“I want answers and I want them now,” she said, her voice barely a whisper

“Answers?” he calmly repeated. He inched closer, but stopped when Anna lifted the gun and aimed it right at his heart. “What do you mean?” She’d obviously figured out he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was.

“Rafe and I were lovers,” she whispered, a tear racing down her cheek.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” she snapped. “It’s a little too late for that, don’t you think? Two months too late. I’m pregnant.”

Oh, man. That knocked the breath right out of him. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. All he could do was stand there and stare at her.

With her eyes brimming with tears, she levered the gun slightly higher. “And now I want to know what you’ve done with my baby’s father.”

Marching Orders

Delores Fossen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Imagine a family tree that includes Texas cowboys, Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, a Louisiana pirate and a Scottish rebel who battled side by side with William Wallace. With ancestors like that, it’s easy to understand why Texas author and former air force captain Delores Fossen feels as if she was genetically predisposed to writing romances. Along the way to fulfilling her DNA destiny, Delores married an air force Top Gun who just happens to be of Viking descent. With all those romantic bases covered, she doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.

Air Force Personnel Record

Classified

Name: Rafael "Rafe" M. McQuade

Rank: Captain (Officer-3 scale)

Career Field: Combat Rescue Officer

Security Clearance: Top Secret

Physical Description: Thick brown hair. Green eyes. Muscular 6’ 1” body. No distinguishing marks.

Specialty Skills: Weapons expert, hand-to-hand combat specialist, proficient in three languages.

Duty Description: Commands combat rescue operations as a direct combatant, including survival, evasion, resistance and escape.

Current Assignment: Alpha Team Task Force

Availability Status: On medical leave, but called back for ultrasecret mission.

Diagnosis: Anterograde amnesia—may or may not recover previous memories.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Captain Rafe McQuade—An air force Combat Rescue Officer who’s kidnapped while on a special ops mission. His captors accidentally destroy key pieces of Rafe’s memory—pieces that hold a deadly secret that puts Rafe, his bride and his unborn child in grave danger.

Anna Caldwell—She prays that Rafe can piece together the secrets buried in his memory in time to save them.

Colonel Ethan Shaw—Commander of the Alpha Team Task Force and Rafe’s boss. Is he willing to let Anna and Rafe die to cover up a botched classified mission that could cost him his career?

Nicholas Sheldon—A security specialist who has a personal grudge against Colonel Shaw and Rafe. But has that grudge caused him to seek revenge?

Janine Billings—Anna’s best friend who has ties to the very assassins who are trying to kill Rafe and Anna.

Special Agent Luke Buchanan—A Justice Department official assigned to the Alpha Team. The financial problems in his personal life might have caused him to betray Anna and Rafe.

To my editor, Priscilla Berthiaume.

Thanks so much for your guidance and support.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Epilogue

Prologue

Monte de Leon, present

A bullet slammed into the crumbling chimney just inches from Captain Rafe McQuade’s head. He mumbled some vicious profanity and flattened his body against the battered roof of the abandoned hacienda.

“I’ve got an admirer,” he snarled into the thumbnail-size communicator on the collar of his camouflage uniform. “Do me a favor, Rico, and take him out, will you?”

“I’m trying” was the reply he got from Captain Cal Rico.

All hell was breaking loose on the ground twenty feet below him. Artillery shells. Frantic shouts. The smell of battle, smoke and gunfire.

None of which was supposed to be happening.

Talk about Murphy’s Law. Anything that could go wrong, had. And now his Alpha Team members—and Anna—were neck-deep in cross fire between two warring rebel factions that had chosen this godforsaken place for a showdown.

Rafe inched forward, leaving the meager cover of the overhanging tree that he’d used to climb onto the building. His equipment belt and assault rifle scraped along the bleached roof tiles.

Come hell or high water, he would get Anna out. Failure was not an option.

“Infrared shows no one else inside the building. For now,” Rico informed him through the receiver in Rafe’s ear. “But Anna just moved into the cellar. You can access it through a door beneath the stairs.”

“Atta girl,” Rafe mumbled. With gunfire riddling the papery walls, the cellar was her best bet. Now, hopefully, she’d stay put until he got to her.

“I’m going in,” he informed Rico.

Rafe scrambled to the lip of the roof, gripped onto the eaves and launched himself over the side. His feet crashed through the second-story window just below, and with his weapon ready to fire, he hit the floor running.

The hacienda had obviously been abandoned for months. Rafe fought his way through the litter of bashed furniture and debris to get to the stairs. He stopped at the landing and glanced down at the glass-strewn foyer. No sign of gunmen, but someone had shot out the windows and ripped off the double doors. The muggy breeze stirred what was left of a pair of ghostly white curtains. Just curtains.

Maybe.

Just outside the doorway, he saw a shadow of motion that had him holding his tongue.

Silently repositioning his weapon, Rafe waited. A second. Then two. Before he saw the man step into the foyer. A rebel fighter with an angry-looking machete and a semiautomatic. And he had his attention focused on the door that led to the cellar. Maybe the guy had actually seen Anna run in there. It didn’t matter. There was no way Rafe would let him get to her.

No way.

The man looked up. A split-second glance as he tried to take aim. It was the last glance or aim he’d ever attempt. Rafe took him out with two shots to the head. The rebel fell into a heap on the floor.

“I just lost an admirer,” Rafe reported to Rico.

Rafe barreled down the wide spiraling steps and made his way to the arch-shaped door beneath. “It’s me—Rafe,” he called out. “Open up, Anna!”

