Hunter sprawled in the chair, balanced his glass of scotch atop his flat abdomen and shot first one man, then the other, a hard look. “This is why I never said anything. You’re both looking at me like I’m a rich sonofabitch.”

“It’s only the rich part that’s new,” Hula told him with a wink. “Seriously, man, why’d you hide it? If I had a great place like this, I’d be telling everybody.”

“Yeah,” JT said with a shake of his head. “We know. But then, you tell everybody you meet every minute of your life story.”

“Well, I’m a fascinating man,” Hula said with a smile before he took a sip of scotch. “Like the time I tangled with a tiger shark off the coast of Maui…”

“We already heard it,” Hunter and JT said together.

Then the three of them grinned at one another like loons. And just like that, things were back on an even keel. The secret of his family’s money was out, and his friends had put it aside already. Made Hunter wonder what the hell he’d been worried about for so long.

“I actually missed you guys,” Hunter told them.

“Good to know,” JT said, easing back into the leather chair. “When we didn’t hear from you, I started thinking maybe you were reconsidering coming back to the team.”

“I told him that was cracked,” Hula said after a long, appreciative sip of scotch. “No way Hunter doesn’t come back, I said. Hell, Hunt lives for the buzz, man.”

The buzz. What they called the adrenaline-laced rush they got just before a mission. What they all felt when they were given orders to complete and dropped behind enemy lines. What they celebrated when they were all back home safe.

The buzz had a hold on Hunter, and he couldn’t deny it, but lately he’d been asking himself if the buzz was enough to live on. And how much longer could he do this job to the degree of perfection he expected of himself? He wasn’t getting any younger, and already two or three of the guys he’d entered SEAL training with had retired or taken on stateside training jobs.

JT was rolling his glass of scotch between his palms and watching him quietly.

“What?”

“Nothing,” his boss said. “You just seem…different, I guess.”

“I’m not,” Hunter assured him and wondered silently if he was trying to convince JT or himself. Because the truth was, everything had changed. In town. Simon. Margie. But had he? No, he told himself firmly, squashing the very idea. “Nothing’s changed.”

“Hunter?”

All three men whipped their heads around to face Margie when she entered the room. And then all three quickly stood up.

She was surprised and had stopped just inside the room. She wore a pale yellow, short-sleeved blouse over her favorite jeans and brown sandals on her small, narrow feet. Her hair was windblown into a tangled mass of curls that made a man want to run his fingers through them, and her green eyes were wide in embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company.”

“It’s okay,” Hunter said, glancing from her to the friends, who were looking at her with clearly admiring gazes. A flicker of irritation came to life inside him as he saw Hula give her a smile that had won him countless women over the years.

Hunter felt a stab of territorialism that surprised the hell out of him. But damned if Hula was going to make a move on his wife, right in front of him.

He didn’t stop to ask himself if this was another secret he should keep. Why introduce her as his wife when he knew damn well there was a divorce hovering on the horizon? Because he didn’t want Hula looking at Margie like a hungry man eyes a steak. Because she looked wide eyed and uncertain what to do and Hunter didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. Because, damn it, for right now anyway, she was his.

“Come on in, Margie. I want you to meet these guys.” When she was close enough, Hunter draped one arm around her shoulders. “Jack Thorne, Danny Akiona, this is my wife, Margie.”

JT grinned, clearly stunned. “Nice to meet you.”

Hula coughed. “Your wife?” Shooting a look at Hunter, he said, “Man, what happened to Gretch-”

JT shoved him and said, “Sorry, Hula. I make you spill your scotch?”

Hula wiped the liquor off his black T-shirt and glared at his team leader. “No problem.”

Margie looked confused, then smiled at both men. “It’s nice to meet Hunter’s friends. Can I get you anything? Food? Coffee?”

“No, ma’am,” JT said quickly. “Thank you, though. We just stopped for a quick visit. Then we’re heading into the city.”

“You sure you’re his wife?” Hula asked, stepping away from JT before there could be another “accident.”

Margie grinned. “I’m sure.”

“That’s too bad,” he said with a slow shake of his head.

“Well.” Margie backed up a step or two, turned for the door and said, “I’ll let you visit. It was nice to meet you both.”

