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Mountain Ranger Recon
Carol Ericson


Ian Dempsey knew he'd have a lot to answer for when he bumped into Meg, the wife he'd left behind to complete an undercover mission. Nearly three years had passed since he'd last seen her, but she was as beautiful as ever–and as angry.Before he could explain his reasons for temporarily walking away, shots rang out and Ian quickly went from husband to bodyguard. Investigating his enemies would take time. And whether Meg liked it or not, he wouldn't leave her side until he could guarantee her safety. One step back into her life, though, and Ian knew the stakes were even higher. She had a two-year-old son. And he looked exactly like Ian….









“Meg, I don’t want to leave you and Travis here alone tonight.”


She’d been longing to hear those words all night, but not under the present circumstances. Not under any circumstances where Ian would feel obligated to stay.

“I think we’re good, Ian. We’re not even sure there was ever anyone lurking around outside.”

Ian’s eyes narrowed to cold slits. “Why are you pushing me away, Meg? I’m not interested in sharing your bed. It’s not just about you anymore. I have a son in there, and I’m here to protect him.”

His words lashed her face and she dropped her head, allowing her hair to create a veil around her hot cheeks. He wanted his son but not her. “Okay, you can stay.”

She jerked away from his gentle touch and pushed up from the couch. “I’ll get you a blanket and pillow.”

When she returned, Ian stepped over the coffee table with one long stride and enveloped her in a warm embrace. When he stroked the back of her hair, she melted against him…just a little.

“I should never have used your tour group. I never meant to drag you into my operation.”

“Maybe it was fate. You discovered your son.” And rediscovered he had a wife who could never admit how much she had missed him.




Mountain Ranger Recon

Carol Ericson







www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


To Angi, my sprinting partner in crime




ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Carol Ericson lives with her husband and two sons in Southern California, home of state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery, wild freeway chases, palm trees bending in the Santa Ana winds and a million amazing stories. These stories, along with hordes of virile men and feisty women, clamor for release from Carol’s head. It makes for some interesting headaches until she sets them free to fulfill their destinies and her readers’ fantasies. To find out more about Carol, her books and her strange headaches, please visit her website at www.carolericson.com, “where romance flirts with danger.”




CAST OF CHARACTERS


Meg O’Reilly Dempsey —Meg enjoys her job leading mountain hikes for tourists, but when her estranged husband shows up on one of her tours bringing espionage and secrets, she realizes it’s time to tell him the biggest secret of all.

Ian Dempsey —A former member of the covert ops team Prospero, Ian has tracked down the next piece of the puzzle to find missing Prospero member Jack Coburn. Just his luck, the clue brings Ian face-to-face with his wife, and the distraction just might get them both killed.

Hans Birnbacher —A German tourist on Meg’s hike, Hans asks too many questions to be an innocent bystander.

Sheriff Pete Cahill —The sheriff has a thing for Meg and isn’t too pleased to see her husband show up. Will his anger jeopardize Ian’s investigation?

Matt Hudson —Meg’s boss isn’t much of a businessman, but would he make a deal with terrorists to save his company?

Travis Dempsey —Meg’s son meets his father for the first time and Ian has to face his fears about fatherhood, which are put to the ultimate test.

Kayla Shepherd —A CIA operative who risks her life to find Jack Coburn.

Farouk —Prospero’s former nemesis has expanded his business model and taken his terror worldwide, and this time it’s personal.

Colonel Scripps —Prospero’s coordinator, the colonel knows he can summon all the former team members with one call. He just hopes it’s not too late to save Prospero’s leader, Jack Coburn.

Jack Coburn —The former leader of Prospero and current hostage negotiator has run into a little trouble. Can he depend on his brothers in arms to save him, or is he going to have to save himself?




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

Epilogue




Prologue


He crouched beside the edge of the outcropping that had saved his life and peered at the trail snaking below him toward the small village at the base of the mountain. He narrowed his eyes and assessed the terrain—rugged but doable. He had to get to that town if it killed him. And it just might.

He flattened his belly against the rough slab of rock, scooted toward the edge and swung his legs over the side, sliding the rest of his body into oblivion. He hung onto the ledge with calloused hands, his legs swinging freely beneath him, the sharp pain in his ribs almost cutting off his breath. He fumbled against the side of the cliff with the toe of his boot until it met the foothold he’d scoped out minutes before.

Bracing all of his weight on the meager indentation in the side of the mountain, he released his grip on the edge of the outcropping and did a freefall before clutching at some scrubby bushes for support.

Okay, off his stone savior and pinned to the side of a hostile cliff.

The rough-and-tumble trail below him beckoned, and he extended his long frame, searching for the next foothold. He could do this. Somehow he knew he’d done it before—maybe not this particular cliff, maybe not this particular trail—but his hands and feet moved with a natural rhythm down the face of the mountain.

His head throbbed and he could feel his scalp prickle as the knot on the back of his skull grew bigger and harder. As if to remind him he had other injuries to worry about, a trickle of blood crawled down his cheek and he flicked it away with his tongue—blood, sweat and dirt creating a nauseating taste in his mouth.

He glanced over his shoulder, tempted to release his hold and drop to solid earth, but his aching body couldn’t absorb another fall. He continued his scrappy descent, blocking out the protesting screams and wails from the various cuts, scrapes and bruises dotting him from head to toe.

Two feet above terra firma, he dropped to the ground, his heavy boots cushioning the impact. As he hit the dirt and gravel feetfirst, he crouched down and folded his body forward, almost touching his forehead to the ground.

The rising sun warmed his back, and he rolled his shoulders to spread its heat through his stiff torso. He jerked his head up at the tinkling sound of a bell and gazed at the village hugging the bottom of the mountain.

Licking his lips, he pushed to his feet. He squeezed his eyes shut briefly against the pain that shot through his skull. Then he put one foot in front of the other as he trod down the trail toward civilization. He hoped to God someone down there could tell him how the hell he’d awakened on an outcropping in the middle of a mountain range.

Oh, and it would be a big plus if someone could tell him his name.




Chapter One


Meg O’Reilly’s heart slammed against the wall of her chest. And it had nothing to do with the altitude.

A tall, athletic man hopped off the Rocky Mountain Adventures van and Meg gulped, feeling like one of those cartoon characters with the googly eyes. The drop-dead gorgeous tourist with the short brown hair and drool-worthy body ignored her—and her googly eyes—while he helped a blonde adjust a backpack.

But she hadn’t missed the dark brows shooting up to his hairline when he’d caught sight of her. Meg clung on to the strap of her own backpack, hitched over one shoulder, and scanned the group for a hidden camera or some reality TV host jumping from behind a tree and screaming, “You’ve been punked!”

Gabe, the driver of the van, hopped from the last step and swept his arm in Meg’s direction. “This is Meg O’Reilly, your hiking guide. If you feed her chocolate chip cookies, she might tell you about her adventures climbing Mount Everest.”

Impressed murmurs merged with the roaring in Meg’s ears, but she pasted a smile on her face anyway, and with a trembling hand waved to the assembled group. Tall, dark and handsome broke away from the pack, striding forward, extending his large, gloved hand.

“Good to meet you, Meg. I’m John Shepherd, and this is my wife, Kayla.” He jerked his left thumb over his shoulder toward the smiling blonde as he gripped Meg’s hand in a clasp strong enough to snap her bones.

Meg narrowed her eyes and squeezed back. She knew darned well Ian, or rather John Shepherd, or whatever he was calling himself these days, wasn’t married to some buxom blonde.

He was still married to her.

“Welcome to the tour…John. This is a rugged hike. Are you sure you’re up to it?” She scanned the muscular frame that made her question ludicrous, before allowing her gaze to meander back to his face. Then she turned up her lips in a false, sweet smile.

He flashed an answering grin, his broad shoulders relaxing. Why the tension? He must’ve known she wouldn’t blow his cover. Hadn’t she always been the dutiful little spy’s wife?

Until the end.

“I think I can handle it, even though I’ve never attempted Everest. That must’ve been some experience.”

Ian should know. They had met on her first and only Everest expedition. Formed an alliance on that mountain. Had each other’s backs. Fell in love.