Almost immediately he heard her footsteps on the cellar stairs. With each one, his heart was right in his throat. There was a shuffle of movement before she opened the scarred door a fraction.

Rafe came face-to-face with a handgun.

Anna peered out at him, her gaze combing the foyer. Relief raced through him. And a whole host of other emotions that he didn’t want to take the time to analyze.

“You came,” she whispered, her voice shattering. She lowered her weapon. “I can’t believe you came.”

He pushed her back into the cellar and kicked the door shut, barricading it with the two-by-four and equipment bag already on the stairs. “Of course, I came. I’m an Air Force Combat Rescue Officer, darling. A highly trained CRO. Saving beautiful photographers is what I do best.”

She made a soft sound of frightened laughter, slipped her firearm into her pocket and caught on to him.

Rafe was about to tell her how ticked off he was that she hadn’t evacuated with the other journalists, but Anna stopped him. She latched her arms around him, and her mouth came to his. One kiss, and he forgot all about chewing her out.

Hell, he forgot how to breathe.

All Rafe knew was that he’d never, never wanted a kiss as much as he wanted that one.

Anna broke the mouth-to-mouth contact but held on tight. Rafe pushed the damp strands of honey-colored hair from her face and looked down at her. Her dark eyes shimmered with tears. Outside, the sounds of the fight began to fade, a clear indication that the Alpha Team was closing in.

“Anna’s alive and well?” Rico asked into Rafe’s earpiece.

Before he could answer, Rafe had to clear away the lump that’d settled in his throat. “Affirmative. Are we secure yet?”

“Only the area immediately surrounding the hacienda. Colonel Shaw’s arranging transport for Anna, but you’re looking at two hours, maybe three. I’ll give you a rendezvous point and time when I have it. Hold your positions until further orders.”

“Copy.” Rafe clicked off the audio portion of his communicator. Two hours, maybe three. He could have waited weeks now that he knew Anna was all right.

“How did you find out I was here?” she asked, lifting her head from his shoulder.

“The Alpha Team’s doing some jungle maneuvers so I’ve been keeping track of you since you arrived in Bogotá on assignment three days ago.”

Anna gave him a considering look. “And with all the jungles in South America, you just happened to choose the remote village of Monte de Leon for those maneuvers?”

Rafe decided it was best to avoid answering that truthfully. “In a way.”

A troubled sigh left her mouth, but she didn’t ask for an explanation. Which was a good thing. He couldn’t tell her about the classified mission that involved the Alpha Team, or the fact that he’d made sure he was close by in case something went wrong.

Rafe led her down the narrow steps and into the heart of the cellar. It was clammy, and the only light came from a bread-loaf size ventilation window at the back. He moved them as far away from that as he could, and with her snuggled in his arms, he sank onto a crumpled blanket in the corner.

“Soon we’ll both be on our way back to Texas. Promise. Everything will be all right,” he assured her.

Rafe leaned in and brushed his mouth over hers. It might have been just a brief kiss if she hadn’t made a sound of relief, and pleasure. A throaty, feminine sound that sent a trickle of fire through his blood.

So, he kissed her, really kissed her, and deepened it when she responded.

Their bodies moved together, completing the intimate embrace. She wound her arms around him. Rafe did the same. Until they were plastered against each other.

Not good.

She latched on to his shoulders when he started to move away. “Is there any chance those rebels can get into this place?”

“Don’t worry. We’re safe.”

Something he couldn’t quite distinguish went through her eyes, and before he could figure out what, her mouth came to his again. Rafe felt the difference in her kiss. Not fear. Not this. This was all fire and need.

“Anna,” he warned when she lay back onto the blanket. If he wanted to keep things in check, this probably shouldn’t continue.

But it did.

Anna caught on to the front of his uniform and pulled him down with her. The logical part of his brain yelled that this would be hellish torture, but the rest of him didn’t seem to care. While still holding on to his weapon, he buried his other hand in her hair and took her mouth as if it were his for the taking.

Rafe kissed her chin. Her neck. And the tender flesh that he found in the vee opening of her shirt. Anna arched against him, whispering his name.

When her leg brushed against the front of his pants, she stiffened slightly, obviously noticing that he was a dozen steps past basic foreplay. She didn’t pull away, though. Not that he gave her much of a chance. Rafe knew this couldn’t go where his body wanted it to go, but he wasn’t ready to stop just yet.

While he kept up the assault on her neck, he opened the buttons on her shirt. One at a time. Slowly. As he bared her skin, he dropped kisses along the way until he reached her bra. It wasn’t much of a barrier, a little swatch of pale-colored lace. He eased it down and took a moment to admire the view.

Thankfully, there was just enough light that he could see her. She was beautiful. And he didn’t mean just her breasts and her body. Rafe stared down at her face and wondered what the hell he’d ever done to deserve her.

He lowered his head and brushed his tongue against one of her tightened nipples. She clamped on to her bottom lip, but not before she moaned with pleasure. He hadn’t especially needed that kind of encouragement, but it sped up his plans a little. He drew her nipple into his mouth.

Anna’s grip tightened around him. She arched her back and forced him closer. Rafe feasted. First one breast and then the other.

She stirred restlessly. Seeking. She pressed her lower body to his and had him seeing double when she moved against him in the most intimate kind of way that a woman could move against a man.

“I’ve been in this building for what seemed like an eternity,” she whispered. “Thinking about you. About us. About how fragile life is. I want to be with you, Rafe, and I don’t want to wait any longer.”

He watched the words shape her lips. He’d already geared himself up to resist the need raging in his body. That’s what he’d done for the past four and a half months since Anna had told him that she was a virgin and wouldn’t give herself to a man she didn’t love.

