Merline Lovelace - The Spy Who Loved Him

Margarita Alfonsa de las Fuentes

Beautiful and utterly bewitching—her heart is held captive by only one man.

The fiery spy lives by her own set of rules.

She does what she wants…when she wants!

Except now her hot-blooded lover’s scorching kisses threaten to shatter her self-control…and blow her cover.

Carlos Caballero

His smoldering black eyes and disarming smile make all the women swoon.

Whether Margarita wants his protection or not, this lean, bronzed warrior is not going to let a deadly felon harm one hair on her head.

For he will risk it all for the beguiling woman he is determined to possess!

Marcus Waters

Dashing and charismatic, he is a thorn in Caballero’s side.

Either the heat of the Central American jungle is getting to him…or Agent Waters really does harbor a secret desire. But there will be hell to pay if his dark-tempered rival ever catches on!

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To the one, the only Al, mi amigo, mi amor, mi esposo

A note from reader favorite Merline Lovelace, author of over fifteen unforgettable novels for Silhouette Books:

Dear Reader,

I hope you’re enjoying A YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY as much as I am! I’ve been holding my breath, biting my nails and heaving huge sighs of relief with each narrow escape and dreamy, romantic ending. This slice of the action takes place in the steaming jungles of Madrileño, a tiny country perched on the edge of the Caribbean. I have to confess the sexy, supermacho hero—a colonel in the Madrileñan army serving as the deputy minister of defense—flutters my pulse as much as he does that of the secret agent who stubbornly refuses to marry him.

Okay, okay! I admit it. I’m a sucker for a guy in uniform. I guess that’s because I spent twenty-three years in air force blue myself. And because of a certain sexy young captain who swept me off my feet three decades ago. Over those years, we shared exciting, adventure-filled careers that included tours of duty in Taiwan, Vietnam and at the Pentagon in the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We even got to pin on each other’s eagles. Although Al occasionally reminds me he made colonel first, I’ve never admitted that he outranks me.

Now that we’ve both hung up our uniforms, we’re enjoying golf, long, lazy dinners with friends and traveling. Last fall we spent the most delicious two weeks in Germany, Austria and Italy. Hong Kong and Paris used to be my favorite cities in the whole world. Venice has now edged them out. This fall we’re off to…wherever the winds take us.

With that kind of romance and adventure in my blood, it’s no surprise that characters like Margarita and Carlos steal my heart. Here’s hoping they capture yours, too!

And if you enjoyed this book, watch for my next. The Horse Soldier features another military hero—the leather-tough commander of a cavalry regiment stationed on Wyoming’s wild, untamed frontier. A January 2001 release from MIRA Books, The Horse Soldier is available now.

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

“Why doesn’t he marry her! The way she drapes herself all over him, any fool can see Anna would love Carlos to wrap her in silver gauze and shield her from every cold breeze that blows her way.”

Muttering into her crystal champagne flute, Margarita Alfonsa de las Fuentes leaned silk-sheathed hips against a stone balustrade. Behind her, the city of San Rico, capital of Madrileño, spilled down steep, jungle-covered slopes to a sea awash in moonlight. In front of her, tall French doors thrown open to the balmy January night gave an unobstructed view of the glittering crowd gathered to welcome the new Austrian ambassador to Madrileño. Dancers in flowing gowns and elegant tuxedos swirled and dipped across the State Ballroom’s shining parquet floor to the lively strains of the “Blue Danube Waltz.”

One dancer in particular held Margarita’s attention. Her cousin, Anna. Tiny, beautiful Anna, with the melting brown eyes, thick black lashes and tumbling masses of the blue-black hair most Madrileñans were blessed with. Slender as the swaying sugarcane plants that formed the basis of their country’s economy, Anna moved with a feather-light grace that thoroughly annoyed her cousin. As Margarita knew all too well, delicate, seemingly fragile Anna possessed the face of an angel and the temper of a wasp. The twenty-year-old could make life miserable for everyone around her when things didn’t go her way.

Not that her dancing partner would care about her temper. Or even notice it. If Carlos married Anna, he’d spoil her outrageously…then leave her to sit docile and pampered at home while he went about the important business of men. He wouldn’t be around enough to notice her vile moods, which in any case Anna would hide from him like a proper little wife.

But Carlos didn’t want to marry Anna. He’d decided on Margarita as his bride-to-be. He’d even obtained her father’s consent to the match.

Gritting her teeth against an all too familiar frustration, she tossed her head and downed the last of her champagne. Even now, three years after returning from an extended stay in the States, she still battled the chauvinism that permeated every social stratum in her country. Each time she made a small dent in the masculine dominance—as when she’d landed her job at the Ministry of Economics over her father’s vehement objections—she’d stumble up against another obstacle.

Like Carlos.

Carlos Caballero. Madrileño’s Deputy Minister of Defense. Six feet plus of solid muscle, bronzed skin, glossy black hair and calm self-confidence. Margarita had known him most of her life and had adamantly refused to marry him for the past year…despite her mother’s fervent urging, her father’s blustery demands and the traitorous needles of desire that shot through her whenever Carlos turned his sexy onyx eyes in her direction.

The fact that he sprang from the same aristocratic roots she did, had racked up a chest full of medals during his military service and was considered the brightest mind in the Ministry of Defense didn’t overcome the man’s liabilities as a life partner in Margarita’s mind. He was everything she didn’t want in a husband. Conservative. Traditional. Overprotective.

It didn’t matter that he also possessed a smile that made girls sigh and grown women walk into walls. Or that he moved with a pantherlike grace under his elegantly tailored tuxedo. Or even that Margarita’s chest tightened whenever she imagined his lean, muscled body pinning her to the sheets.

What mattered was that he shared the oppressive, antiquated view of marriage of so many Madrileñan men. She’d broken with her family once over their clamoring desire that she marry someone of their choosing. Fled to the United States for six years of college and graduate school. Gotten involved with an organization that would shock her parents to their core if they knew about it.