Swallowing the annoying lump in her throat, Megan brushed past Ian and greeted the rest of her group—several couples, a single man from Germany, a mother-daughter duo and a trio of women celebrating a fortieth birthday. They all looked fit and ready for the arduous twelve-mile hike up to the top of the mountain, including Ian’s “wife” Kayla.

As Meg explained the rules of the hike to her group, she stole a few glances at Kayla, assessing the fresh-faced, sturdy woman in red fleece. She had to be Ian’s fellow agent in Prospero, the undercover ops group that had consumed Ian’s life during their two short years of marriage.

The question remained. What the hell were they doing on her hike?

“Are there any questions?” Besides her own. Meg hooked the left strap of her backpack over her shoulder and snapped the catch in the front. She answered a few questions about photo ops and first aid, thankful she could recite the answers in her sleep, since Ian’s presence on the hike had her brain in a fog.

“We travel twelve miles to the top and take the train back down. Stay on the trail and drink plenty of water, even though it feels cold. We’ll make several photo stops, so keep your cameras ready for some awesome pictures of waterfalls and gorges.”

While the hikers drank some water and stamped their feet against the cold ground, Meg turned on her radio and slipped it into the pocket of her down vest. Wedging a shoulder against the door of the van, she said to Gabe, “Are you going straight back to the office?”

“Yeah.” He started the van’s engine. “I’m making another pickup there for Jason’s hike to Cascade Falls.”

“Make sure the radio’s on at the office.” Meg tipped her head back and surveyed the gray morning sky. “I don’t think it’s supposed to snow yet, but we’ll probably get an afternoon thundershower or two, and you never know this time of year.”

Gabe rubbed his gloved hands over the steering wheel, huffing out a cold breath. “Call Scott if you need help. He’s out on the trails today. But it looks like you have a good group here. I even had them singing on the van.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “You would. But singing isn’t going to keep them safe on a muddy trail with a ten-thousand-foot drop.”

“Singing won’t, but you will. You haven’t lost one yet, Meggie.”

Meg snorted and smacked the door after Gabe cranked it shut. Then she spun around to face Ian and the rest of her group.

Since Ian excelled at keeping secrets, she’d probably never find out what he and his partner were doing here. Of course, Meg had been keeping the biggest secret of all, and since she had no intention of revealing her secret to Ian, she didn’t expect him to fill her in on the reason for his appearance on one of her hikes.

She knew it didn’t have anything to do with her. He’d been as surprised to see her here as she’d been to see him…with a wife in tow.

Once everyone had stashed their water bottles and secured their packs, Meg moved to the front of the group and led them to the trailhead. She turned and they gathered around her in a semicircle of expectant faces.

“At the base of the trail we have a little room to spread out, but on some parts of the trail, especially at the higher elevations, we’ll have to walk single file.” She held out her hands, palm up. “We might get some rain, so I hope you all brought some rain gear or ponchos. If not, I have a few plastic ponchos in my pack.”

The group fell in behind Meg as she tromped up the trail. The fallen leaves from the aspens crunched beneath her hiking boots and she inhaled their earthy, balsamic scent. She refused to allow Ian’s surprise appearance to spoil one of her favorite hikes. She hadn’t heard from the man once since their separation three years ago. Not that she didn’t think about him every day of the week.

How could she help it, when each day their son, Travis, looked at her through his father’s green eyes flecked with gold?

Meg took a shuddering breath before stopping next to a clump of aspen. What would Ian do if he found out he had a two-year-old son? Probably shrug it off and return to some God-forsaken part of the globe to protect the citizens of the world. He’d made it clear during their marriage, and after the miscarriage of her first pregnancy, that he didn’t want a family.

Crouching down, Meg scooped up a few pieces of bark and handed them around as she talked about the trees along the first leg of their trail. Ian and Kayla peered at a strip of bark, but Meg knew Ian’s mind was churning, hatching plots and plans. His body almost vibrated with a restless energy—an energy she’d found irresistible when they first met.

The hikers traversed the first mile of the trail, falling into a rhythm and predictability. Several forged ahead of her and others hung back, slowing the group’s progress. She wouldn’t call them the easiest bunch she’d ever led, but then maybe she could blame Ian’s presence for her irritability and impatience.

The German tourist kept close to Meg, peppering her with numerous questions in his slightly accented English. One of the couples dawdled, more interested in each other than the hike—probably newlyweds. Meg tried to suppress her envy. That’s how it had been for her and Ian on Everest. The magnificent scenery could barely compete with their fascination with each other.

Two of the three women in the birthday group kept prodding their companion, who complained loudly about spending her vacation traipsing through a high elevation forest, instead of sitting in front of a bar after an afternoon massage.

Meg nudged the complainer in the side. “You’ll get back in time for a massage, and there are plenty of bars over in Colorado Springs to keep you busy later. And with an air force base, and air force academy, there are lots of military guys in those bars if you like a man in uniform.”

The woman growled, making claws with her fingers, and her friends giggled.

Maybe Ian’s mission had something to do with the Schriever Air Force Base, although another guy in the Prospero unit, Buzz Richardson, was air force, while Ian handled mountain rescue. Was Ian trying to rescue something or someone in these mountains?

Not her problem.

Meg slid her backpack off one shoulder. “Let’s stop here and take a break, get some water. There are some beautiful views of the waterfall from the lookout point. We’ll be hiking to a platform about midway to the top of those falls, for a closer view.”

A few of the hikers staked out some boulders, collapsing on top and chugging their water. Several dropped their packs and wandered to the edge of the trail for a better look at the falls in the distance. The honeymooners massaged each other’s shoulders.

As Meg unhooked her canteen from her pack, Ian sidled up next to her. “Meg, I wanted to ask you about some purple flowers we saw back on the trail. I can point them out to you.”

Meg choked on her water and it dribbled down her chin. She’d have never made it in her sister’s circle, even if she’d wanted that lifestyle. “Describe the flower to me and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“I’d rather show you. They’re not far, and I don’t see any like them in this spot.” Ian raised his brows, probably incredulous, she wasn’t jumping at the chance to discover his mission.

She wanted to tell him to go to hell, but her curiosity trumped her petty need to strike out. “Okay, but I don’t want to leave the group for too long. We need to get moving if we’re going to meet the afternoon train at the top.”

Nodding, Ian tromped ahead, effortlessly traversing the rugged trail, while the other hikers remained sprawled out behind them, still panting from the morning’s exertion. If he knew the terrain, Ian could lead this hike in her place.

If he knew the terrain.

As soon as they rounded the first bend, he grabbed Meg’s arm. “Thanks for not blowing our cover. I had no idea you were leading this hike. The website listed some guy, Richard.”

Ian hadn’t planned on seeing her at all. She gulped. “Richard got sick. I took his place.”

“Can’t pretend I’m happy about it, but I told Kayla we could count on you.”

Even through Meg’s multiple layers and Ian’s gloves, his touch felt like a brand on her arm. She shrugged him off. “I’m guessing her real name isn’t Kayla.”

Ian lifted a shoulder. “I figured you’d catch on.”

“And I figured my ex-husband wouldn’t choose one of my hikes as an opportunity to relive old times.”

“Husband.”

“What?”

“I’m your husband.”

Meg stumbled back, Ian’s words punching her in the gut. The aching pit of emptiness she felt at his words surprised her. Ending her marriage to Ian had broken her heart, but she thought she’d finally recovered. She’d even accepted most of the blame, since she was the one who had changed the rules of their relationship. Seeing him again, and the way his grin tilted up on one side, contrasting with the sharp intensity of his eyes, carved open a hollow space in her heart—one she thought she’d filled ages ago.

One she’d better start filling with something. Anger would do.

She dug her boots into the dirt and squared her shoulders. “What are you and your partner doing on this hike?”

His grin vanished, a furrow forming between his brows. “You know I can’t tell you that, Meg.”

“Blah, blah, blah. Same old crap with you, Dempsey. You’re obviously using Rocky Mountain Adventures for some reason, or you’d hike in here on your own. Why didn’t you just call and ask me? Why’d you have to sneak in here pretending to be a tourist…John?”

He put his finger to his lips. “Not so loud.”

“What if I blew your cover, right here, right now?” She narrowed her eyes at the way his jaw tightened. “I’d be jeopardizing national security or something like that, wouldn’t I?”

