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  The last pocket of air bubbled out of the helicopter cockpit.

  No way was he going to die. Ronnie wanted to marry him. No way was he going to drown. Or bleed to death, damn it.

  The water was cold as hell, but it would slow his bleeding.

  All he had to do was get his arms and legs to work.

  But he hurt.

  Every single cell in his body hurt, and it took so much goddammed effort to lift even a finger.

  This was worse than anything he’d ever experienced, worse even than Hell Week, that torturous final week of SEAL training that he’d lived through so many years ago.

  He’d never wanted anything as badly as he’d wanted to be a SEAL. It had kept him going through the nonstop exertion, through the pain, through the torturous physical demands. “You got to want it badly enough,” one of his instructors had shouted at them, day after day, hour after hour. And Joe had. He’d wanted to be a SEAL. He’d wanted it badly enough.

  He’d wanted to be a SEAL almost as much as he wanted Veronica St. John.

  And she was there, up there, above the surface of that freezing water, waiting for him. All he had to do was kick his legs, push himself free and he would have her. Forever. All he had to do was want it badly enough….

  Veronica stared at the water, at the place where first the helicopter and then Blue had disappeared.

  Please, God, if you give me this, I’ll never ask for anything ever again….

  Seconds ticked into one minute. Two. Three…

  Was it possible for a man to hold his breath for this long, let alone search for a wounded, drowning man…?

  Please, God.

  And then, all at once, a body erupted from beneath the surface of the water. Veronica peered into the area lit by the searchlights. Was that one head or…

  Two! Two heads! Blue had found Joe!

  A cheer went up from the sailors on board the boat, and they quickly maneuvered closer to the two men, and pulled them out.

  Dear God, it was Joe, and he was breathing. Veronica stood aside as the medics sliced his wet clothes from his body. Oh, Lord, he’d been shot in the abdomen, just above his hip. She watched, clutching her own blanket more tightly around her as he was wrapped in a blanket and an IV was attached to his arm.

  “Cat was coming up as I was going down after him,” Blue said, respect heavy in his voice. “I think he would have made it, even without me. He didn’t want to die. Not today.”

  Joe was floating in and out of consciousness, yet he turned his head, searching for something, searching for…

  “Ronnie.” His voice was just a whisper, but he reached for her, and she took his hand.

  “I’m here,” she said, pressing his fingers to her lips.

  “Did you mean it?” He was fighting hard to remain conscious. He was fighting, and winning. “When you said you’d marry me?”

  “Yes,” she said, fighting her own battle against the tears that threatened to escape.

  Joe nodded. “You know, I’m not going to change,” he said. “I can’t pretend to be something I’m not. I’m not a prince or a duke or—”

  Veronica cut him off with a kiss. “You’re my prince,” she said.

  “Your parents are going to hate me.”

  “My parents are going to love you,” she countered. “Nearly as much as I do.”

  He smiled then, ignoring his pain, reaching up to touch the side of her face. “You really think this could work?”

  “Do you love me?” Veronica asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Then it will work.” The boat was pulling up alongside of the USS Watkins, where a doctor was waiting. From what Veronica had gathered from the medics, they believed the bullet had passed through Joe’s body, narrowly missing his vital organs. He’d lost a lot of blood, and had to be stitched up and treated for infection, but it could have been worse. It could have been far worse.

  Joe felt himself placed onto a stretcher. He had to release Ronnie’s hand as he was lifted up and onto the deck of the Watkins.

  “I love you,” she called.

  He was smiling as the doctor approached him, smiling as the nurse added painkiller to his intravenous tube, smiling as he gave in to the drug and let the darkness finally close in around him.

  Joe stared up at the white ceiling in sick bay for a good long time before he figured out where he was and why he couldn’t move. He was still strapped down to a bed. He hurt like hell. He’d been shot. He’d been stitched up.

  He’d been promised a lifetime filled with happiness and Veronica St. John’s beautiful smile.

  Veronica Catalanotto. He smiled at the idea of her taking his name.

  And then Blue was leaning over him, releasing the restraints. “Damn, Cat,” he said in his familiar drawl. “The doc said you were grinning like a fool when he brought you in here, and here you are again, smiling like a fox in a henhouse.”

  “Where’s Ronnie?” Joe whispered. His throat was so dry, and his mouth felt gummy. He tried to moisten his dry lips with his tongue.

  Blue turned away, murmuring something to the nurse before he turned back to Joe, lifting a cup of water to his friend’s lips. “She’s getting checked by the doctor,” he told Joe.

  Joe’s smile disappeared, the soothing drink of water forgotten. “She okay?”

  Blue nodded. “She’s just getting a blood test,” he said. “Apparently she needs one.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m hoping to get married,” Ronnie said, leaning forward to kiss him gently on the mouth. “That is, if you still have that ring. If you still want me.”

  Joe gazed up at her. Her hair was down, loose and curling around her shoulders. She was wearing a sailor suit that was several sizes too large, white flared pants and a white shirt, sleeves rolled up several times. She was wearing no makeup, and her freshly scrubbed face looked impossibly young—and anxious—as she waited for his answer. “Hell, yes,” he somehow managed to say.

  She smiled, and Joe felt his mouth curve up into an answering smile as he lost himself in the ocean color of her eyes. “Do you still want me?”

  Blue moved quietly toward the door. “I guess I’ll leave you two a—”

  Ronnie turned then, looking up at Joe’s XO and best friend. “Wait,” she said. “Please?” She looked back at Joe. “I’ll marry you, but there’s one condition.”

  Blue shifted his weight uncomfortably.

  “Anything,” Joe said to Veronica. “I’d promise you anything. Just name it.”

  “It’s not something you can promise me,” she said. She looked up at Blue again, directly into his turquoise eyes. “I need Blue’s promise—to keep Joe safe and alive.”

  Blue nodded slowly, taking her words seriously. “I’d die for him,” he said, matter-of-factly.

  Veronica had seen them in action. She’d seen Blue dive into the icy Alaskan waters after Joe, and she knew he spoke the truth. It wasn’t going to make her fear for Joe’s safety disappear, but it was going to make it easier.

  “I didn’t want to marry you because I was—I am—afraid that you’re going to get yourself killed,” she said, turning back to Joe. “I knew I couldn’t ask you to leave the SEALs and…”

  She saw his eyes narrow slightly as he understood her words. “Then…”

  Veronica felt more than saw Blue slip from the room as she leaned forward to kiss Joe’s lips. “I wasn’t ‘slumming.”’ She mock shuddered. “Nasty expression, that.”

  He laced his fingers through her hair, wariness and concern in his eyes. “I can’t leave the SEALs, baby—”

  She silenced him with another kiss. “I know. I’m not asking you to. I’m not going to quit my job and become a career navy wife, either,” Veronica told Joe. “I’ll travel and work—the same as you. But whenever you can get leave time, I’ll be there.”

  As she gazed into Joe’s midnight-dark eyes, the last of his reservations drained away, leaving only love—pure and powerful. Bu