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 @MaggieKBlack or 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

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.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Leo shook their hands in turn and exchanged brief introductions. The threat potential of this intel was so high that no one but his own admiral knew of his mission. As far as the gathered guests were concerned Leo was just another delegate. It was a good cover and one that no one would question. Leo was a decorated hero and widower with a picture-perfect family. Not to mention the ability to lock his thoughts and feelings away like a steel trap.

“I’ve noticed you haven’t signed up to take part in the charity auction on Saturday.” Nigel’s voice boomed with a hint of a chuckle that Leo suspected was practiced. “I will be serving as auctioneer and all the money raised will go to an international charity that builds children’s hospitals around the world. I do hope we can count on you.”

“Absolutely,” Leo said. “Put me down for a meal at one of Ottawa’s top restaurants, followed by tickets to the theater.” A quick call to the tourism office should sort that quickly enough.

Nigel seemed satisfied with that and wandered off to the dessert table, leaving Leo alone with the Irish journalist.

“I’m surprised you didn’t suggest something involving your family,” Killian said. “The media are always so eager to get their hands on anything to do with children. Those are your girls, correct?”

Killian gestured to a banner hanging beside the stage. Leo followed his gaze. There alongside banners of the other delegates was a picture of Ivy and Eve, running with him beside the Ottawa River. Blonde and pigtailed, eight-year-old Eve practically bounded off the canvas. But the cautious look in twelve-year-old Ivy’s green eyes mirrored the one Leo could feel seeping into his own.

“Yup, they’re the genuine article,” Leo said. “But I’m afraid the only event they’re taking part in is the parade on Friday.” They’d be on a float beside him, visible but protected. Although if all went according to plan the mission would be over by then and he’d be able to skip the rest of the week’s events. “Enjoy your evening.”

Leo continued across the floor. The curtains billowed slightly. The woman in crimson was still standing on the balcony. She was barely five foot tall, with the lithe build of an athlete and dark, luminous eyes that almost seemed to be looking right at him. Leo felt a hand on his shoulder and realized Killian had followed him.

“Excuse me, Commander,” Killian said. “Apologies for being direct, but I don’t think you realize the situation you’re in.”

“And what situation would that be?”

“Clearly you’re new to the spotlight.” The Irishman’s smile was thin. “But there’s been a lot of media attention on this conference and the delegates. I put out a call on my website for tips and received several requests for stories about you. Some of them raised the issue of your family situation. I’d be happy to share with you what I’ve received and even give you an opportunity to review it for your reaction—”

“I don’t care about rumors, and I don’t read gossip,” Leo cut him off. “Marisa was an incredible mother. She passed away unexpectedly last summer from an invasive, malignant cancer. My daughters miss her terribly. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

He turned on his heels and strode off. The sooner this mission was over the better. He wasn’t cut out for the spotlight. While he didn’t know for certain what kind of dirt the man had thought he’d found, he wouldn’t have been surprised if someone did the math and realized Ivy had been the result of a teenage pregnancy. Leo had been an emotionally switched off eighteen-year-old, when he’d had a brief relationship with a straight-A student named Marisa, who’d been blinded by a superficial crush on what she imagined might lie beneath his very private shell. The relationship had been a total mistake. Her attraction to him had quickly faded, but not before Ivy was conceived. He’d proposed marriage and joined the navy to support her and the baby. It had been the right decision and one he’d never doubted, even after it had become clear Marisa would never be in love with him. They’d been quietly estranged for years, despite the brief and failed attempt to rekindle a relationship that had resulted in Eve. But the girls had come first. Marisa had been a very protective mother. He wasn’t about to let his past become tabloid fodder now.

Meeting his informant and getting the intel safely was all that mattered.

Leo reached the balcony and slid the door open just in time to see the woman in red hop up onto the balcony railing.

“Stop!” He shut the door quickly behind him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

She turned and looked at him, her stiletto shoes still a hairbreadth away from the ledge. Wind tossed her black hair around her heart-shaped face. A curious smile turned at the corner of her lips. “Don’t worry, Commander. I’m Zoe Dean. It’s only about an eight-foot drop and the lawn is pretty soft, especially after the rain. Please, just go back to the party.”

Everything about this picture was wrong. She said her name like it should mean something to him, but it didn’t, and while he did know someone with the Dean family name, it was the tall, blond linebacker-type who was engaged to Ivy and Eve’s therapist, Theresa. Zoe’s nose wrinkled, like she was listening to someone talking in a hidden earpiece. She raised her wrist to her mouth and spoke into an intricate bracelet that curled against her skin. “One second, bro. I’ve got a situation. It’s Commander Darius. What do I tell him?”

He glanced over his shoulder. The curtains had closed behind him. Who was this woman? He seriously doubted she was his informant. Yet the idea that she wasn’t was even more worrying. If he didn’t return to the event, and get back to mingling, he might miss his opportunity to get the drug-smuggling intel. But if the only other option was letting a strange, armed woman skulk around leaping off of balconies, that wasn’t any better. Guide me, Lord.

“Clearly you know who I am,” he said. He stepped toward her. “Which means you know I’m not about to let you hop off over the balcony. So, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to get down off that railing and tell me exactly who you are, who you’re talking to and what you’re doing here.”

A gunshot cracked somewhere in the darkness below. Zoe’s head spun toward the sound. A cry escaped her lips, as her feet slipped off the crumbling edge of the balcony.

* * *

Zoe’s hands flailed, grasping at the empty air as she felt her footing give way beneath her. Her body pitched backward. A prayer filled her heart. Then a strong arm slid around her waist, yanking her back onto the balcony. Leo had leaped for her. She clutched at his arm, even as she felt the weight of gravity threatening to pull her from his grasp. A second strong arm went under her knees, as Leo lifted her into his arms and pulled her back against the castle wall, like some kind of knight carrying a damsel to safety. What had just happened? She was a bodyguard, a mixed martial arts specialist and had once been an internationally ranked gymnast. She didn’t need some dashing man in uniform to protect her and rescue her from falling. She never had. Yet, here she was in the commander’s arms, pressed so tightly against his chest she almost couldn’t tell where his heartbeat ended and hers began. “Put me down.”

His arms held firm. “Not until you tell me who you are, what you’re doing here and why somebody just shot at you.”

“I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the target,” she said. “Sounded like the shot came from somewhere on the grounds below us.”

They’d better not have shot at her. Ash Private Security thrived on its secrecy. In the dozens of undercover operations she’d been involved with as a private bodyguard, since helping found the company with her stepbrother, Alex, and their friend Josh, her cover had never once been blown.

“Good news, sis.” Alex’s voice crackled in her ear. “No imminent danger. No casualties. No reaction from within the party, either. Nothing to worry about. Just looks like the guy we were tracking shot out one of the security cameras in the castle gardens. My best guess is he’s heading around the building to one of the side doors, but I can’t tell which one. Two security guards are looking for him now, but once he slips inside he could blend in and be anybody. If the commander’s still holding you up, I suggest you tell him whatever it takes to get him to let you go.”

She looked at Leo. “There’s a prowler on the castle grounds, he shot out a surveillance camera in the gardens and security are looking for him now. Check with security and I’m sure they’ll say the same.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” he said.

“I told you, my name is Zoe Dean. My brother, Alex, is engaged to Theresa Vaughan. I spotted a prowler. I can stop him and turn him over to security, but not until you let me go.”

Leo brushed her hair away from her face, his finger tracing along the edges of her tiny earpiece. Then his fingers slid over her wrist, holding her hand gently while keeping the microphone in her bracelet away from her lips. His other hand tapped the leg holster strapped to her calf. A shiver ran up the back of her knee. He still hadn’t set her down.

