Avenging Angel

Avenging Angel
Alice Sharpe

Undercover agent Pete Waters was all business until a beautiful distraction became an elusive gunman's target. Now, on top of conducting his own mission, Pete was constantly keeping Elle Medina out of harm's way. Though the businesswoman claimed she was innocent of any wrongdoing, the threats to her life–and the tugging at Pete's protective instincts–seemed to be increasing.Pete knew Elle was hiding something, but interrogating her would blow his own cover. So he kept his identity secret and vowed to make her safety his number one priority. Even if he had to watch her back all night long…

Avenging Angel

Alice Sharpe

This book is dedicated to my mother, Mary R. LeVelle,

and my editor, Allison Lyons, both women who know

exactly what to say and when to say it.

My special thanks to Alma D. Velazquez for her patient help with translations. Thanks also to my horse experts, my sister, Mary Shumate, and fellow writer, Danita Cahill.

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

Prologue

March, twenty years earlier

Daddy said never open the door to strangers.

Janey shrank back against the wall, holding Teddy tight against her chest, squeezing her eyes shut until the man outside stopped pounding.

She pulled a chair over to the door and climbed on top. Gently pulling one edge of thick drapery away from the inserted glass panel, she peered outside. Gray skies, trees with just a shimmer of green, wet pavement. The man was gone but she could see the edge of a big brown box peeking above the cement step.

Should she open the door and get the box?

What if it was a trick and the man was waiting behind a bush to grab her? She was too smart for that. She’d be six years old pretty soon and she wouldn’t fall for a baby trick. She climbed down and pushed the chair back to the corner, still holding on to her bear.

She didn’t know how long Daddy had been asleep and she’d been alone. She didn’t know where Mommy was or Baby Brother. All she knew was that Daddy was lying down in the basement and she was alone.

And her tummy hurt.

She wandered into the messy kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She’d been eating what she wanted when she wanted it. No one to tell her not to eat cupcakes for dinner. No one to scold her for spilling purple juice on the floor.

She found a bowl of black olives on the bottom shelf and carefully stuck one on the tip of each finger as juice dribbled down her arms. Eating them off one at a time, she chewed thoughtfully while Teddy stared at her from the floor, his lone black button eye shiny and bright.

Her tummy still felt funny.

Hugging Teddy so tight his fur squished between her sticky fingers, she crept to the basement door.

The light was on which was funny because Daddy was so asleep. She wondered if she should turn off the light but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Instead she tiptoed halfway down the stairs and stopped, staring at Daddy’s back.

He was lying on the floor, hands tucked under his body, face turned toward the wall. She was glad because she’d looked at his face once and it had scared her.

Why wouldn’t he wake up?

“Daddy?” she said, teeth chattering from cold and from something else she couldn’t name.

He was so still and quiet….

A big envelope lay on the ground a couple of feet away. It had a funny little smiley face on it.

“Daddy?” she said again.

There was more banging on the front door and this time a voice she recognized.

Janey backed up the stairs, one hand reaching out to touch the wall for balance, her gaze glued to her father’s back until he disappeared from view.

Chapter One

August, Present Day

The moment she flew out of the saddle, Elle Medina knew she’d blown it.

Unless Víctor Alazandro hadn’t seen the fall. Unfortunately, a running horse stopping short of a fence while the rider kept going had a tendency to draw attention.

She hit the water hazard—filled earlier in the day in preparation for this jumping class—with a splash, landing face down in the murk, wishing she could sink into the ooze and disappear below the Nevada soil, right into the center of the earth.