The Sharpshooter's Secret Son (Harlequin Intrigue Series)

214 Pages·2009·1.17 MB·English

by  Mallory Kane

He had one chance to prove himself
worthy of being a father.
She hadn’t seen him in eight long months,
although she’d come close to telling him about
the baby. Then she’d thought better of it, decided
that she and her child would be better off if she
never got sucked into his self-destructive life.
Seeing him now, she wasn’t sure she’d made the
right decision.
Loving Deke was a recipe for disaster. Not that
her heart cared. Nor her body. He’d always
been the sexiest thing on the planet. From his
sun-streaked brown hair to his startling sea-blue
eyes. From the hard line of his jaw to his broad,
leanly muscled shoulders. Even his battered
shearling jacket couldn’t hide the power and
grace of his six-foot-plus body.
She squeezed the hand that held hers and knew
she had no other choice but to give in with a
whispered “Take me.”

mallory
kane
the
sharpshooter’s
secret son
TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON
AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG
STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID
PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND
For Debbie and Lorraine
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mallory Kane credits her love of books to her mother,
a librarian, who taught her that books are a precious
resource and should be treated with loving respect. Her
father and grandfather were steeped in the Southern
tradition of oral history, and could hold an audience
spellbound for hours with their storytelling skills. Mallory
aspires to be as good a storyteller as her father.
Mallory lives in Mississippi with her computer-genius
husband, their two fascinating cats and, at current count,
seven computers. She loves to hear from readers. You
can write her at [email protected] or via
Harlequin Books.
Books by Mallory Kane
HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE
620—THE LAWMAN WHO LOVED HER
698—HEIR TO SECRET MEMORIES
738—BODYGUARD/HUSBAND*
789—BULLETPROOF BILLIONAIRE
809—A PROTECTED WITNESS*
863—SEEKING ASYLUM*
899—LULLABIES AND LIES*
927—COVERT MAKEOVER
965—SIX-GUN INVESTIGATION
1021—A FATHER’S SACRIFICE
1037—SILENT GUARDIAN
1069—THE HEART OF BRODY MCQUADE
1086—SOLVING THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
1103—HIGH SCHOOL REUNION
1158—HIS BEST FRIEND’S BABY†
1162—THE SHARPSHOOTER’S SECRET SON†
*Ultimate Agents
†Black Hills Brotherhood
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Deke Cunningham—The air force made a man out
of him and taught him responsibility and honor. Then a
promise he made placed him in an impossible situation. A
secret of international importance rests on his shoulders,
but a much worse burden weighs down his heart.
Mindy Cunningham—She has always been in love
with bad-boy Deke Cunningham. But he seemed bent
on destroying himself and her. Now she’s pregnant with
Deke’s baby and entangled in his life again. Can she trust
this man who has broken every promise he ever made
her?
Frank James—The alias of the terrorist who has
kidnapped Deke’s ex-wife to get to him. He knows too
much to be working alone, but who is his mole inside
BHSAR?
Irina Castle—Her belief that her husband is still alive
has almost bankrupted Black Hills Search and Rescue and
nearly cost the life of one of her specialists. Now her
obsession has put another of her husband’s friends in
danger.
Aaron Gold—His computer expertise is invaluable to
BHSAR. But is he the grateful son of an American hero
who died on a mission under Rook Castle’s command, or
a bitter young man who blames Rook for his dad’s death?
Brock O’Neill—This former navy SEAL can get the job
done, but nobody knows much about him. He’s terse and
secretive about his private life, and no one knows where
he came from or where he goes when he disappears.
Rafiq Jackson—Rafiq was born in England of an Iranian
mother and a British father. He speaks several languages
and is a mathematical genius who worked for the NSA.
But where does his loyalty lie?
Chapter One
They called them ghost towns for a reason.
Black Hills Search and Rescue Specialist Deke Cun-
ningham wasn’t afraid of anything. Not anymore. But
the late afternoon shadows spooked him. They moved
with him, reaching out like gnarled fingers across the
empty, dusty main street of Cleancutt, Wyoming. He
tried to shake off the feeling, but it wouldn’t shake.
Probably because today he wasn’t working a routine as-
signment to rescue a deserving but nameless innocent.
Today he was searching for his ex-wife.
He glanced at the GPS locator built into his phone,
then at the two-story building with the letters H E L
barely readable above the door. The O and the T had
long since faded.
This was it. The location where BHSAR computer
expert Aaron Gold had finally managed to triangulate
Mindy’s last cell phone transmission.
Mindy.She didn’t deserve this. She hadn’t deserved
anything she’d gotten for loving him.
And he’d never deserved her.
Dekeapproachedthetwo-storybuilding,doinghis
damnedest not to swipe his palm across the nape of
8 The Sharpshooter’s Secret Son
hisneck,wherepricklesofawarenesstingled.Hewas
beingwatched.
No surprise there.
He even knew who was watching him. The same
person who’d kidnapped his ex-wife. Well—who’d
orderedher kidnapped, anyhow.
Novus Ordo. The infamous international terrorist
who’d already targeted another member of the BHSAR
team, Matt Parker.
We’ve got your wife,the obviously disguised voice
on the cell phone had said.
Alarm bells had clanged in his head and his gut had
clenched with worry. Still, he’d had to smile a little.
Whoever the kidnapper was, he had no idea what he’d
gotten hold of when he’d grabbed Mindy Cunning-
ham.
“Ex-wife,” he’d muttered, working to sound bored
and uninterested. “And be my guest. You can have her.”
“This is no joke, Cunningham. We’ve got her and
we’ll kill her if you don’t do what we say.”
“The only thing I think you’ve got is her cell phone
and a death wish.”
Thekidnapperhadtakenthebait.He’dputMindy
onthephone.
Deke Cunningham, don’t pay them one red cent!
It’satrap—
Toughwords.Exactlywhathe’dexpectedfromher.
Butbeneathherbravewordsheheardfear—asoul-deep
terror he’d never heard in her voice before.And that,
more than anything the kidnapper said, scared him to
death.
Somethingwaswrongwithher.Somethingbeyond
beingkidnapped.Whilethatalonewouldbeenoughto
Mallory Kane 9
terrify any woman, his Mindy was made of stronger
stuff.
In the twenty years since he’d first spotted her hang-
ing by her heels from the top rung of the elementary
school jungle gym, he’d never seen anything she
couldn’t handle.
Except him.
Her tight, strained voice, cut by static, still echoed
in his head as he paused at the bottom of the dilapi-
dated wooden steps of the only hotel in Cleancutt,
Wyoming.
He’d heard about the ghost towns of Wyoming all
his life. Eighty years ago, Cleancutt and other coal-
mining camps had been booming towns. But by the
1950s, underground coal mining had given way to
strip-mining, so today Cleancutt was a ghost, a dying
piece of history located near the city of Casper.
A vibration started in his breast pocket. Damn it.His
phone.
Asheretrievedit,heglancedaroundhim,incase
he could catch someone watching him, waiting for
him to answer. But the display read Irina Castle, his
boss, not Mindy. He pressed the talk button without
sayinganything.
“Deke, where are you?” Irina asked.
“I’m busy,” he said quietly.
“You did it, didn’t you? You went after Mindy alone.
I told you to wait until I could arrange a meeting with
Aaron Schiff.”
“Irina,donotgettheFBIinvolvedinthis.It’stoo
dangerous for Mindy. I’ll handle it. Besides, you
knowthedrill.TheythreatenedtohurtherifIbrought
backup.”