“Let me make this very simple,” Leo said. “I don’t believe you. I’ve met Alex Dean, and he looks nothing like you. You’ve got a microphone in your bracelet, you’re wearing an earpiece, and unless I’m very much mistaken I can feel a pretty solid leg holster on your calf. Knife, though, not gun, so at least that’s one law you’re not breaking. So either you come up with a much more convincing story than that or I’ll have you arrested.”

“Is that a challenge?” she asked.

He grinned, but only slightly like he couldn’t help himself.

“Then let me make one thing clear,” she said. “The only reason I didn’t go for a quick, sharp jab to your windpipe and leave you here gasping for breath, is because you’re very respected by a couple of people who I’d give my life for and I promised them I wouldn’t cause a disturbance.”

“Really?” His dark eyebrows rose.

“Yes, really,” she said. It seemed like he was determined to doubt her. “Do you want me to prove it to you? When you were serving in the Middle East, you transported a soldier on one of your missions called Joshua Rhodes. Josh tipped you off about a drug smuggler in your crew and you had the smuggler dishonorably discharged.” Leo’s face paled. The skeptical grin faded. Yeah, she imagined he could count on one hand the number of people who knew that story. But she wasn’t done. “When you returned to Canada, a year ago, Josh gave you a call and told you that his good friend Alex had gotten engaged to an amazing psychotherapist named Theresa, who specialized in child trauma. He said that she lived near Toronto but was willing to drive out to Ottawa to see your daughters, if you thought it would help them. Josh is my colleague. Alex is my colleague and my stepbrother—we both lost a parent when we were young. Josh, Alex and I are bodyguards for a very private and elite firm called Ash Private Security.”

Leo’s grip loosened. She slipped from his arms and landed on her feet on the balcony.

“Talk about pulling out the big guns,” Leo said. “You could’ve just told me you worked with Josh.”

He was rattled. She couldn’t blame him. She’d been warned that Leo was a very private man, and here she’d just rattled off two rather personal things about him that she guessed not many people knew.

“I honestly didn’t think you’d believe me, and I didn’t want to hang around here trying to convince you.” An unexpected flush rose to her cheeks. He would hardly be the first person to underestimate her or presume someone her size couldn’t protect lives. But was he always this suspicious? He was easily one of the most skeptical people she’d ever met. “When you’re my size you learn to make your first shot a big one, as it might be the only one you get.”

His eyebrow rose. “Like taking on a prowler and leaping off a balcony.”

“I was a nationally ranked gymnast growing up and I competed internationally in mixed martial arts until I was fifteen,” she said. “And yes, I work with Josh and Alex—as a bodyguard. Theresa consults for Ash, too, on occasion, and Josh’s wife, Samantha, sometimes helps with online research. In fact, I’m the only member of the team who didn’t get an invite to this shindig. But since Josh and Samantha are on their honeymoon, Theresa’s back home in Toronto seeing clients and Alex is outside manning the surveillance van, I got to be the person on the inside. I trust you won’t blow my cover.”

She might no longer be in his arms, but she was still standing so close to him she could almost feel him against her chest. She held her breath still half expecting him to tell her that she didn’t look like a bodyguard.

Instead Leo asked, “Who’s your client?”

“I’m here on surveillance only.” She took a step back. “A couple of our clients have been targeted by a particularly nasty gang of thieves. Samantha picked up some online chatter that three of them would be here tonight scoping out a new target. So, I’m here to hunt the potential thieves while they stalk their next target.” She took another step backward.

Leo’s arms crossed in front of his chest. “You knew thieves were targeting an international gala and you didn’t alert the police or security?”

“Of course we did,” she said. “But this particular group of thieves don’t pick pockets and grab handbags. They think of themselves as vigilantes, who in their own twisted logic are righting wrongs and meting out justice. They steal big things, like companies and identities. They plan stings that take months, to break into vaults or invent media scandals. Are you familiar with Greek mythology?”

He shook his head. “Let’s say I’m not.”

“They call themselves The Anemoi.” She pronounced it like “the enemy.” “Which roughly means a group of deadly storms. That’s what these thieves do. They destroy lives and leave them in ruins. They’ve targeted three of our clients so far, nobody has ever successfully identified a single member of their gang and the police seemed convinced they’re a myth. Internet chatter that three of them were here tonight, scoping out their next target, was too good an opportunity to pass up, and I’m not about to stand around and try to convince you they’re real when one is sneaking around the gardens as we speak.” She took another step back, sweeping her long skirt into her hand. “It really was a pleasure to meet you, Commander. I hope you enjoy your evening.”

“Wait!” Leo said. He was too late. She’d already vaulted backward, over the balcony.

She landed on the grass and rolled, feeling the soft damp earth absorb the blow. Then she sprang back up into a crouching position. She raised her bracelet microphone to her lips. “Okay, Alex, I’m down in the garden. Tell me you’ve still got eyes on our guy.”

“No, I don’t and security doesn’t have him, either.” Alex’s voice was in her ear. “Please tell me you didn’t just leap off the balcony.”

“He was frowning at me, and I didn’t want to waste time arguing with him.”

“Or climbing down safely. Or taking the stairs.”

She slipped into the shadows against the stone wall as her eyes scanned the night around her. Heavy iron fence lay to her right. Beyond it swirled the dark waters of the Saint Lawrence River. She headed left, toward the front of the building, following the path as it curved around flowers and fountains. “Just tell me what he looks like.”

“Samantha’s intel said there are three Anemoi thieves on-site tonight,” Alex said. “They go by the handles Prometheus, Pandora and Jason. Prometheus stole fire from Mount Olympus. Pandora opened a box that shouldn’t be opened. But Jason is a weird code name for a criminal.”

“Jason of the Argonauts stole a golden fleece,” Zoe said.

“Got it. Based on my intel, the guy skulking around the gardens is Prometheus. He’s really big with broad shoulders. Imagine a bull in a jumpsuit.”

“You hate being stuck in the van, don’t you?” she asked.

“At least Theresa’s happy I’m keeping out of danger.” He laughed. “Just wait until I tell her she missed hearing you flirt with the great Commander Darius.”

“We weren’t flirting.” She felt herself blush. Maybe the good-looking commander had taken her breath away, just a little. But Leo was a valiant and decorated national hero. She was just a bodyguard. Not to mention, he was also a devoted father. And she’d always suspected she wasn’t cut out for motherhood, even before a doctor had confirmed she’d never be able to have children of her own.

A man like him wouldn’t be drawn to a woman like her.

“Next time we have a mission like this, you can wear the fancy clothes and I’ll stick to blue jeans,” she added. She took one last glance back at the balcony. It was empty. Leo hadn’t come after her. But at least he hadn’t blown her cover. A long, thin braided belt skimmed the waist of her gown. She looped her fingers through it and with a quick tug, her long skirt pleated neatly into a knee-length tunic. She had matching athletic shorts on underneath. Ta-da. Bit of Samantha’s creative tailoring and she’d just gone from gown to something she could actually move around in.

“Is he as handsome in person as the media makes him out to be?” Alex asked.

She rolled her eyes and ignored his teasing.

A life in competitive sports, not to mention a string of unrequited teenage crushes, had taught her pretty quickly that there were two kinds of guys in the world. Those who viewed her as equal and were happy to fight alongside her, but saw her as nothing more than one of the guys. And those who saw her as a “girl.” They were an even bigger problem. Something about her threatened them, she supposed. All she knew was that too many of them had the urge to cut her down to size. A sly word here, a crude gesture there, the occasional demeaning comment when nobody was looking, day after day, from creep after creep, until she’d eventually snapped when she was fifteen, spun around and elbowed the offending guy in the face, not even registering that the camera was rolling. That had been the end of her competing internationally. Now that creep, Killian Lynch, was a famous face in the spotlight and she slunk in the shadows.

