Marching Orders

Marching Orders
Delores Fossen

Anna Caldwell hadn't planned on spending her honeymoon dodging bullets in the Texas chaparral with a husband who couldn't even remember her! Or their unborn child…Combat Rescue Officer Rafe McQuade had saved Anna's life, fathered the baby she carried and asked her to be his bride…but had no recollection of any of it. And unless he could unlock the secrets in his mind, rogue terrorists had no qualms about using his pregnant wife as a bargaining chip.Rafe didn't need his memory to know how much Anna - and his family - meant to him; he did need everything in his power to complete the most dangerous mission of his career. Lives, and his marriage, were on the line….

“I want answers and I want them now,” she said, her voice barely a whisper

“Answers?” he calmly repeated. He inched closer, but stopped when Anna lifted the gun and aimed it right at his heart. “What do you mean?” She’d obviously figured out he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was.

“Rafe and I were lovers,” she whispered, a tear racing down her cheek.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” she snapped. “It’s a little too late for that, don’t you think? Two months too late. I’m pregnant.”

Oh, man. That knocked the breath right out of him. He couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move. All he could do was stand there and stare at her.

With her eyes brimming with tears, she levered the gun slightly higher. “And now I want to know what you’ve done with my baby’s father.”

Marching Orders

Delores Fossen

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Imagine a family tree that includes Texas cowboys, Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, a Louisiana pirate and a Scottish rebel who battled side by side with William Wallace. With ancestors like that, it’s easy to understand why Texas author and former air force captain Delores Fossen feels as if she was genetically predisposed to writing romances. Along the way to fulfilling her DNA destiny, Delores married an air force Top Gun who just happens to be of Viking descent. With all those romantic bases covered, she doesn’t have to look too far for inspiration.

Air Force Personnel Record

Classified

Name: Rafael "Rafe" M. McQuade

Rank: Captain (Officer-3 scale)

Career Field: Combat Rescue Officer

Security Clearance: Top Secret

Physical Description: Thick brown hair. Green eyes. Muscular 6’ 1” body. No distinguishing marks.

Specialty Skills: Weapons expert, hand-to-hand combat specialist, proficient in three languages.

Duty Description: Commands combat rescue operations as a direct combatant, including survival, evasion, resistance and escape.

Current Assignment: Alpha Team Task Force

Availability Status: On medical leave, but called back for ultrasecret mission.

Diagnosis: Anterograde amnesia—may or may not recover previous memories.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Captain Rafe McQuade—An air force Combat Rescue Officer who’s kidnapped while on a special ops mission. His captors accidentally destroy key pieces of Rafe’s memory—pieces that hold a deadly secret that puts Rafe, his bride and his unborn child in grave danger.

Anna Caldwell—She prays that Rafe can piece together the secrets buried in his memory in time to save them.

Colonel Ethan Shaw—Commander of the Alpha Team Task Force and Rafe’s boss. Is he willing to let Anna and Rafe die to cover up a botched classified mission that could cost him his career?

Nicholas Sheldon—A security specialist who has a personal grudge against Colonel Shaw and Rafe. But has that grudge caused him to seek revenge?

Janine Billings—Anna’s best friend who has ties to the very assassins who are trying to kill Rafe and Anna.

Special Agent Luke Buchanan—A Justice Department official assigned to the Alpha Team. The financial problems in his personal life might have caused him to betray Anna and Rafe.

To my editor, Priscilla Berthiaume.

Thanks so much for your guidance and support.

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