The Darkhorse_A Powerplay Novella Read online

  The Darkhorse

  A Powerplay Novella

  Selena Laurence

  Golden Age Press

  Copyright 2017 © Selena Laurence

  All Rights Reserved

  Copy Editing by Proof Before You Publish

  Cover by Sweet and Spicy Design

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, sorted in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book. This contemporary romance is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners. This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.

  For permission to use any portion of this material, please contact the author at: [email protected]

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  Contents

  About The Darkhorse

  Praise For Selena Laurence

  Books by Selena Laurence

  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

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  About The Darkhorse

  A Bride.

  Lisa Scotch has been burned by her ex-husband, a soldier who took off, leaving her with no forwarding address and enough debt to sink the Titanic. She's lost nearly everything, and Christmas is looking nothing like the season of joy. Until Colonel Jefferson Thibedeux walks into the elementary school she teaches at and turns everything upside down.

  A Soldier.

  Jeff Thibedeux is the quiet one, a "dark horse" most people don't see coming. He's married to the military, and things like family and holidays have never meant much. But when his commanding officer tells him a promotion to General won't be forthcoming unless Jeff can get an actual wife, his world is turned upside down.

  An Arranged Marriage.

  When Jeff meets the pretty school teacher who has everything but her finances well in hand, he knows this is his chance. He'll pay her bills, she'll be his wife in the eyes of the law and more importantly, the Pentagon. A clean business deal that will benefit them both. But when Jeff and Lisa prepare for their first holiday as husband and wife, feelings spark like Christmas lights, and things get as hot as the fire in the hearth. Can business become pleasure, or even something more? One thing's for certain, for this soldier and his bride, Christmas will never be the same.

  Praise For Selena Laurence

  "Laurence’s tightly woven story is a superb mix of sexual and political tension that’s certain to please fans of both." — Publisher's Weekly review of THE KINGMAKER

  "Delicious and Intriguing." — Lauren Blakely, NYT Bestselling Author on A LUSH BETRAYAL

  “Selena Laurence has the ability to bring to life complex characters you instantly start rooting for from page one. Passion, humor, and a sexy hero all make for one read you don’t want to miss.” — Ilsa Madden-Mills, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author on PLAYING WITH FIRE

  "I totally fell in love with Nico and Tess’s story." — Cindi Madden, USA TODAY Bestselling Author on THE HEIR

  "The plot is deftly written and readers will be totally engrossed in the story" — InD'Tale Magazine review of A LUSH BETRAYAL

  “Selena Laurence delivers on the promise of heat, and love with her sexy romances!” — Nana Malone, USA TODAY Bestselling Author

  Books by Selena Laurence

  The Lush Rockstar Series

  A Lush Betrayal (Lush 1)

  Loving a Lush (Lush 2)

  Lowdown and Lush (Lush 3)

  A Lush Reunion (Lush 4)

  The Rhapsody Rockstar Series

  A Lush Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel)

  Racing to Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel)

  Dreaming of Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novella)

  Addicted to Rhapsody (A Rhapsody Novel)

  The Powerplay Series

  Prince of the Press (A Powerplay Novella)

  The Kingmaker (A Powerplay Novel)

  POTUS (A Powerplay Novel)

  SCOTUS (A Powerplay Novel)

  The California Cowboys Series

  Cade’s Loss (California Cowboys One)

  Vaughn’s Pride (California Cowboys Two)

  Ty’s Heart (California Cowboys Three)

  Standalones

  The Heir: A Standalone Greek Billionaire Romance

  Pax (Lush the Next Gen)

  The Czar: A Standalone Hockey Billionaire Romance

  The Hiding From Love Series

  Falling for Trouble

  Secrets in a Kiss

  Concealed by a Kiss

  Playing with Fire

  Chapter 1

  He wasn’t going to get promoted. Colonel Jefferson Thibedeux stood in front of his boss’s desk and ground his teeth to the roots. He’d been working for five long years for the promotion to Brigadier General and he wasn’t going to get it. Not today, not ever.

  Unless he found a wife, and skippity pronto fast.

  “Look, Thibedeux,” General Armstrong said, his bushy brows drawing down over his eyes. “I know you’ve worked hard, given your all to the service, but they want a certain kind of soldier for this position—the second-in-command here at the Pentagon must be able to handle all the diplomatic functions, settle the incoming families of upper-level staff, coordinate logistics of the President’s travel, attend all sorts of ceremonial functions.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jeff nodded, his forehead creased with stress.

  “You understand what I’m saying?” the General asked, his eyes boring holes into Jeff.