“You okay?” Alex asked. It was impossible to hide anything from him.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She paused. The path ahead curved into a bridge over an ornamental pond. She started toward it. “But I saw Killian Lynch.”

The fist seemed to shoot out of nowhere as a black-clad figure leaped from the darkness. His arm swung toward Zoe’s face, giving her just seconds to dodge the blow as it flew inches from her jaw. She spun toward her attacker. Alex hadn’t been exaggerating—the man was huge, with a flat face that looked like it had been in too many fights. Her hands rose as years of competitive training coursed like adrenaline in her veins. But she barely had a second to catch her breath before a knife flashed in the moonlight.

“Found Prometheus!” She leaped back again as the blade swung inches away from her stomach. “He’s got a knife.”

“Do you need backup?”

“I might.” Her attacker slashed again. This time she ducked under the blade, then with a quick flick of her wrists snapped the knife from his fingers. She heard it clatter in the darkness. Prometheus kicked the legs out from under her. She stumbled. Her stiletto heel snagged on the cobblestone. She pitched into a protective front roll, a sinking sensation filling her stomach as she felt the path disappear beneath her. She tumbled into the flower pond. Muddy water engulfed her body. She scrambled out again. Prometheus was gone.

“I lost him.” She yanked off her stilettos. Nonsense like this was why she hated working in fancy clothes. Her bare feet ran quickly and silently down the path. A utility door was open on her right. “Found an open door. He must be inside. He won’t get far.”

She slipped through the door. Air-conditioning raised goose bumps on her skin. She was in a historical gallery of some sort with flat glass cases and the eerie blue glow of dim emergency lights. “I’m going to keep trailing him. Okay, Alex... Alex?”

Silence from her earpiece. No typing. No static. No buzz.

No Alex.

Her earpiece must’ve shorted out when she hit the water. Help me, Lord. I’m on my own. Footsteps echoed in the distance. She sprinted through the hall and into another almost identical one, just in time to see the black-clad figure dart into a side door. The door slammed behind him. She yanked the knob. It was locked.

Nah, he wasn’t getting away that easily. She pulled a bobby pin from her hair, snapped it in half and went to work picking the lock. Beyond the door she could hear the clatter of things falling over and furniture being moved. Sounded like he was tossing the place. She whispered a prayer and focused on the lock. Then the floorboards creaked behind her. She spun. Her hands rose to strike. But a strong hand intercepted her blow, catching her small hand in his, and holding it firmly before she could pull it back.

“Nice punch.” It was Leo.

“Nice block.” She blinked and looked up at the tall, handsome uniformed officer. “What are you doing here?”

“I ran down the back stairs.”

“Now where’s the fun in that?” The words slipped out of her lips before she’d stopped to think.

He chuckled. It was a deep, warm laugh that seemed to rumble from somewhere inside his chest. Heat was rising to her face again, and it didn’t help that he still hadn’t let go of her hand. “Well, after your rather dramatic exit, I went straight to the head of security and told him I thought I’d heard a bullet fired in the castle gardens. I then asked him point-blank if there was an intruder on the grounds. Do you know what he told me? He said all I’d heard was a car backfiring, not to worry and I should get back to the party.” Leo took a step back and pulled his hand from hers. “Then I spoke to a high-ranking police officer, who I casually know, and asked if he’d ever heard of The Anemoi. He laughed very loudly and told me The Anemoi was a myth.”

Zoe’s heart sank.

His hand slid into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “Then, I sent a quick text to my old friend Josh Rhodes, even though I knew full well that he’s on his honeymoon, and asked him if he’d ever even heard of you. You can imagine how I felt when he texted back immediately, ‘She’s one of ours. Believe whatever she tells you. Do whatever she says.’”

A smile of relief brushed Zoe’s lips. Was it her imagination or was the air between them growing warmer? Leo took another step back. Then, for the first time, his gaze seemed to take her all in. His eyebrows rose. “What happened to you?”

“I found the intruder that security told you doesn’t exist,” she said. “He had a knife. We fought. I disarmed him. But he knocked me into a pond. Then he ran through that door.”

He reached past her for the door handle. Then winced. “It’s hot. Stand back.”

She stood back. He leveled one strong kick at the door that sent it flying back off its hinges.

She turned. Sudden white-hot fear shot up her spine.

The room was on fire.

TWO

Heat hit Leo’s body like a wave. Flames climbed the curtains of the coat-check room and spread out across the ceiling. Coats burned. Briefcases and laptop bags buckled in the heat. Dark smoke billowed toward them. His heart stopped. Every single piece of paper or electronic data that had been left in that room was being reduced to ashes. If the thief had stolen something, the fire would probably destroy any possibility of figuring out what it was. Had the thieves Zoe had been tracking either stolen or destroyed the intel he was after?

If so, the implications of what that could mean were positively terrifying. Leo had made one other phone call on his rapid descent down the stairs to the one person inside the navy he trusted, his superior, Admiral Jacobs. Jacobs hadn’t answered, and the last voice mail message he’d left for Leo hadn’t changed. The informant said they would be at the party. Their identity was still unknown, but Leo was authorized to wire them up to a quarter of a million dollars if the intel proved true. He glanced at the ceiling. “No sprinklers and no fire alarm.”

“There’s a fire extinguisher on the other side of the cloakroom.” Zoe’s voice came from behind him.

“It’s too late for that. We have to evacuate the building.” Wrapping his jacket around his hand, Leo grabbed the handle and yanked the door closed. “This fire door should help contain it long enough to evacuate. But we won’t have long. Get out of the building. Get a safe distance away, then call 9-1-1.”

Leo pressed his cell phone into her hand. She took it. Then her eyes closed for a fraction of a second and he watched as a prayer moved on her lips. Then she looked up at him. Fear was creeping in the edges of her eyes, but it did nothing to dim the determination burning within them. She gave him a push. “I’m on it. Just go. I’m right behind you!”

He ran through the hall, into a second almost identical one, and then burst through another door into the lobby. The English actor Nigel was standing by the front desk talking to an elderly security guard. They both looked up.

“The coat-check room is on fire,” Leo said. “Sprinklers aren’t working. We need to evacuate the building. I’ll get the ballroom. You clear the staff and the main floor. Now!”

He pelted up the winding staircase to the second-floor ballroom without waiting for a response. He hit the second-floor ballroom. Well-dressed people packed the room. Waitstaff weaved between them. His eyes scanned the room in an instant, trying to access the best way to evacuate without causing a panic. The last thing he wanted was to cause a stampede.

“Emergency services are on their way!” Zoe ran past him barefoot, like a tiny bolt of lightning. “Alex is trying to get the sprinklers back online. There’s a small lounge and balcony upstairs. I’ll go evacuate them while you sort out down here.”

She disappeared up a second smaller set of stairs. His head shook. That woman was unbelievable. He’d told her to escape the building and instead she was running right into danger. He strode across the floor to the stage and up to the podium, feeling the old, familiar authority with which he’d commanded battleships slipping around him like a mantle. He reached the microphone and tapped it twice. No sound. But, one glance at the man behind the sound board and it sprang to life.

“Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please.” His voice filled the room. “Sorry to interrupt the party, but there is a small contained fire in a separate section of the building downstairs. Emergency services are on their way. What I need you to do is to just calmly walk downstairs and wait outside on the grass, so they can come in here and do their jobs.” Voices began to babble. Questions rose around him. He raised his hand. “We can all talk outside. But right now, I need you to exit the building. Quickly and quietly. Go.”

