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Her Private Bodyguard
Gayle Wilson
A MAN IN THE SHADOWSEx-CIA operative Grey Sellers had settled into a quiet, anonymous life. No secrets, no bullets, no nightmares…just the way he wanted it. Until he was hired to protect reluctant heiress Valerie Beaufort from a killer. He'd sworn not to get emotionally attached to the assignment–but Valerie was so much more than that….Valerie hadn't wanted a bodyguard, even one as sexy as Grey Sellers. But with him, Valerie finally felt like a woman–a woman willing to let a man into her heart. Yet Grey's secrets were deep and his past even deeper. Would she discover the man he truly was–before it was too late?
“All the things that should be in your records aren’t. It’s as if you didn’t exist before you opened your investigative agency.
“Which makes me curious as to what you were doing before then,” she added.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Why are you in hiding?” Valerie asked.
“I’m not in hiding. I run a business. I advertise. My number’s in the phone book. You can check all that out—”
“Yes, I know. You told me. Except the man who recommended you seems to have disappeared. So…I’m not exactly sure anymore why you’re here, Mr. Sellers.”
“I’m here because I’m being paid to do a job—”
“And did that job involve trying to get me into bed?” she asked softly. “Or was that just some sort of…extra compensation you thought up all on your own?”
“No,” Grey said seriously. “I don’t have any hidden agenda where you’re concerned.…”
Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,
You wanted MORE MEN OF MYSTERY by Gayle Wilson—now you’ve got ’em! Gayle’s stories about these sexy undercover agents have become one of Harlequin Intrigue’s most popular ongoing series. We are as impressed by her outstanding talent as you, her readers, and are thrilled to feature her special brand of drama again in Her Private Bodyguard (#561). Look for two MORE titles in August and November 2000.
Also available this month, Protecting His Own (#562) by Molly Rice, an emotional story about the sanctity of family and a man’s basic need to claim what’s his.
There’s no more stronger bond than that of blood. And Chance Quarrels is determined to see no harm come to the little daughter he never knew he had as Patricia Rosemoor continues her SONS OF SILVER SPRINGS miniseries with The Lone Wolf’s Child (#563).
Finally, veteran Harlequin Intrigue author Carly Bishop takes you to a cloistered Montana community with a woman and an undercover cop posing as husband and wife. The threat from a killer is real, but so is their simmering passion. Which one is more dangerous…? Find out in No Bride But His (#564), a LOVERS UNDER COVER story.
Pick up all four for variety, for excitement—because you’re ready for a thrill!
Sincerely,
Denise O’Sullivan
Associate Senior Editor
Harlequin Intrigue
Her Private Bodyguard
Gayle Wilson
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gayle Wilson is the award-winning author of twenty novels written for Harlequin. She has lived in Alabama all her life except for the years she followed her army aviator husband—whom she met on a blind date—to a variety of military posts.
Before beginning her writing career, she taught English and world history to gifted high school students in a number of schools around the Birmingham area. Gayle and her husband have one son, who is also a teacher of gifted students. They are blessed with warm and loving Southern families and an ever-growing menagerie of cats and dogs.
You can write to Gayle at P.O. Box 3277, Hueytown, Alabama 35023.
Books by Gayle Wilson
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE
344—ECHOES IN THE DARK
376—ONLY A WHISPER
414—THE REDEMPTION OF DEKE SUMMERS
442—HEART OF THE NIGHT
461—RANSOM MY HEART* (#litres_trial_promo)
466—WHISPER MY LOVE* (#litres_trial_promo)
469—REMEMBER MY TOUCH* (#litres_trial_promo)
490—NEVER LET HER GO
509—THE BRIDE’S PROTECTOR‡ (#litres_trial_promo)
513—THE STRANGER SHE KNEW‡ (#litres_trial_promo)
517—HER BABY, HIS SECRET‡ (#litres_trial_promo)
541—EACH PRECIOUS HOUR† (#litres_trial_promo)
561—HER PRIVATE BODYGUARD‡ (#litres_trial_promo)
HARLEQUIN HISTORICALS
211—THE HEART’S DESIRE♥ (#litres_trial_promo)
263—THE HEART’S WAGER♥ (#litres_trial_promo)
299—THE GAMBLER’S HEART♥ (#litres_trial_promo)
349—RAVEN’S VOW
393—HIS SECRET DUCHESS
432—HONOR’S BRIDE
483—LADY SARAH’S SON
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
CIA
AGENT PROFILE
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Valerie Beaufort—Val had never wanted any part of the millions her father’s company generated. Now she was stuck with the money and all that went along with it, including a private bodyguard. And someone who had murder on their mind.
