Excerpt of The Marine and Me by Cathie Linz

Steve Kozlowski had been in the Marine Corps for over a
decade. He'd survived the most rigorous training in the
world. He'd faced hostile forces in Afghanistan, survived
temperatures of over one hundred and thirty degrees
Fahrenheit wearing fullbattle gear, seen the worst of
conditions on half the continents on the planet.

He was one of the few, the proud, the tough. Which meant
he could handle his matchmaking Polish grandmother, no
problem.

Even if his Busha was after him to meet the bookworm
librarian next door, Steve could handle it. Or so he told
himself. If necessary, he'd use evasive maneuvers to
sidestep any matrimonialminded booby traps that may have
been laid down for his benefit.

That was the plan.

The reality was that he'd waited a minute too long. The
knock on the back door told him that much.

Steve could ignore it. He could sneak out the front door
while his grandmother was in the bathroom.

But that smacked of cowardice, and Marines were not
cowards.

"Aren't you going to open the door?" Wanda called out from
down the hall, obviously hearing the continued knocking.

"Affirmative." Steve briskly yanked the kitchen door wide
open.

A female stood there, frowning at him. "Uh, um, I'm
looking for Wanda?"

"And you are?" As if he didn't know.

"I'm Chloe Johnson from next door."

"Right. Chloe the librarian. I should have guessed." He
nodded at her dumpy clothes — the charcoalgray sweater
that looked two sizes too big, the white parochialschool
shirt and black skirt that sagged around her ankles. The
combatstyle boots were a bit of a surprise, however.

Her dark hair was in a tight bun on top of her head. She
wore blackrimmed glasses that stood out against her pale
skin like ink on a newspaper. She had to be the mousiest
woman he'd ever seen.

"My grandmother is unavailable at the moment." Steve
deliberately kept his voice low, so as not to scare the
poor female.

"Oh, uh..." She glanced around the room as if searching
for something. "She told me to stop by and pick up some
kolachkis for the library event tonight."

"Right." He'd already stolen three from the plate.

"Here you go."

"Thanks."

"I'm Wanda's grandson, Steve, by the way."

She nodded. "Nice to meet you. Bye."

An instant later she was gone.

A minute after that, his grandmother reappeared in the
kitchen and beamed at him. "So what did you think of
Chloe? Isn't she a sweet girl? Better than those wild
women you seem to favor."

Steve had to admit that in the past his taste in women had
tended to lean toward goodtime girls.

Then he'd met Gina. She'd been classy and smart. He'd
thought Gina was different. He'd been wrong. Thanks to an
unexpected inheritance from his deceased Texasoilbaron
grandfather, Steve was a Marine with money. Lots of it.

That's what had interested Gina. The money. Not him. The
recent betrayal still cut deep.

Gina had conned him, saying she loved him when she really
loved his bank account.

Humiliated by his own gullibility, Steve had come home on
leave to the people he could trust — his family. He
definitely wasn't looking to get into another romantic
relationship. No way, no how. He'd visit his family for a
while, then he planned on hitting the open road on his
Harley, enjoying his freedom before returning to Camp
Pendleton in California where he was stationed.

"Steve?" Wanda tugged on his arm to get his
attention. "You haven't said, what did you think of Chloe?"

"She looked like a librarian."

Wanda frowned.

"She's not really my type," Steve added.

Wanda wagged her index finger at him. "You can't know that
from one brief meeting."

Sure he could.

But he could tell by the stubborn tilt of her head that
there was no convincing his Busha of that.

Wanda peered out through two of the aluminum blinds
covering her kitchen window. "Oh, my. It looks like Chloe
is having some kind of car trouble. You should go help
her."

Sighing, Steve went outside to find Chloe leaning over the
side of a compact car. The pose drew his attention to her
bottom. Considering the fact that she was dressed like a
nun, he felt guilty for even observing the fact that she
had curves beneath those ugly clothes.

"What's the problem?" he gruffly asked.

"I don't know." Chloe straightened. "It won't start. And
I've got to be at the library in fifteen minutes."

"Give her a lift," Wanda called out through the nowopen
back door.

Looking at Chloe's flushed face, Steve felt sorry for
her. "Take my car," Wanda added. "Not that motorbike of
yours."

His Harley was not a mere motorbike, but he saw no point
in arguing that fact at the moment.

So much for his battle plan. Busha had clearly won this
first skirmish. But the war wasn't over with yet.

This wasn't the first time Wanda had tried to fix Chloe
up, but it was definitely the worst. For the past few
days, Chloe had heard all about Wanda's grandson Steve.
She'd seen all the pictures of his goodlooking face and
lean body standing tall and proud in a U.S. Marines
dressblues uniform. She'd smiled politely as Wanda had
confessed that Steve was something of a ladies'man, but
that he was really only looking for the right woman, and
then he'd settle down like his older married brothers.

Chloe wasn't buying that. She'd recently broken up with a
ladies'man. She'd been blindly in love with Brad Teague, a
handsome commodities broker. Her vision had been restored
when she'd seen him kissing another woman and leading her
up to his apartment.

Brad hadn't shown a bit of remorse as he'd informed her
that it wasn't natural for a man to settle for just one
woman.

She'd informed Brad that he could go jump into Lake
Michigan.

Like Brad, Steve Kozlowski was goodlooking, confident,
sexy.

Like Brad, Steve judged a woman by her appearance. She'd
seen the way Steve had looked at her when she'd walked
into Wanda's kitchen. He'd dismissed her as someone not
worthy of his attention.

Which was just the way she wanted it.