Someone had been here

      And judging by the open decanter, she knew who. Maybe she had changed everything else, but Elizabeth still kept the best whiskey in the Waterford.

      “What the hell are you doing here, Rafe?” she asked, not raising her voice. Wherever he was, he would have been watching her since she’d entered the kitchen.

      “You’ve cut your hair.”

      He always noticed things like that. Maybe too much. Still, the fact that he had noticed caused an unwanted thickness in her throat.

      From force of habit, her hand rose to rake the chin-length hair that had once been long enough to tangle around his bare, sweating shoulders as they made love.

      At the memory, a jolt of sexual heat seared along nerve pathways that had seemed atrophied. They weren’t. Painfully, unexpectedly, she knew that now.

      Steeling herself, she walked into the living room. After five years, she was in the same room with Rafe Sinclair. Something she had thought would never happen again.

      Dear Harlequin Intrigue Reader,

      We’ve got what you need to start the holiday season with a bang. Starting things off is RITA^® Award-winning author Gayle Wilson. Gayle returns to Harlequin Intrigue with a spin-off of her hugely popular MEN OF MYSTERY series. Same sexy heroes, same drama and danger…but with a new name! Look for Rafe Sinclair’s Revenge under the PHOENIX BROTHERHOOD banner.

      You can return to the royal kingdom of Vashmira in Royal Ransom by Susan Kearney, which is the second book in her trilogy THE CROWN AFFAIR. This time an American goes undercover to protect the princess. But will his heart be exposed in the process?

      B.J. Daniels takes you to Montana to encounter one very tough lady who’s about to meet her match in a mate. Only thing…can he avoid the deadly fate of her previous beaux? Find out in Premeditated Marriage.

      Winding up the complete package, we have a dramatic story about a widow and her child who become targets of a killer, and only the top cop can keep them out of harm’s way. Linda O. Johnston pens an emotionally charged story of crime and compassion in Tommy’s Mom.

      Make sure you pick up all four, and please let us know what you think of our brand of breathtaking romantic suspense.

      Enjoy!

      Sincerely,

      Denise O’Sullivan

      Associate Senior Editor

      Harlequin Intrigue

      Rafe Sinclair’s Revenge

      Gayle Wilson

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Five-time RITA^® finalist and RITA^® Award winner Gayle Wilson has written twenty-seven novels and two novellas for Harlequin/Silhouette. A former high school English and world history teacher of gifted students, she has won more than forty awards and nominations for her work. Recent recognitions include a 2002 Daphne du Maurier Award for Romantic Suspense.

      Gayle still lives in Alabama, where she was born, with her husband of thirty-three years and an ever-growing menagerie of beloved pets. She has one son, who is also a teacher of gifted students. Gayle loves to hear from readers. Write to her at P.O. Box 3277, Hueytown, AL 35023. Visit Gayle online at http://suspense.net/gayle-wilson.

      FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

      CIA

      AGENT PROFILE

      SPECIAL SKILLS: Trained in counterterrorism and in interrogation methods; hand-to-hand combat expert; top-notch marksman; speaks fluent Arabic

      AGENT EVALUATION: Recipient of the agency's highest citation for valor above and beyond the call of duty.

      FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

      CAST OF CHARACTERS

      Rafe Sinclair—Five years ago this ex-CIA operative hunted down and executed a terrorist responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people. Now the agency is telling Rafe that Gunther Jorgensen not only isn’t dead, he’s bent on revenge. The problem is Rafe may not be his target.

      Elizabeth Richards—Once a member of Griff Cabot’s elite antiterrorism team, Elizabeth has a new identity and an ordinary life, one that is about to be disrupted by a couple of ghosts from her past. One of them is hunting her. The other, former partner and lover Rafe Sinclair, is determined to become her protector.

      Gunther Jorgensen—Is the terrorist mastermind alive or dead? And if it’s not Jorgensen who is stalking Elizabeth, then who is it?

      Griff Cabot—What secret knowledge does Griff possess that makes him agree to let Rafe set out alone on a suicide mission?

      John Edmonds—Was Edmonds really sent by Cabot or does The Phoenix operative have his own agenda?

      Lucas Hawkins—The legendary assassin of the External Security Team may hold the answer to questions about Rafe that Elizabeth has puzzled over for more than six years.

      To BJ

       who makes me incredibly envious of her talent.

      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

      Chapter Sixteen

      Chapter Seventeen

      Chapter Eighteen

      Epilogue

      Author Note

      Prologue

      The man Griff Cabot had come to find was carefully turning a piece of wood on a spindle sander. Dark, long-fingered hands handled the object with a skill that was nearly graceful, despite the strength and masculinity that was apparent in their every movement.

      The workshop where he was working had been attached to the back of a small log cabin, which sat in a clearing on the side of Sinclair Mountain. When no one had answered his repeated knocks on the front door, Cabot had been drawn around to the back by a sound he hadn’t then been able to identify. Now he could.

      When he lifted his gaze from the workman’s hands, he realized with a sense of shock that the passage of six years had had as little effect on the face of the man he was watching as on those hands. The striking blue eyes were hidden, intent on whatever he was shaping, but the austere, almost forbidding features were exactly as he had remembered them.

      “You should never sneak up on a man who’s holding