“Not only national security, but your own and that of every tourist on this hike.” He cocked his head. “Why so angry, Meg? You’re the one who ended it, although you never did bother filing for divorce.”

Her cheeks burned and she lifted her face to the cool air. “You couldn’t handle a real relationship, one with trust and commitment.”

“That’s bull. I committed to you with everything I had. I love…loved you with everything I had. When you lost the baby…”

“A baby you didn’t want.”

“I could’ve grown used to the idea.”

Meg snorted. “That’s big of you.”

He grabbed her shoulders. “I’m not playing the pity card, but you know damn well why the thought of a child scared the hell out of me.”

“You’re not your father, Ian. You never were.” Her eyes burned with tears as frustration gnawed at her insides. She should’ve been able to make him see that. She’d failed him.

His grip on her shoulders softened to a caress. “You made me see that more than anyone, Meg.”

She swayed toward him, and then clenched her hands into fists. She couldn’t take this trip with him again, especially while he was in the middle of one of his covert operations, shutting her out, keeping secrets.

She stuffed down her guilt over keeping Travis from him. He’d probably rather not know about his son.

Whatever Ian and Kayla decided to do once the hike ended didn’t concern her. She’d deliver them to the top of the mountain, along with the rest of the tourists, and they could knock themselves out with their secret agent crap. Then maybe she’d get that divorce she’d been putting off, and then maybe she’d better tell him about his son.

“Where’s the purple flower?”

Ian’s nostrils flared for a second and then he grinned. He dropped his hands from her shoulders and swooped down, plucking a flower from the ground. Cradling the small flower in his palm, he said, “Here it is.”

“It’s poisonous.”

He tipped his hand over and the flower floated to the dirt. Meg crushed the petals beneath her boot as she headed back up the trail to the other hikers.

Perched on a boulder, Kayla raised her head from her small guide book and her brows shot up. She didn’t know her partner very well, if she thought Ian had spilled the beans about their mission.

Meg adjusted her pack. “Our next stop will be the viewing deck for the falls, but on the way keep your eye out for some small mountain critters—picas, squirrels and some cute rodents.”

Meg did a head count and frowned. “Where’s…” She snapped her fingers, “Russ and Jeanine?”

The lovey-dovey couple emerged from some underbrush, holding hands. Wide-eyed, Jeanine asked, “Are you waiting for us?”

A few of the other hikers smirked while Meg nodded, clenching her teeth against her irritation, recognizing it for what it was—jealousy. “Okay, everyone’s accounted for. Let’s go.”

The furtive conversation with Ian had rattled her. He hadn’t been expecting to see her leading this hike, but he obviously knew she worked as a guide for Rocky Mountain Adventures.

Had he been keeping tabs on her? Not likely. He’d given no indication he knew she had a child. His child.



AN HOUR LATER, Meg halted at the top of the fifty-three wooden steps that descended to the viewing platform for the waterfall. “If you don’t want to expend your energy climbing down and then back up these steps, you’re welcome to wait here. We still have another two hours of hiking ahead of us.”

A few groans met this statement and Meg grinned. Wussies.

She trudged down the steps with the heartier members of the group, steering clear of Ian and Kayla, who branched out in different directions. After pointing out a few features of the falls and the river running through the canyon, Meg climbed back up the stairs and took some questions while waiting for the others.

As Meg opened her mouth to answer yet another question, a scream echoed through the canyon where the waterfall plunged into jagged rocks. The sound sent a shot of cold dread straight to Meg’s heart.

Her gaze darted among the hikers gathered on the trail, their mouths agape. Who was missing from the group? She noted the absence of Ian immediately, along with his pretend wife, two other couples, and the German tourist.

God, please don’t let it be Ian.

“Wait here.” Meg charged through the group and headed toward the steep stairs leading to the viewing platform of the falls. Her hiking boots clumped down each wooden step, the blood thrumming through her veins. Like a herd of cattle, the hiking group thundered down the steps behind her.

The ease with which they ignored her instruction didn’t surprise her. They were a difficult bunch, and that didn’t even take into account the appearance of Ian on the tour with a make-believe wife.

As Meg rounded the last bend of the staircase, she froze, her foot hanging off the bottom step. The splintered wood of the broken railing that separated the lookout deck from the rugged mountain terrain resembled sharp teeth. Meg swallowed and held her hand out behind her. “Stop.”

She didn’t need anyone else going over…if that’s what had happened.

Meg crept up to the gaping rail and held on to a solid piece of wood as she crouched down. The white water swirled beneath her and a slash of red bobbed near an outcropping of rocks.

Red fleece.

A hand gripped her shoulder, and she twisted around to look into Ian’s stormy green eyes.

“I—I think it’s Kayla. Is she missing? What about the others?”

Ian’s hold tightened, his fingers pinching into her flesh through her layers. “It’s Kayla.”

“Oh my God, Ian. I’m so sorry.” She clapped her hand over her mouth. She’d called him by his real name and not the alias, John Shepherd, he’d been using on the hike.

No wonder he’d never trusted her with any of his secrets.

Within seconds, the rest of the hikers crowded behind them, gasping and crying out. They’d expect Ian to be wild with grief with his wife lying fifty feet below, snagged on the wicked rocks that tumbled along the riverbank. Meg knew more than grief would assault Ian at the possible death of his partner.

He suppressed those emotions behind his tight expression as he peered at Kayla’s still form below them. Then he covered his face with one hand.

“I’ll call for help.” Meg plucked the radio out of her pocket and slid into the familiar mode of enlisting Ian’s leadership skills. “If you can stay with the other hikers, I’ll attempt to climb down in case…in case she survived the fall. There’s never been an accident here before.”

As the others murmured and sobbed, Ian lifted his head and brushed Meg’s ear with his lips.

“This was no accident.”




Chapter Two


Meg’s skin blanched beneath her freckles. This was why he’d kept his business to himself when they’d been together. He’d never wanted to scare her or make her feel any fear.

Or put her life in jeopardy.

But, for her own safety, he had to make it clear that one of her tourists had just shoved Kayla through the wooden railing. Had Kayla’s attacker identified her as CIA, or just pegged her as a nosy tourist who’d stumbled onto something she shouldn’t have?

Ian covered his face with his hands and hunched his shoulders. He rocked forward, moaning Kayla’s name. Twisting his head to the side, he peered at the hikers between his fingers.

If the killer ID’d Kayla as an agent, he had to know Kayla’s so-called husband was part of the team. Which one of the shocked faces masked a killer?

Meg’s radio crackled as she reported the incident, her voice strong and steady. Whatever Meg felt right now, she’d do her job.

She turned toward him, her blue eyes wide. “They can’t send in a helicopter—too dangerous with the falls so close—but the El Paso County Search and Rescue is going to hike in and move her downstream. The sheriff’s department is sending in a helicopter to airlift her from that area.”

Ian shrugged off his pack. “I’m not waiting for some search-and-rescue team to get here. She might be alive.”

And if Kayla still had breath in her body, she’d identify her attacker.

“I can’t let you do that.” Probably wondering how far she had to carry the charade, Meg shifted her gaze beyond him to the group of shocked tourists, and Ian followed her line of sight.

The birthday girls huddled together whispering, while the honeymooning couple, stumbling on the scene late, clung to each other, faces white. The German tourist…snapped photos.

A burst of anger exploded behind his eyes, but Ian took a deep breath. He had to get down to Kayla. Meg knew he was just as capable of hiking down to Kayla and moving her body downstream as the volunteer search-and-rescue team on its way. More capable, since he’d been a member of the army’s mountain division before joining the covert ops team, Prospero.

Ian decided to make it easy for her. He raised his voice, a sob cracking his words. “That’s my wife down there. You can’t stop me.”

He launched over the side of the deck, his boots fitting into the footholds he’d scoped out minutes earlier. As he scaled down the rocky cliff side, he heard voices above him. Several minutes later, a shower of pebbles rained down on his head. He glanced up to see Meg following his path down the side of the cliff.

He tilted his head back and called to her, “Shouldn’t you be keeping an eye on your group?” Although, in all honesty, he’d rather have Meg down here with him than up there with a possible killer.

She responded in a tinny voice. “One of our guys in the area heard the radio call and just showed up. He’s going to get the group to the top.”