But those words changed everything.

He was about to remind her that it was the adrenaline talking, but Anna stopped him. She pressed her fingers to his mouth. “I love you, Rafe, and I don’t want you to say anything. I just want you to do something about it.”

His heart slammed against his chest. He had two simultaneous thoughts. Thank goodness and oh, hell.

Her timing couldn’t have been worse. Ditto for the location. In fact, everything about the moment was wrong, wrong, wrong except for one major thing: somehow or another, it was right.

Totally, completely right.

Rafe let that sink in for a couple of moments. It sank in and went straight to his heart.

Maybe Anna didn’t want the words now, but he sure as heck would say them to her later. Words to let her know that he didn’t want to be just her first, or even her last, but her only lover.

He reached out, pulled her to him and took everything she offered.

Chapter One

San Antonio, Two Months Later

The moment Rafe slid his arm around her waist, Anna felt the jolt. Definitely not passion. Something else. Something she’d felt stirring just beneath the surface since his return three days earlier.

“No turning back now, darling,” Rafe drawled, his voice low and intimate. The corner of his mouth hitched, causing a dimple to flash. “We’ve officially been joined at the hip.”

“Yes,” Anna managed to say.

She swallowed hard.

Rafe gently cupped her chin and leaned closer for the kiss that would seal the vows they had just taken. His hand trembled a little, and he closed the already narrow distance between them.

Their bodies came together. His crisp uniform whispered over the delicate layers of her silk-and-lace gown. Beneath her own trembling hand, Anna felt the strip of cool medals on his jacket and heard them jangle softly. All things considered, it was as perfect as it could be.

Except for that jolt.

Rafe kept the kiss brief, not much more than a touch. Breath met breath. His was warm and mint-scented. It mingled with the sweet fragrance of the pale peach roses in her bouquet.

“Don’t worry,” he murmured. The trace of Texas in his voice danced right off his words. “We’ll make up for lost time. Promise.”

It was the right thing to say. Ditto for the grin that curved his beautifully shaped mouth. But neither of those things made the jolt go away.

What in the name of heaven was wrong with her? She had it all. A mouth-watering husband that she loved. A life she wanted. This was her own personal version of a fairy tale come true. There was no reason for jolts or doubts.

None.

So, why didn’t that make her feel better?

The chaplain placed a hand on each of their shoulders and turned them toward the guests. “I’d like to present Captain and Mrs. Rafael McQuade.”

Applause rippled through the handful of people. Close friends and Rafe’s co-workers, including his commanding officer, Colonel Ethan Shaw. The wedding had been so hastily thrown together that there hadn’t been time to invite anyone from out of town. As unsteady as she felt, maybe that was a good thing.

When Rafe stepped away to speak to the guests, Anna saw her best friend, Janine, make a beeline right for her. Janine didn’t waste any time. She draped an arm around Anna’s shoulders and pulled her aside. “Okay, is this the part where you tell me what the heck’s going on with you?”

Anna didn’t stand a chance of denying that jolt. Not with Janine. So, she went for what would hopefully be a believable slant on the truth. “I guess my nerves are still a little raw. I just keep thinking that those rebels could have killed Rafe.”

“Uh-huh.” Janine gave her a flat look. “That sounds, uh, good, and it might even fool a few people. Not me, of course. Because you see, I’m not buying this I’m-worried-about-Rafe stuff. I was with you during those two months he was held captive in South America. I’ve seen the look you get when you’re worried about him, and this isn’t it, Anna.”

Maybe not. But this wasn’t the place to try to discuss something that might simply be a figment of her overactive imagination.

“Everything will be fine,” Anna quickly assured her. With any luck, that was true. “By the way, thanks again for helping put this wedding together. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Another flat look. “Does that mean if I keep asking what’s wrong, you’ll continue to make small talk?”

Anna nodded and put some grit in her voice. “That’s exactly what it means.”

“Okay.” Janine shrugged. “Then small talk it is. Mmm, let’s see where we were.”

“I was thanking you for your help with the wedding.”

“Yes. And I was about to accept your thanks along with any future gifts of gratitude.” Janine smiled, caught Anna’s hand and lifted it so the light glimmered off the wedding band. “A one-carat, emerald-cut diamond, nearly flawless. Rafe did good by you, huh?”

Anna stared at the ornate band. Since Janine owned a jewelry store and had perhaps helped Rafe pick it out, she wouldn’t dare say that it wasn’t her style. But it wasn’t. Nowhere close.

Funny that Rafe hadn’t known that.

She kissed Janine’s cheek and got her moving toward the door. “I’ll meet you at the reception after the photographer’s done.”

“More small talk?” Janine questioned.

“Yep. Now, get going.”

Janine looked more than a little skeptical but thankfully didn’t press the issue. She followed the rest of the guests when they began to trickle out to go to the Officers’ Club at the base.

Anna stepped around the photographer, who was making adjustments to his equipment. She knew him and offered a friendly smile. They often did freelance work for the same company.

Rafe sank onto the pew, folded his hands behind his head and stretched his legs out in front of him. There was nothing remotely odd about it. Anna had seen him do that a hundred times. Rafe didn’t sit. He lounged. And it was that familiar pose that had her relaxing. It was normal, and if that was normal, then probably everything else was, too.

Probably.

As if he’d sensed that she was staring at him, Rafe looked up. “What? Having second thoughts already?” he asked, another grin shoving up the corner of his mouth.