The babbling grew louder. But he also caught the eyes of a handful of men and women, who he could tell at a glance had also served their country and community in one way or another and knew how to handle a crisis. They started ushering those around them toward the staircase. Guests started filing down the stairs. People in kitchen uniforms and waitstaff poured out side doors. Still others streamed down from the floor above. The hall began to clear. He breathed a sigh of relief and a prayer of thanksgiving. The fire door wouldn’t hold forever. But he had hope the building would clear before the fire spread. He walked back to the stairs and positioned himself on the landing to direct traffic, until finally the trickle of people heading out the doors stopped.

But where was Zoe?

He started back across the now empty ballroom to the stairs he’d seen her run up. The smell of smoke grew heavier in the air. Then he saw a waiter—tall and thin with long blond hair and goatee—kneeling on something behind the stage.

“Hey!” Leo ran toward him. “You need to get out of here!”

The waiter didn’t move. Instead he grabbed a phone from his pocket and took a picture of whatever was on the floor.

“This isn’t a drill.” Leo grabbed the man’s shoulder. “The building’s on fire!”

The waiter leaped up and wrenched his shoulder away from Leo’s grasp. Then he spun toward Leo and through the smoky air Leo could barely make out the shape of something long and black in his hand. The waiter lunged toward him. A knife? A gun? A Taser? Leo had only seconds to react as he knocked it free from the man’s hand. It was a thick black marker. And for the first time Leo saw what he had been kneeling on. It was the banner of him and his girls. Ugly black marker lines crossed the canvas, slashing the picture in between Leo and his daughters, and severing the connection between his hand and Eve’s.

“What do you want?” Leo demanded. “Who started the fire? What’s the meaning of this?”

A scream split the smoke-filled air. It was Zoe. The sound of fear and pain that ripped from her lungs seemed to tear his own chest in two. The waiter slithered away and pelted for the stairs.

“Zoe! Hang on, I’m coming!” Leo ran across the ballroom and up the narrow flight of stairs that led up to the third floor. A woman was tearing down the stairs toward him. It was a waitress in black pants and a crisp black shirt. Long, unnaturally bright red hair fell over her shoulders. He barely managed to stop as she nearly collided with him. “What happened? Why is my friend screaming?”

The waitress’s violet eyes widened. But she shoved past him and ran down the stairs without answering.

“Leo! Help!” Zoe was calling his name. His heart wrenched toward the sound.

“Hold on, I’m coming!” Leo bolted up the narrow staircase to the top floor. It was small, with slanted ceilings and doors in all directions. He followed the sound of her voice, burst through another door and ended up outside on a patio. Humid air surrounded him. But it was the faint cloud of pepper still hanging in the air that made his eyes sting and his heart ache. “Zoe? Where are you?”

“I’m here!” A sob choked in her voice. He glanced around. A coffee cart had been knocked over. Broken dishes littered the ground. Then he saw her. Zoe was curled in a ball against the low wall. He dropped to his knees beside her.

“A waitress pepper-sprayed me.” Thick tears streamed down Zoe’s face. “I can’t see a thing.”

* * *

Leo’s blurred shape floated before her stinging eyes. Zoe blinked rapidly, trying to wash away the pain. “I cleared the place out, but this one waitress just wouldn’t leave.”

“Did she have red hair?” he asked. “Purple eyes?”

“Wig and colored contacts, yeah,” she said. A fit of coughing overtook her lungs. The burn of the pepper spray seared in her throat. Fresh tears blurred her vision.

“Hey,” Leo said softly. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to sort your eyes and get you out of here safely. I promise.”

She felt his hands brush the sides of her face. He tucked her hair behind her ears.

“Wow, you really did take the blast full on, didn’t you?” He whistled softly under his breath. “I’ve seen men four times your size fall apart from way lighter blasts than that.”

She could tell he was trying to make her feel better. Somehow it helped.

“I shouldn’t have tried to force her to leave,” she said. “It was clear she was up to something. Alex told me The Anemoi crew had a woman on it. Her handle is Pandora. It was probably her. I don’t know why I didn’t just leave her and then run.”

“Because that’s not who you are. Even I know that.” He pulled a white handkerchief from his breast pocket and drenched it in milk from the coffee tray. Gently, he placed the handkerchief against her stinging skin. She almost gasped in relief. “Hold this to your face. It’ll help until we can flush your eyes out with water. Now, I’m going to pick you up and carry you out of here.”

Her chin raised. “I can walk.”

“You’ll bump into things.”

“Not if you guide me.”

He took her other hand and helped her to her feet. She followed him back into the building. Heavy smoke filled her senses. Then she felt him stop. She dropped the handkerchief from her eyes but saw nothing but a wall of gray.

“Can’t take the stairs, the fire’s spread to the second floor,” Leo said. Then she heard him pray for guidance.

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

“How far out is it?” he asked.

“Six feet maybe,” she said. “I can jump it.”

“Not without your eyes,” he said. “Sorry, but I think we’re going to have to make this jump together.”

He swept her up into his arms. Then she felt him run, pelting out across the patio. The sizzle of the fire echoed behind them. The wail of distant sirens filled the air.

Help us, Lord. Please, help us.

She felt him take a step up onto the balcony railing. He leaped and they were airborne. They fell through the air. Her head pressed against his chest. His strong arms locked around her. She took a breath and prepared to hit the water. But then suddenly something jerked them backward. Then she felt him throw her forward, launching her out of his arms. Her body smacked the water. She went under and opened her eyes but saw nothing but the green-gray wall of murky water. She kicked hard and swam for the surface, blinking rapidly as she felt the sting of the pepper spray flush from her eyes. Chaos reigned around her. The castle was a wall of flame casting the scene in an eerie red glow. Sirens wailed closer. People crowded around the fence, yelling, pointing, and it took her a breath to realize she was what they were looking at.

“Leo? Where are you?” Desperately her blurry gaze scanned the surface of the water. Where was he? Why had he thrown her like that? Then she saw the segment of fence had caved in and broken off. Jagged spikes of what remained jutted out over the water. His torn jacket hung like a rag from one of the barbed points. She swam toward it. Ash and debris rained down around her. Panic filled her core.

Lord, where was he? Please, may he be okay.

Then she saw the air bubbles streaming up from beneath her. She gasped a deep breath and dove under again, feeling for him through the darkness. Thick seaweed grabbed at her body. Her lungs ached for breath. Then she felt him, thrashing in the water beneath her, caught on a portion of fallen fence. She reached for him but was almost flung back by the force of his arm. She gritted her teeth and swam forward again.

It’s okay. I’ve got your back, Commander. Let me help you. Her fingers felt for his arm. Then she felt his hand grab hers and squeeze. She yanked the knife from her leg holster and pressed it into his palm. He took it. She swam upward, praying with each stroke to feel him following her. She broke through the water and gasped for air. Leo surfaced beside her.

“Thank you!” He gulped a deep breath. Water streamed down the strong lines of his jaw. “You saved my life.”

“You saved mine.” Then she heard the rumble of debris rushing down toward them. He yanked her into his arms and sheltered her body with his as the flaming balcony caved in toward them.

THREE

It was like swimming through a minefield in a hurricane. Thick smoke filled the air. The heat was like a shimmering wave in the darkness. Falling bricks and rock crashed down around them, churning the water and threatening to crush them alive. But in the midst of it all she felt Leo’s strong arm around her, sheltering her from the crumbling building as it collapsed in flames and rubble around them. Zoe swam upstream, her strong legs kicking for her life against the current, only vaguely aware of the voices yelling somewhere beyond her in the chaos. They cleared the debris, but kept swimming, upstream, letting the crowd and fire fade behind them.