For the next several minutes Ian heard only his own heavy breathing and the roar from the waterfall. Meg, following his path, made a steady descent in his wake, occasionally dislodging pebbles that pelted his head and hands.

Reaching the bottom of the craggy cliff face, Ian jumped to the ground, his boots splashing in the river where it tumbled over slick rocks. He reached Kayla in two strides and crouched beside her lifeless form. Her blond hair floated in the water, and her eyes stared, unseeing, at the falls.

Ian checked her pulse. Nothing. He hadn’t known Kayla well, but she’d shown a fierce loyalty to Jack Coburn. She’d volunteered for this mission as soon as she found out about Jack’s disappearance. And she’d done so without the approval or knowledge of her employer, the CIA.

There’d be hell to pay for this screwup.

Meg panted over his shoulder. “Is she…?”

“She’s dead.” Ian passed his hand over Kayla’s eyes, closing them to the world for the last time.

Meg grasped his shoulder for support as she choked. “Who did this?”

“One of your so-called tourists.” He pointed his index finger toward the top of the cliff.

“Do you think Scott will be safe?”

“Scott?”

“The other guide who’s finishing the hike for me.”

“He’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t start asking questions. And why should he? But I’ll need a list of all the people on the hike.” The colonel had misjudged the enemy. He thought the terrorist scum would sneak in here in the dead of night to recover their lost property. Instead, someone had posed as a tourist, hitting on the same plan as Ian.

With deadly results.

“Why are you so sure Kayla was pushed? Maybe she fell.” Meg kneeled on the ground and felt for a pulse in Kayla’s neck.

“You told me yourself, nobody has ever had an accident on that trail. Kayla falling from the platform is too coincidental. She and I are on this hike looking for…something, and she winds up dead at the bottom of a cliff.”

“Do you think she found that something?”

“If not, she must’ve been getting warm.”

Meg’s radio crackled, and she informed her home office that she and the victim’s husband were with the body and that Scott was leading the rest of the group to the top of the mountain.

She ended the transmission and pocketed the radio. “Did you hear that? They want us to wait with Kayla until search and rescue gets here.”

“I can move her downstream to wait for the helicopter. The El Paso County Search and Rescue doesn’t have to waste its time hiking down here.”

“And blow your cover? Remember, you’re a tourist who just lost his wife.”

And an agent who just lost his partner.

Ian sank down on the nearest boulder and buried his face in his hands—for real this time. He’d wanted to go on this operation alone, but the colonel thought he’d be less suspicious as part of a couple. That didn’t work out too well. He plowed his fingers through his hair and cursed.

The pressure of Meg’s hand rubbing circles on his back calmed him. He squeezed his eyes shut and allowed the warmth to seep through his body. God, he’d missed her touch these past three years.

Why had he let Meg go without a fight? Because she deserved better. A better husband than one who’d been halfway across the world when his wife suffered a miscarriage. He blamed himself. His mission had caused her too much stress. His secrets had strained the trust between them.

Truth was he had no idea how to be a good husband and even less of an idea how to be a good father. His role model had been neither.

Apparently, he also sucked at being a good partner.

His muscles tensed, and the pressure of Meg’s hands increased. “I’m sorry about Kayla, but it’s not your fault, Ian. If she was an agent with Prospero, she knew the risks.”

Ian twisted around to look into Meg’s clear blue eyes. Did she really know so little about Prospero, the military covert ops team that worked so deep undercover, sometimes their own government didn’t know what they were doing?

What did he expect? He’d compartmentalized that entire side of his life, keeping Meg so far away from it that she’d felt abandoned by him and excluded from the closeness he’d shared with the members of that group.

He dragged in a deep breath of crisp mountain air. “Kayla wasn’t part of Prospero, Meg. She joined our mission from the CIA. There is no Prospero anymore. We disbanded almost two years ago.”

She pushed up abruptly. “Th-then what are you doing here? Are you working for the CIA now?”

“Not exactly.” He rubbed his knuckles across his jaw. What the hell. They were alone and he owed her big time. Through no fault of her own, she was smack in the middle of this thing, and she had a right to know why he and Kayla, and apparently some terrorist, had commandeered her hike on a fresh fall morning.

“Sit down. We can’t do anything for Kayla now anyway, except wait for search and rescue to move her body.” He patted a space beside him on the rough boulder.

She perched next to him, looking poised for flight, her back stiff, her eyes wary.

“Do you remember Jack Coburn from Prospero?”

She nodded and her silky strawberry-blond ponytail bobbed behind her. “I remember all the guys from Prospero—the colonel, Jack, Riley and Buzz. You were all so close. You had some kind of unspoken bond, so thick it was a like a cord binding you all together.”

Her voice sounded wistful, and Ian reached out and grabbed her hand. He should’ve been forging that bond with his wife, but those guys had been the closest thing he’d ever had to family. Until he’d met Meg.

“Jack went missing a few months ago.” His own words punched him in the gut all over again, and he convulsively squeezed Meg’s hand. “After Prospero disbanded, we all went our separate ways. Always the silver-tongued devil with nerves of steel, Jack took a job as a hostage negotiator.”

“You mean like with the FBI?”

“No. Jack worked…works freelance. Large corporations, newspapers and private citizens hire him to rescue loved ones, usually being held hostage in foreign countries.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“You don’t know the half of it. Jack was working a case in Afghanistan when he disappeared off the face of the earth.” Ian clenched his teeth. The CIA had labeled Jack a traitor, but the spooks in the Agency didn’t know Jack. Except Kayla, Kayla knew Jack.

Meg ran a finger along his tight jaw. “So what are you doing in Colorado?”

“One of the other former Prospero members, Riley, traced Jack’s disappearance to a drug cartel in Mexico, which in turn led to an arms dealer here in the States. The arms dealer’s clients were transporting some kind of weapon in a private plane over this area. We had a line on the plane, and Buzz Richardson picked it up and forced the plane down at the air force base. Unfortunately for us, the weapon wasn’t onboard.”

Meg covered her mouth with her hand, her brows shooting up to her bangs. “What happened to it?”

Ian spread his arms wide. “Buzz thinks they jettisoned it right here, once they spotted him on their tail.”

“A weapon here in Crestville? Why wasn’t it on the news? How come there was no rescue operation?”

“This is all under the radar, Meg.” He rubbed the pad of his thumb across her knuckles. “The pilot never filed a flight plan, had no instruments on board and had no radio contact with any towers. It’s as if that airplane never existed…except on Buzz’s personal radar.”

“How did Buzz figure out the occupants of the plane ditched their cargo here?”

“He did a little creative interviewing of the folks on that plane. One couldn’t take the pressure and cracked, admitting they’d tossed the suitcase overboard.”

“What’s in that case, Ian?” Meg clamped her lower lip between her teeth, her eyes round and definitely worried.

He lifted one shoulder, hoping she’d believe him. “We don’t know. Whatever’s in that case came from an arms dealer named Slovenka. We know it’s a weapon of some sort. A very expensive weapon. A very dangerous weapon.”

“Didn’t Buzz’s creative questioning unearth the type of weapon?”

“Uh, the suspect killed himself before he gave away anything more.” Damn, he hated exposing her to this stuff.

Meg hugged herself and said, “And now the rest of them are back trying to find the weapon…along with you. Do you think the arms dealers are after it, or the terrorists they sold it to?”

He didn’t want her involved, but that decision was beyond him. He eased out a long breath. “Slovenka got his money. The location of the weapon is now the purchasers’ problem.”

She snapped her fingers, getting into the spirit of the thing. “The German tourist—he lingered behind to take pictures. Maybe Kayla saw something and he pushed her.”

“A lot of them lingered behind. It could be any one of them, Meg. Just because the German traveled solo doesn’t necessarily make him the prime suspect. Maybe it’s one of the married couples with the same idea as Kayla and…”

Ian squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. This is one aspect of active duty Ian didn’t miss—losing coworkers.

Meg entwined her fingers with his. “Did you know her well?”

He shook his head. “Not at all, not even her real name. It’s better that way.”

The whomping sound of helicopter blades cut off further conversation.

Shading her eyes, Meg pushed up from the boulder. “Search and rescue is here. The chopper will drop off the team and they’ll hike upstream to retrieve Kayla.”

