Title: Tender Persuasion
Main Characters: Gail Peck, Holly Stewart
Genre: Romance, Family
Rating: M
Author: Fadedink26
Beta: GoodGollyMe

Summary: Staff Sergeant Gail Peck was about to face her greatest challenge yet. Motherhood! But convincing her expecting and reluctant bride to marry her was going to be her hardest fight! Holly Stewart on the other hand didn't know if her jitters were caused by Gail's incredible good looks or the fear of marrying without love. Could Gail convince Holly that her marriage proposal was about more than providing a home for their baby.

CHAPTER 1

Holly

The maid of honor and the best 'man' were barely speaking. Other than that, the rehearsal dinner seemed to be a success.

Still, I thought, nowhere was it written that as maid of honor I had to like the best 'man'.

"So—" my sister, Maggie, leaned in close to me and whispered beneath the hum of conversation around us "—what do you think of her? Wasn't I right? Isn't she perfect for you?"

The "she" being Gail Peck, best 'man', police officer and the source of the jitters in the pit of my stomach.

I reached for my wineglass, took a slow sip of ginger ale, then answered in as low pitched a voice as possible. "I'm trying not to think about her."

"Ooooh," my sister gushed as her eyebrows arched high on her forehead. "Sounds promising."

Frowning slightly, I set my wineglass down and told myself that it was useless to argue with my sister over this. For almost a year, Maggie had been trying to set me up with Gail Peck, best friend of her fiancé, Chris Diaz. This little gathering was as close as she had come to succeeding.

"Look," Maggie said quietly, "you two are going to be together practically every day for the next week. Wouldn't it make more sense if you at least tried to like her?"

"Now that you bring it up," I said, half turning in my seat to face my sister squarely. "I still don't understand why I have to spend all week with the woman. You're the one getting married."

"Yeah…" Maggie's expression went soft and dreamy, and despite the fact that I had no real desire of my own to get married, a small sliver of envy pierced my heart. What would it be like, I wondered, to feel what Maggie so obviously felt for Chris?

In the next instant, though, I remembered that I wasn't interested in finding a spouse. I had my own life. A successful one, thanks very much, and I was already happy, especially now that I was getting the one thing I wanted most. Why should I go out looking for someone who would only require me to make all kinds of changes in what I considered a darned near perfect existence?

With that thought firmly in mind, I prodded my sister. "Maggie, you know I'm delighted to be your maid of honor, but—"

"No buts," she interrupted. "You promised that you would help out, Hol."

"Sure, but why—"

"There's no way I can do all of the little things that have to be done this week." Maggie leaned forward and clutched my hand. "Come on, Holly-Rancher. You can handle Gail for one little week, can't you?"

There was a challenge if ever I'd heard one. Grimly I shot a covert glance at the woman across from me: blonde hair, strong jaw, straight nose, well-shaped mouth, and eyes blue enough to make the ocean seem gray. Standing up, she was five feet eight inches of lean muscle, had a voice that made my stomach pitch with nerves and expectation with a single glance. Sure. I could handle her. No problem.

Fuck, I was in trouble. The only thing that kept me from having some serious fantasies about the woman was the fact that very soon I wouldn't be able to act on them.

Muffling a sigh, I said softly, "Little sister, you should understand better than anyone else why I don't want anything to do with a police type."

Maggie did nothing to hide her grumble of frustration. "Honestly, Hol, you would think you grew up manacled to a wall."

"Yeah. A wall that was an absent father on assignments that lasted months on end and even when he was back, he was always working."

I had hated growing up as policeman's child, especially because Dad had worked for a specialized unit. When I was younger, I just figured him for an absentee father. He had missed school plays, birthdays, science fairs. I never understood how Mom coped with it all. Never knowing where he was, or if he was coming back alive, and the constant moving depending on how his cases went down. Making and keeping friends had been hard. The one constant in my life … the one friend I had always been able to count on was Maggie. My sister, who had grown up to fall in love with a police officer. But at least Maggie's soon-to-be husband had left the force.

Gail Peck looked like a lifer to me.

"You just hate the police."

"No, I don't," I said. "I've just served my time, that's all. You've got to be relieved that Chris left the force. Admit it."

"I told him he didn't have to. It was his decision."

"A good one, too." I reached for my glass, then rethought it and settled my hand in my lap. "At least you won't be the 'single wife' like Mom had been, trying to manage a law career, raise two children and make a marriage work with no husband."

"Jeez, Hol—" Maggie's voice dropped as she shot a quick look at the other diners to make sure no one could hear them "—you make it all sound so ugly. We had a great family, Dad worked a lot but he loved us and Mom very much. A terrific life. We got fancy vacations and lots of presents to make up for his time away from us."

True, I thought. All true. But while we had the best of everything, all I had ever wanted was a family who was there both physically and emotionally.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "It was terrific."

Maggie grinned, obviously not hearing the sarcasm. "Speaking of family, did you do it?" I feigned ignorance. "Did you get inseminated?" she pressed.

"I did." I confirmed trying to keep my excitement at bay.

Maggie let out a squeal. "I can't believe you really did it. I'm going to be an aunt." She squealed again.

'It's too early to tell, Mags. We will know if I'm …." I was almost afraid to say the word. "…after my next doctor's visit. So no more talk about it until then. We don't want to jinx it."

"Okay" Maggie frowned. "Till then tell me how right I was about Gail. She is a babe, isn't she?"

