Her Wild Hero

“That’s all I’ll ever ask you to do—save a person you might not even know, regardless of what it might cost you.”


When Loughlin put it that way, the job didn’t sound half-bad. And maybe helping people would be a way to atone for what he’d done that night when he’d protected Marissa. He weighed the pros and cons of the job offer, going back and forth between them while Loughlin patiently sat there drinking his water. This was a big decision and he should sleep on it for a couple days, but it wasn’t the kind of choice that could be made with his head. He had to go with his gut, and it was telling him that this was the right thing to do.

“Okay,” he finally said. “I’m in.”

Loughlin smiled. “And I didn’t even have to mention benefits and pay—both of which are damn good, by the way.”

Neither of those things had even occurred to Declan.

Loughlin walked over and held out his hand. “Welcome to the Department of Covert Operations, Mr. MacBride.”





Chapter 1


Seven Years Later

After ten years of writing performance reviews, training schedules, and after-action reports, Kendra Carlsen was finally going on a mission. She was so excited, she was practically bouncing in her chair. But getting all geeked up wasn’t going to get the work on her desk done—and she had a ton to do before she left.

She was just finishing up the semiannual performance evaluation on Trevor Maxwell’s team—outstanding as usual—when intel specialist Evan Lloyd stuck his head in her office.

“Some of us are heading out for lunch. Want to come?”

Kendra was sorely tempted, but she was heading to the airport in—she looked at her watch—three hours. Yikes!

She shook her head as she kept typing. “Thanks for the invite, but I can’t. I have way too much to do before I leave.”

Evan frowned. “You going on vacation?”

Kendra had a hard time keeping the silly grin off her face. “Mission in Costa Rica.”

His eyes went wide. “Seriously?”

“Uh-huh. John wants me to evaluate a big international, interagency training exercise down there.”

“You’re going down there alone?”

She printed out the report on Trevor’s team and signed it, then attached the secret cover page on it and slid the document into an envelope. “Of course not. I’m going with Tate’s team. They’re taking part in the exercise.”

“Oh.” Evan shook his head. “Damn, that sounds cool.”

Kendra grinned. “Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?”

“Well, I’d better let you go then,” Evan said. “Watch yourself out there, okay?”

“I will.”

Kendra checked her email once more before logging off and thumbing the power button. It felt weird to shut down her computer. The only time she ever did it was when she went on vacation. And running around the hot, sweaty Costa Rican jungle for two weeks was going to be anything but a vacation. But she’d been begging her boss, John Loughlin, for months to go into the field, and now that he’d finally agreed, she was damn well going to make the most of the opportunity. Sure, she would have preferred if her first real mission had been going with Ivy and Landon to check out a hybrid research lab. Or maybe tagging along with Clayne and Danica to serve as backup the next time they took down a bad guy.

But John wasn’t ready to go that far…yet. He probably thought that if he sent her into the hot, humid, bug-ridden Costa Rican jungle, she’d hate it so much she’d never bother him about going into the field again. He was wrong. She was going to kick butt out there.

Kendra grabbed her purse and was heading for the door when her cell phone rang. She dug it out of her bag, putting it to her ear as she locked her office. “Hello.”

“Hey, Kendra, it’s Layla Halliwell,” the caller said, then added, “Ivy’s sister? I don’t know if you remember me, but we met at her wedding.”

Kendra almost laughed. She doubted there were many people who could forget Ivy’s younger sister. The girl had the kind of personality that made you smile just thinking about her. She and Layla had both been in the wedding party, so they’d hung out and talked—when the other woman hadn’t been hip deep in conversation with Landon’s Special Forces buddy, Jayson Harmon.

“Of course I remember you.” Kendra started down the hall toward John’s office. “What’s up?”

“Ivy told me to call you if I ever needed help, and well…I need help.”

Kendra frowned. “What’s wrong? Are you in trouble or something?”