The next Man on a Mission hero safeguards his charge until she reaches the witness stand—and his heart
Caterina “Cate” Mateja is prepping her testimony against the crime kingpin who enslaved her when his henchmen open fire in the courthouse, narrowly missing her. US Diplomatic Security Service agent Liam Jones dodges bullets to get her to safety, and yet the gorgeous man seems to want nothing to do with Cate’s case—or her.
It’s not Liam’s job to protect Cate. But after he discovers everything she’s been through, he makes it his personal mission to ensure she’ll have her day on the witness stand. Staying by her side 24/7 may mean opening his heart to a woman who’s unable to offer hers.
“So the other witness must be dead,” Cate said.
Liam nodded. “Yeah. I was told a little while ago.”
“Vishenko murdered her.” A flat, cold statement.
“Maybe,” he said. “There’s no proof of that. Not yet.”
“There may never be proof. But I know.” She tapped a hand against her breastbone. “I know it here. Just as I know he’s the one who tried to have me killed. He is ruthless. Amoral. An animal. He’ll do anything to prevent me from testifying.”
“But you’re going to testify anyway. Why?” he asked, curious to understand what drove her to take the risk when so many men had refused to flip on Vishenko in the past.
“Because your brother Alec and my cousin Angelina are right. He is evil, and he must be stopped. No matter the cost.” Her voice dropped to a whisper as if she were reciting an oft-repeated mantra, so that Liam had to strain to hear her next words. “‘I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something.’”
He recognized the quotation with a sense of shock. There was more to Cate than he knew.
* * *
Be sure to check out the next books in Amelia Autin’s exciting miniseries.
Man on a Mission: These heroes, working at home and overseas, will do anything for justice, honor…and love.
* * *
When I wrote McKinnon’s Royal Mission, part of my Man on a Mission miniseries, two characters who intrigued me were Princess Mara’s other two bodyguards—Diplomatic Security Service agents and brothers, Alec and Liam Jones. Alike in many ways, and yet so different in others. They are emotionally close, as brothers should be, so I started writing their stories simultaneously, weaving the plots together into a cohesive whole, although each book stands on its own, as it should.
But it was the brothers’ differences that caught my imagination. While both men are protectors, Liam, the younger of the two, is more—more concerned, more protective, more emotionally involved. Liam is also more idealistic than his pragmatic brother. As I saw him, he should have been born in the twelfth century, roaming the world as a knight-errant, saving damsels in distress.
So the only woman for Liam was either pure as the driven snow…or something else. And I settled on the something else for my heroine because she was more appealing to me. True or not, Caterina “Cate” Mateja has judged herself unworthy of a good man’s love after everything she has survived. Can Liam convince his lady otherwise in Liam’s Witness Protection?
I love hearing from my readers. Please email me at [email protected] and let me know what you think.
Amelia Autin
Liam’s Witness
Protection
Amelia Autin
AMELIA AUTIN is a voracious reader who can’t bear to put a good book down…or part with it. Her bookshelves are crammed with books her husband periodically threatens to donate to a good cause, but he always relents…eventually.
Amelia returned to her first love, romance writing, after a long hiatus, during which she wrote numerous technical manuals and how-to guides, as well as designed and taught classes on a variety of subjects, including technical writing. She is a longtime member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), and served three years as its treasurer.
Amelia currently resides with her PhD engineer husband in quiet Vail, Arizona, where they can see the stars at night and have a “million-dollar view” of the Rincon Mountains from their backyard.
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For Sharon Treister, Stephanie Hyacinth, Susan Kyser Frank, Debbie Oxier, Sharon Wade and a host of other readers whose emails, book reviews and posts kept me going in 2014 and helped me make my deadline for this book—this one’s for you. For my sister, Diana MTK Autin, Esq., who helped me get the legal details correct (any errors are mine and mine alone).
And for Vincent…always.
Acknowledgments
Though itself part of the US Department of State, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security is the parent organization of the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). The DSS is the primary tool by which the DS carries out its security and law enforcement mandate. For more information,
please visit www.state.gov/m/ds.
I have the highest regard for the work these federal agencies perform. Nothing in this story is intended as a negative representation of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security or the Diplomatic Security Service, their duties or their employees.
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