  Jeff struggled not to squirm. Put him in front of a commanding officer shouting at him for blowing a mission in a war zone and he wouldn’t balk a bit, stand him up here with Walter Armstrong implying he needed a wife and he felt like a six-year-old being reprimanded by his grandfather.

  “I need a wife,” Jeff said bluntly.

  The General sighed heavily, shaking his head. “Now, son, you know a requirement like that would not only be frowned upon by the White House, but is actually in violation of Army regulations. We can’t base promotions on someone’s marital status.”

  “But hypothetically speaking, if I were married, I’d be more the kind of soldier you’re looking for?”

  Armstrong watched him a moment more, making Jeff wish he’d just phoned in sick today. Finally, the older man huffed out a breath and sat forward, wiggling the mouse to bring his computer screen to life.

  “Just do what you have to so I can give you the damn promotion. You know you’re the one I want, but it has to fly with the rest of the committee.”

  Jeff nodded briskly and saluted before turning on his heel to leave.

  “And Thibedeux?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “This needs to be solved in the next forty days. I’v
e held them off as long as I can. They’ll pick someone else if you’re not up to snuff by Christmas.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Well, hell. There went the holidays.

  Lisa Scotch opened the envelope carefully and slid the papers out. To her relief, the official seals and signatures were in all the right places. A dissolution of marriage is hereby granted, the document read.

  “Is that it?” her mother asked from the kitchen where she was unpacking a box of dishes.

  “Yeah, it’s official,” Lisa said, sliding the papers back inside and putting the envelope in her purse on the small foyer table. She’d only moved into the townhome three days ago, but the foyer table and a bed were about the only furniture she had.

  “Well, congratulations,” her mother said, smiling.

  “I don’t think that’s what you’re supposed to say to someone when their marriage fails, Mom.”

  Her mother placed two glasses in the cupboard then turned back to Lisa. “It is when the man you were married to abandoned you three years ago, and hasn’t been heard from since.”

  Lisa walked across the open floor plan and into the kitchen where she leaned back against the formulaic granite countertop.

  “Now that’s not fair, Mom. Doug posted all those pictures of him with the blonde in Key West. And the ones of him with the brunette in Tokyo. Also the redhead in L.A. and the girl with the purple hair in SoHo.”

  Her mother snorted in disgust. “I certainly don’t count that as keeping in touch, and it’s nice to know the Army and the courts don’t either.”

  Lisa thought back to what she’d been through over the last six months, having to go to the Army in order to get Doug to respond to her petition for divorce. Bastard hadn’t answered any calls or emails, and she had no idea what his address was. Luckily, Doug wasn’t the first U.S. Army employee to run out on a spouse. They had protocols for that kind of shit, and Lisa had learned all of them. But if the end result was a divorce en absentia, she’d take it. It was signed, sealed and delivered by the State of Virginia, and now he couldn’t run up another bill that trashed her credit rating, or put her address as the reference for a lease he had no intention of paying.

  If only the damage he’d already done could be repaired. Lisa didn’t want to tell her mother she might very well be moving again if she couldn’t get some of the debt Doug had dumped on her cleared up. Her job teaching in the Arlington public schools wasn’t going to pay for the massive credit card balances Doug had racked up over the last three years. She’d used the proceeds from the sale of their small house to pay off what she could, but right before he’d ditched her, Doug had taken out a second mortgage on the house under the guise of using the money for remodeling, so there wasn’t a lot of equity in the little cottage she’d lived in for the last five years.

  “Well,” she said, pasting a smile on her face for her mother’s benefit, “the good thing is he’s gone for good now, and I have a fresh start.”

  Her mother leaned over and squeezed her arm gently. “I’m so proud of you, honey. You handled this with such grace. You’ll find someone who truly deserves you next time around.”

  Lisa snorted in laughter. “Mom. There is no way I’m ever getting married again.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Wild horses couldn’t drag me to an altar.”

  Her mother’s eyes grew wide. “Please don’t say that, honey. I can’t bear the thought of you being alone. You’re only thirty. You have the rest of your life to meet someone and settle down, have some grandchildren for me.”

  Lisa’s heart raced at her mother’s words. A life with someone—children—a partner. Those were things she’d once wanted more than anything, but not anymore. No, Lisa wouldn’t be getting married again. She’d taken that risk once, and gotten burned so badly she’d be a complete fool to try it again.

  But telling that to her mother would only upset her, so Lisa opted for the easier route. “Well, maybe, but give me awhile to get settled as single me before you start asking for grandchildren, will you?”

  Her mother smiled. “Of course, honey. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like you were under some sort of pressure. You need to get moved in, enjoy your new place, and your new freedom. When the time’s right you’ll know it. You can’t rush these things.”

