Montana SEAL (Brotherhood Protectors #1)(3)

“Get down!” Lt. Mike shouted, and then threw himself over the grenade.

Montana shouted, “No!” as the grenade exploded beneath their leader.

The force of the concussion reverberated throughout the room, knocking Montana to the ground. His last thoughts were of the home and the girl he’d once loved.





2





Sadie McClain hadn’t slept much the night before. She told herself it was because she was in a different bed, different climate and different state than she was used to, but it would only be half of the truth. She was home in Montana, but she didn’t receive the homecoming she’d expected. She didn’t feel any more relaxed than when she’d been surrounded with the people, traffic and pollution of Los Angeles.

That old saying you can never go home was true. Eagle Rock wasn’t the same as it had been all those years ago when she’d left to go to UCLA. Perhaps if she’d maintained close ties with the people with whom she’d grown up, she would have felt differently. Instead, the weeks away had turned into months, the months into years, and all those kids she’d known in school had moved on in their lives, or moved out of the area.

In California, a chance audition had led to a screening and an offer to be the star in a movie—an unheard of coup for a fledgling actress. Even more miraculous, the movie had been a hit. Who’d have thought the country girl from the wilds of Montana would ever make it as big as she had? Six feature films grossing billions of dollars had made Sadie McClain one of the highest-paid actresses of all time. Her busy filming schedule and public appearances had kept her away from home. For eleven years. Yes, she’d been back for brief visits, long enough to attend her parents’ funerals and her brother’s wedding. But she didn’t stay for long. She couldn’t. Her memories of Hank and her parents made being home hurt too much.

The town of Eagle Rock hadn’t changed much. The only grocery store had closed. Most people had to drive thirty miles now to do any major grocery shopping. Sure, the one convenience store stocked the basics—pantry staples, eggs, bread, some processed meats and dairy products. For greater choices and lower prices, a person had to drive farther to get it.

After his four-year stint in the Marine Corps, her brother seemed happy enough to return to Montana, go to college and get his degree in architecture. That’s when he’d married Carla. When their parents died, Fin had returned to the family ranch, content to raise cattle, train horses and grow a garden for fresh vegetables during the summer.

Sadie wouldn’t have come back at all, except she needed a refuge from a highly persistent stalker. Tim Wallis had followed her career from the first time she appeared on screen. Everywhere she turned, the man was in front of her. He tried to pass himself off as part of the paparazzi, but none of his photographs had appeared in any of the magazines or tabloids. He’d even trespassed on her property in LA to get closer to her. She’d had her agent hire an attorney and file a restraining order against him. But she still saw the man everywhere she turned.

The stress of constantly being in the public eye, and the loneliness of being surrounded by people she didn’t know or care about, finally drove her to the home she’d abandoned years ago. She had to get away and breathe, re-evaluate her career and life choices.

Sadie stared out the window of her bedroom on the second floor of the old house. The window was the only thing that hadn’t changed. Since her parents’ death, her brother Fin and his wife, Carla, had made the house their home. Carla had completely redecorated, changing everything from the curtains to the furnishings. Gone were Sadie’s four-poster bed and the quilt her mother had lovingly made for her sixteenth birthday.

In their place were a modern fabric-covered headboard and a sterile, white duvet similar to the ones Sadie found in the hotels she lived in so often when she was on a shoot. This wasn’t home. She didn’t feel comfortable in the house in which she’d been raised. Her mother and father were gone and so were all of her things. Nothing was the same. Sadie pushed back a niggle of resentment, squared her shoulders and reminded herself that she was in another woman’s home, now.

Though she owned a half-interest in the White Oak Ranch, she’d left it to her brother to manage on a daily basis, infusing cash when he needed new equipment or expensive stud services for his horses and cattle.

As she gazed out of the window, her thoughts drifted back to a time long ago when a certain young cowboy used to climb the trellis to her bedroom window, and stayed until well past midnight. Sadie had fallen in love with that cowboy and dreamed of living in Montana and raising babies.

She’d sacrificed her dream for his.

Sadie sighed and turned away from the incredible view of the Crazy Mountains, thinly capped with the first snow of the season. After holing up in the farm house for the past two days, she was finally ready to venture into town for a few things at the convenience store and maybe to stop by Al’s Diner where she’d held her first job outside ranching.

Fin had assured her Al was still alive despite his propensity for greasy food and cheap whiskey. The crusty old cook had been good to Sadie, always looking out for the sixteen-year-old when the rowdy cowboys got too fresh.

Sadie descended the stairs to the main floor and called out, “Fin? Carla?”

No one answered. Fin hadn’t been back to the house since he’d left to take care of the animals before the sun was up. He’d mentioned something about a fence being down on the north forty and not to hold lunch for him.