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The Cinderella Mission
Catherine Mann
Agent: Ethan WilliamsMission: Intercept international jewel thieves with information on the whereabouts of a missing agent.Deepest Secret: He's spent his life searching for his parents' killers, but the answers he seeks are closer than he thinks….Millionaire Ethan Williams risks death daily to save innocent lives. And they don't come more innocent than Kelly Taylor, his longtime friend and new partner. Ethan has doubts about her until he watches Kelly, the sweet girl next door, transform herself into a seductive siren capable of conquering any man she wants–and she wants Ethan.But this mission means more than finding a missing agent. In a dangerous gamble Ethan must choose: Would he rather fulfill his need to know his past, or protect Kelly, the woman who could be his future?
One agent is already missing, and now the U.S. government’s most confidential secret is in danger of falling into a power-hungry dictator’s hands.
The top-secret agents of ARIES are the world’s only hope.
Agent Ethan Williams: Haunted by childhood memories of his parents’ deaths, this millionaire playboy is deadly serious about protecting those close to him. And these days that means his alluring new partner, Kelly Taylor—a woman he can’t keep close enough….
Agent Kelly Taylor: She may look innocent, but this young linguist is no stranger to danger—or desire. She’s always wanted to be an operative, and she’s finally gotten her chance. But posing undercover as Ethan’s lover has awakened another longing….
Samuel Hatch: A lifetime in the CIA has shown him secrets the rest of the world would never imagine. And as director of the top-secret ARIES agency, it’s up to him to make sure those secrets stay safe. His agents are the best of the best, and he’s not going to lose one now….
Dr. Alex Morrow: Hatch’s most covert operative is missing somewhere in war-torn Europe. Morrow’s last message mentioned mythical jewels with devastating powers, but the transmission was unclear. If ARIES can’t locate the good doctor soon, the world may pay the price….
Dear Reader,
This month we have something really special on tap for you. The Cinderella Mission, by Catherine Mann, is the first of three FAMILY SECRETS titles, all of them prequels to our upcoming anthology Broken Silence and then a twelve book stand-alone FAMILY SECRETS continuity. These books are cutting edge, combining dark doings, mysterious experiments and overwhelming passion into a mix you won’t be able to resist. Next month, the story continues with Linda Castillo’s The Phoenix Encounter.
Of course, this being Intimate Moments, the excitement doesn’t stop there. Award winner Justine Davis offers up another of her REDSTONE, INCORPORATED tales, One of These Nights. A scientist who’s as handsome as he is brilliant finds himself glad to welcome his sexy bodyguard—and looking forward to exploring just what her job description means. Wilder Days (leading to wilder nights?) is the newest from reader favorite Linda Winstead Jones. It will have you turning the pages so fast, you’ll lose track of time. Ingrid Weaver begins a new military miniseries, EAGLE SQUADRON, with Eye of the Beholder. There will be at least two follow-ups, so keep your eyes open so you don’t miss them. Evelyn Vaughn, whose miniseries THE CIRCLE was a standout in our former Shadows line, makes her Intimate Moments debut with Buried Secrets, a paranormal tale that’s as passionate as it is spooky. And Aussie writer Melissa James is back with Who Do You Trust? This is a deeply emotional “friends become lovers” reunion romance, one that will captivate you from start to finish.
Enjoy! And come back next month for more of the best and most exciting romance around—right here in Silhouette Intimate Moments.
Leslie J. Wainger
Executive Senior Editor
The Cinderella Mission
Catherine Mann
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Joanne Rock, a fabulous critique partner and an awesome friend. Thank you for the tireless reads, endless support and countless bags of shared Jelly Bellies!
CATHERINE MANN
began her career writing romance at twelve and recently uncovered that first effort while cleaning out her grandmother’s garage. After working for a small-town newspaper, teaching at the university level and serving as a theater school director, she has returned to her original dream of writing romance. Now an award-winning author, Catherine is especially pleased to add a nomination for the prestigious Maggie to her contest credits. Following her air force aviator husband around the United States with four children and a beagle in tow gives Catherine a wealth of experience from which to draw her plots. Catherine invites you to learn more about her work by visiting her Web site: http://catherinemann.com.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Epilogue
Prologue
Dr. Alex Morrow was dead.
Samuel Hatch feared it all the way to his sixty-year-old, ulcer-riddled gut.
The aging operative bolted back breakfast in his office—two antacids with cold coffee. His job as the Director of ARIES came with countless rewards and endless holes in his stomach. Since Hatch had created the top-secret section of the CIA, ARIES had become his family, his agents the children he and Rita had never been able to conceive.
Now he suspected he’d lost one.
Restrained tension hummed through him, stringing him as taut as the twine he worked to twist around the wilting plant behind his desk. He aimed the sunlamp with meticulous care, grounding himself in the ritual while he plotted how best to utilize his unlimited resources.
One day’s silence he could accept, especially given the unstable climate in European Holzberg and neighboring Rebelia. But three days and Alex’s tracking device inactive…
Every inch of Hatch’s raw stomach burned after ten years of worrying about his pseudo offspring. Yet their mission was too important to abandon. ARIES operatives embraced assignments no sane CIA agent would touch.
Their country owed these silent knights countless debts that could never be acknowledged.
Hatch anchored the stake on a struggling strawberry plant he’d grafted from home. He mentally sifted through Alex’s final transmissions like the soil through his fingers as he looked for the proper texture to bear fruit. Heaven help them all if Alex fell into DeBruzkya’s hands. The crazed Rebelian dictator under investigation was a sick bastard.
Heaven help Alex.
