Unguarded Love
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Unguarded Love: Lady Harrier (Nita) & Daniel
Novel #4 - Black Swan Book #7
KaLyn Cooper
Contents
A Letter to Readers
Acknowledgments
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
Epilogue
Sneak Peek
Also by KaLyn Cooper
About the Author
Unguarded Love
KaLyn Cooper
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Cover Artist: Drue Hoffman
Editor: Marci Boudreaux Clark, Rebecca Hodgkins
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Published 2018
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eBook Published by KaLyn Cooper
Copyright © Published 2018, KaLyn Cooper
Printed in the United States of America
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
A Letter to Readers
Dear Reader,
Welcome to novel #4, story #7, of the Black Swan series.
Unguarded Love is a stand-alone contemporary romance novel that picks up the Black Swan story at the end of the novella Challenging Love but it can be read by itself.
After a tragedy in med school, Nita Banks decided she never wanted anything to do with treating sick children ever again. When Ebola breaks out in the middle of a Central American coup, she has her hands full between missions and helping the CDC find a cure.
As an undercover CIA agent, Daniel Callahan was an expert at keeping secrets. None of his family or American friends knew about his two children until his baby daughter became sick, and adults were dying all around him. The only person he trusted with her care was his first true female friend, Nita. Even though she’s his sister’s good friend and teammate, the feelings he has for her are far from familial.
When Nita discovers Daniel’s baggage includes a diaper bag and a rollie with superheroes on it, she’ll have to face her fears or lose both the baby and Daniel.
Thank you for purchasing Unguarded Love. If you enjoy this book, consider purchasing the other books in the Black Swan series as well as the related Guardian Elite series.
Always,
KaLyn Cooper
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Note: At the end Unguarded Love, continue reading Chapter 1 of Unbeatable Love, the next full-length novel in the Black Swan series.
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Black Swan Series
Unconventional Beginnings: Prequel (Black Swan Novella # 0.5)
Unrelenting Love: Lady Hawk (Katlin) & Alex (Black Swan Book #1)
Noel’s Puppy Power: Bailey & Tanner (A Sweet Christmas Black Swan Novella #1.5)
Uncaged Love: Harper & Rafe (Black Swan Book #2)
Unexpected Love: Lady Eagle (Grace) & Griffin (Black Swan Book #3)
Challenging Love: A Katlin & Alex novella #3.5 (Black Swan Series Book #6)
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Guardian Elite Series
Double Jeopardy (Novella #1 Guardian Elite series crossover with Hildie McQueen’s Indulgences series)
Smoke and Mirrors (Novella #2 Guardian Elite series crossover with Paige Tyler’s Dallas Fire and Rescue Kindle World)
Rescuing Melina (Novella #3 Guardian Elite series crossover with Susan Stoker’s Special Forces: Operation Alpha Kindle World)
Snow SEAL (Novella #4 Guardian Elite series crossover with Elle James Brotherhood Protectors Kindle World)
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Cancun Series
Christmas in Cancun (Cancun Series Book #1)
Conquered in Cancun (Cancun Series Novella #1.5)
Captivated in Cancun (Cancun Series Book #2)
Claimed by a SEAL (Cancun Series crossover Novella #2.5 with Cat Johnson’s Hot SEALs Kindle Worlds)
Crisis in Cancun (Cancun Series Book #3)
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For the latest on works in progress and future releases, check out KaLyn Cooper’s website
www.KaLynCooper.com
http://www.kalyncooper.com/
Follow KaLyn Cooper on Facebook for promotions and giveaways
https://www.facebook.com/kalyn.cooper.52
Sign up for exclusive promotions and special offers only available in KaLyn’s newsletter http://www.kalyncooper.com/newsletter.html
I dedicate this book to active-duty women who serve on medical staffs in combat.
Acknowledgments
For every book I write, there are so many people who help me along the way. I’d like to send a special thanks to all the members of the Black Swan Book Club. You guys help me in more ways than you’ll ever know. Your opinions and suggestions often guide and inspire me. Many thanks to Debbie Workman and Tracey Moore Presley who named characters in this book. I’d like to thank my “Lunch Bunch”, especially romantic suspense author Rachel Rivers who shared her first-hand cop experience with me so a vital scene could be as realistic as possible. Author Vikki Vaught, I can’t thank you enough for your beta reading, insight and encouragement. Marci Clark has my deepest gratitude for the magic she works on my words and the whip she cracks to keep me writing on schedule so I can continuously bring new stories to my readers. Drue Hoffman, thanks for another great cover and awesome publicity. Last, thank you to my husband for your continual support.
Rara avis in terris
is Latin for
“a rare bird in the lands.”