She didn’t have time to answer. There was a soft beep. Just one. It came from Colonel Shaw’s pocket, and it was more than enough to get her complete attention.

The colonel pulled out the tiny phone and pressed it to his ear. “Alpha One,” he said to the person on the other end of the line.

It seemed as if time ground to a screeching halt.

But only for a moment.

Something shattered. A loud deafening blast. Anna whirled toward the sound and saw the jagged multicolored pieces fly through the church. They’d come from the stained glass window behind the altar. Or rather, what was left of it. God, someone was shooting at them.

Just like that, Rafe sprang into action. He whipped out a sleek matte black gun from his shoulder harness and yelled for her to get down. Colonel Shaw did the same and hurried to turn off the lights.

The place was suddenly pitch-black, the darkness closing around her, and Anna found herself standing alone in the middle of a deadly silent room. She dropped to the floor, made her way to the organ and ducked behind it.

Lots of thoughts crossed her mind. None good. This was the culmination of all her nightmares. The rebels had come for Rafe, again, and this time he might not get so lucky.

She heard the footsteps. Barely. They were more movement of air than sound, but she didn’t know what direction they were coming from. Not until the hand slid over her mouth.

“It’s me,” Rafe whispered. “Shhh.”

He eased his hand from her mouth and moved her farther behind the organ. Without warning, he pushed her to the floor, a cloud of silk and lace fluffing up around her.

Anna held her breath and tried not to make a sound. Hard to stay quiet though when fear kept trying to grab her by the throat.

The moments crawled by. Slowly, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she peered out from behind the thick wooden base of the organ. Colonel Shaw was nowhere in sight. She prayed he hadn’t gone outside, alone.

Of course, there weren’t many alternatives.

Were there gunmen still out there? Maybe members of the rebel faction that had taken Rafe hostage? Or was this some other special ops mission? Maybe it didn’t even matter. After all, a bullet could be deadly no matter what the motivation or cause behind it.

Only threads of moonlight filtered through the thick stained glass windows. It was too dark to see the photographer on the other side of the church, but she could hear him. His breath came out in short, fast spurts.

Unlike Rafe’s.

Even though he loomed over her, only inches away, he was completely silent. If he had any reaction to the situation, he certainly didn’t show it.

Something darted past one of the windows, casting a sinister shadow over the sanctuary. Rafe must have felt her body tense because he pressed his hand on her shoulder.

“Stay put,” he warned in a rough whisper.

Anna latched on to his arm when he moved slightly. “You’re not going out there, are you?”

“No. Colonel Shaw would want me to stay here with you. We have people all around the place. They can take care of the situation.”

Anna hadn’t known about the people who were outside guarding the church. But Rafe had. And so had his commanding officer. They obviously assumed something like this could happen, or they wouldn’t have made such security arrangements.

What else did they know?

Another shadow slashed across the window, and a swish of sound followed. Maybe a gun rigged with a silencer and maybe just the wind rustling through the trees. But Anna didn’t think it was the wind.

“At your six, Rafe,” Colonel Shaw called out.

Rafe pivoted, took aim and fired twice. There was a spray of hot lead and glass. A sharp groan of pain.

And then the silence returned.

Anna counted off the seconds with each thud of her heartbeat. She wanted to ask Rafe if he was hurt, but she didn’t dare risk it.

“The situation’s contained,” she heard a man announce. His voice hadn’t come from inside the church, however, but out there somewhere on the other side of that shattered window.

The lights flared on, and in the same motion, Rafe sprang to his feet. Seemingly as an afterthought, he held out his hand and offered it to her so he could help her up from the floor.

“Are you okay?” he asked. Rafe reholstered his gun as calmly as he’d drawn it.

No. She wasn’t. Along with the incident in Monte de Leon, these had been some of the most terrifying moments of her life. Anna gulped in a huge breath of air and glanced back at a gaping hole in the glass. She caught a glimpse of an Alpha Team member before he darted out of sight.

“What just happened?” she managed to ask.

“We’ll know more when the colonel’s had a chance to meet with the team.” Rafe turned toward the photographer who was cowering near a pew.

“Why don’t you go ahead and pack up? We’ll have pictures done some other time, okay?”

The man eagerly nodded and began to take down the equipment. Anna didn’t intend to be placated quite so easily. “What’s going on here, Rafe?”

He brushed a kiss on her cheek, took her by the hand and led her to a pew at the back of the church. “I’ll go over everything with you after I’ve spoken to Colonel Shaw.”

“In other words, there’s something you don’t want me to know.” And by the time he did tell her, it most certainly wouldn’t be everything. It would have been processed through layers and layers of debriefings until it was sanitized beyond recognition. “Who was out there?”

“Rafe?” Shaw again. “Come over here. I need a word with you.”

Anna grabbed his arm. “I want to know what happened.”

It seemed as if he was about to tell her, but then Shaw repeated the order he’d given just moments earlier. “It won’t take long,” the colonel added. This time, there was some impatience in his voice.

“We’ll talk later,” Rafe assured her. “And don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

“It’ll be fine when you tell me—”

“Not now, Kate,” he snapped. Rafe started to walk away but then came to a complete halt.

Kate.

He’d called her Kate, the name of Colonel Shaw’s latest girlfriend.

Anna stared at him and felt her blood run cold.

Oh, my God. Who was this man she’d just married?

Who?

One thing was for certain, it wasn’t Rafe McQuade. Behind those familiar eyes and face, her husband was a stranger.

Chapter Two

Kate.

He’d called her Kate. Talk about a stupid mistake. It could jeopardize everything.