His fingers twitched, snapping a limp stem off the plant. He wouldn’t let even one of his operatives, especially this one, go down without unleashing the full arsenal at his disposal. Hatch clutched the crumpled leaves in his fist and turned back to the conference area of his office.
And what a mighty arsenal it was, compliments of the government’s blank check.
Large flat-screen monitors lined one wall, glowing with everything from CNN to satellite uplink status. Computers hummed from his desk, as well as along the conference table where laptops perched in front of eight seats. Electronic cryptology equipment for encoding and decoding transmissions littered the workspace.
In the midst of it all, he relied on an old-fashioned map of the world with pins marking locations of his operatives. The cover of each agent’s private-sector identity offered the freedom to travel anywhere undetected. Already, he’d alerted European operatives to begin searching, but without a narrowed field, there was only so much he could expect.
He needed focus, someone to pull together the minuscule threads of information left behind in a handful of transmissions from Alex. Hatch rubbed the bruised leaves between his fingers like a talisman as he studied the map. Slowly two pins on the board paired in his mind.
The perfect duo for finding answers to the questions left in those last transmissions. Logical Kelly Taylor would balance well with Ethan Williams, a rogue operative who thought so far outside the box he invented his own rules.
And their personal baggage?
They would either have to work through it or ignore it. He didn’t need any fireworks drawing unwarranted—and potentially deadly—attention to this mission.
Hatch reached for one of the seven phones on his desk and punched a three-digit code. One ring later, he carefully placed the mangled leaves on the soil at the base of the struggling strawberry plant. “Taylor, Director Hatch here. I need you to locate Ethan Williams, then meet me in my office with his after-action report from Gastonia.”
Her affirmative barely registered. Hatch studied the sole remaining plant from Rita’s garden that hadn’t been killed by his black thumb. Since Rita’s death, that plant and ARIES were all he had left, and by God, they would bear fruit.
Hatch packed the soil around the base of a new sprout and refrained from reaching for the antacids again. Williams and Taylor would find Alex.
Assuming there wasn’t—as his roiling gut kept telling him—a Judas in their ranks.
Chapter 1
“Judas-freaking-priest!”
ARIES operative Ethan Williams stumbled back a step. His hoarse croak ping-ponged through the cavernous room in a mocking echo. He gasped past the pain exploding in his head.
But he stayed on his feet, damn it.
Ethan swiped his wrist under his bloody nose. Three fast blinks cleared the haze from his vision, if not the dull ache and metallic taste of blood.
Screw pain.
He charged back into the cutthroat battle that reeked of sweat and resolve. He dodged shadows cast by light filtering through the thick plate-glass windows overhead.
Perspiration plastered his T-shirt to his skin. Salt stung the healing nick in his side from a brush with a bullet last week. He ignored it.
The second’s hesitation had already cost him his advantage. He needed to stay sharp. After his near miss in Gastonia eight days ago, he feared his edge had dulled. Losing that edge could mean losing his life.
Or worse yet, his job—his only reason for crawling out of bed every morning.
Without it, he might as well step in front of the next bullet. He’d come damned close to doing just that more than once after Celia died, before his recruitment into ARIES had given him the ultimate way to fight back against a world that didn’t play fair.
Ethan led with his shoulder in a low blow. His opponent grunted. Adrenaline surged.
ARIES operatives had precious few rules, and Ethan liked that most about his job in the special section of the CIA. Free rein to win in any arena. Essential with life-or-death stakes.
Not that Ethan had much use for his own life. But winning? Yeah, Ethan had a hell of a lot of respect for the thrill of winning.
He pivoted, boxed out, threw in an elbow, looking…for…that…
Rebound!
Basketball tucked to his stomach, he swung around. Ethan on offense now that he had possession, fellow ARIES operative Robert Davidson manned defense in their half-court game.
To some, it might seem a simple hour of pick-up. But even basketball in a CIA training facility in Virginia provided the chance to hone skills, search for potentially lethal weaknesses and overcome them so he could stay in the real game a little longer.
Ethan dribbled, waited, hunting for the opening.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Patience. Don’t rush. Find the mojo.
Halogen lights in the gym threw a bluish haze across his opponent. Ethan mentally zoned out the sounds of others shooting hoops on the second court, the bleed-over noise from the connected weight room.
Davidson taunted, “Don’t be bringing it to me weak like before, rich boy.”
“Gonna go right by you,” Ethan promised, ignoring the taunt about his family’s obscene bank balance.
This could get ugly. Oh, yeah. Excitement pulsed.
Ethan sprinted for the net. Crossover dribble. Nikes squeaked on polished plank. Bolt past. He caught an elbow in the side, his pager digging deep. Ignore it. Keep his hands on the ball, mind on the mission.
Launching into the air, he plowed past for the lay-up. The thrill nudged closer, his elusive edge slipping back into reach.
He jammed it home.
“Weak, my ass.” Ethan hung from the rim for an extra three victorious seconds. “I’ve got a whole lot more of that where it came from.”
Davidson landed on his butt, sliding backward. He raised his hands in surrender. “I give. You’re one crazy son-of-a-bitch.”
No newsflash there.
Ethan dropped to the court and scooped up the ball. A surprise kick of sympathy for Davidson caught him unaware. The guy had almost died nearly two years ago. He looked in top form now, but could anyone ever fully recover from the blast of shrapnel he’d taken to the leg?
A ghostly whisper of that stray bullet echoed through Ethan’s memory.
He tucked the ball under his arm and extended a hand. “Let’s call it quits. Good game, man.”
“Thanks.” Reaching up, Davidson hooked hands with Ethan. “But it’s not over yet.”
Davidson yanked.
