Debra Webb - Safe by His Side

He had to get this lady warmed up fast. As cold as she was, shock and hypothermia represented definite threats. Concern overrode his usual self-preservation instincts.

She lifted her hands to her blouse and worked on a button, her movements stiff and awkward. Raine swore under his breath. At this rate, she’d never get her clothes off. If she couldn’t do it, he’d have to do it for her.

He pushed her hands away and deftly released the remaining buttons. He peeled the wet blouse down her arms and pitched it to the bathroom floor. Steam billowed around them.

“Thank you,” she murmured. She squeezed her eyes shut and swayed back against the wall.

He knew the hot water wouldn’t hold out so he pulled her against him and turned her back to the hot spray. She clung to him helplessly. He bit the inside of his jaw to stifle the groan that rose in his throat at the feel of her firm breasts pressed into his chest.

This woman was going to kill him, and she didn’t even have a weapon.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Debra Webb was born in Scottsboro, Alabama, to parents who taught her that anything is possible if you want it bad enough. She began writing at age nine. Eventually, she met and married the man of her dreams, and tried some other occupations, including selling vacuum cleaners, working in a factory, a day care center, a hospital and a department store. When her husband joined the military, they moved to Berlin, Germany, and Debra became a secretary in the commanding general’s office. By 1985, they were back in the States, and finally moved to Tennessee, to a small town where everyone knows everyone else. With the support of her husband and two beautiful daughters, Debra took up writing again, looking to mystery and movies for inspiration. In 1998, her dream of writing for Harlequin came true.

Katherine Robertson, a.k.a. Kate Roberts—Danger follows her to a mystery man’s doorstep, but she can’t remember why.

Jack Raine—He trusts no one, but can’t resist helping a woman who doesn’t know her own name.

Victoria Colby—The head of the Colby Agency is worried when her new operative doesn’t check in as scheduled.

Lucas Camp—He hired the Colby Agency to find Jack—to help Jack, or kill him?

Raymond Cuddahy—The leak in his organization means no one is safe.

Sal Ballatore—The man who killed his son will pay.

Dillon—He wants his money, and Jack dead—not necessarily in that order.

Many thanks to an outstanding guide, Lee Lewis, for his superior knowledge of Smoky Mountain trails, and to a terrific friend and expert drawer of maps, JoAnn Reynolds.

A special thanks to Natashya Wilson, a wonderful editor, for believing in my work and giving me this opportunity. This book is dedicated to the man who helped make all my dreams come true—my wonderful husband, Nonie.

Prologue

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

Epilogue

“Failure in this assignment is almost a given,” Victoria Colby told the investigator sitting on the other side of the immense oak desk that had once belonged to her late husband, James. “And should you choose to accept it, your life will be in constant danger—perhaps from more than one source,” she added cautiously.

“I understand,” Katherine Robertson replied.

Victoria eyed the young woman with more than skepticism—uncertainty…maybe.

Did she really understand?

Victoria wasn’t so sure that she understood, herself. This was the most sensitive assignment the Colby Agency had undertaken in the ten years since she had assumed the helm. She’d been reluctant to take charge at first, but the small Chicago-based private investigations firm her husband had operated for the final years of his life had been near and dear to his heart. So Victoria had worked hard to make the agency the best in the business. It was the one thing she could still hold on to and feel close to James.

She passed a thin manila folder with a red “Top Secret” cover sheet on the front to the eager investigator, who immediately opened it to review the meager contents.

“Who does Jack Raine work for?” Katherine asked, glancing up only briefly.

“He used to work solely for the CIA, but four years ago he shrugged off the brass and became a contract agent. Since that time, he’s worked for them all—NSA, DEA, CIA. He’d been under deep cover for the FBI for seventeen months when things went sour. The story is that he left the son of a prominent mob leader named Ballatore dead and an extraordinary sum of money missing.”

“He turned?” Katherine looked from Victoria to the folder and back in disbelief. “A guy with a record like this?”

Victoria nodded slowly. She could hardly believe it herself. Jack Raine’s work history might be restricted reading—which meant no significant details were available for their perusal—but his reputation was spotless, not to mention unparalleled. The man had every commendation his government could give him. Somehow, between the known and the unknown, things just didn’t add up—at least, not for Raine’s longtime friend Lucas Camp. Lucas had asked Victoria to take this assignment as a personal favor. Raymond Cuddahy, Lucas’s boss and the new director of Special Operations, didn’t like the idea of a civilian agency’s involvement. He had, however, given his consent—eventually, and off the record.

Like Raine, Lucas had worked for the government in one capacity or another for most of his adult life. He had recruited Raine into the CIA and was probably the only man alive who’d had an up-close-and-personal relationship with the elusive Jack Raine. Both men now worked, in different roles, for a highly covert special operations unit created to provide support when all else failed.

Lucas had shared a cage with Victoria’s husband as a prisoner of war during Vietnam. The two men had helped each other to survive. And Lucas had been a key factor in Victoria’s own survival in this cutthroat business after her husband’s death. Had it not been for Lucas, the Colby Agency might have gone under long ago rather than becoming the elite organization it was today.

Victoria owed the man.

“It’s your job to find out if he’s turned.” Victoria leaned forward and propped her elbows on her desk. She laced her fingers and rested her chin atop them. “And to bring him in, either way.”

Without responding, Katherine turned her attention back to the file in her hands and frowned.

Victoria noted again what a lovely young woman Katherine was. She had only been with the agency for one year. At twenty-five, she still lacked the life experience Victoria usually preferred in her investigators, but Katherine was an especially quick study. Her looks were definitely deceiving. She had a model-perfect build, with long dark hair and even darker eyes. But beneath that pretty exterior lay the wit and intelligence of an excellent tracker. Instinct and guts—that’s what had gotten Katherine noticed in recent months.