In the ancient world, it was believed that the landing of a single black swan created a change that would affect the entire world.
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In today’s world, that change can be seen almost instantly…9/11 is the best example.
True fact: Nicaragua is looking to build a new canal between the Caribbean Sea/Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean that is wider than the aging Panama Canal. Many ships are too large for the narrow Panamanian passage.
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True fact: Reston Ebola is real, and named for Reston, Virginia where dozens of monkeys died from Ebola. It was one of the first cases where Ebola was transmitted from monkeys to humans and traveled airborne.
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True fact: men always underestimate beautiful women.
Chapter 1
“Fifty yards to go,” Lady Harrier reassured the hobbling Marine she supported on her left side. She stared through the sites on her M4 rifle snugged against her right shoulder, finger on the trigger. The door that would lead them both to freedom was within sight. “You can do this.” The words were a promise to herself as much as to the injured man.
“Lady Hawk clear with three female packages. No major injuries.” Thank goodness her team leader had rescued the imprisoned women. They were in better shape than expected. Good. That would make her triage easier and extrication faster.
“Lady Eagle exiting the south side. Need a medic. GSW shoulder, side and foot.” Their team’s primary pilot and second sniper had her hands full. That poor soldier had several gunshot wounds.
“I need me
dics. Lady Falcon’s been shot,” Lady Kite stated coolly between heavy breaths.
Oh, fuck. Lady Harrier’s friend had been shot. The fist that grabbed her heart released the next second.
This is only a drill. It’s only a drill. She repeated the mantra with every labored step. This damn Marine was heavy.
“Coming out south side, now,” Lady Kite announced. “I hope to Christ you have those medics waiting because Lady Falcon is bleeding all over me and there are two Marines right behind me. One has an ankle injury and the other was shot in the thigh.”
No. This is not real. Lady Falcon is not shot. She is not bleeding all over Lady Kite. This is only a drill. We are practicing.
Lady Harrier had to get her mind off the words bouncing between her heart and her head. She needed to think of something else.
Daniel Callahan’s face inches away before he closed the distance and laid his lips on hers. That was definitely a distracting image. The kiss he’d given her just before she’d left Costa Rica a month ago shouldn’t keep invading her mind. But it did. This time the memory proved the welcome diversion she needed.
Something skittered in her peripheral vision. Looking through the infrared scope, she watched a large rat duck into the open door a few feet ahead on her right. That room had been cleared earlier, and all the rodent would find was empty darkness. She glanced around, but saw nothing unusual.
“Look, we’re halfway to the door.” She was supposed to be reassuring her patient, not thinking about the night she and Daniel had spent together…talking. Just talking.
She’d spent lots of nights with men, but they seldom talked. She had always preferred action to words. Their mouths had better things to do than spew lies and platitudes she didn’t need to hear to reach an orgasm. She needed the man’s mouth licking and sucking.
Sudden weight on her left side and a heavy grunt brought her out of her fantasy of Daniel’s head between her legs. “We’re almost there. You can make it. Only a few more steps.”
“Eighteen minutes, forty-six seconds. Not bad, ladies, but not good enough,” the gunnery sergeant in charge of the training exercise yelled in a deep voice as Lady Harrier threw open the door and stepped into the Virginia sunshine with her supposedly injured Marine.
He immediately stood. “You’re stronger than you look for such a little bit.” His Texas drawl was nearly as charming as his smile. Full lips surrounded two rows of straight white teeth. She imagined those soft lips kissing her everywhere. His brown eyes twinkled in the bright Quantico sun as though he shared her thoughts.
He was cute. Definitely fuckable. And fuck, she needed a man.
His gaze dropped to her chest which showed off her perky breasts even through the black T-shirt and night camouflage uniform. He stood straighter and lost the smile as he added, “Ma’am.”
She took in six feet of all-man in Marine Dress Blues—broad shoulders, and, yep, there were red stripes on his bicep. Enlisted. Off limits. Erasing any intensions she had about exploring his muscle structure under that black jacket, she nodded. “Sergeant. I might be height-challenged, but I’m innovative. Be glad I didn’t decide to drag your sorry ass down that hallway on a carpet. If you had any other injuries and couldn’t walk with my limited assistance that was my next option.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He glanced over his shoulder at the other Embassy School students participating in the training. “Permission to be excused, Captain.”
Sometimes Lady Hawk forgot her Army rank. Hell, she and the other Ladies of Black Swan wore civilian clothes so much, she often forgot she was still in the military. They spent most of their time at Homeland Security, and on missions where no one wore their rank. It took her by surprise as she looked down at her chest and saw two black bars embroidered between buttons. Her eyes met his. “Granted.”