Meg radioed the helicopter, giving the rescue team their exact location. Fifteen minutes later, two hikers emerged from the thick foliage.

As the men examined Kayla’s body, Ian held his breath. He couldn’t get into anything with them right now. He wanted to search the immediate area before anyone else had an opportunity to return.

One of the search-and-rescue members rose and patted Ian’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Shepherd. Was your wife leaning over the railing when she fell?”

Ian shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. “I wasn’t with her…and neither were any of the other hikers.”

At least nobody on the hike claimed to have seen what occurred, but Ian knew at least one person, possibly two, knew exactly what had happened to Kayla.

The rescue team unfolded and secured a stretcher and lifted Kayla’s body onto it. As they turned her, Kayla’s camera dangled from her neck.

Ian’s hand shot out. “Can I take her camera?”

“Sure.” The search-and-rescue hiker carefully slipped the camera strap over Kayla’s head and handed the camera to Ian. Then he turned to Meg. “Meg, once we load the stretcher onto the helicopter, there’s room for only one more. We’ll take Mr. Shepherd with us and you can hike back up.”

“No!” Ian shouted the word, and three startled faces turned in his direction. Ian curled his hand over Kayla’s cold fingers and slid the wedding band from her left hand. “M-my wife’s wedding band is missing. I need to find it. I can’t leave without that ring. Leave me here. I want to be alone.”

Ian covered his face with his hands so he didn’t have to do any more explaining. He felt Meg’s hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Greg. I’ll hike back up with Mr. Shepherd. I’ll make sure he gets to the top, and I’ll arrange transportation for him to the hospital in Colorado Springs.”

Through the spaces between his fingers Ian saw the rescue workers exchange a worried glance, but it didn’t look like they wanted to argue with a bereaved, irrational spouse. He should’ve figured Meg would volunteer to stay behind with him.

Before the search-and-rescue team hiked back to the chopper with Kayla’s body on the stretcher between them, Ian clutched Kayla’s stiff fingers, kissed her cheek and whispered, “I’ll tell Jack you sacrificed everything.”

He and Meg watched the hikers disappear before turning back to the river and the falls. “You could’ve gone with the chopper.”

“And leave you here alone?” Meg twisted her ponytail around her hand. “I’m going to be in big enough trouble as it is. I’ll most likely be suspended from my job, if not fired, while Rocky Mountain Adventures waits for the phone call from your lawyer.”

Ian smacked his fist against his palm. He hadn’t thought of that. Any red-blooded, litigious American would sue Rocky Mountain Adventures in a heartbeat for this accident.

“Sorry Meg-o. I waltz back into your life after three years and look what happens.”

She shrugged, her cheeks flushing a rosy pink at the nickname. “At least I know you don’t have any intention of suing us.”

Ian clicked the buttons on Kayla’s wet digital camera. “If I’m lucky, Kayla snapped some photos of whatever she wasn’t supposed to see, or maybe even got a couple of shots of her attacker.”

Meg leaned over his shoulder, but the camera’s screen remained black. Ian blew out a breath and dropped the camera, where it swung from his neck. “The water may have damaged it or maybe the battery’s dead.”

“You stayed behind to search this area, didn’t you?”

“Of course, but I didn’t plan to involve you.”

“You never do.”

Ouch.

Meg slid her backpack from her shoulders. “I have some binoculars. Maybe Kayla spotted something across the river or at the top of the falls.”

Their gloved fingers met as Meg passed the binoculars to him, and for a moment the electricity crackled between them, even though their skin didn’t even touch. Meg snatched her hand back, as if burned. Yeah, she felt it, too.

Ian had been on high alert from the moment he stepped off the van and discovered Meg was going to be their guide. He hadn’t had a single opportunity to relish being close to her again. This reunion bore no resemblance to the one he’d played over and over in his head these past three years without her.

And the situation had gotten even worse.

“I’ll have a look along the riverbank. Maybe Kayla spotted something in the water snagged on the rocks.” She put her hands on her hips. “Just what am I looking for anyway? What kind of suitcase is this?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. It’s probably a hard-sided case, not too big, not too small.” Ian trained the binoculars on the hillside across the canyon, scanning every ledge, every tree. He caught his breath a few times, only to be disappointed.

What had Kayla seen from that overlook to prompt someone to kill her on the spot?

Meg’s radio crackled and a voice sputtered across the airwaves. “Meg? Meg, are you there?”

As Meg answered the radio call, Ian sharpened his focus to zero-in on an area behind the falls.

“I’m here with…Mr. Shepherd, Matt. We’re on our way back, unless you can send another helicopter in to pick us up.”

Ian cursed. The shiny object behind the wall of water had been a trick of the sunlight, now throwing shafts of light through the clouds. He hoped if the search-and-rescue team sent another chopper in, they’d take their time.

The radio hissed with static. “Not sure we can do that, Meg, but that’s not why I called. There’s another hiker missing from your group.”

Ian spun around and dropped the binoculars, which banged against his chest.

Meg’s eyes widened as she gripped the radio with two hands. “Someone’s missing from the hike? Who?”

Ian’s breath stopped as a red dot of light appeared between Meg’s eyes. His gut clenched for one second before he soared through the air and tackled her.




Chapter Three


As Meg hit the ground, the radio flew out of her grasp. She opened her mouth to yell, but Ian clamped a hand across her lips.

“Shh.” He shifted his weight on top of her, pushing the air out of her lungs and smashing her face into the moist dirt.

Wet sand from the riverbank flooded her mouth, settling between her teeth, and she sputtered. Ian couldn’t have picked a more perfect way to remind her why she’d left him—his complete devotion to his career at her expense.

His warm breath tickled her ear as he covered her body with his large frame. He draped his thigh across her hip, protecting her, shielding her. He couldn’t have picked a more perfect way to remind her how much it had hurt to leave him—his complete and utter protectiveness of her.

He whispered, “Stay still a few more minutes. I saw a red laser bead from a weapon on your forehead.”

Meg bucked beneath him as if someone had shocked her with a cattle prod. Was Ian trying to finish her off?

Ian stroked her ponytail and then lifted his head. Taking a deep breath, Meg turned her face into the wet mulch, the smell of the damp leaves and earth invading her nostrils. Maybe if she buried her head in the dirt this would all go away. Except Ian. She didn’t want Ian to go away—not yet anyway.

Straddling her thighs, Ian rose to a sitting position. He held his finger to his lips and scanned the area with the binoculars. He reached for the backpack he’d dropped when he’d taken her down and pulled out a weapon.

Meg gasped, although Ian’s hiking accoutrements shouldn’t come as a surprise to her. Her husband had always been armed and dangerous.

Gripping his gun, Ian rolled off her body. “Stay low. We’re going to have to hike out of here beneath some heavy cover. Get on the radio and find out who’s missing from the hike.”

Meg rolled onto her stomach, pointing to the racing river. “My radio’s downstream somewhere. Another good reason for the company to fire me.”

“I suppose you didn’t happen to catch a name before I…uh, knocked the radio out of your hand?”

“No, but if we see one of the tourists wandering around out here in the wilderness, it’s a pretty good bet he’s our man.”

“Or woman.”

She grabbed his arm and pulled him close to the base of the hill. “We’ll be safer following this path, instead of traipsing along the banks of the river.”

Ian ducked beneath a tree and chugged some water from his bottle. He wiped the rim on the sleeve of his jacket and offered it to Meg. “I was hoping to search the area while we’re here.”

“You can’t do that with someone aiming red lasers at our heads.” She gulped the water down her parched throat too quickly and coughed and sputtered.

“Are you okay?” Ian pounded her back.

She twirled around, holding out her hands. “I’m choking on water. I don’t need CPR.”

Ian rubbed his brow with the back of his hand, still encased in a thick glove. “Sorry. How long can we hike along the base of the mountain before heading up to the trail?”

“About an hour.” Meg tipped her head toward the falls. “Once we get past the waterfall, we can take a path back to the trail that’s not as exposed as this one.”

“Keep your eyes open. We might see the case or something else incriminating down here.”

She blew a piece of hair, which had escaped from her ponytail, out of her face. “You don’t have to tell me to keep my eyes open, but I’ll be watching out for guns and red beams instead of someone’s luggage, even if that luggage is lethal.”

