Natalie Dunbar - A Model Spy

Dear Reader,

I was excited to get the opportunity to write Vanessa Dawson’s story, A Model Spy, in Silhouette Bombshell’s THE IT GIRLS continuity. Tough, yet beautiful and vulnerable, Vanessa Dawson kicks butt and tries to deal with her family, an evolving relationship and past demons returning to haunt her. For me, this effort represents a significant departure from the traditional idea of a series book as far as tone and content, while also incorporating a strong, competent heroine who is an African-American heiress and ex-supermodel.

The groundbreaking doesn’t stop there, either. My heroine has past issues that affect her ability to do her assignment and she gets to choose her hero from a sexy DEA agent and a handsome hip-hop music mogul who came up from the Miami street gangs, not unlike people you find in the news today. I enjoyed listening to the hip-hop music and reading about the roads the artists traveled to fame and fortune and the problems many face. I hope I managed to impart a little of that flavor in this book.

Natalie Dunbar

The It Girls

Special thanks and acknowledgment are given

to Natalie Dunbar for her contribution to THE IT GIRLS.

ISBN: 9781408946152

A Model Spy

© Natalie Dunbar 2006

First Published in Great Britain in 2006

Harlequin (UK) Limited

Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, including without limitation xerography, photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

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All characters in this work have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.á.r.l.

® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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believes that a woman can do anything she sets her mind to. To date she has met her personal goals of becoming an electrical engineer working in the field, obtaining her master’s degree in business administration and getting published. Happily married to her high school sweetheart, she lives in the Detroit area with him and their two boys. She has several romance novels under her belt, and is ecstatic over the launch of Silhouette Bombshell, which gives her characters new worlds to conquer. An avid fan of fiction, television and movies that showcase powerful women with strong skills and talents in a male-dominated world, she is happy to add her heroines, CIA agent Reese Whittaker and model-spy Vanessa Dawson, to the list.

I’d like to dedicate this book to my wonderful family.

Thanks for all your love and support!

Natalie

Thanks to my wonderful editor, Julie Barrett, for great ideas and help in shaping this book to make it the best. Thanks to my husband, Chet, for inspiration, input and just listening. Thanks to my youngest son, for doing without Mom when there was no other way. I want to thank my critique group, specifically Karen and Reon for all their help and support. Special thanks to Joe Kilmer in the DEA Miami Field Office (MFO) and the DEA Web site, http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/. Any errors in how the process works are mine.

NATALIE DUNBAR

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Epilogue

COMING NEXT MONTH

“Renee, are you available? There’s a call for you on the private line in your office.”

Olivia’s voice drew Renee’s attention away from the limousine taking off from the front of the town house to enter the 68th Street traffic. It was carrying her husband, Preston, and her daughter, Haley, to a matinee.

With Preston newly released from prison, it should have been the best of times for her family, but the man who’d come home a few months ago was a pale shadow of the one who’d left. Worse yet, she barely recognized Haley, who’d recently transformed into an angry, rebellious teen.

Renee promised herself that she would hold her family together and make things right, but now, she had a job to do.

With an incline of her auburn head and murmured thanks to her personal assistant, Renee Dalton Sinclair crossed the Persian rug and passed the spiral stairs on the first floor of The Gotham Rose Club to head back to her office. Nervous excitement made the back of her neck itch. The only person who ever called on her private line was the Governess, a mysterious benefactress who was well placed in the government. Whenever the calls came, one of the Gotham Rose’s undercover spies soon took on a dangerous mission to bring down a high-society criminal.

Whoever the Governess was, she’d been powerful enough to pull the strings necessary to have Renee’s beloved husband, Preston, released from prison early. Despite Pres’s refusal to discuss what had happened, she knew he had been the scapegoat for his corrupt family and their investment firm.

The Governess had approached Renee four years ago with a deal. In return for Pres’s early release, Renee started an undercover organization with her exclusive Gotham Rose women’s club. Renee had started the club to get New York’s wealthiest young heiresses to put their names and fortunes to good use by raising money for charity. The secret spy club included only a small number of the more than two hundred Gotham Rose members. The women were trained to take down upper-class citizens who used wealth and power to cover their crimes.

In the quiet sanctuary of her office, Renee secured the door, then slipped into her powder room and locked that door too. Making herself comfortable on the overstuffed, white love seat, she lifted the receiver from the vanity table.