As an evil traitor threatens
to destroy the top-secret SPEAR agency,
A YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY
continues….
Russell Devane aka Steve Trace
Strong and strapping—
a man who knows how to get the job done.
Masquerading as another man—and romancing the enemy’s daughter under false pretenses—were all in a day’s work. Until Russell tempted fate by falling for the fresh-faced goddess he was forbidden to claim!
Lise Meldrum
An Amazon beauty with a cloud of
luxurious auburn hair, rose-petal-soft skin…
and a secret yearning for love.
All her life, love-starved Lise had been searching for a man like “Steve” to make her feel feminine, desirable, cherished. But what would she do once she uncovered his shattering deception?
“Simon”
Scarred inside and out, this ruthless traitor
felt the tide turning in his favor…
until he discovered he’d been double-crossed.
When his daughter aligned herself with the enemy, Simon vowed there would be hell to pay. For he would stop at nothing to exact his revenge…including sacrificing one of his own!
Dear Reader,
You’ve loved Beverly Barton’s miniseries THE PROTECTORS since it started, so I know you’ll be thrilled to find another installment leading off this month. Navajo’s Woman features a to-swoon-for Native American hero, a heroine capable of standing up to this tough cop—and enough steam to heat your house. Enjoy!
A YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY continues with bestselling author Linda Turner’s The Enemy’s Daughter. This story of subterfuge and irresistible passion—not to mention heart-stopping suspense—is set in the Australian outback, and I know you’ll want to go along for the ride. Ruth Langan completes her trilogy with Seducing Celeste, the last of THE SULLIVAN SISTERS. Don’t miss this emotional read. Then check out Karen Templeton’s Runaway Bridesmaid, a reunion romance with a heroine who’s got quite a secret. Elane Osborn’s Which Twin? offers a new twist on the popular twins plotline, while Linda Winstead Jones rounds out the month with Madigan’s Wife, a wonderful tale of an ex-couple who truly belong together.
As always, we’ve got six exciting romances to tempt you—and we’ll be back next month with six more. Enjoy!
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Senior Editor
The Enemy’s Daughter
Linda Turner
Dear Reader,
When my editor invited me to write The Enemy’s Daughter for A YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY, I was thrilled. It turned out to be a book of firsts for me. I’ve always loved writing stories full of adventure, but I’d never done anything with spies or espionage or secret law-enforcement agencies—except work for the FBI after I graduated from college. But that’s another story.
And the fact that my particular book was set in Australia was an added plus. I’d never done a story set in another country, and I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, so this was perfect. I would have loved to have made a trip down under to see the Outback for myself, but I didn’t have the time, unfortunately. So I had to be content with reading about it, instead. One day, though, I will make it down there.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed writing the book and collaborating with the other Silhouette authors and editors. It was a labor of love, and I hope you like the finished book as much as I do.
Sincerely,
Contents
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 1
For as far as the eye could see, the land was a vast, endless stretch of lonely plains that resembled the high desert of New Mexico. An occasional eucalyptus dotted the landscape with its thin, spindly branches, and small arid plants that needed little moisture in order to survive thrived under a hot sun that burned in a cloudless sky. And covering everything was a veil of choking red dust kicked up by a dry wind that blew steadily from the north.
Staring out at the haunting land that was the Australian outback, Russell Devane had, before he’d accepted this particular mission, thought he was a man who could take in stride whatever nature threw at him. After all, his job as an operative for the secret organization SPEAR had taken him to the farthest reaches of the globe. He’d withstood the bone-numbing cold of the Arctic and the blistering sands of the Sahara, all without complaint. But he could see already that nothing in his past had really prepared him for the vastness of the outback and its drastic temperature changes. It was the tail end of summer—fall was just days away—but the temperature had to be a hundred and twenty degrees in the shade. And it wasn’t even noon yet!
Just thinking about working in that kind of heat all day long made him sweat, but he grimly resolved to get used to it. He had to. In a few minutes, he would be arriving at the headquarters of the Pear Tree Cattle Station, where he would assume the identity of Steve Trace, the station’s newest cowboy and an associate of Art Meldrum, the owner of the place.
To the rest of the world, Art was an absentee landlord who left the running of the huge ranch in the hands of his daughter, Lise, most of the time. Only Russell—and his fellow SPEAR operatives—knew that Art was actually an alias for Simon, the traitor who’d spent the last eight months trying his damnedest to destroy not only Jonah, the head of SPEAR, but the agency itself. And he was slippery as an eel. Time and again, just when SPEAR operatives were sure they had him in their grasp, he’d managed to slip away.
Not this time, Russell promised himself, his gray eyes steely as he thought of how Simon had evaded capture just days ago on the Caribbean island of Cascadilla. The bastard had, in fact, never even put in an appearance on the island. Thanks to the real Steve Trace, a kidnapper and thug who’d been hired sight unseen by Simon, he’d been warned he was walking into a trap if he came to Cascadilla. So he’d run home to the outback, where he could lie low in the bush, and he’d never known that the real Steve Trace had died soon after he’d gotten word to him he was in danger.
SPEAR had made sure that no one knew of Trace’s death, making it easy for Russell to step right into his life. Pretending to be Trace, he’d used Trace’s cell phone and discovered through the phone’s address book that Simon was using the name Art Meldrum in Australia. He’d immediately called him and given him a sob story about needing a job. Not suspecting a thing, Simon had told him to come to the station, which was just what Russell had figured would happen. After all, Simon had narrowly escaped capture thanks to the quick thinking of