Rafe stared at her while he quickly tried to come up with an apology. Or at least a reasonable explanation. But she didn’t look very receptive to whatever he had to say. There were a lot of questions in her eyes. And doubts. Doubts that he’d put there with that slip of the tongue.

How the devil could he have gotten her name wrong?

He lifted his hand to Colonel Shaw in a wait-a-minute gesture and went toward her. She stepped back. Not once. Twice. A clear signal that this wasn’t a good time to try to pull her into his arms.

“Why?” she asked, shaking her head. That wasn’t the only thing shaking. Her bottom lip was none too steady.

“Because I made a mistake.” It was a good start, but he was a long way from undoing the damage.

“Because I was scared. The thought of losing you has a way of doing that to me. Believe me, I know who you are.”

“Do you?” she demanded.

It wasn’t anger he heard in her voice but fear. He would have preferred the anger.

“I know,” he assured her. “You’re Anna, the woman I love. The woman I married.” He eased closer. Baby steps. And kept eye contact with her. Until he could finally reach out and touch her. He ran his fingers along her arm and rubbed gently.

“And I’m so sorry.”

Her breath settled a little. It wasn’t an acceptance by a long shot, but it would have to do for now. Behind him, he could hear Colonel Shaw’s impatient murmurings.

“I really need to do this debriefing,” Rafe continued. “But when we’re done, we’ll talk. And if necessary I’ll do some groveling, okay?” He threw in a grin, but it did nothing to soothe the tension on her face.

Rafe waited a moment to see if she had anything to say. She didn’t. Anna only stared at him.

All right. So, this wasn’t a five-minute fix. Not that he’d thought it would be. It was yet another contingency, a bad one, in a day already filled to the brim with contingencies.

“I won’t be long.” He gave her arm a gentle squeeze, turned and went to his boss.

“Problem?” Shaw asked the moment Rafe joined him on the other side of the church.

Rafe hesitated, debating how much he should tell, but from his boss’s demeanor, he already had enough to deal with. “I can handle it. What’s the situation with the shooter?”

“The guy’s alive but not talking. No ID on him, but they might be able to get something when they run his prints.”

It was a long shot, and they both knew it. “Any idea what he was doing out there?”

“He tried to tamper with the communication equipment. The team scoured the area and didn’t find anyone else. Seems he was working alone.”

Rafe had already figured that part out for himself, but it was good to hear his commanding officer verify it. If there had been others, they wouldn’t be having this conversation, and his bride wouldn’t be in the pew staring craters in him. The three of them would still be in the dark waiting for the remainder of Alpha Team to contain the situation.

He almost wished they were still waiting it out. Then, he’d have a second chance to take back what he said to Anna.

“I’ve got someone checking over the equipment to make sure everything is fine,” Shaw said, his explanation low enough that Anna wouldn’t be able to hear. “And it looks as if we’ll have an all clear for you two to leave in a couple of minutes. I’ll stay here to wrap up things.”

Rafe made a sound of agreement and issued an obligatory thanks and farewell to the photographer when he hurried out the door. The guy looked scared out of his mind, and probably was. A definite case of the wrong place at the wrong time, but at least everyone was alive. It could have been much worse.

Much worse.

Shaw tipped his head to Anna and kept his voice to a whisper. “Is she all right?”

Rafe wanted to say yes, but he couldn’t. Besides, with that stunned expression on her face, it was obvious that she was far from all right. “I called her by the wrong name.”

“Hell,” Shaw mumbled. “How did you explain that?”

“Slip of the tongue. The pressure of the situation. Imperfection.” But it wasn’t the explanation or excuses that mattered. “Sir, I’m not sure she believes me.”

The colonel added another four-letter profanity. “I’ll do some damage control,” Shaw assured him, his voice a low, rough bark. “Anna trusts me.”

It was true, but Rafe almost wished she didn’t. If Shaw had been just another officer assigned to Alpha Team and hadn’t been close friends with Anna’s late father, then maybe the colonel would have come up with a different plan.

One that didn’t involve a wedding by direct order.

“She’ll find out, eventually,” Rafe said more to himself than to Colonel Shaw. From all accounts Anna was a bright woman, and he was bound to make other slipups. Sooner or later, she’d catch on.

If she hadn’t already.

Shaw looked him straight in the eye. “But she won’t find out until this is over, understand? I won’t have you jeopardize the lives of those men—or her—because your conscience is bothering you.”

“It isn’t my conscience that’s giving me a problem, sir. It’s the notion that we could have gone about this in a different way. We shouldn’t have involved her in this.”

“She’s involved whether you want her to be or not,” Shaw declared. “Besides, Anna wanted this marriage.”

He could have argued that. He could have reminded the colonel that Anna Caldwell actually wanted to marry Captain Rafe McQuade. When Anna learned that he wasn’t that man, she wouldn’t be pleased. Worse, there was nothing he could do to stop it. Things had already been set into motion.

Hell, legally he was married to her.

“Just stick with the plan,” Shaw continued. He motioned for a team member, Special Agent Luke Buchanan, to join them when he entered the church. “We’re too deep into this to back out now. Other than putting her under lock and key, this is the best way to keep her safe.”

Rafe was afraid that’s what the colonel would say. It didn’t make it easier to swallow. “But what about the reception? We’re expected there.” In fact, it was more than expected. It was a vital part of the plan to generate some publicity.

Shaw blew out a long, frustrated breath. “We’ll postpone it. I don’t want you out in the open, not after what just happened. I’ll come up with an excuse why neither of you can be there.”