The air cleared. Then Leo stopped swimming, took her hand and pulled her into a bay. Rock rose sheer and high beside them. She tried to stand, but the tips of her toes barely brushed the bottom.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded, treading water. “Yeah, I’m okay. You?”

“Yep.” He slid her utility knife back into her hand. “Thank you for coming after me. I was good and stuck there for a moment.”

She took the knife and traded him for his cell phone, hoping for his sake it was waterproof. Behind them the fire raged, lights from what looked like an endless stream of emergency vehicles flashed and spun, and silhouettes of people crowded the shoreline.

“We should go,” she said. Her eyes searched the rock for handholds. “I have to find Alex and I imagine a lot of people will be looking for you.”

“Hang on.” He reached for her hand. “Just one second. We need to talk.”

Here and now? In a river?

“Okay,” she said. “But let’s get out of the water first and talk on the dry land. It’s so deep, I can’t even stand here.”

But instead, he pulled her closer until she was standing on her tiptoes on top of his boots.

“You’re right, people will be looking for us,” Leo said. His hand slid around her back, holding her firm, even as she could feel the current beating against their bodies. “But we need to talk alone, without an audience, and the moment I get to shore I’ll be swamped by people again. So please, quickly, tell me everything you know about The Anemoi.”

The intensity in his voice rattled something inside her. There was an urgency there that she hadn’t heard before. Had he been The Anemoi’s target? Did he know something about The Anemoi or the fire that he wasn’t telling her? She could feel his hand on the small of her back and the strength of his arms under her fingers. This man had saved her life. She had saved his. Yet, he was still virtually a stranger and she was still on a mission.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll give you five minutes, but then I’m climbing out of this river. Also, I’m talking to you off the record. None of this goes to the press. None of this gets repeated as gossip. Okay? I’m trusting you here.”

“Yeah, I got it,” he said. “I’m good at keeping secrets and I can’t abide gossip. You can trust me.”

She took a deep breath and hoped that was true.

“Two months ago, a client contacted us saying his identity had been stolen and his bank accounts emptied,” Zoe said. “Police had no leads. We said we’d look into it, but honestly didn’t expect to find much. We’re a private security firm, not detectives. Then, three weeks later someone else called us claiming to be the victim of a grand conspiracy to ruin his reputation.”

“And you saw a connection?” Leo asked.

“Samantha did,” Zoe said. “She’s brilliant when it comes to online research and making connections. She started digging into something called the Dark Web and building these info charts, before finally hitting on The Anemoi. Basically, they’re a bunch of loosely connected crooks that steal very important things for people, for a very high price. They tend to go by handles from Greek mythology. Like, the guy who attacked me with the knife calls himself Prometheus after the Titan who stole fire from Olympus. In their twisted minds they’re convinced they’re the good guys, righting wrongs and wrecking lives they think deserve to be destroyed.”

Leo blew out a long breath. She waited. When he didn’t say anything more, she kept going.

“I get how ridiculous it probably sounds,” she said, “that there are these people, who are fooling themselves into thinking they’re some kind of heroes when they’re really just criminals being paid a whole lot of money to utterly ruin people’s lives.”

“In my experience most criminals tend to be pretty delusional and think that they’re justified,” Leo said. “Nobody wants to believe they’re the bad guy.”

She smiled. Okay, maybe he was the kind of person she could talk to. At least it seemed like he was taking her seriously.

“There were three of them at the gala tonight,” she said. “Their code names were Prometheus, Pandora and Jason. I guess Pandora pepper-sprayed me. I never saw Jason, but apparently he’s young, tall and thin. Like I told you, Samantha saw some online chatter about them scoping out a potential target at this gala and I went in undercover to see if I spotted anything fishy or could identify any members of the team. Something we could pass to police to help our current clients or even help us be on the lookout for the future. I have no idea why they’d set the coatroom on fire, unless it’s to keep someone from discovering what they’ve stolen or rifled through. We have no idea who their target is or what they’re attempting to steal. It could be something professional or intensely personal.”

There was another long pause. Again, she couldn’t shake the idea that he knew something he wasn’t telling her. This time she waited Leo out. Finally he said, “How do they usually warn their targets?”

“What?” She nearly slipped off his toes and into the water. “They don’t warn them. At least, I’ve never heard of anyone from The Anemoi warning anyone. Why?”

She waited again. But this time Leo didn’t answer.

“Leo?” Her tone grew sharper. “What do you know that I don’t?”

“Don’t worry about it. I saw a thin man—could be Jason—defacing a poster in the ballroom. But it might not mean anything.”

He was talking like it was no big deal, but that didn’t explain why his voice sounded both angry and strangled.

“Do you think you know who the target was?” she asked. No answer. A chill ran down her spine. “Could it be you? Do you have something worth stealing?”

“No, I don’t,” he said.

Why didn’t she believe him? Voices were clamoring above them now. People were running toward them.

“We’ve got some survivors over here!” a male voice bellowed above her. “Can someone grab us a rope?”

She looked up and was blinded by the glare of flashlights. Leo pulled her against the rock.

“I’m going to hoist you up,” he said. “You should be able to climb up from there. It’s not that far.”

Light fell from above, highlighting the lines of his chiseled jaw and the strength that lay beneath his wet dress shirt. But it was the depth of the worry pooling in his eyes that made her heart stop beating.

“What’s wrong?” Her hand brushed his jaw. “Tell me. Do you have any reason to believe you’re The Anemoi’s target? Is there anything you have that someone would think shouldn’t belong to you?”

To her surprise, he hugged her quickly with the shared relief of two people who’d been through trauma together. She hugged him back.

“Don’t worry about me.” Leo’s voice was a deep, gruff whisper in her ear. “I don’t have anything worth stealing, and definitely nothing that a vigilante would argue doesn’t belong to me. Thank you for everything.”

He hoisted her up. Other hands were reaching down for her. She stepped up onto Leo’s shoulder and grabbed onto one of the outstretched hands. A police officer pulled her up onto the ledge.

“Are you alright, miss?” a paramedic asked. There was a light in her still sensitive eyes. He took her arm and started leading her toward a bank of ambulances.

“I’m fine, thank you.” She pulled away.

The paramedic let her go without an argument. She wasn’t surprised considering the scene. Firefighters and emergency service personnel were trying to corral people, put out the fire and check for injuries. Party guests rambled around the gardens, ignoring orders and trying to take pictures on their phones.

She’d learned as a teenager that whenever there was a spectacle there’d be two different types of people running around. There were those who watched the show and those who kept people safe. Back then she’d been the spectacle, the fire, the flashy and fierce marital arts and gymnastics competitor who people cheered for loudly when she won and booed at when it all came to an end. But she’d known, even then, what kind of person she wanted to be. She wanted to be the one who protected people and rescued them from the metaphorical flames.

The crowd parted and she saw Leo hauling himself over the ledge. He stood on the edge of the rocks, with the fire to his right, the darkness to his left and the river swirling behind him. Her breath caught in her throat. He was rugged, strong and dashing in a way she’d thought only movie stars could be. Yet as his eyes scanned the crowd, something deep inside his gaze almost looked wounded, too.

Lord, protect him and help him. I don’t know what he wasn’t telling me or why he brushed off my questions. Or why my gut’s telling me that he was The Anemoi’s intended target.

The Anemoi had gotten its name from a group of deadly winds, and somehow the castle fire felt like the first rumble of thunder that warned of an approaching storm. Something big was coming. Something devastating and dangerous. And she just couldn’t shake the feeling that Leo Darius was going to be right in the center of that storm.

People pushed past her. Voices babbled around her, fading into white noise. Still her eyes were locked on Leo’s form. He’d come for her. He’d carried her in his arms. He’d leaped through the air to save them both. She’d trusted him with the truth about her job at Ash Private Security and about The Anemoi. But he hadn’t trusted her in return.