“I wonder if we’re close.” Ian adjusted his backpack and squinted into the dense foliage across the river. “That guy back there must’ve had a good reason for trying to take us out.”

“Oh no, you don’t.” Meg had seen that look on his face one too many times. She tugged on his arm, which responded like an unmovable granite rock. “You’re not wandering around here with someone taking potshots at you.”

Ian quirked one eyebrow at her. She’d seen that look before, too. In fact, she knew his facial expressions as well as her own, as well as her son’s, which imitated his father’s in a remarkable way.

“You really care about my well-being, Meg-o? A few years ago you would’ve been pushing me out there to explore to my heart’s content.”

She shook her head, her ponytail swinging vigorously from side to side. “I just didn’t want to live with you anymore. I didn’t want you dead.”

“That’s a relief.” He chucked her under the chin and then tramped ahead of her on the trail hugging the mountainside.

Despite the chilly air, her skin burned where he’d touched her with his gloved finger. No wonder she couldn’t get any kind of relationship off the ground. This man still had a place under her skin, and in her heart.

Twigs and leaves snapped and crackled beneath her hiking boots, mimicking the general action of her mind. Maybe if she concentrated on Ian’s mission here in Colorado, instead of analyzing his facial expressions, she’d stop thinking about him in that way. His work had irritated her when they were together, since it seemed as if he’d cared about it and the other Prospero members more than he cared about her. That old shame crept over her again, heating her cheeks at the childish thought.

At the end of one of their arguments, Ian would laugh and tell her that she should’ve married a banker if she wanted sure and steady. Then he’d grab her and kiss her all over until she’d surrender and admit that she didn’t want a banker. Then they’d make love until she’d forgotten her anger completely, sometimes until she’d forgotten her own name.

Shaking her head, she patted her cheek with her gloved hand. The mission. Concentrate on the mission.

Ian glanced over his shoulder. “Are you okay? I’m not going too fast for you, am I?”

She snorted. “This is my terrain, remember? If you knew the area, you wouldn’t have needed Rocky Mountain Adventures to lead you in.”

“Kayla and I should’ve tried hiking in ourselves. Then she might still be alive.” He kicked at a rock in his way and it skittered into the bushes.

“You don’t know that.” She grabbed his belt loop beneath his jacket until he came to a stop in front of her. “I’m sorry about Kayla, but she took the risk and knew the possible consequences.”

“I tried to talk her out of coming along.” Ian shoved his hands into his pockets and nudged at a stone set in the ground with the toe of his hiking boot. “But she wanted to help Jack any way she could.”

“He’s the kind of guy who inspires fierce devotion. That I remember.” Meg also remembered Jack’s intensity, his dark eyes and black hair. Out of all the men on the Prospero team, Jack was the only one without a relationship. Riley had been married to that poor society girl who had died in the bombing of that hotel. Buzz actually managed a relationship with a woman, Raven, who worked with Prospero. And of course she and Ian had struggled through a couple of years of marriage.

Only Jack remained aloof, solo, as if he knew he had a limited time on earth and didn’t want to disappoint a woman with his early departure. Like now. Meg wrapped her arms around her body and shivered.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ian gripped her shoulders and squeezed, trying to infuse some of his palpable strength into her.

She hadn’t always felt safe with Ian emotionally, but the man had a protective streak a mile wide and would risk anything to protect her physically. When they climbed Everest together, he’d rushed to her rescue several times, even when she hadn’t needed his help. Later he admitted he used the whole protective scenario as a ruse to get close to her.

He told her that, and her heart had melted in the middle of a waist-high snowdrift at base camp. Nobody had ever come to her rescue before. She’d always been the strong, resilient type.

She had to be.

“I’m fine.” She lifted her shoulders. “I was just thinking about Jack. Nobody has heard anything from him since he took that hostage negotiation job in Afghanistan?”

“Right.” Ian dropped his hands from her shoulders and passed a hand across his mouth. “The last time I talked to him, I didn’t even know he was going on assignment. He’d just gotten back from Colombia.”

“What drives him?”

Ian shrugged. “The same thing that drove most of us in Prospero. A need to protect. A desire for justice.” He grinned. “The thrill of an adventure.”

“Yeah, you’ve got that last one covered.”

“So do you, Meg.” He cocked his head. “You could have had some cushy job at Daddy’s software company. Why are you out here in the wilderness, leading people up and down mountains?”

Rolling her eyes, she jabbed his solid chest with her index finger. “And now you sound just like him.”

He clutched his chest and staggered back. “Comparing me to Patrick O’Reilly is a cruel blow. Are you two still at each other’s throats?”

“As long as I’m still mucking around out here in the wilderness we are. I never could quite measure up…” Meg straightened her spine and stamped her feet against the wet ground. “We’d better get moving.”

Ian pushed off the rock, grabbed her by the waist and swung her in front of him on the trail. “You lead for a while.”

Long after Ian dropped his hands, Meg felt his touch burning through her multiple layers of clothing. She’d figured, after a few years apart, her automatic responses to the man would’ve died out. No such luck.

She sucked in her lower lip as she trudged along the trail, Ian breathing heavily behind her. She’d have to tell him about Travis. She’d always planned on it, but she’d had a hard time contacting Ian over the years.

Both of his parents had died even before she and Ian had gotten married, not that she’d missed any familial bonding. His parents had been druggies and alcoholics, a couple of losers who’d given up their son years ago. When they’d discovered Ian had made something of himself, they insinuated themselves back into his life. That hadn’t lasted long. Even Ian’s strong desire to reconnect with a mom and dad, any mom and dad, couldn’t override his feelings of disgust for his parents.

Of course, Meg had to deal with the fallout from that experimental family reunion—a husband who never wanted to have children, a husband determined not to repeat the mistakes of his own father.

As if strong, capable, honorable Ian Dempsey remotely resembled his drunken father.

Ian touched her shoulder. “Is that where we hike up?”

She nodded at the direction of his pointing finger. “Yeah, we can scale up the side. It’s a gentle slope with plenty of footholds.”

Gripping the straps of his backpack, Ian scanned the gorge, his jaw tight. “I didn’t see anything that could’ve led to Kayla’s murder.”

“Maybe it was just an accident.” She touched his hand, wanting to give comfort as she’d tried to so many times during their marriage.

“That would be too much of a coincidence.”

“Coincidences happen.” Like her leading this hike instead of Richard. Maybe this coincidence was a sign that she needed to tell Ian about his son. This coincidence had dropped her husband into her lap—no excuses this time.

Ian chewed on his lower lip and narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, it’s a coincidence that one of Prospero’s old foes is involved in this deal, too.”

“What do you mean?” Prospero had so many foes, she didn’t think Ian could distinguish one from another.

“Prospero crossed swords with a particular mercenary terrorist several times. I swear, this gang seemed more interested in the money than any higher calling or cause. The leader of the cell, a guy named Farouk, had a hand in securing the money for this arms deal.”

“Sounds like Farouk’s broadening his horizons and traveling the world.” Meg shrugged and then jerked her chin toward the vertical trail to their right. “Here’s where we ascend.”

Meg’s hands found their way to the first holds, and her feet followed as if on autopilot. She cranked her head over her shoulder. “Just follow my path.”

“I’m right behind you.”

Meg reached the top and hauled herself over the edge, inching forward on her belly to make room for Ian. She rolled onto her back, propped up by her pack, and stared at the gray clouds ringing the peaks.

Whether or not Ian wanted to be involved in Travis’s life, Meg resolved to tell him about his son before he ran off again in pursuit of bad guys, in his endless quest to save the world to make up for his parents’ detachment from it.

Ian clambered over the edge and crouched on his haunches beside her. “Are you taking a nap, or what?”

Closing her eyes, Meg said, “Just waiting for the slow guy.”

“There’s one in every group.” He tapped her on the shoulder and she opened one eye. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready, but with a caveat.”

“Uh-oh. Like I have to carry you the rest of the way?”

She snorted. “When have you ever had to do that?”

“Everest…not that you allowed me to carry you. You never ask for help, even when you need it.”