Rafe followed that through to its logical conclusion. If Anna and he didn’t go to the reception, there would be no public appearance. No picture of the happy bride and groom in tomorrow’s newspaper. No illusion to build a safety net for Anna and the others. And no diversion for him to make a much-needed exit.

Rafe repeated the four-letter word the colonel had just used.

Shaw checked his watch. “The limo will take you and Anna to the VIP quarters at the base. I’ll be here for the next few hours if you need to get in touch with me.”

VIP quarters. That wasn’t the way things were supposed to work tonight. Shaw didn’t give him a chance to remind him of that, but instead stepped away and headed toward Anna. Rafe watched as his boss took his bride’s hand and urged her to her feet. Shaw leaned closer and whispered something that had her offering him a thin smile.

“It’s apparently show time,” Special Agent Buchanan mumbled when he walked closer to Rafe. “Again.”

Yep. Show time was the right term for it. For the last three days, that was pretty much what all of them had done. It turned Rafe’s stomach.

“By the way,” Buchanan went on, “have I mentioned that I’ll tear you limb from limb if you don’t do everything in your power to stop Anna from getting hurt?”

“At least a hundred freaking times.” But Rafe didn’t hold the man’s Neanderthal threat against him. Buchanan knew Anna and the other Alpha Team members. They weren’t friends exactly, but this had to be taking a toll on him.

Too bad, though, that Rafe didn’t see a way around this. He had to continue this charade, which would likely end with an innocent woman having her heart broken. It was the epitome of a rock and a hard place. And Anna was in the middle of it simply because she’d had the rotten luck to fall in love with the wrong guy.

He glanced over Buchanan’s shoulder and saw the colonel and her making their way toward them. For a brief second, their gazes connected, but she quickly looked away. So, despite Shaw’s confidence in his pseudo-fatherly relationship with Anna, he hadn’t been able to smooth things over, after all.

“I was just telling Anna about that mud-for-brains idiot who thought it was a good idea to try to steal our equipment,” Shaw announced. “Rafe winged the guy, but he’ll be all right.” The colonel passed the bouquet to her, and she gripped on to it as if it were a lifeline. “She’s still a little shaken up. Heck, we all are. Right, Rafe?”

He mumbled a mandatory agreement and even tossed in one of his grins.

“How about it—are you sure you’re okay?” Buchanan asked her.

Rafe didn’t think it was his imagination that she gave Buchanan a suspicious glance, as well. With reason. Anna was probably trying to decide if she could trust any of them.

She finally nodded in response to Buchanan’s question. “So, I guess you anticipated something like this might happen, or you wouldn’t have had men outside the church?”

Rafe didn’t even try to answer that. Thankfully, Colonel Shaw took the lead. “We didn’t want to take any chances. Good thing, too, huh?”

“Yes. A good thing.” But she didn’t sound at all sure of the colonel’s explanation.

Colonel Shaw put his arm around her shoulder. “Since you’re probably not in a party mood, I thought it might be a good idea if we postpone the reception for a few days. Maybe you and Rafe could just go to the VIP quarters and leave for your honeymoon first thing in the morning? Don’t worry. I’ll let the guests know what’s going on.”

She eased out of his grip. “Was that man connected to the rebels who held Rafe hostage?”

“From all accounts, no, but we’ll check him out. Don’t worry. By tomorrow, we’ll know everything about him, including his brand of toothpaste.” Colonel Shaw looked at Buchanan and motioned toward the door. “Why don’t you and I make sure the limo’s ready?”

Rafe mentally cursed. This was a ploy to get him alone with Anna. It was Shaw’s way of telling him to finish the damage control he started.

“So we’re staying at the base?” Anna asked. Probably because the other two men walked away without answering her, she turned to him. “Is that where we’re spending our honeymoon?”

Forcing himself to move, he hooked his arm around her neck. “Nope. That’s a surprise, darling. We’ll just stay the night there in case the local cops need to talk to me about the shooting.”

At least that was probably how the plan would work. They would have to wait in quarters until he got further orders from Shaw.

“Look, I’m really sorry about what happened,” he told her. “For the shooting and that stupid thing I said earlier. I’ll do that groveling now if you like.”

He said it lightheartedly, but there was nothing humorous about the look that Anna gave him. However, it didn’t last long. By degrees, her expression softened. Or something. A frustrated sigh left her mouth, and she stepped into his arms as if she belonged there.

“I’m scared,” she confessed. “And I’m tired of feeling this way. I just want things to be normal again.”

Rafe automatically tightened his grip around her. “I know.”

“It was just such a shock when you called me Kate. I mean, you’ve never done anything like that before. I always think of you as, well, unshakeable.” She buried her face against his neck. “I guess the pressure got to you.”

“Oh, yes. It definitely got to me. I’ll try very hard not to let it happen again.”

But now what? He could go two directions with this. He could blow it off and try to make her laugh. Or he could confess that he was scared, too. Damn scared. He didn’t have time for either.

Anna came up on her toes, with plans to kiss him no doubt. It certainly wouldn’t be the first kiss they’d shared, but from all the signals she was giving, it wouldn’t be chaste like the one at the altar.

He was right.

She wound her arm around his neck, her eyelashes fluttered down, and she fit her mouth to his.

It sure wasn’t innocent. Nowhere near it. It was the kind of kiss a woman gave her new husband.

Hot. Needy. Raw.

Still, he didn’t stop it. Nor did he pull away from her or do what he’d done for the past three days—make some stupid joke to break the tension. He just stood there and enjoyed a great kiss that he had no business enjoying.

