MARITAL INVESTIGATION
With one accusation, army officer Cassidy Matthewsâs name, reputationâand lifeâare on the line. A Special Forces soldier insists that Cassyâs Fort Bragg-based unit is smuggling drugs. And the accuser? Itâs Cassyâs handsome, stubborn ex-husband, Major Shane Logan. Shane knows Cassy is innocent, which is why heâs sure sheâs being set up to take the fall. Proving it, though, means working together...and trying to ignore the feelings they still share. The closer they getâto the truth and each otherâthe more the danger grows from a ruthless criminal whoâll stop at nothing to destroy them both.
Shaneâs voice dropped with a level of gravity sheâd never heard before. âYou have to listen to me.â
Cassidy shook her head, steeling herself against the sight of her ex-husband. She couldnât stop herself from noticing heâd filled out over the past few years. Brown hair still spiked forward over his forehead, but the green eyes sheâd first fallen for had darkened and grown wiser. His army combat uniform rode his shoulders in a way that spoke of lean muscle and sheathed strength.
This older version of Shane Logan carried himself like a man.
As always, the woman in her wanted to react to the man in him. Jerking her chin to the side, she called up her soldier facade. âTodayâs not the day for my ex-husband to step back into my life.â
Something flashed in his eyes. âI understand that. And this isnât by choice.â Shane took one short step into the room, but it was enough to back Cassidy tight against the wall. âYouâre not safe, Cassy.â
He had no idea.
About the Author
JODIE BAILEY has been weaving stories since she learned how to hold a pencil. It was only recently she learned that everyone doesnât make up whole other lives for fun in their spare time. She is an army wife, a mom and a teacher who believes chocolate and a trip to the Outer Banks will cure all ills. In her spare time, she reads cookbooks, rides motorcycles and searches for the perfect cup of coffee. Jodie lives in North Carolina with her husband and her daughter.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices
with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
â1 Corinthians 13:6â7
To Paul: You really are everything I never knew
I needed. God knew it would take you to make me totally me. Heâs awesome like that. I love you.
And to Cailin: I love you infinity times infinity. Plus one.
ONE
The explosion blasted a tidal wave of sound through the yellow cinder block walls, rocking the building like an earthquake.
Army Chief Warrant Officer Cassidy Matthewsâs hands flew to the back of her head. She dived for cover on the floor, cracking her forehead against the top of the desk. Her sinuses rattled. Stars shot through her vision. For an instant, the room evaporated, and the foul oiliness that permeated the air of Iraq overwhelmed her.
Only this wasnât Baghdad.
âMac!â She shook her head to clear her vision and inventoried the room. No blast holes in the wall. Roof intact. No smoke. But where was Master Sergeant McIntyre? Heâd been standing right in front of her not ten seconds earlier. Planting her hands on her desk, Cassidy pushed herself to her feet just as Mac braced his hands opposite hers and rose to meet her eyes.
Macâs eyes scanned the room. âYou okay, Chief?â
With a quick nod, Cassidy ducked around the older man and headed for the windows that overlooked the enormous wooden tables on the parachute packing floor below. The few riggers who were packing their quota of static line chutes before lunch raced for the door, their muffled shouts a strong indicator that whatever went off was right outside the large concrete and cinder block Eighty-Second Airborne Rigger Shed.
She whirled to Mac. âGet down there. Stop them from exiting the building before we know whatâs going on. The last thing we need isââ
âTo draw fire if this is some kind of setup?â
Cassidyâs exhale almost echoed off the walls of her office. Not on Fort Bragg. Surely they were safe here. âCorral them the best you can.â
Sergeant Erin Landon appeared in the doorway, wisps of her wavy brown hair straggling from the knot beneath her red riggerâs cap. Sweat sheened her forehead, which creased her porcelain skin into deep lines over dark blue eyes. âChief, Private Andersonâs car just went up in the parking lot.â
With a glance back, Mac disappeared out the door.
âAndersonâs car? Where is Anderson? Right now?â Please donât say heâs in his car. Cassidy snatched the phone and dialed 9-1-1, the receiver quaking in her hand. âFind him. Make sure heâsââ The words refused to come. Anderson was a green private, new to the company as of a couple of months ago, fresh out of basic and rigger school. He couldnât be more than nineteen.