“Excuse me! Ma’am.” The Irish voice was smooth behind her and his hand touched her shoulder so suddenly she nearly jumped out of her skin. She flinched, her whole body pulling away as she turned. It was him, Killian, the same creep who used to skulk around the edges of martial arts competitions hitting on the female competitors, until one day, when he’d snuck up behind her, she’d wielded around and elbowed him in the face on live television, ending her competitive career. “Are you the woman who Commander Darius rescued from the fire?”

She nearly choked. He didn’t recognize her. She didn’t know if it was just because of the odd way the combination of the night, the flames and emergency beams played tricks with light and shadows. Or if it was because of how disheveled she was from the fire and the lake.

But she couldn’t shake the thought that maybe he’d actually forgotten her. That despite everything she’d lost by elbowing him in the face, she’d been nothing but an insignificant and forgettable blip in his life.

Even though she’d never forgotten his face.

“No comment.” Zoe didn’t meet his eye and turned away, hoping not to jog his memory.

“No comment?” he pressed. “How can you have no comment? Either you’re the woman he rescued or you’re not.”

“Sorry, I’ve got to go.” She persisted through the crowd, searching the sea of emergency vehicles for the plain black Ash Security van.

Killian kept following her. She could hear his voice as sharp and direct as arrows shooting after her. “At least, tell me your name. Who are you?”

“I’m nobody.” She disappeared into the crowd. She was nobody now. She liked it that way. One brief intense encounter in a moment of danger with the daring Commander Leo Darius wasn’t about to change that.

* * *

The Ottawa River raged and surged as it flowed through Canada’s capital city, past beautiful historical buildings and stately monuments. Leo walked with his daughters down a path that ran alongside one of the river’s branches as it flowed into a canal. His mind swirled like the water. It was Tuesday, the morning after the fire. Thankfully no one had been hurt, the symposium was continuing as usual and the informant had left another untraceable robotic message on Leo’s phone line saying the intel was still up for sale but the price had just gone up. But an early morning phone call from Admiral Jacobs’s secretary had sent everything into chaos. The admiral had been in a terrible car accident on the way to work and was now in the hospital. Leo had no way to get the admiral’s advice on whether he should continue with the mission, no idea who could’ve tipped The Anemoi off to the informant’s existence and no one else inside naval intelligence he knew he could trust. He was on his own. His eyes rose to the sky in prayer. I just don’t know what to think. I don’t know what to do. Guide me. I need backup and I don’t know how to get it.

“Can I get ice cream?” Eve’s voice broke into his thoughts. Bright blue eyes looked up hopefully into his. Her tiny hand slipped into his large one and squeezed it, very hard, like she was double-checking he was really there. “Or can I climb a tree?”

There was something so real and genuine about his littlest girl’s smile.

Thank You, God, for my daughters. Help me be the father they need me to be. Help me raise them and protect them.

“You can’t climb a tree in flip-flops,” he said. “But we can see about ice cream later.”

Eve squeezed his hand hard one more time. Then she scampered off to join her sister, Ivy, who was now walking alone up the path ahead of them. Ivy had been a little girl on his last visit home. Now, at twelve, she was almost a teenager, with long hair as dark as his and eyes that tended to glance sideways at the world. He watched as Eve nudged her big sister in the side. Ivy threw her arm protectively around Eve’s shoulders. It was hard to know how much the strained mess that was his marriage to their mother had impacted them, but he knew they missed her. He missed Marisa, too, in a much more complicated way. Late at night, her painful words to him still echoed in the empty recesses of his chest: “I tried to love you, Leo. I really did. You’re just not the kind of man who’s easy to love.” But she’d stayed married to him, accepted politeness instead of romance, made a bed for him on the couch whenever he was home on leave and given him two beautiful daughters. He’d always be thankful for that.

“This isn’t really a normal walk, Eve,” Ivy said, in a conspiratorial tone that was so loud she had to know that he would be able to hear it. “Daddy is meeting someone. But it’s a secret meeting.”

Eve gasped, a sound that was thankfully all excitement and intrigue, not worry. Leo almost stopped short. How could she possibly know that? Josh had phoned his cell before the sun had risen this morning to suggest they meet up. Josh’s tone had been friendly, but there’d been a current cutting through it that had let him know it was important. Leo kept his voice level. “Why do you say that, honey?”

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Ivy tossed a glance back over her shoulder. A slight smile turned at her lips, her keen eyes flashed and he realized that she’d been guessing. She was a smart kid and perceptive, too. Neither of which helped the gnawing feeling he got in his gut sometimes that Ivy was bothered about something she still didn’t trust him enough to open up about.

His cell phone buzzed. He reached for it hoping it was the admiral. Instead it was a text from a number with an Irish area code.

Hey Commander, it’s Killian Lynch. Any news on the identity of your mystery woman? My message board’s been pinging nonstop from other women asking me if you’re single!

He frowned. Killian’s tabloid story on the fire had been posted online before the fire had even been put out and included a blurry photo of Leo falling through the air with Zoe in his arms. The post and picture had “gone viral,” which apparently meant it was now spreading around the internet like a plague. He had no intention of blowing Zoe’s privacy. He’d lost sight of the dark-haired beauty in the crowd after the fire. But he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind since.

A second text arrived: A woman named Melody Young asked me to pass on her name and number. She’s an old friend of your wife. Had lost contact and misses your girls. Wanted to send her condolences and set up a playdate.

The strains on his marriage to Marisa had meant he didn’t really know much about her life. While his transfer home to Ottawa had meant the girls had to move to a new house and new school, Theresa had told him the more connections the girls had to their past the more grounded they’d feel.

This is her. Said I’d pass it on to help the girls remember her.

Another text came in before he could answer. It was a picture of a beautiful, blond-haired woman holding a toddler on her lap. He looked closer. The child was Eve.

Leo texted back: Thank you.

No problem, came back the reply. Ready to go over that stuff I uncovered online yet? The story can’t stay on ice forever.

No. Leo slid his phone into his pocket without answering. He followed a path and reached a small park. His eyes surveyed the scene. Josh sat on a bench by the water. Alex stood nearby with his back to the street. The location was pretty isolated and yet still close to the road, with good lines of sight. He could only spot two ordinary civilians in the park. One was a well-dressed mother with auburn curls who was pushing a stroller along the riverbank. The other was an older man with a small white puppy, ambling through an outcrop of trees. Neither looked like anyone he’d need to worry about. The tiny ball of puppy fluff started to pull and scrabble on all four paws toward Ivy and Eve. The girls squealed and cooed, and begged Leo to let them go pat it.

But all of that was eclipsed by the site of the petite, dark-haired woman walking toward him. She was dressed simply, in jeans and a tank top that showed off the strength in her arms. Her skin was free of makeup. A simple elastic held back her hair, letting only a few wisps escape and fall around her face. She was even more dazzling than he’d remembered.

“Hey,” she said. “How’s it going?”

“Not bad,” he said. “You?”

“I’m okay.” Her dark eyes met his and it was like everything else faded to static around him. There was something about her that hit him like a punch in the gut. An attraction? A feeling? He didn’t know what to call it. But it was like someone had attached jumper cables to the dusty remnants of his heart and was trying to jolt it into beating again.

“Daddy!” Eve said. “Can we go see the puppy? Please?”

“It’s okay,” Zoe said, stepping forward. “I’m happy to watch the girls. I know you and Josh need to talk. We’ll stay right around here within eyesight.”

Her hand brushed her ear and he saw she was wearing a tiny earpiece. Apparently she’d be staying within earshot, too.