She gripped the front of his jacket and pressed herself against him. Her breasts against his chest. It didn’t matter if he shouldn’t react, he did. But then his body didn’t seem to understand that this was a game he had to play. A sick game with lives at stake.

He cursed himself. He had no right to kiss her this way. None. And yet he had no way to stop it. If Shaw’s plan was to work, then Anna had to believe he was the man she’d fallen in love with months earlier.

She broke the kiss but kept her mouth close to his. So close that he could still taste her. “I want to make sure that we’re okay,” she whispered.

He didn’t have to fake a laugh, even though this one was filled with frustration. “Oh, we’re okay.”

Well, with one exception—he was aroused beyond belief.

Not exactly the military bearing he’d hoped to maintain.

“You guys need a few more minutes or what?” he heard Buchanan call out.

Rafe broke away from her as if he’d just been caught doing something wrong. Which, in a way, he had.

Buchanan flexed an eyebrow, but other than that, there was no change in his neutral expression. “Looks like you’re ready to start the honeymoon. Come on. We’ll get you to quarters as fast as we can.”

It hit Rafe then. With all the chaos of the shooting and the name incident, he’d forgotten one important detail.

This was his wedding night.

With the change in plans, it was also a night he could be expected to make love to his bride. There was just one problem with that. He couldn’t. Because Anna didn’t know the truth. And the truth was something he couldn’t tell her.

Because if he did, it could end up costing Anna her life.

Chapter Three

Had she imagined that something was wrong? Had she imagined that jolt?

Maybe.

Anna stared at herself in the bathroom mirror and ran her fingertips over her mouth, remembering the way Rafe had kissed her at the chapel. That certainly seemed, well, normal. And incredible.

Maybe Colonel Shaw was right, and this was just a case of nerves. Wedding jitters combined with that horrible shooting incident. With all that had happened recently, a case of frayed nerves certainly seemed a reasonable response.

She shook her head, embarrassed at the way she’d behaved. Not only had she given Rafe the cold shoulder, she’d actually thought maybe he had been brainwashed. Or worse. It’d even crossed her mind that he was some sort of spy sent to infiltrate the Special Ops Unit at the base.

Talk about jumping to crazy conclusions.

Bolstered by her pep talk, Anna swiped on some transparent lip gloss, ran a hand through her hair and stepped back to give herself one last look in the mirror.

Well. The image she saw wouldn’t have a G-rating, that’s for sure.

The fire-engine-red nightgown covered all three of the important S’s required for a hot honeymoon night. Skimpy. Short. Sexy. Definitely meant to seduce. And that was exactly what she wanted to do. Then, after making wild, passionate love with her husband, maybe they could sit down and just talk. She had so many things to tell him.

“This is what I want,” she reminded herself. “I love Rafe. I really love him.” And she reached for the door.

The sound of his voice stopped her. Anna peered into the room and saw him on the bed with the phone pressed to his ear. His shoes and jacket were off, and he was in his usual lounging repose with his back against the headboard. He had his shirt unbuttoned, revealing a toned, tightly muscled chest sprinkled with dark brown coils of hair.

It was provocative. No doubt about it. Just the sight of him caused the heat to roar through her skimpily clad body. Mercy, she was one lucky woman.

He took a sip of water, set the glass next to his holster on the nightstand and spoke in soft, murmuring tones. She only caught a word here and there. Security. Colonel Shaw.

She started to join him, but something in his tone stopped her. It wasn’t the tone of a man who simply wanted to clarify information. He sounded a little angry. Rafe fired off his terse responses in clips, like gunshots. Yes. No way. We’ve been through that.

Anna stepped back into the bathroom and put her ear against the door so she could listen to the rest of the conversation.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, sir,” she heard Rafe say.

She felt the wave of doubt creeping up again, but she refused to let herself jump to conclusions. This probably had something to do with the cancellation of the reception. That’s all. Or maybe something had gone wrong with his plans for their honeymoon.

Rafe continued. “I can’t do that to her.”

Anna froze. Held her breath. And waited.

“This won’t work,” Rafe snapped. “She’s not stupid. If I stay here, she’ll know. I think we need to come up with another plan.”

Oh, God. What plan? Anna squeezed her eyes shut and frantically tried to come up with a reasonable explanation to all of this.

She couldn’t.

No, she wasn’t stupid, and she couldn’t dismiss the gut feeling that something was wrong. Terribly wrong. Her instincts were screaming for her to listen, and she would. Finally.

So, now what? She could get dressed and try to sneak out of the suite without him noticing. The chances of that were slim to none, and even if she managed it, then what would she do? She could go to Janine’s house, but that would just involve her friend in something potentially dangerous. Besides, it might be Rafe who was in danger.

Anna leaned against the wall. If Rafe was in some kind of trouble, she wanted to know about it. She might even be able to help, but first she had to know the truth.

She tried to steady herself by taking several deep breaths. One way or another she would have to convince him to tell her everything. And maybe it’d be a truth she could handle.

Before she could change her mind, she pulled open the door and stepped into the room.

His gaze snared her right away. “I have to go,” he said into the phone, and then hung up.

He stared at her a moment—the hesitation all over his face—as he got to his feet. Well, maybe it wasn’t hesitation. Anna rethought that theory when Rafe’s eyes skimmed over her. From head to toe. It was a long, smoldering, appreciative look that stole her breath.

Forcing herself to say something, anything, she clutched the sides of her gown. “Do you like it?”

He made a sound, a soft rumble as if clearing his throat, and nodded.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Anna stepped toward him, all the while wondering if this was the biggest, and last, mistake she would ever make.

