he’d remained emotionally distant.

Until now.

Until Jess.

Maybe the honest truth was he’d just never met the right woman—a woman who not only turned his head, but his heart.

Nate climbed down the ladder, only half aware when his feet met solid ground. With a grunt, he collapsed the twelve-foot ladder and carried it to the back of the building, where lodge guests wouldn’t accidentally trip over it in their comings and goings. He would have put the ladder away, but the toolshed was already full to overflowing, and he thought he’d probably need it to climb back on the roof for the county inspection.

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