Terri Reed - Undercover Marriage

THE BABY MISSION

An illegal adoption ring—using kidnapped babies—has to be stopped. To gather the necessary evidence, U.S. marshal Serena Summers goes undercover—as a married woman desperate for a baby. Her “husband” is her own partner, U.S. marshal Josh McCall, whom Serena blames for her brother’s death. How can she act like a loving wife when she has to constantly fight her feelings for a man she isn’t sure she can trust? The closer they get to unraveling the dark web of deceit, though, the more being Josh’s undercover wife means putting her life—and future—in his hands.

Witness Protection: Hiding in plain sight

Glass shattered.

Serena’s heart hammered against her ribs. The sound came from somewhere in the house.

Josh lifted a finger to his lips, indicating silence.

She nodded and withdrew her weapon from the holster at her hip. Moving in tandem they slowly made their way down the hall toward the main part of the house. At the T in the hallway, Josh gestured with two fingers for her to go right, while he’d go left.

Hushed male voices came from the next room. At least two.

Adrenaline pumped through her veins. The nitty-gritty aspect of taking down the bad guys was a necessary part of the job. A part she had no qualms about performing.

Two men stood inside the dining room and another balanced half in, half out of the broken window on the side of the house.

Josh yelled, “Stop. U.S. Marshals.”

The guy half inside the window dropped back outside and disappeared. One of the remaining thugs reached behind his back to whip out a .357 and aimed the pistol at Josh.

Fear slammed into Serena. “Gun!”

* * *

TERRI REED

At an early age Terri Reed discovered the wonderful world of fiction and declared she would one day write a book. Now she is fulfilling that dream and enjoys writing for Love Inspired Books. Her second book, A Sheltering Love, was a 2006 RITA® Award finalist and a 2005 National Readers’ Choice Award finalist. Her book Strictly Confidential, book five in the Faith at the Crossroads continuity series, took third place in the 2007 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year Award, and Her Christmas Protector took third place in 2008. She is an active member of both Romance Writers of America and American Christian Fiction Writers. She resides in the Pacific Northwest with her college-sweetheart husband, two wonderful children and an array of critters. When not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, gardening and playing with her dogs.

You can write to Terri at P.O. Box 19555, Portland, OR 97280. Visit her on the web at www.loveinspiredauthors.com, leave comments on her blog, www.ladiesofsuspense.blogspot.com, or email her at terrireed@sterling.net.

Undercover Marriage

Terri Reed

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

—Philippians 4:12–13

Thank you to the editors at Love Inspired for giving me this opportunity to work on this continuity series. It’s been a pleasure to work with the other authors, Shirlee McCoy, Margaret Daley, Sharon Dunn, Liz Johnson and Valerie Hansen.

I also want to thank Leah Vale, Lissa Manley and Melissa McClone; without their support, wisdom and laughter my life would not be as rich.

Thanks and acknowledgment to Terri Reed for her contribution to the Witness Protection series.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

EPILOGUE

DEAR READER

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Extract

ONE

U.S. marshal Serena Summers entered three-year-old Brandon McIntyre’s room with a packing box in hand. Her heart ached for the turmoil the McIntyre family had recently suffered. Danger had touched their lives in the most horrible of ways. A child had been kidnapped.

But thankfully Brandon’s older brother had been rescued by the joint efforts of loving parents and the Marshals Service.

Serena paused, taking stock of the signs that the McIntyre family had once lived in this home. Little clothes spilled out of the dresser, as if the furniture had burped. Toys were scattered across the floor, tiny land mines to avoid. A toddler-size bed, the sheets and covers thrown back as if Brandon had recently awoken—and now the bed waited for the tiny body to once again claim slumber.

But the child wouldn’t be back. At least not to this house.

The McIntyre family no longer lived in Houston. The U.S. Marshals Service had moved them for a second time when their location had been compromised.

Only a few people within the service knew where Dylan, Grace and the kids had been relocated.

Serena and her partner, Josh, were among them. It was their job to pack up the family’s belongings and forward them through a long and winding path to their final destination. The McIntyres had been spirited away and deposited in paradise. Or as close to it as the U.S. Marshals Service could get them. Hawaii, to be exact.

Carefully picking her way around stuffed animals, train pieces and Legos, Serena went to work, gently folding clothing and stacking them inside the box. Her chest ached with empathy for the family that had almost been destroyed by the illegal activities of Dylan’s boss, Fred Munders, and his thugs.

Mr. Munders, a wealthy and well-connected lawyer in St. Louis, Missouri, had been implicated in several murders and in the illegal operation of a baby-smuggling outfit run through the adoption agency his wife, Matilda Munders, founded.

The only problem was the marshals and the FBI had found no hard evidence with which to shut Munders and the adoption agency down.

The word of several thugs and Dylan McIntyre, who worked as an attorney in Munders’s law firm, Munders and Moore, wasn’t enough to indict. The evidence Dylan had collected against his boss had disappeared from within the Marshals Service’s district offices, apparently stolen by someone within the service itself.

Serena’s fingers curled with anger around the tiny tennis shoe in her hand.

So many deaths, so many lives thrown into chaos.

The thought that someone she worked with, trusted, could have stolen the evidence and could have been leaking information to the bad guys sent Serena’s blood to boil.

If her brother were alive, he’d know how to compartmentalize the anger and pain gnawing at her day in and day out.

But Daniel was gone. Murdered.

A sharp stab of grief sliced through her heart. Followed closely by the anger that always chased her sorrow.

She tossed the shoe in the box and abruptly rose. Restless, she moved to strip the bed. She had to keep busy, keep her mind occupied, or her emotions would overwhelm her. Something she refused to let happen. She needed to stay professional. She needed to keep up the front that her world hadn’t collapsed with her brother’s death.