Grey Sellers—The ex-CIA agent had left the agency and the External Security Team because of a mistake that had resulted in a good man’s death. He never again wanted to be in a position where someone else’s life depended on him. But now he was falling in love with the woman he had been charged with protecting.
Billy Clemens—Clemens would become the majority owner of Av-Tech Aeronautics if something happened to Valerie. With the millions involved, wasn’t that a good enough motive for murder?
Porter Johnson—Porter had known Valerie all her life and had treated her like a daughter when she had lost her own father. Could he really be involved in what was going on?
Harper Springfield—Another of her father’s partners, Harp had as much to gain by Valerie’s death as any of the others.
Emory Hunter—Did Emory’s soft Southern accent and courtly manner hide a murderer?
Autry Carmichael—The head of Av-Tech security formed his own theory of what was going on out at Valerie’s ranch as soon as he discovered Grey Sellers was a man without a past.
Constance Beaufort—Connie, Valerie’s stepmother, had been virtually cut out of her late husband’s will. Could she be angry enough to kill?
For all the girls who post in my folder
(and for all you lurkers, too).
You are the best!
This one’s for you!
Contents
Prologue (#u05fbcb81-33d9-581a-8401-6f73b5c3cab5)
Chapter One (#u3a4be7d8-8a70-5d62-89ad-015e8b18eb08)
Chapter Two (#u95f6e252-cb8c-5661-948b-b5584f5bbd3e)
Chapter Three (#ud1006829-f5db-5205-9e20-a1b93c367be3)
Chapter Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
A hell of a way to acquire a few hundred million dollars, Valerie Beaufort thought, looking down on her father’s flower-draped coffin. And she would have given all of it, of course, not to be standing here. They were his millions. Money she had never wanted. And didn’t want any part of now.
“If there’s anything we can do, Valerie, dear,” Porter Johnson said, taking her hand and patting it gently, “you let us know. You know Betsy and I love you like our own daughters.”
Porter’s touch brought Val out of her heartsick reverie and made her realize that the brief graveside service was over. The people who had gathered around the final resting place of Charles Valentine Beaufort were already beginning to stream back to their cars, parked haphazardly along the edges of the vast cemetery.
She supposed she should have listened to whatever the minister had had to say about her father, but she didn’t really need any eulogy to remind her of how he had lived his life. Or of how much she had loved him.
“There wasn’t a better man in this world than Charlie Beaufort,” Johnson said softly. “I never had a better friend.”
Touched by the quiet sincerity in his voice, Valerie leaned forward to press her lips against his cheek. His skin was as soft as old velvet, crepey with age. But then, Porter was even older than her father.
Actually, she remembered, he was the oldest of that small group of men who had founded Av-Tech Aeronautics. They had had no way of knowing then what an industry giant the tiny company they had started on a shoestring after the Korean war would become. Maybe if they had, things would have been different.
“So sorry about your daddy, honey,” Emory Hunter said, as soon as Porter and his wife moved away. Emory patted her cheek, just as he had when she was a little girl. “Charlie was a real good man. Maybe the best I’ve ever known. That should be a consolation to you, just like the size of this crowd should be.”
He indicated the hundreds of people scattered across the sweep of green lawn, centered by the tent they had set up over her father’s grave. They hadn’t lowered the casket yet. Maybe they didn’t do that until everyone was gone. She wasn’t really up on funeral etiquette, which was a good thing, she guessed.
“It is a consolation,” she agreed, finding a smile for another of her father’s partners, men she had literally known all her life. “And it helps to know he had friends like you.”
“You call me in a few days, and we’ll talk some about your old man. I know stories I bet he never told you. Probably didn’t want you to know what a hell-raiser he really was,” Emory said, laughing before his expression sobered. “It’s good to talk about folks after they’re gone. Healthy to remember the good times. It keeps them alive for us a little longer.”
Hunter had never lost his Southern accent, despite the number of years he had lived in Colorado. Since he was now in his late sixties, Val didn’t suppose he ever would.
“I will,” she said, smiling at him. “I’ll call, I promise. And thank you, Emory. Your friendship meant a lot to Dad.”
He moved away, and Valerie turned to the next person waiting for her attention. Soon the faces and the condolences started to run together. She seemed to be repeating the same phrases over and over again, her mind a million miles away, just as it had been during the service.
All she wanted to do was to get this over and go home. Get out of these clothes and into a pair of jeans. Ride out the tension that had grown into an ache between her shoulders. Get the scent of hothouse flowers out of her nostrils and the sound of all these voices and their words of comfort out of her head.
