Maggie K. Black - Protective Measures

UNDERCOVER BODYGUARD

After an attack at a military charity gala, navy commander Leo Darius learns someone wants to kill him—and kidnap his two daughters. And there’s nothing the recently widowed single father won’t do to protect his girls...even if it means asking a beautiful bodyguard to pose as his girlfriend. Though security expert Zoe Dean agrees to handle the threats and near-fatal assaults, she refuses to get attached to the handsome commander and his lovely daughters. But with the would-be kidnappers closing in, saving Leo and the little girls, while protecting her heart, may be one mission Zoe can’t master.

A scream ripped from her lungs.

“Hang on, Zoe. I’m coming!”

It’s not your job. Zoe’s voice echoed in his memory. Your job is to go home safely to your daughters.

Not till he found her.

James bolted up the staircase and found Zoe curled in a ball on the balcony.

“Someone pepper-sprayed me. I can’t see.” A fit of coughing overtook her.

“It’s going to be okay. We’ll get you out of here.” He looked toward the stairs, but smoke filled the staircase now.

“We have to jump and aim for the lake,” Zoe said. “But there’s a stone walkway and a wrought iron fence between us and it.”

“We have no choice.” He swept her up in his arms, stepped onto the railing...and leaped.

It seemed to take forever till she hit water. When she broke through the surface, she saw the castle in flames, but no sign of James.

Then she saw the rugged spikes of the fence and his torn uniform hanging from it. And on it was an unmistakable stain. Blood.

Dear Reader,

When was the last time you did something that scared you? I’ve never written a book about children before this one. Honestly, I’ve always been intimidated by the thought of creating small fictional children and letting them run loose on the page. But I wrote this over the summer, when my own girls were home from school, and they encouraged me to bring Ivy and Eve to life.

Like Zoe, I was once told I’d never have children, and while that turned out not to be the case, that moment is still sharp in my memory. Like both Leo and Zoe, I’ve had plenty of days worrying that I wasn’t as good a parent as I wanted to be. I’m so thankful to my girls for helping me find strength and courage I never knew I had.

Thank you again to all the amazing readers who’ve gotten in touch with their thoughts, questions and suggestions about the characters and their stories. The best place to reach me is on Twitter at @MaggieKBlackor through my website, www.maggiekblack.com. I really do love hearing what you think. Several of you wrote to ask me what Seth from Tactical Rescue was up to now, and I was glad when Leo and Zoe’s brush with espionage gave a little bit of a hint into that.

Also, Arwen wrote to ask what had happened to the cat in Kidnapped at Christmas. The cat is doing great. Samantha found it when she was moving out of her apartment. It’s now very happy living with her and Josh, and often curls up on the chair beside her when she’s reading.

Thank you all for sharing this journey with me,

Maggie

MAGGIE K. BLACK is an award-winning journalist and romantic suspense author with an insatiable love of traveling the world. She has lived in the American South, Europe and the Middle East. She now makes her home in Canada with her history-teacher husband, their two beautiful girls and a small but mighty dog. Maggie enjoys connecting with her readers at maggiekblack.com.

Protective Measures

Maggie K. Black

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither things present nor things to come...shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

—Romans 8:38–39

Thanks as always to my agent Melissa Jeglinski, my editor Emily Rodmell and the rest of the Love Inspired team for helping me bring these stories to life.

Thank you also to the amazing people at the Harlequin Distribution Center in Depew, NY, who I got the opportunity to visit while writing this book. They ship millions of books a year and are the friendly voices readers hear when they call. For all you do to connect writers to readers, thank you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Dear Reader

About the Author

Title Page

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

ONE

It was a flash of deep red silk that first caught naval commander Leo Darius’s attention, followed by a gust of humid air seeping in through one of the balcony doors of the Thousand Islands castle. His steel-gray eyes rose. Their intense gaze cut through the crowded ballroom. But he barely managed to catch a glimpse of the petite, dark-haired woman as she slipped out through the curtains and onto one of the historical building’s stone balconies. There’d been no mistaking the outline of a weapons holster strapped to her leg, underneath the folds of her long crimson gown. She was beautiful and dangerous.

But was she carrying the vital military secrets he was there to intercept?

Leo’s six-foot frame straightened almost to attention, filling out the crisp lines of his naval dress uniform. He strode across the ballroom, through the flashing cameras, clinking glasses and babble of small talk that filled the room like the thrum of summer bees. A prayer filled his heart. Please let this handoff go quickly and smoothly. A whole lot of lives are counting on me.

It was hard to imagine a mission or battle that was more different to what he was used to. The decorated naval officer had dedicated his life to taking out violent pirates and smugglers on dangerous waters, until the death of his estranged wife, Marisa, had forced him home to raise their two daughters. He’d never expected to be attending events like these, even if it was just as a cover. The weeklong international symposium was supposed to be about celebrating cooperation and hope. Yet, somewhere in all the glitz and glamour was an informant who claimed to be carrying proof that corrupt elements within Canada’s own navy had been cooperating with drug smugglers in the North Sea. Leo’s mission was simple: find the informant, get the data and analyze whether it was true. He hoped the dazzling stranger was the person he was there to meet. Although he couldn’t imagine what kind of woman wore a weapon with evening wear.

“Commander Darius, right?” A male voice with an Irish accent made Leo stop. He turned. Two men stood behind him, both of whom he recognized from the press coverage surrounding the event. The Irishman Killian Lynch was a former wrestling champion turned celebrity journalist. He was in his early thirties, with horn-rimmed glasses perched just above a slight dent on the bridge of an otherwise long and straight nose. The other, Nigel Blackwell, was English, heavier set and an actor who specialized in period dramas. Both men were rising stars and came from countries whose navy patrolled the North Sea.