Meg jumped to her feet, ignoring Ian’s outstretched hand. Asking for help showed weakness—and gave the askee all sorts of power over you. “Well, here’s the warning, and I guess you can call it asking for help. You need to give Rocky Mountain Adventures and maybe even the cops a heads-up as to your purpose out here. Your behavior at the death of your wife is going to seem really odd if you don’t, and they’re not going to expect you to hang around here once her body is sent home.”

“That’s an easy request.” Ian yanked off his gloves and stuffed them into his pockets. “I was planning on giving them some info, but not all. Is that okay with you?”

“That’ll work.” She pointed to the trail ahead of them. “I think we’ll be safer up here.”

“You’re probably right, but I’d rather be down there searching. If someone’s shooting at us, chances are good he hasn’t found the cargo either.”

“You’re going back down there, aren’t you?” Ian never gave up when he really wanted something. That’s how she knew he didn’t really want her. He’d given up way too easily.

“In time. I owe it to Jack, and now I owe it to Kayla.”

Meg sighed, not even bothering to argue. As they negotiated the remainder of the trail, Ian regaled her with stories of his Everest adventures…without her. Apparently he’d been working as a guide since he left Prospero. She’d never gone back to Everest. She’d accepted her time on the mountain as a once-in-a-lifetime event, a goal to achieve and check off her list.

“But nothing beat the first time.” He nudged her shoulder with his as they now walked side by side on the widened trail, which was fast coming to an end. “How come you never went back? I half expected to find you up there one day.”

Could she blurt out the truth to him right here and now? How she couldn’t go back to Everest because she had a greater purpose in life—the care and feeding of their son. She drew a deep breath of clear mountain air into her lungs and blew it out slowly.

They both jerked their heads up at the sound of yelling and cheering coming from the end of the trail. Several of her coworkers from Rocky Mountain Adventures were charging toward them.

Richard reached them first. He must’ve come in on his sick day. “My God, Meg, we were worried. What happened to your radio?”

“I lost it in the river. It’s a long story, Richard.”

Richard placed his hand on Ian’s shoulder. “Mr. Shepherd, I’m sorry for your loss. Rocky Mountain Adventures will do everything in its power to launch an investigation.”

“Thank you. Are the sheriff’s deputies here yet? I need to talk to them.”

“They’re in the office.”

Meg slid a glance toward Ian, now purposefully striding toward the A-framed building that housed the Rocky Mountain Adventures office at the top of the mountain. “What about the other hiker? Before I lost radio contact, Matt said something about another hiker missing.”

“He’s still missing. German guy.”

Ian’s step faltered as he met Meg’s gaze and lifted a brow. She could question Richard more thoroughly once they got to the office. Right now they had to clue in Matt that she hadn’t lost one of her hikers through negligence, that a murderer, a terrorist, lurked in their midst.

They gathered in a circle in the office, everyone chattering at once. Matt came from the back and pulled Meg aside. “You had me worried when we lost contact. Also, I don’t want to add to your stress level here, but you got a call when you were on the hike.”

“A call?” Meg’s heart hammered in her chest. Getting a call while on the job was never a good sign.

“It was Felicia. She had to take your son to the emergency room.” Matt patted her arm. “It’s nothing too serious. He fell off his tricycle and sliced his chin…got a few stitches.”

Meg clutched the straps of her backpack as the blood rushed to her head in a quick succession of fear and relief. She stumbled back, her hip catching the edge of a bookshelf filled with pamphlets.

She put out a hand to steady herself and her gaze collided with a pair of icy green eyes drilling a hole into her very soul.

Looked like she didn’t have to tell Ian about his son after all.




Chapter Four


Ian tried to assemble his jumbled thoughts, his breath coming out in short spurts. Had that man just mentioned Meg’s son?

Meg was still clutching the edge of the magazine rack with white, stiff fingers. She dropped her gaze from Ian’s, and turned to the man who had brought her the news, murmuring something in his ear.

Could that man be the father of Meg’s son?

Hot, thick rage thudded against Ian’s temples. Someone touched his shoulder and he spun around with clenched fists and nearly punched a face, any face.

“Mr. Shepherd?” A sheriff’s deputy, his dark eyes dipping to Ian’s battle-ready hands, raised a pair of eyebrows to the rim of his cowboy hat. “I’m Sheriff Cahill. I’m sorry for your loss. Can we speak in the back?”

Great. He’d almost assaulted an officer of the law, one who looked ready to accept the challenge. Probably some small-town sheriff with a chip on his shoulder…which was about to get bigger. Squeezing his eyes closed, Ian pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not Mr. Shepherd, but I’ll explain all of that in a minute.”

Cahill narrowed his eyes and scratched his jaw. “Something tells me I’m not going to like this…or you.” He glanced beyond Ian’s shoulder. “Meg, you need to join us in the back room.”

Ian shifted to the side of the irritated deputy to study Meg’s face. She avoided his eyes and focused on Cahill’s square jaw instead.

“I have a personal emergency, Pete.” She held up a cell phone. “I’m going to make a call first.”

Ian’s brain had started functioning again and he realized the man, Matt, had referred to Meg’s son as your son. Matt couldn’t be the father. So who had that distinction? That lucky distinction.

Meg turned her back on him and put the phone to her ear. It didn’t look like an explanation to him rated on her list of priorities right now. Payback was a bitch.

“We’re set up in there.” Cahill pointed a steady finger toward the corner of the room.

Ian trudged after the sheriff, feeling as if lead lined the bottom of his hiking boots. He wanted to listen in on Meg’s conversation. Was she calling the boy’s father?

The thought of Meg with another man tightened hot coils of anger in his belly. Then he let out a long breath. Although neither one of them had filed for divorce, Ian had no right to these possessive feelings about Meg. Had he really expected her to be as pristine as the snow frosting the top of the Rockies?

He hadn’t thought about it. Didn’t want to think about it.

Ian trudged into the room behind Cahill, and squared his shoulders as he faced the room with two other deputies seated at a serviceable table nicked with scratches and scars. Seamlessly, his thoughts shifted from Meg to the job at hand. Meg had resented his ability and propensity to switch his focus so quickly. But his work had always been a top priority for him. His parents had demonstrated to him what happened to people who couldn’t commit to a job or responsibilities, and he refused to follow their example.

Cahill reached around Ian and snapped the door closed, the glass set in the center trembling with the force. “Okay now, Mr. Shepherd, or whoever you are, do you want to explain what’s going on? Why did you stay behind and hike out of that canyon instead of boarding the chopper with your wife’s body? And I don’t want to hear about any wedding ring.”

Ian reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and yanked out his wallet. He dug into one of the many compartments, his fingers closing around his I.D. Then he snapped it on the table top. “My name’s Ian Dempsey, and I’m on a high-security mission for the United States military. The woman who…fell was my partner and CIA.”

The three deputies sucked the air out of the room. That probably wasn’t what they’d wanted to hear. And technically Ian hadn’t told them the whole truth and nothing but. Colonel Scripps would vouch for him. He’d better, because the Agency didn’t have any knowledge of this operation and would hang him out to dry.

“Dempsey?” Cahill cleared his throat. “What branch of the military are we talking about?”

His name seemed to stick in Cahill’s gullet. Ian ran a finger along the inside collar of his jacket. He knew Cahill wouldn’t be a pushover, by the set of his jaw and the suspicion in his eyes. “Intelligence. Covert ops.”

Cahill cursed. “How much are you going to tell us and how much of that is going to come close to the truth?”

“My partner and I…” The door swung open and Ian snapped his mouth shut.

Meg poked her head into the room, her ponytail sliding over one shoulder. “Sorry.”

“Everything okay with your little man, Meg?” Cahill’s eyes softened to brown pudding when he looked at her. So she had that effect on the sheriff, too. All men wanted to be her Sir Galahad, but she preferred to don the armor herself. She’d learned from an early age that support came with a myriad of strings attached.

“How’d you know it was Travis?”

“Matt told me before all the craziness started. Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. A cut beneath his chin and a few stitches.” She folded her arms across her chest. “What did I miss?”

“Mr. Dempsey here was just telling us he’s on a top-secret mission, and the poor lady who died wasn’t his wife.” Cahill wedged his hands on the table top and hunched forward. “How did your partner wind up at the bottom of the gorge, Mr. Dempsey?”

“I have no idea, Deputy Cahill.” Had Dempsey been the school bully who’d stolen Cahill’s lunch money? The good sheriff seemed to sneer every time he said Ian’s name.