Babe? Oh, she was more than a babe. But there was no way I would admit as much to Maggie. I shot Gail Peck a covert glance only to find her watching me through those incredible eyes of her. Goose bumps raced up my arms. My heartbeat quickened, and my palms were suddenly damp. This was no ordinary attraction to a beautiful woman. It was almost as if something inside me …recognized her. As if she was someone I had been waiting for.

Get a grip, I told myself as the ridiculous thought took root.

Gail

Grab her, I thought. Grab her, kiss her, caress her …I shook my head slightly in a vain attempt to rid myself of the almost-overpowering impulses throbbing inside me. Impulses that had been haunting me since meeting Holly Stewart three hours ago.

Her long silky straight brown hair seemed to tempt me to spear my fingers through it. Those even darker brown eyes of hers mesmerized me, and I wanted to lose myself in their depths, discover her secrets. I called on years of strict academy training to hide my reaction to her figure. A body made for lounging beside a fire and quiet, private picnics on moonlit beaches. My gaze slipped lower, and I felt something in my chest stagger. The deep vee neckline of her red silk blouse gaped a bit as she leaned in toward her sister. I caught a fleeting glimpse of tanned flesh and felt my mouth go dry.

I was in big trouble.

I shifted my gaze from Holly's face to the bottle of beer in front of me. I had to quit staring at her. Curling my fingers around the still-cold bottle, I lifted it and took a long drink.

"So," Chris whispered as he leaned in close. "What do you think of our Holly-Rancher?

A brief smile touched my lips, then faded. Holly-Rancher?

I risked another quick look at the woman opposite me, reminding myself not to eat her alive with my eyes. No, she was no Holly-Rancher.

Perhaps, I mused, Hol.

"C'mon Gail," Chris prodded. "What's the verdict?"

I forced a casual shrug. "She seems … nice."

"Nice?" Chris looked at me astonished. "A solid year I've been telling you about her, and all you can say when you finally meet her is that she seems nice?"

"Yeah, you told me about her." I snorted a smothered laugh. "You also told me about how she hated growing up in the force. And about all the grief she gave you when she was trying to get Maggie to dump you."

Chris frowned. "She was trying to protect her sister."

"Sure, by taking shots at you and the force."

"She's changed. She likes me now." Chris shook his head slowly. "Finally figured out that I really do love Maggie."

Fine. I could understand defending and protecting a sister. But Holly Stewart had made my friend miserable for almost six months. The fact that she was gorgeous didn't make up for that. I took a long swig of my beer. "I'm glad she likes you now," I said slowly. "But she still hates the police force."

Chris shrugged. "Maggie says that Holly never liked all the times their dad was absent and being in constant danger while they were growing up. Even I don't think that's an easy way to raise kids … which is why I got out."

"I still can't believe you left."

"Ten years was long enough for me."

"Not me," I said flatly. Why anyone would give up the police force for a woman was simply beyond me. The force had given me everything. A home, a family that included every police officer in my jurisdiction, a sense of belonging and purpose… of doing something for my country.

Nope. I would never give up all that to please a woman who would probably just end up leaving me, anyway.

"You and her would be great together."

I scowled. "Butt out."

"Hell, Gail." Chris sat back, shaking his head. "You're in worse shape than I thought."

I snapped my friend an irritated look.

Chris ignored it. "If you don't know a gorgeous, successful woman when you see her, the 15 Division ought to drum you out on the grounds of failing eyesight."

"Very funny."

"I'm serious."

"Will you let it go?"

"Probably not," Chris admitted.

"What is it with you and your kind?"

Chris laughed easily. He was still the only person Gail had ever known who was unimpressed with the patented Gail Peck glare.

"What do you mean, my kind?"

I took another swallow of beer, deliberately kept my gaze from sliding toward Holly and concentrated instead on getting my best friend off my back. "You Noah's Ark people."

Chris laughed again, but I went right on, warming to my theme.

"The minute you find somebody, you're just not happy until everyone around you is traveling in pairs." I kept my voice low so that only Chris would be able to hear me above the hum of other conversations taking place in the crowded, oceanfront restaurant. As I talked, I saw that Chris's smile faded. "You try every which way to drag the rest of us off, kicking and screaming toward some fairy-tale ending. Some of us are meant to be alone, you know. Not everybody finds happily ever after. Hell, not everyone is looking for it."

Leaning forward, resting his forearms on his thighs, Chris held his beer bottle cupped in both hands and stared at it thoughtfully before saying quietly, "You need more than the police force, Gail."

I snorted. "Look who's talking? You joined up the same time I did. For ten years, the force was enough for you."

"I retired when I found out different."

"Yeah." I shook my head. I still couldn't understand how a man walked away from his whole life without a backward glance. As for myself, I was in it for the long haul, that's what Pecks did. We were police officers first and foremost. I already had ten years in, and I planned on staying until they threw me out. Bodily.

How did Chris stand it, going from Detective to assistant security manager for some civilian computer firm?

"There is life off the force," my friend commented as if reading my mind.

"So I've noticed…. not." I swallowed a groan along with the last of my beer, then set the empty bottle down on the table.

"That's it for me," Chris said and stood up. "I know when to quit."

"Never have before," I pointed out.

"For tonight, Peck. Only for tonight." Chris grinned again and patted my shoulder as he moved around the table. "But for right now, I think I'll steal a dance with your date. I'll even let you borrow my gorgeous, almost bride for a quick spin around the floor."

Chris took Holly's hand and led her onto the shining wooden dance floor. And even when the rest of the wedding party left the table to join the dancers, my gaze never left them.

AN: Thanks for stopping by to read :)