Hunter watched her walk away, and despite his best intentions, his gaze dropped to the sway of her hips in those worn denim jeans she preferred. It didn’t help any to finally look at his friends and see that Hula had been enjoying the same view. Irritation clawed at him.

“What the hell were you thinking bringing up Gretchen?” Hunter whispered when Margie was gone.

“Hey, man,” Hula said in his own defense, “I was surprised is all. I mean, last time I heard, you were dating this Swedish goddess-now you’re married to somebody else.”

Hunter shot a look at the empty doorway and wondered if Margie had caught Hula’s slip or if JT had managed to shut him up in time. And why the hell did he care if she knew about Gretchen? He and the model weren’t together anymore. Besides, it wasn’t like he and Margie were really married. He didn’t owe her an explanation. So why, then, did he feel like a cheating husband who’d been caught in the act?

“So nothing’s changed, huh?” JT asked.

“That’s right,” Hunter told him, knowing he didn’t sound convincing. Hell, how could he?

“You know,” Hula mused, “I like this one a hell of a lot better than Gr-” He stopped, covered his glass with the top of his hand to prevent spillage and stepped back from JT. “That other one, she was cold, man. Sort of empty. This one…” He smiled and nodded. “She’s a different story.”

Yeah, she was, Hunter thought, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to ignore the rattle and clang of thoughts and notions running through his mind. Despite wanting to keep an emotional distance between him and Margie, she had gotten to him. She’d sneaked beneath his defenses and had managed to make him question the way he lived his life. Forced him to look at his decisions. His-

JT just looked at him for a long moment or two. Then thoughtfully, he said, “You know, you wouldn’t be the first of us to choose to stay with his wife rather than risk his life every other day.”

True. He’d seen plenty of other guys fall in love, get married and leave the military. But their situations were different. They were in love with their wives. He was deeply in lust. But he couldn’t admit to more than that. If he did, too much in his life would be affected.

“I told you, boss,” Hunter said tightly. “Not gonna happen. I’ll be back. My…marriage won’t stop me.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Hunt. I’m glad you’re coming back, and we all know the buzz is good, man,” Hula said quietly. “But you have a woman who loves you? That’s a buzz, too.”

Did she? Love him? He thought about that and wondered. Or, he asked himself, was she just enjoying him as he was enjoying her? Was she trying to make him need her? Was she hoping that he’d make this marriage a real one? And why was he thinking about all of this anyway? He knew what he had to do. What he always did. His duty.

“Not the kind I need,” Hunter told him. “So why don’t we quit talking about my wife and you guys tell me what’s been happening while I’ve been gone.”

They sat down again, and while his friends talked and filled him in on life on base, Hunter’s mind drifted. He wasn’t sure why. He should have been hanging on the guys’ every word about the base and the other teams. Should have been eager to turn his mind back to his job, back to the world he’d sought and built. Instead, his gaze slipped to the doorway through which Margie had disappeared, and his mind filled with thoughts of her. How she looked, the scent of her, the sound of her laughter and even the soft whisper of her sighs.

She was more than he’d expected, more than he’d wanted, and playing this dangerous game of theirs was getting more complicated. Now he was lying to his friends about her, and they’d no doubt have questions when he and Margie got their divorce, too. He never should have agreed to this insanity.

Because there was a part of him that was buying into it. A part of him sliding almost effortlessly into the rhythm of married man. Of Margie’s man. And that couldn’t happen. Because his life wasn’t here. No matter what Simon or Margie might want.

He’d be going back to the Navy because that was where he’d always felt he belonged. His friends, his team. The missions. He’d signed on to do a job and he would continue to do it. He’d given his word, and he knew what that entailed. He belonged to the Navy, not this little town.

But for the first time, that call to adventure seemed a little less compelling than it once had. For the first time, a part of Hunter felt that he would be leaving behind something important when he left.

Margie stood outside the open study doors and listened to the three men talk.

There was laughter and the rumble of deep voices, and she hugged herself as she picked Hunter’s voice out of the crowd with ease. He sounded happy as he sat and talked about missions and danger and adventure, about the bonds that tied the men together.

This was something she couldn’t fight. These men who were closer to Hunter than brothers had a hold on him that was so deep it couldn’t be defeated. Even if she were trying to.