“Please, Daddy? Can we go with her?” Eve’s bright eyes brimmed with hope.

“Okay.” He hated having the girls beyond arm’s length. But he trusted she’d keep them safe, and maybe putting a few feet of distance between himself and Zoe would help keep the jumper-cable jolts at bay. “Zoe, these are my daughters, Ivy and Eve. Girls, this is my friend Zoe. She’s really nice and is going to watch you while I talk to my friend Josh. I want you to be very polite and stay where I can see you.”

Ivy’s skeptical eyes flitted to Zoe’s face. Zoe stretched out her hand toward Leo’s eldest. “It’s very nice to meet you, Ivy.”

“I like your bracelet.” Ivy eyed her hand.

“Thank you,” Zoe said. A tightly woven black-and-green rope encircled her wrist. If she was wearing a microphone, Leo didn’t see it. “It’s a special kind of rope called a paracord. I wear them all the time. You can unravel it really long and use it for climbing or other useful things. I can show you how to make one.”

Ivy paused another moment, then asked, “Do you like dogs?”

“Definitely. I have a terrier at home named Oz. He’s very pesky.”

“Do you like ice cream?” Eve interjected.

“A bit.” Zoe looked at her seriously. “But I prefer sherbet.”

Eve’s lips scrunched as she pondered this. “Do you like climbing trees?”

“I love climbing.” Zoe smiled. “I used to be a gymnast.”

“Really?” Eve beamed. “I want to be a gymnast!”

Did she now? Last he’d heard she wanted to be either a princess or a unicorn. But he wasn’t exactly surprised. Both girls loved climbing.

Having apparently passed inspection, Zoe started walking with the girls toward the dog.

“I can’t climb trees in flip-flops,” Eve was saying.

“Well, maybe after we meet the puppy I’ll teach you how to climb in bare feet.”

Their voices faded to background babble. He let out a long sigh, then turned toward Josh. The former soldier was already on his feet.

“Good to see you.” A broad smile crossed Josh’s face as he reached out to clasp Leo on the back. “You’ve met Alex, right?”

“I have.” Leo stretched his hand out and shook Alex’s hand. “Theresa never told me you were a bodyguard.”

A wide grin crossed Alex’s face. “We do our best to keep it on the down low. Doesn’t always work, but we try. The work we do is one hundred percent confidential.”

“I noticed Zoe was wearing an earpiece.” Leo looked at Josh. “I take it she can hear our conversation, too?”

“Yep.” Josh turned his wrist toward Leo. There was a small microphone implanted in his watch. He had to admit, it was pretty impressive tech.

“I was surprised to hear from you.” Leo sat. “I thought you were on your honeymoon.”

“I am,” Josh said. “But it’s the second week and it’s hard to keep Samantha off the internet once she knows she’s onto something. She found something on The Anemoi’s message board we thought you should see.” Josh passed Leo his phone. Leo looked down at the picture the waiter had snapped of the vandalized poster of him and the girls. “Did you know that you’re The Anemoi’s next target?”

FOUR

Leo glanced at the picture of the vandalized poster of his girls, then up to where his girls were now climbing trees with Zoe. The old man with the dog had continued down the path. Eve was hanging upside down from a low tree branch like a koala, while Ivy was halfway up the tree. Leo reached into his wallet, pulled out the first bill he could get his fingers on and pressed it into his old friend’s hand. “I’m hiring you, all of you, because I need advice. We can work out the details later. But as of right now, I’m your client and everything we discuss is confidential. Agreed?”

Josh nodded. “Agreed.”

Leo let out a long breath. “Yes, I suspected that I was The Anemoi’s target. But I didn’t know for sure.”

Zoe wasn’t looking at him but he could see her shoulders flinch, as her earpiece picked up their conversation through Josh’s mic. He imagined it bothered her that he hadn’t been more forthright with her when they’d swum to safety together after the fire. But open book had never really been his style.

“Does this mean you know what The Anemoi is trying to steal from you?” Alex asked. “Have they stolen it yet?”

“That’s a complicated question with a very complicated answer.” Leo turned back to the men. He didn’t know how to answer Alex without breaking his cover and spilling classified information. But he trusted they could read between the lines. “I gather Josh told you the story of how we met? It was about six or seven years ago. I was commanding a ship, Josh realized that one member of my crew—a real charmer named Tommy Ferrier—was smuggling some drugs in his bunk. I looked into it, got the proof I needed, and Tommy was discharged and tried. He eventually went home, ruined his life dealing drugs in Canada and went to jail for beating his girlfriend so hard she miscarried. It was an incredibly sad story. But it’s why I trust Josh with my life and why I trust you and Zoe by extension.”

Josh nodded. So did Alex. Neither answered.

“Now imagine, instead of one ship it was a lot of ships, and instead of one rat on my ship there were a bunch of them scurrying inside a lot of ships, and instead of just telling me that info, Josh had offered to sell it to me for a whole lot of money. After seeing what happened to Tommy Ferrier, I know how important it is that information like that gets handled very carefully and what people would do to keep it from ever coming out. But let’s say that my boss just ended up in hospital from a car accident this morning, and I was obligated to get that intel, but I couldn’t ask any of my crewmates for help in case they were rats.”

“Wow, that would be quite the thing,” Alex said.

“Wouldn’t it?” asked Leo. Out of the side of his eye, he saw Zoe flash a smile in his direction. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he felt his shoulders begin to relax. It felt good to know he wasn’t alone. “Obviously you can’t be involved in my mission, at all. Hands off. If any of you were at an event with me and someone were to approach, you’d all have to skedaddle and disappear. I can’t have outsiders involved in this. You are all civilians with zero clearance. But you can watch my back, keep your eyes open, tell me if you see anything I should be worried about, keep me informed of whatever this Anemoi situation is, and of course make sure my girls aren’t touched by any of this.”

“Understood,” Josh said. “Eyes and ears only. Can I ask what you know about the new, less charitable version of me?”

“The informant?” Leo said. “Not much. He contacted my admiral a week ago using robotic-voice-disguising software and an encrypted line. He said he had ample proof of a large-scale rat problem to sell, but that he couldn’t trust anyone inside military intelligence to handle the negotiations. The admiral suggested me. I’ve been overseas for a long time and would spot bad drug-smuggling data in a heartbeat. The informant suggested the exchange happen during the symposium. I’m authorized to give him a lot of cheese, but only if the intel proves sound.”

“Can we assume he’s a criminal?” Alex asked.

“Yes and no,” Leo said. “He could be selling bad data, or good data, to make money. He could be a whistle-blower who just wants some leverage so he can disappear. You might remember, last year a hacker named Seth Miles found proof that some higher-ups in the military were in the pocket of Eastern European mobsters. He struck a plea deal for espionage, but he’s still been branded a pariah and his life was destroyed. It could be someone who doesn’t want to repeat what happened to him. Either way, I have to keep his identity a secret. My boss promised him total anonymity, and my work thrives on privacy. So, if all goes smoothly none of you will ever find out who he is.” He leaned back on the bench. “That’s all I’ve got for you. Now it’s your turn to answer some questions. You’re telling me some vigilante group, named The Anemoi, was at the gala last night, attacked Zoe and set the building on fire?”

“Pretty much.” Alex nodded.

“And one of them defaced a picture of my girls and posted it online?”

“He used the handle Jason of the Argonauts,” Josh said. “He’s quite the hacker. When Samantha tried to trace him, he deleted the picture and any trace of himself on the message board.”

“My mission, if you want to call it that, is so top secret that nobody knows about it,” Leo said. “So only someone very high up could have tipped off The Anemoi to the existence of this intel, or the informant himself did. Both scenarios are bad news. But either way, I don’t understand why they’d deface a poster of my daughters.”