She watched the very fine specimen of American Marine as he strode toward the other men gathered twenty yards away.
“Too bad.” Lady Falcon stepped up next to Lady Harrier.
“Yeah, it’s a real bitch that we have to do this again.” She never took her eyes off the nearly perfect ass on the Marine. Matter of fact, every one of them looked nearly perfect. All were at least six feet tall, broad shouldered, and with a trim waist accented by the white belt on the dress blues. Each was good-looking with a hard edge about him, but that was to be expected. Marines couldn’t even apply for Embassy Guard duty unless they’d had at least one combat tour. Most of those men had spent a year or more in the desert toting a gun and a heavy backpack.
“That too,” Lady Falcon admitted. “I was talking about our training-induced dry spell. I swear most of the men on Marine Corps Base Quantico are either fresh out of college over at TBS, or they’ve been married for years and are attending the Command and Staff College.”
“I wonder where all the FBI recruits hang out at night?” Lady Harrier turned toward her friend and teammate. “You have to be at least twenty-six to even apply to the FBI. That puts them within a few years of us. Not that I’m averse to dating younger men. Most of them take direction well.”
“I’d just like to date something other than Bob, at least for one night.” Lady Falcon was referring to her battery-operated boyfriend.
“I know exactly what you mean.” Although Lady Harrier had named her favorite toy Channing, it wasn’t the same as having a man between her legs. Daniel immediately popped into her mind. She wondered just how talented he would be with his mouth, his fingers, and his cock.
“Sorry, ladies.” Lady Hawk stepped next to Lady Falcon. “They’re keeping us on a short leash for a reason. I expect we’ll be called out within twenty-four hours.”
Lady Harrier glanced over her shoulder at the training village where they had run through various scenarios for nearly forty-eight hours, both day and night. Each member of her team had been tested, and the situation had been analyzed and dissected. They were as ready as they were ever going to be.
Or so they thought.
Forty hours later, Lady Harrier pulled off bloody surgical gloves and sealed them in a Ziploc bag. “Were going to get you out of here right away.” She held the bare ankle of a Marine sergeant who was about five years younger than her. He probably thought it was for comfort, but she was counting his pulse and reassuring herself that blood was reaching his foot.
“No, ma’am,” he protested. “We have to get all the embassy personnel out first.”
The ambassador and the minister had already been airlifted along with a dozen or so members of the diplomatic corps. Most had sent their families home weeks ago when rumblings of a coup in the African nation had reached a level of concern. Constant updates came through the communication system in her ear, and she couldn’t miss the thumping of large helicopters landing on the roof.
Active gunfire outside the brick and block walls reassured her the SEAL team sent in with them as protection was doing its job. The man on the table was a member of the embassy’s security team. His injury was the most serious she’d seen since infiltrating. He needed to be on the next flight out, and then immediately taken to Germany where they could operate on his leg.
“Actually, sergeant, that’s not your decision to make.” Lady Harrier didn’t take shit from anybody. He’d been shot in his muscular thigh. She was pretty sure the bullet had nicked his femur, but without an x-ray, there was no way she could tell for sure. The tablet-sized x-ray she was testing just wasn’t clear enough for an accurate assessment. He’d been bleeding so badly, Lady Falcon had called for her assistance as soon as she’d found him. Good thing, too. If he had bled out much longer, he was going to need more than the platelet transfusion she’d already given him.
Thanks to the clotting agents she carried in her medical pack, she was able to stop the bleeding. That was the good news. The bad news was the extraction point had been changed to the roof, and they had to get all two hundred twenty pounds of muscled Marine with an attitude up four flights of stairs.
“Lady Harrier,
this is Lady Hawk. I need you to trade places with me, right now.”
Lady Hawk and Lady Eagle had been responsible for retrieving the three women remaining in the embassy. If Lady Harrier was needed, that meant there was a major problem.
“We need to get this patient to the roof and out of here immediately.” Lady Harrier glanced toward Lady Falcon who stood guard at the door. Her nod indicated the hallway was clear.
“Lady Harrier, I’ll take care of that. Your expertise is needed here.” Their team leader sounded as though she was on the move.
“Lady Hawk, this is Lady Harrier. Moving your way with one injured.” She could carry the man if she had to, but he had one good leg. She wiggled herself under the arm on his good side and let her much taller friend, Lady Falcon, support him on the injured side.
They had just turned the second corner toward the stairs when Lady Hawk opened the stairwell door. “I’ve got him. The women were not in their assigned quarters. We found them in the infirmary. We’ve already taken two of them to the roof, but I don’t know if we can move the third one yet or not. Only you can make that decision.” Lady Hawk seamlessly slid under the Marine’s arm, freeing Lady Harrier to dash up the steps.