WELL, HELL.

Now, how the heck was he supposed to handle this? And why hadn’t Buchanan called? He was supposed to come up with some bogus plan to occupy him half the night. It was obvious from the way Anna was dressed that she had an entirely different idea about how to occupy him. An idea that would involve clothing removal and hot, sweaty sex.

“It’s a yes,” he assured his bride after he found his breath. “I definitely like the gown. Red, huh? It’s a good color.”

However, it was the woman inside it that he was really admiring. Rafe was glad he’d already loosened his collar, because just the sight of Anna would have required him to loosen something.

Damn. She was beautiful. Her dark-blond hair tumbled in a sexy heap onto her shoulders. Here was the sparkle he’d seen in the videos. Of course, he likely felt that way because of the barely there, devil-red nightgown that stopped at mid-thigh. High mid-thigh. If she bent just a little in any direction, he’d no doubt learn if her panties matched the color of the gown.

The blood rushed to his head. And other parts of him.

He couldn’t let himself lose control. Nope. She might be his wife, but it was in name only. She certainly wasn’t his for the taking.

Anna strolled toward him, her smile tentative. She was nervous. Rafe understood that feeling completely. He’d faced enemy fire and hadn’t experienced the tangle of raw nerves that he felt right now.

He hitched a thumb toward a bottle of champagne. “It’s from Colonel Shaw.”

Rafe didn’t intend to thank the man for it, either. Sometimes, he wondered if the colonel and he were on the same page. The last thing he needed tonight was to cloud his mind with alcohol.

Anna gave the champagne a passing glance. “That was nice of him.”

Nibbling at her bottom lip, she stepped closer. And closer. Rafe just stood there while she lifted her hands and laced them around the back of his neck.

“I missed you so much when you were gone,” she said softly. “I mean, when we left each other in Monte de Leon, we thought we’d only be apart a couple of days. It turned into two long months.”

That comment ate away at him like nothing else could have. It was wrong to play with her emotions this way. Still, what choice did he have? He couldn’t risk telling her everything. Not yet.

“I missed you, too,” he answered.

Anna brushed her mouth over his. “But we’re together now—just like you promised that day you put me on the transport to come back to the States. The day you asked me to marry you.”

“I remember,” Rafe lied.

She moved in for the kiss. He didn’t quite manage to suppress a groan, but it didn’t matter. Anna caught the sound with her mouth. She brought her sweet lips to his and gave him a kiss that nearly made him forget that this was supposed to be all for show.

She pulled back, slightly, and stared into his eyes. “I think we should start making up for lost time right now, don’t you?”

But she didn’t wait for him to answer that. She kissed him again.

Rafe braced himself for the assault. Or at least he tried to do that. It didn’t work. Her taste slammed through his body. The energy. The intensity. And the distinctive feeling that he had lost his freaking mind. He had no business kissing her like this.

None.

Nada.

Zip.

He should be concentrating on a plausible lie to get him the heck out of there before he stripped that gown off her and hauled her in the general direction of the bed. Still, he didn’t move. He stood there and took everything. The kiss. The heat of her body. Her.

Anna slipped her hand into his hair. “You don’t know how many times I wished that we hadn’t agreed to wait until our wedding night to make love. Did you ever regret our decision to wait?” she asked, her voice as silky as the gown she slid against his body.

Rafe couldn’t look at her. Not even a glimpse. If he did, she would know something was wrong. Instead, he stared at her earring. A small pearl dangled on a delicate thread of gold.

“You better believe there were times I regretted it,” he managed to say. “In fact, the regrets went up a significant notch every time I laid eyes on you.”

He didn’t have time to pray that she wouldn’t question him further about it. Or time to come up with a lie that would give him an exit. He felt every muscle in her body go stiff.

Anna jerked away from him, and in the same motion she reached for his shoulder holster that he’d left on the nightstand. He could have stopped her from pulling the gun, easily, but it would have been a huge risk. If something had gone wrong, she might have gotten hurt. So, he just stood there while she drew his own weapon on him.

“Answers,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

“I want answers, and I want them now.”

He tried to play it light, but inside it was a whole different story. She’d obviously figured out he wasn’t the man she thought he was. Now, the question was—what would she do about it? Would she really try to use that gun?

Maybe.

God knows what all of this would push her to do. If their positions were reversed, if he’d been kept in the dark about something like this, then he’d sure have that gun in his hand, and it’d be aimed at her.

“Answers?” he calmly repeated. He inched closer, but stopped when she lifted the gun and aimed it right at his heart. “What do you mean, darling?”

“The truth. There was no decision for us to wait,” she clarified.

“Damn,” he mumbled. Silently, he added some much harsher profanity.

He stared at her, cursing this stupid plan and cursing the fact that he hadn’t stopped it. But there wasn’t much he could do about that now.

Besides, he had a more urgent problem facing him. Literally. Somehow, he had to get the gun away from this woman without either of them getting hurt.

“Anna—”

But that’s all he managed to say.

“Rafe and I were lovers,” she whispered, a tear racing down her cheek.

There was no good comeback for that so he said the first thing that came to mind. “I’m sorry.” He figured he’d be saying that plenty of times before the night was over.

“Sorry?” she snapped. Her eyes sliced at him with a scalpel-sharp glare. “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think? Two months too late. I’m pregnant.”

Oh, man. That knocked the breath right out of him. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. All he could do was stand there and stare at her.

Pregnant!

Hell.

Anna was pregnant.

With her eyes brimming with tears, she levered the gun slightly higher. “And now I want to know what you’ve done with my baby’s father.”

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