Ian felt Meg’s glance slide across his face, but he kept his gaze pinned to Cahill, as unpleasant as that was.

“Any chance you’re going to tell me what you’re doing in our neck of the woods?” The deputy’s dark brows created a deep V over his nose.

If Ian ever did need help, he wouldn’t hesitate to enlist Cahill’s talents. Even though the sheriff clearly didn’t like him, Ian knew he could trust the no-nonsense lawman. But he had no intention of putting the local law in some terrorist cell’s line of fire.

Ian shrugged, raising the right corner of his lips. “I’m on a reconnaissance mission, Sheriff Cahill.”

“I’m gonna need more than this two-bit badge to trust you, Dempsey.” Cahill glanced at Meg and tapped the plastic CIA ID on the table, nudging it with his fingertip. “We have a woman’s death in our jurisdiction.”

Ian fumbled through his wallet to locate Colonel Scripps’s latest cell phone number. The colonel wouldn’t appreciate a call like Cahill’s, but he’d come to expect being called upon to provide the legitimacy of his operatives from time to time.

At least he had. The members of Prospero hadn’t been Colonel Scripps’s operatives for a long time now, but the colonel was the one who had called them all out of retirement to help find Jack. He’d have to accept a few glitches along the way, especially since they were conducting operations stateside now, instead of in the lawless regions of Afghanistan or Somalia.

Cahill swept the card from the table and peered at it. Then he flicked it with his finger. “I’m off to do a little fact checking. Can you keep an eye on this one, Meg?”

Meg chewed her bottom lip as if seriously considering Cahill’s question, or seriously considering something. “I—I can vouch for him, Pete. Ian Dempsey’s my ex…my husband.”

If Ian’s earlier announcement about his true identity had floored the three deputies, Meg’s knocked them out for the count. At least the other two deputies, whose mouths gaped like a couple of salmons swimming upstream. Cahill seemed to take the news in stride, pressing his lips into a thin line, a martial light gleaming in his dark eyes.

Leave it to Meg to put it all out there.

“Are you involved in this mess, Meg?” Cahill put a comforting hand on her shoulder and Ian felt like knocking it off.

She patted his long fingers. “No more than you are, Pete. Don’t worry. Mr. Dempsey has everything under control.”

Ian nearly choked on the snort he half swallowed. He had nothing under control, including his own emotions, but he wasn’t about to correct Meg. Especially in front of this man who seemed way too close to his wife.

Cahill turned his cold gaze on Ian. “Watch yourself, Dempsey. Nobody walks into my town and plays fast and loose with Meg O’Reilly, husband or no husband.”

“Furthest thing from my mind.” Ian held up his hands, flexing his fingers so he wouldn’t curl them into a fist.

When Cahill left the room, the other two deputies got down to business, asking about Kayla’s accident. Although Ian had expressed his firm belief to Meg that Kayla’s fall had been no accident, he backpedaled with the deputies. The last thing Ian or Prospero or Jack needed right now was a swarm of deputies blanketing the mountain looking for a weapon. Hell, Ian didn’t even know what to look for at this point.

Meg kept her mouth shut through most of the questioning, not even raising an eyebrow at some of his blatant lies. She’d learned more as a spy’s wife than he’d given her credit for.

As the deputies wound up their cross-examination, Ian had a couple of questions of his own. “Has anyone located the German tourist missing from the hike yet?”

Deputy Jensen scratched his chin and dropped his pencil on the pad of paper filled with Ian’s lies and half truths. “As far as I know, he’s still missing.”

“How’d that happen, Brock? Matt was leading them out, right?” Meg twisted her hands in front of her, lacing her fingers in an intricate pattern.

Did she still have her son on her mind? Ian wanted to sweep away all her worries. He’d always had that desire and had tried to keep his professional life out of their domestic life. It hadn’t worked out as he’d planned. Meg had always felt shut out when all he’d wanted to do was protect her.

Jensen shrugged. “Apparently the guy kept hanging back and taking pictures, wandering off the trail. Matt was anxious to get the others up to the summit and eventually lost track of the guy.”

“Just great.” Meg rubbed her creased brow. “This is a banner day for Rocky Mountain Adventures, isn’t it? The guy acted the same on our portion of the hike, but it could’ve been some kind of cover. Maybe he had something to do with Kayla’s fall.”

“Do you have his info from when he signed up for the hike?” Ian scraped his chair around to face Meg.

“I’m sure Matt’s already looked him up, probably even called his hotel. I know his name was Hans, at least that’s what he told me.” She placed her palms flat on the table, as if to still their worried motion. “Do you think he’s involved?”

“There’s only one way to find out. We need to locate him and ask him a few pointed questions.”

“We can at least help with that.” Jensen drummed his fingers on the table in a staccato beat. “We’ll search his hotel room and put a call out for his rental car, if he has one.”

Ian nodded. “I appreciate that, Deputy Jensen.”

The door burst open and Cahill huffed and puffed at the entrance to the office. “That Colonel Scripps is as closed-mouth as you are Dempsey, but you both check out. I mean, as far as I could check you out. Your background is a black hole.”

Ian pushed back from the table. At least Cahill had removed the sneer from his voice when he’d mentioned his name. That had to be an improvement. “If you boys are finished here, I have to make some arrangements for Kayla, and I’m sure Meg has pressing business elsewhere.”

God, he couldn’t even bring himself to mention her son. Every thought of the boy punched him in the gut. They couldn’t leave the subject hanging between them. She knew that he knew. He couldn’t pretend otherwise…even if he wanted to. She’d deem him a coward if he avoided the topic.

Cahill held out the card with the colonel’s number. “You can have this back, Dempsey. Just don’t cause trouble in my town. I don’t want any more unexplained dead bodies turning up, including yours.”

“That’s decent of you, Sheriff.”

“Hell, that’s not decent. Your corpse can turn up anywhere else, just not in Crestville.”

Ian stuck out his hand. “I’ll try my best to die outside of your jurisdiction.”

Cahill squeezed his hand hard. “Appreciate it. Meg, do you need a ride to the emergency room, or is Travis home now?”

“Travis is still in the emergency room and I want to pick him up, but my car’s at the office at the bottom of the mountain. Gabe can take me down in the van.”

Cahill sliced a hand through the air. “By the time Gabe gets you down there, Travis will be home. I’ll take you.”

“I’ll take her. I left my car up here and took the van down earlier, since we were skipping the train.”

Two pairs of eyes, one dark the other bright blue, studied him. Heat suffused Ian’s chest and he battled to keep it out of his face. A minute ago he couldn’t stomach the thought of Meg with a child, someone else’s child. Now he had a burning need to see him. He’d escaped torture by the enemy several times, and now he was prepared to inflict it on himself.

He held his breath, waiting for Meg’s refusal. She had every right to keep him out of this part of her life, out of every part of her life. He’d let her go without a fight, and he’d regretted it every day of his sorry existence after he’d left. He had to pay some kind of penance now, a glimpse into what might have been between them. Hell on earth.

“Okay.” Meg inclined her head, dropping her lashes. “You can give me a ride, Ian.”

Ian swallowed. She seemed almost conciliatory, as if she owed him something. Would she tell him about the boy’s father? Was he still in the picture? Did she want to rub his face in it?

Cahill tugged on Meg’s ponytail. “We’ll talk later. In the meantime, we’ll keep our eye out for the missing hiker, although I’m sure Matt’s already headed back to search for him.”

Meg reached for the door and turned, pinning Ian with her gaze. “Don’t you have to make arrangements for Kayla?”

“I’m sure Colonel Scripps has already started the wheels turning, since the good sheriff here informed him of the circumstances.” Ian tapped his phone in his pocket. “I’ll give him a call and we can work out the details on the way to the hospital.”

Wrinkling her nose, Meg cocked her head. “Are you okay?”

No. He had a sour knot of regret gnawing at his insides for Kayla, and now this child that Meg shared with someone else. Someone worthy of fatherhood.

“It makes me sick to think about Kayla’s family on the other end of this tragedy, but I’m determined to see this through.” He bent his head to whisper in her ear. “For Kayla and Jack.”

“If you need anything else, Pete, you know where to find me. And I’m leading another hike tomorrow.”




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