My ex and current husbands both graduated from the top military academy, so I never attended any of my current husband's class reunions. I was always afraid the two of them might run into each other at such events and create an awkward scene. But today, my husband, Frederic Drayton, insisted I pick him up. Suppressing my irritation at being woken by a call, I pushed open the door to the private room at the officers' club. "Sorry to interrupt, everyone. I'm here to pick up my husband." The next second, the noise in the room died abruptly. A room full of officers with gleaming insignia was fixed on me at once. And the man seated at the head of the table, his uniform sharp, his gaze cool and stern, was slowly turning his service cap in his hands. "Claudine Welch?" Someone mocked. "This isn't the kind of place for someone like you. What are you doing here?" The room erupted in mocking laughter. "I heard you schemed your way into your stepbrother's bed and forced him to marry you—how else would someone like him end up with a slacker? His wife is a colonel. That's a real power couple. How do you have the nerve to show up?" The weight of their collective gaze landed squarely on me. No one knew that Geoffrey had once been the worst troublemaker in the academy. He clawed his way to the top, all for me. But none of that mattered anymore. Meeting everyone's gaze, I didn't show the humiliation they expected. I just offered a calm, faint smile. "I'm not here to socialize with officers. I'm here to take my husband home." Geoffrey, who had been silent until now, finally spoke, his voice low and grave. "Claudie, we divorced five years ago." I smiled and nodded. "I know. "So, I wasn't talking about picking you up, Major General Baldwin."

Chapter 1

My ex and current husbands both graduated from the top military academy, so I never attended any of my current husband's class reunions.

I was always afraid the two of them might run into each other at such events and create an awkward scene.

But today, my husband, Frederic Drayton, insisted I pick him up.

I figured since he and my ex, Geoffrey Baldwin, weren't in the same branch of service, they probably wouldn't cross paths.

Suppressing my irritation at being woken by a call, I pushed open the door to the private room at the officers' club.

"Sorry to interrupt, everyone. I'm here to pick up my husband."

The next second, the noise in the room died abruptly.

A room full of officers with gleaming insignia was fixed on me at once.

And the man seated at the head of the table, his uniform sharp, his gaze cool and stern, was slowly turning his service cap in his hands.

"Claudine Welch?" Someone broke the silence. "This is a reunion for top academy alumni. What's a commun