Bound by more than desire...
A gripping Team Twelve romantic thriller
Sexy SEAL William Hudson will accept any help escaping enemy captivity...even if that comes from beautiful Dr. Layah Anwar, who’s willing to do anything to get her family to safety. Though neither Layah nor Hud trust easily, they must join forces on a harrowing journey across the mountains. Their survival is threatened by the brutal elements, enemy snipers...and the devastating desire they can’t deny.
“Why did he want us to get married?” Hud asked.
“Yelda told him we were sleeping together,” Layah said.
“Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know. She thinks we are destined to marry.”
His eyes narrowed with suspicion.
“I did not encourage her,” she said, placing a palm on her chest.
“Right. You’d never force anyone to do anything against their will.”
“I have no interest—”
“No interest? Really?”
“Not in marriage.”
“You don’t strike me as the casual-affair type.”
She lifted her chin. “I feel desire, like any woman. I remember the pleasures of the bedroom. That does not mean I wish for a reluctant husband.”
He didn’t argue, so she continued walking. They seemed to have reached an understanding. She didn’t want to say too much.
Admitting her desire for him wasn’t a problem; he already knew.
* * *
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Dear Reader,
While I was writing Stranded with the Navy SEAL, the first in the Team Twelve series, I became interested in a side character. The hero’s friend and comrade, William Hudson, seemed like a perfect candidate for a thrilling romance. The only problem? He was dead.
Believed dead. He’d entered a building that exploded. No remains were recovered.
In Navy SEAL Rescue, Hud has survived the blast, against all odds, and been captured by the enemy. He’s the first navy SEAL captive in the history of the organization, because SEALs never surrender. I learned that on Wikipedia. In addition to being a captive, and an elite soldier, Hud is an expert mountain climber. The heroine, Dr. Layah Anwar, desperately needs someone with his skill set. She helps him escape and their adventure begins.
Both Hud and Layah are resilient people who’ve endured personal hardships. He’s divorced. She’s a widow. Neither character wants to risk their heart again, especially when their lives are at stake. So of course they fall in love.
I hope you enjoy their story.
Susan Cliff
NAVY SEAL RESCUE
Susan Cliff
Susan Cliff is the pen name of a longtime romance reader and professional writer from Southern California. She loves survival stories and sexy romance, so she decided to write both! Her Team Twelve series features men to die for—hot navy SEALs who live on the edge and fall hard for their heroines. Visit her at susancliff.com.
Books by Susan Cliff
Harlequin Romantic Suspense
Team Twelve
Stranded with the Navy SEAL
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Excerpt from Her Rocky Mountain Defender by Jennifer D. Bokal
Chapter 1
Telskuf, Iraq
Hud was in hell.
He’d woken up here two months ago, buck naked and half-dead, caked in a mixture of blood and dust.
This particular corner of hell was an underground spider-hole with four walls, a solid dirt floor and no light. The only exit was an impenetrable metal door. It had a slot wide enough to push a tray through. He ate whatever they served with his bare hands. On good days, the gruel had bits of meat and gristle. On bad days, he went hungry.
Each week he was given a gallon of drinking water and an empty bucket. He’d learned to ration his water or suffer the consequences. He hadn’t bathed since his arrival, unless he counted that extended waterboarding session with his new terrorist friends. One afternoon of this method had almost broken him, despite his extensive Navy SEAL training, but they hadn’t continued. They must have decided it was a waste of water. Either that or they thought he’d die before he coughed up any useful information.
In addition to waterboarding, he’d been treated to periods of sleep deprivation, electroshock therapy and regular beatings.
He almost missed the beatings; they’d made him feel alive. He craved human contact, even in the form of fists. He preferred blood to dust. Blood was pain, hot and bright. Dust was oblivion. It was the dark nothingness that smothered him. It rained down on his head from the cracked ceiling like a slow burial.
Sometimes he closed his eyes and pretended he was back in Iowa, in the storm cellar on his grandparents’ farm. He hadn’t wanted to be cooped up underground, protected from the elements. He’d never been afraid of thunder and lightning. He’d wanted to chase tornadoes and climb mountains and touch the sky.
There weren’t any mountains in his hometown, so he’d climbed every tree. He’d climbed the water tower and the soybean mill and the bridge across the river. He’d broken both arms one summer. His mother had been at her wit’s end. She’d told him he was just like his father, a volatile race car driver with a taste for hard alcohol and low-class women.
Hud hadn’t minded the comparison back then. He’d wanted to be fast and tough. Low-class women sounded pretty fun, too.
Until he met Michelle.
Thinking about her was a different kind of torture, twisting his gut into knots. She’d been a tempest, with her stormy moods and wild ways. Now she was another man’s problem. Hud didn’t envy the son of a bitch. He didn’t envy the happy-family photos on Facebook, or the fact that Michelle looked better than ever.
Nope. Not at all.
What was there to envy? He was in a dusty tomb in Iraq, waiting to die, while those two cuddled up in a cozy apartment with the baby he’d thought was his. They were probably ordering takeout right now, and watching movies in bed.
Bo-ring.
He was so over her.
He was over this rat-hole bunker,