“We’re baffled, too,” Josh admitted. “What can we do to help?”

“I’ve got to go to a bunch of symposium events this week,” Leo said, “and hope that the informant approaches me with the intel. I need someone to watch my back and make sure The Anemoi—whoever they are and whatever they want—don’t get in the way.”

A fresh burst of giggling dragged his attention back to Zoe and the girls. Ivy had dropped to the ground and was lounging in the grass, facing the water. Eve was standing on Zoe’s shoulders gripping the thick branch above with both hands. Before he could so much as call out and remind them to be careful, his little girl had scrambled up off Zoe’s shoulders and onto the branch.

“How many events are we talking about?” Alex asked.

Leo turned back. “There are symposium meetings tomorrow, a parade on Friday near Toronto and a charity auction back in Ottawa on Saturday, to raise money for children’s hospitals. After that the symposium is done and if I don’t get the intel by then it’s gone.”

“Understood,” Josh said. “Alex and Zoe have rented rooms at a hotel in Ottawa and can extend their stay a few more days. They can set up the surveillance van in your neighborhood when you’re home, make sure the girls are safe and come with you to events. I suggest you don’t change anything, act like nothing’s wrong and go on with life as usual. Just think of them as extra eyes and ears, watching your back. Nobody ever needs to know you’ve hired private security.”

“Good by me,” Leo said. “I’ll need someone to take the girls to and from day camp on Thursday. They’ll be with me at the parade on Friday.”

“All good by me, too,” Alex said. Then he called, “Good by you, Zoe?”

Zoe spun back, her dark hair dancing around her shoulders as she flashed two thumbs-up. But as her gaze seemed to linger on Leo’s face, for the very first time since they’d met he thought he saw uncertainty in her eyes.

They talked logistics for a few more minutes. Alex would run the surveillance van and be Leo’s backup at events. Zoe would take point on security for the girls. Josh was running back to his honeymoon at their Cedar Lake cottage, but he and Samantha would stay in touch. Leo would have the backup he needed, without compromising security. Then Alex went to move the Ash Private Security van from a nearby lot to street parking, so that he could give Leo a tour of it.

Leo stood up, Josh did, too, and for a moment they watched Zoe and the girls. Then Josh slid his hand over his watch, and Leo realized he was covering his microphone.

“Zoe’s incredible,” Josh said quietly, as if answering a question Leo hadn’t asked. “She’s battled more criminals and saved more lives than I can begin to count. Alex and I have owed her our lives more than once. I’m guessing you’ve read the online gossip and know her story?”

“No, I don’t,” Leo said. He’d come close to it, though. Last night, sitting on his porch in the muggy night air and feeling the memory of her pressing up against the edges of his mind, he’d entered her name in his laptop search engine. But he barely glanced at the first sentence that popped on his screen before shutting it down. He didn’t believe in gossip. He didn’t want his past to be internet fodder. So why should he treat her the way he wouldn’t want to be treated? “I know that she and Alex are stepsiblings. I know that she competed nationally in gymnastics and martial arts. But that’s all I know. I prefer to get to know people in person, not through gossip.”

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate that,” Josh said. “I’ll let her tell you her story if and when she’s ready. All that really matters to your mission is that she’s a bit camera shy and not a fan of media attention. So we’re not planning on using her as the inside person for any events right now, let alone by your side. There’s too large a risk she’d be identified and the fact the gossip media is determined to find out who the woman in your arms was when you leaped from the burning castle hasn’t exactly brought up the best memories for her.”

Maybe that was another reason for the distance she’d been keeping and the doubt he’d seen in her eyes. It was probably wise for both of them. She didn’t want her name flashed across the tabloids as some damsel in distress he’d plucked from the flames. He wasn’t sure he could handle the distraction of having the beautiful bodyguard on his arm, even if they both knew she was only there professionally.

“Hi, Daddy,” Eve yelled. “See me?”

“I do.” He frowned. His baby girl was now at least six feet off the ground and holding on to the branch with one hand while she waved enthusiastically with the other. While he could usually count on Ivy to be the overprotective older sister, his eldest was now lying contentedly on her stomach watching the small puppy from earlier as it trundled down the path on the other side of the canal.

A black van pulled up on the street. Alex waved out the window. Josh walked up the hill to greet him. Leo started across the grass toward his girls, feeling his brow furrow as he looked at Zoe. The bodyguard met his glance head-on and didn’t even flinch.

“Eve, honey.” Zoe looked up at the child. “I think your daddy would prefer that you come down and we go find a smaller tree.”

His footsteps froze. Zoe had read that in a glance? There’d been something in Zoe’s tone—caring, yet firm—that rattled something inside him. There was a spark in Zoe’s eyes as she looked up at his daughter, and trust in Eve’s eyes as she looked back down at her. Even Ivy was smiling. Whatever this odd pull he’d felt toward Zoe the moment he’d met her, it was almost like his daughters felt a version of it, too.

Help me, Lord, I can’t let my mind even begin to think this way. During a particularly rough patch in his marriage to Marisa five years ago, after her first brush with cancer, she’d asked him to promise that when she died he wouldn’t bring another woman into their daughters’ lives until they were adults. He didn’t know why it had mattered so much to her, but it had. That had been around the time her overprotective nature had really kicked into high gear. She’d needed to know he would protect the girls, even if it cost him his heart. He’d promised her that and that pledge to protect their daughters had given them the strength they needed to keep the family together.

He’d never once imagined wanting to break it. Until now.

“But, Zoe—” Eve’s lower lip pouted.

“No arguments.” Zoe reached her hands up toward the girl. “Come on. We’ll find something fun to do down on the ground. Now just turn around on your stomach, slide your legs down to the branch below you and I’ll help you down from there.”

“It’s okay. I’m a lot taller than you are. I’ll get her down.” He was at least a foot taller than Zoe. He could pluck her out of the tree like a kitten. “Eve! Just stay there and wait for me.”

Eve glanced from one adult to the other. Her forehead wrinkled in worry and frustration. “But, I’m almost there.”

“Just wait.” His voice rose.

Her little voice rose, too. “I want to do it myself!”

Then in one sickening moment everything happened at once. Eve’s foothold snapped. Her wail of complaint rose to a scream as she fell. Leo’s heart pounded. His little girl tumbled through the air. Lord, save my baby girl!

In one fluid moment, Zoe bent her knees, stretched out her arms, and caught the falling child in her arms. Eve hit Zoe in the chest like a tiny, blond cannonball. Zoe absorbed the blow, letting it knock her over as they fell backward into the grass. Zoe lay there in the grass for a moment, her head bent low over Eve’s, as she cradled the small girl to her chest.

“You okay, honey?” Zoe asked. Her cheek leaned against Eve’s head. Emotion choked in her throat. “That was a very impressive fall.”

“The tree broke!” Eve said. His little girl sounded more amazed, even thrilled, than scared or hurt.

The sound that slipped through Zoe’s lips was a laugh and a cry in one. Yes, as a parent, he knew that feeling well.

“Yeah, it did,” Zoe said softly. “And you were very, very brave. I’ve fallen lots and lots of times. You didn’t even land on your head like I have!”

The little girl started giggling. Zoe started laughing, too. Then Eve sat up and reached for Leo.

“Daddy, I broke the tree! Zoe caught me.” Eve was still giggling.

“I saw that.” He knelt down and reached for her.

Zoe half pushed and half lifted Eve up toward her father’s waiting arms. “I think your daddy needs a hug right now, too.” Zoe’s dark eyes searched his face. “My daddy always said it can be a bit scary for a daddy to see their children fall.”

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