  Yes, Lisa thought, especially when these things weren’t going to happen.

  “Well, the first thing I’m doing with my newfound freedom is get some dinner. Want mac and cheese? It’s all I have.”

  Her mother shook her head. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t you let me take you out for dinner to celebrate?”

  “Oh, Mom, you don’t have to do that—”

  “Honey, it’s my pleasure. I feel so bad your dad didn’t live to help you with this. If he had he’d have kicked Doug’s ass from here to that bar in Florida where the pictures with the blonde were taken—”

  Lisa laughed.

  “But he wasn’t here to protect you, and I let that bastard convince me he was good enough for you, so the least I can do is buy you dinner to celebrate being rid of him.”

  Lisa leaned over and kissed her mother softly on the cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”

  “Anytime, love.”

  Chapter 2

  All Jeff could think about was who he could find to marry him. The logical choice was Dinah Carlson, special liaison to General Armstrong. He’d been sleeping with her off and on for the last year. But she only touched him when they had sex. And even then it was minimal, cursory; hardly the grasping, clutching, passionate touch a man hoped to illicit when he had sex with a woman. And truly, Jeff might have been offended, or even had his male self-esteem shaken a touch, except he knew her, and he knew Dinah cared a hell of a lot more about the prestige and salary of a high-ranking officer than she did about the sex.

  Still, she knew protocol, had been to countless military and diplomatic functions on the arms of countless officers in the Pentagon. If he were to marry her, there’d be no on-the-job training. Dinah would be ready to roll as the wife of a new Brigadier General.

  Yet…Yet. Jeff didn’t know if he could bring himself to marry a woman who only touched him when they had sex. Come to think of it, why did he even have sex with her at all? Yes, it was convenient, and yes, he didn’t need to worry Dinah would expect anything more than he was willing to give, but hell, when had he become so complacent he was willing to put up with mediocre sex?

  “Did you just say mediocre sex?” asked his friend Teague Roberts as they stood outside the White House on a balcony overlooking the famous rose gardens. “Isn’t that an oxymoron?”

  Shit. He’d said it out loud? The last thing he needed was his band of brothers, the members of the Powerplay Club, ridiculing him for his pathetic sex life.

  “I said that out loud, huh?”

  Teague snorted. “Yeah. And I’m not about to pretend I didn’t hear it. I’m just not that nice.”

  Fucking lawyers, Jeff thought. He shook his head as Teague chuckled.

  “But seriously. What the hell is mediocre sex?” Teague’s mouth pursed in thought. Then he finally shrugged. “Yeah, I got nothing. Either you did or you didn’t. If you didn’t that’d be far worse than mediocre, and maybe you need to get some of those little blue pills. If you did, well, I’m not seeing the problem.”

  Jeff sighed and scowled. “You can’t tell me sex with your wife isn’t better than ordinary sex? Not all sex is the same.”

  Teague chuckled. “Well, of course sex with Deanna is the best sex there is, but normal sex is normal—not mediocre. I mean, it’s sex for fuck’s sake. Sex, man!”

  Jeff rolled his eyes at his friend’s enthusiasm. Since he’d gotten together with Deanna two years ago, Teague was the picture of cheerful and enthusiastic. Where he’d been driven nearly to a fault previously, he was now like an overgrown puppy. Come to think of it, all of Jeff’s married friends were like that. Constantly happy, satisfied, cheerful. It was enough to make a man regret accepting
invitations to Thanksgiving at the White House.

  The doors opened behind them and out walked the First Gentleman of the United States, Kamal Masri, along with another Powerplay member, Derek Ambrose. The two of them were followed by Scott Campbell, Chief of Staff to the Senate Majority Leader.

  “Did I just hear you talking about sex on the balcony of the White House?” Kamal chastised.

  “Hypocrite,” Derek coughed into his hand.

  “Excuse me?” Kamal raised one imperious eyebrow.

  “The amount of sex that’s had in this house and you’re really going to question someone talking about it?”

  Jeff felt his face flush and turned away at the same time Teague choked out a laugh and Scott loudly asked where the nearest waiter had run off to. Kamal was married to the President of the United States, also known as the Commander in Chief, and Jeff’s boss. Somehow the idea of POTUS having sex was a little more than he could handle at nine p.m. on a Thursday night.

  “Wait, I’ll go with you,” Jeff said as Scott began to open the doors to go back in and find the missing waiter.

  “No, you don’t,” Teague said, grabbing him by the arm. “The rest of you pay attention. Something’s up with our boy here, and I want to know what it is.”

  Derek and Kamal stopped their argument, Scott released the door handle, and every eye fixed on Jeff. Just fucking wonderful.