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      KATHERINE GARBERA

      is an award-winning, bestselling author for Harlequin and Silhouette Books. Garbera started making up stories for her own benefit when she was on a competitive swim team in high school. Though she went to the state championships and usually medaled at swim meets, Katherine says her heart wasn’t in swimming but rather in the stories she created as she swam laps at practice. Katherine holds a red belt in the martial art of Tae Kwon Do and vows that there’s not a piece of plywood out there that can take her in a fair match. Readers can visit her on the Web at katherinegarbera.com.

      To my family—Courtney, my little kick-*ss girl who knows there’s nothing she can’t do. You make me so proud to be your mom! Lucas, my stubborn won’t-give-up-until-I’ve-tried-every-avenue guy. And Matt, who gave me the greatest gift of all—our loving family.

      Acknowledgments

      Thanks to Shannon Butler, who took time out of her busy schedule to explain to me how the television news business works and how to conduct an interview with a man who’d come back from the dead.

      Thanks to Amy Fetzer and Cathy Mann, who helped me with the military stuff.

      Thanks to Sue Kearney for helping me out when I thought all hope was lost.

      Thanks especially to Eve Gaddy for always being willing to listen.

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Chapter 11

      Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Chapter 1

      V ictoria Patton held the phone away from her ear for a second and carefully covered the mouthpiece. “Hot damn!”

      It looked as if all of her hard work had paid off. Of course, a good deal of luck was responsible for her being in the office when her boss had called in with the story. But he’d specifically asked for her, so she knew it was the break she’d been waiting for.

      She pulled the phone back. “Of course, Tyson. I’ll be ready to go by six o’clock.”

      Smiling, she hung up the phone, leaning back in her office chair. The halls of UBC, United Broadcasting Company, were quiet during the lunch hour. She spun her office chair around and stared out at the skyline of Manhattan. An office with a nice view wasn’t bad for a girl from a cattle ranch in south-central Florida. Days like today made the hard work and separation from her family worth it.

      She turned back around and took in the evidence of how much she’d already achieved. One wall of her office held her journalism degree in a frame that her father had given her. The other wall held awards and framed photos that she’d picked up during her career. Her low credenza had neat and orderly shelves, but the top was cluttered with photos of her friends and family.

      The surface of her desk held a blotter that she used to jot notes on and a green alligator pencil cup her brother had sent her when she’d done a story on the Florida Everglades. She also had a PVC figurine of Buttercup from the Power Puff Girls, because her practical joker co-workers thought she resembled the steely-eyed, tough-as-nails girl.

      Tory was an up-and-coming television news reporter who’d been proving herself on the national level for the past five years. At five feet two inches tall, she knew she wasn’t exactly an imposing figure, but her insightful questions and keen ability to read between the lines had given her an edge few reporters had. She had black hair and green eyes that she’d been told were as mysterious as a cat’s. She knew that line had been corny flattery, but it suited her image of herself. At the age of twenty-eight, she was poised to take the national news media by storm, following in the footsteps of her role model, Diane Sawyer. At least, once she completed this interview she would be.

      She was young to be considered for the job that her boss, Tyson Bedders, had just offered her—an exclusive interview with Commander Thomas King, a navy SEAL who’d been presumed dead for the past six months after a failed mission in the volatile island country of Puerto Isla in Central America.

      Bedders had received a call from Joe Peterson, a public-affairs officer with the U.S. Navy, inviting Tory to go to Puerto Isla and interview King. Tory was to contact the minister of foreign affairs once she arrived on the island. The minister would coordinate the interview.

      The