By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Dale Mayer

When former Navy SEAL Liam O’Brian joins Legendary Securities, he looks forward to being shipped somewhere exciting for his first mission with Levi and his crew. Instead, he learns exotic and enormous aren’t exactly synonymous when he stumbles upon the oversized pachyderms inhabiting his new backyard. Still, conflicts are universal and Liam’s troubles are only just beginning once he finds himself falling for a woman deeply rooted in her family’s livelihood and problems.

Go-getter Lilianna Howell is a biologist who believes all problems can be reduced to minor ones if only they’re nipped in the bud early enough. When her dad can no longer deal with the loss of his son and his detachment threatens the elephant reserve, Lilianna steps into a much larger role, handling the marketing and fundraising. Being close to her sister and her husband–once Lilianna’s fiancé–forces her to struggle with distrust from that past experience and a growing attachment to a man who appears in her life like a dream come true.

Mammoth issues escalate as Liam and Lilianna team up to save the gentle giants, their newfound love… and their own lives.

As this book opens Brandon and Kasha arrive and get to say hello to Liam before they ship out again with Rory. Liam and Nelson however are heading to an animal reserve in Texas. Levi has gotten involved at the request of Gunner, who was contacted by one of the daughters of the owner.

There’s a lot involved here and the only one who isn’t pleased about their appearance is Brianna. Lilianna is the one who called Gunner and her sister doesn’t want them there at all.

It seems at least part of the key is Lilianna’s father, Jim Howell, and the condition he’s in since his son died in a fire. The visit they make suddenly becomes extended, with Gunner providing a new specialist and lawyer to Lilianna. It seems the family lawyer has been in the process of doing the paperwork required for Brianna to have general power of attorney. Lilianna just has POA over her father’s medical care.

Now as much as these events get interesting right from the start it’s the events of the next morning that will have you turning the pages faster. With the discontinuing her father’s medications he wakes far more lucid than he’s been in months.

This is a favorite scene.

Just then they heard a series of enduring sniffles and light snorts coming from the bed. Lilianna hopped to her feet and rushed to her father. Liam joined her at the end of the bed.

There was a little more color in her father’s face, a little more life to his movements. Her father rolled to his back and opened his eyes. He gave a sigh as if not happy with what he saw.

“Father?”

Jim turned to look at her. He smiled. “Brianna.”

She stepped forward and, with a misty smile, said, “No, Dad, it’s Lilianna.”

He frowned, searched her gaze, then lay back down on the bed, reaching up to rub his face. “I never could tell you apart.” He looked over at Lilianna, his eyebrows raised.

She shrugged. “You used to be pretty good at it, Dad. You always said there was such a fundamental difference between us that it was pretty easy to tell us apart.”

He frowned at her. “That was before,” he said briskly. “I don’t think it was recent.”

She didn’t argue with him, just patted his hand. “How was your night?”

He looked around, but a confused look was in his eyes. “Fine.” He half sat up on the bed. “Why are you here?”

“You don’t remember us coming last night?” she asked softly.

Her father frowned. He looked from her to Liam, and his frown deepened. “Who are you?”

“A friend of Gunner’s,” Liam said gently but fast enough that he cut off Lilianna’s answer.

Jim’s face eased back. He nodded. “Good man.”

Lilianna was overjoyed her father was talking. He was closer to what he’d been months ago.

There was still some confusion, but he was throwing it off rather well. He sat up, tossed back the bedcover and said, “You shouldn’t be here this early. I’m not even dressed.”

“For the last few weeks, maybe longer, Dad, they haven’t bothered dressing you at all.”

He sat and stared at her. “Who is they?”

She sent a worried glance to Liam, and he put an arm around her shoulders.

“You’re still in the same assisted-care home,” Lilianna said quietly. It broke her heart to see the fear and confusion in the man’s eyes as he glanced around.

“How long have I been like this?” he asked. He reached out a hand, but it was trembling.

Liam stepped forward. “Quite a while. You had an argument with a nurse several months back. After that they gave you medication to calm you down and make you easier to get along with.”

He closed his eyes and sat there for a long moment.

Liam asked, his voice low, “Do you want to walk to the bathroom yourself or do you want a hand?”

Lilianna’s father’s eyes opened up. There was still confusion and a lack of trust. But they settled on Liam. “How do you know Gunner?”

“I work for Levi. Logan works with me.”

Her father’s shoulders sagged. He reached up a hand; Liam gently pulled him to his feet and supported him as he walked over to the bathroom. He went into the bathroom and shut the door.

Liam turned to look at Lilianna, seeing the dismay on her face. “You should be happy. He appears to be throwing off the drugs faster than we expected.”

She stared at Liam. “If he’s like this now, would he have been like this the last four months?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but I’d say yes.”

She clapped a hand over her mouth. “The difference is night and day. He’s a very willful man. That’s why it was so damn hard to see him go down the way he did. Yet I understood. We lost Keith too,” she said tearfully. “But it was so hard to watch Dad give up like that.”

“I wonder how much he gave up on his own and how much other people helped him,” Liam said in a dark tone.

She cast him a sideways glance. “I don’t like what you’re implying.”

“You haven’t liked anything I’ve had to say in the last twenty-four hours. That doesn’t mean I’m wrong to say it.”

She winced. “No, you’re right. I do need to hear it, and we do need to get to the bottom of this. But, so far, all you’ve said is that my brother-in-law went into my cabin and searched it. Well, potentially my brother-in-law. There are other men on the place.”

“Exactly.”

She pulled the hair tie from her hair, letting waves of long dark hair hang down; then she ran her fingers through it as she sat down on the edge of her father’s bed. “I need a shower, a change of clothes and some answers,” she said determinedly. She glanced out the window. “Where is North?”

“Standing watch at the cabin still.”

“Why bother now?” she asked. “Somebody has already been there. Surely not more than one person would search it.”

“I can’t be sure of that. Would anybody else know you weren’t there? Could your sister have told someone else?”

She shrugged. “My sister could’ve told someone, and, of course, anybody who works here in the home could have seen both of us here.”

He nodded. “I talked to Katie. She said that generally this place has no problems. It’s considered to have a very high quality of care.”

Lilianna nodded. “Which is why I trusted them with my father,” she said sadly. “Maybe I shouldn’t have.”

“Let’s just say, it’s a good thing that we’re doing what we’re doing now.”
Mayer, Dale. Liam’s Lily: A SEALs of Honor World Novel (Heroes for Hire Book 14) (pp. 95-99). Valley Publishing Ltd.. Kindle Edition.

As more people show up in her father’s room Lilianna and Liam begin facing the challenges of the day. Lawyers, Specialists and Gunner get more involved and a visit from Brianna is just what you’d expect.

I couldn’t put this book down as this all unfolds and the attraction Liam and Lilianna have for each other cumulates to something more.

Complete with a bit of a conversation that North has with Ice as the lead in to the next book, North’s Nikki.

5 Contented Purrs for Dale!

Dale Mayer

Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).

She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.