In the doorway, Jenny saw a man, very tall and deeply suntanned.
“Matt, come in,” Morgan called to him. “It’s time you were properly introduced to your new partner.”
Matt moved silently into the room.
Jenny held her breath. Matt Davis. The famous Matt Davis. He was one of Morgan’s best mercenaries. She knew his résumé by heart. Now as she studied his eyes, which glittered with a hard intelligence, her nerves skittered and her pulse raced. With his wide, oval face and jutting jaw, that strong nose and mouth, he was one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen! And he was being assigned to work with her!
Jenny did everything possible to hide her feelings and not stare at him like some lovelorn teenybopper. But how could she help herself? She was going on her first mercenary mission with Matt Davis.
It was more than she ever dreamed of….
Lindsay McKenna
WOMAN OF INNOCENCE
To Gonzalo E. Abelenda and Ezequiel Caviglia
of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Two young,
handsome white knights who rescued us from
Agua Caliente, Peru, and got us train tickets back to Cuzco.
Thank you! Chivalry, good manners and kindness between
North and South America are alive and well.
You are both, truly, romance heroes of the finest kind.
Books by Lindsay McKenna
Silhouette Special Edition
Captive of Fate #82
*Heart of the Eagle #338
*A Measure of Love #377
*Solitaire #397
Heart of the Tiger #434
†A Question of Honor #529
†No Surrender #535
†Return of a Hero #541
Come Gentle the Dawn #568
†Dawn of Valor #649
**No Quarter Given #667
**The Gauntlet #673
**Under Fire #679
††Ride the Tiger #721
††One Man’s War #727
††Off Limits #733
‡Heart of the Wolf #818
‡The Rogue #824
‡Commando #830
**Point of Departure #853
°Shadows and Light #878
°Dangerous Alliance #884
°Countdown #890
‡‡Morgan’s Wife #986
‡‡Morgan’s Son #992
‡‡Morgan’s Rescue #998
‡‡Morgan’s Marriage #1005
White Wolf #1135
◊Wild Mustang Woman #1166
◊Stallion Tamer #1173
◊The Cougar #1179
ΔHeart of the Hunter #1214
ΔHunter’s Woman #1255
ΔHunter’s Pride #1274
§Man of Passion #1334
§A Man Alone #1357
§Man with a Mission #1376
◊◊Woman of Innocence #1442
Silhouette Shadows
Hangar 13 #27
Silhouette Intimate Moments
Love Me Before Dawn #44
Silhouette Desire
Chase the Clouds #75
Wilderness Passion #134
Too Near the Fire #165
Texas Wildcat #184
Red Tail #208
ΔThe Untamed Hunter #1262
Silhouette Books
Silhouette Christmas Stories 1990
“Always and Forever”
Lovers Dark and Dangerous 1994
“Seeing Is Believing”
Morgan’s Mercenaries: Heart of the Jaguar 1999
Morgan’s Mercenaries: Heart of the Warrior 2000
Morgan’s Mercenaries: Heart of Stone 2001
Harlequin Historicals
Sun Woman #71
Lord of Shadowhawk #108
King of Swords #125
Brave Heart #171
LINDSAY McKENNA
A homeopathic educator, Lindsay teaches at the Desert Institute of Classical Homeopathy in Phoenix, Arizona. When she isn’t teaching alternative medicine, she is writing books about love. She feels love is the single greatest healer in the world and hopes that her books touch her readers on those levels.
Dear Reader,
Having been in the U.S. Navy, I know there are smart, savvy women who can do things just as well as any man—or better! In this brand-new series, MORGAN’S MERCENARIES: DESTINY’S WOMEN, I honor them by telling their stories.
I believe that every woman is capable of heroic action. Just being a woman in today’s world takes courage, in my opinion. Take Jenny Wright, for example, the heroine of Woman of Innocence. So often I hear from women that they wish they could have more adventurous lives. Most of us are tied to a family and career obligations—like Jenny, who is Morgan Trayhern’s personal assistant. Jenny dreams that some day, she, too, will be handed a mercenary assignment by her boss. She idolizes the men and women who work for Morgan, but she doesn’t believe that she has the “right stuff” to do what they do. However, life has a funny way of showing Jenny that perhaps she’s not so unlike the mercenaries who work for Morgan when she gets a chance to undertake a mission and work with the courageous women of the Black Jaguar Squadron, who will be featured in upcoming books in MORGAN’S MERCENARIES: DESTINY’S WOMEN. Not only does Jenny discover she has the strength to stand side by side with these women, but she also realizes, in the arms of mercenary Matt Davis, that she has the courage to love.
I hope you enjoy Jenny’s story, as well as the three books to come in MORGAN’S MERCENARIES: DESTINY’S WOMEN.
Enjoy,
Contents
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 One
“Morgan, are you awake?”
“…Umphh…”
Laura smiled softly as she gazed at her dozing husband. Thin streams of moonlight filtered into their bedroom on the second floor of their log home. She could smell the scent of pine as a breeze gently blew the diaphanous white curtains beside their brass bed. Snuggling up against his back, she moved her hand in a gliding motion around his rib cage. Though the comforts of living had put a few extra pounds on Morgan, he still worked to maintain the strong, athletic build he’d had as a young man.
Placing her palm against his darkly haired chest, she reached up and placed a kiss against his naked shoulder. “Are you awake?” she repeated.
Morgan stirred. He forced his lids open. Feeling Laura’s small hand against his chest, over his heart, he lifted his own hand and pressed it against hers. “I am now.”
She laughed a little breathlessly and kissed him as a reward. “I know you had a hard day. I should have talked to you about this earlier.”
Morgan liked the feel of Laura’s silky nightgown. The way it flowed against his nakedness made him very aware of her feminine curves. Moving carefully from his side to his back, he brought his wife into his arms. She nestled her blond head into his shoulder, her brow pressed to his jaw. Ever since her kidnapping years ago, the trauma she’d suffered, Laura had changed. Not that Morgan could blame her under the circumstances. He, too, had been changed when he and his wife, as well as their eldest son, Jason, had been victimized during the incident.
“What are you worrying over?” he rumbled as he pressed his lips to her thick soft hair. Inhaling deeply, he savored the sweet scent of kahili ginger that she’d washed her hair with earlier that night, before they went to bed.
Laughing a little, Laura eased
away just enough to catch his sleepy looking eyes. Warmed by his sensitivity to her needs, she whispered, “How did you know I was worrying?”
One corner of his mouth moved upward. Her eyes shone with warmth and love—toward him. Squeezing her shoulder gently, he rasped, “Why wouldn’t I know? We’ve been married a long time. We know one another pretty well at this stage, don’t you think?”
“Even at two in the morning you have a sense of humor.” She grinned a little and kissed his jaw. The sandpapery quality made her lips tingle as she sank against him.
Sighing, Morgan said, “Only for you, believe me.” He’d lost count of the times he’d been awakened by a person on duty over at the Perseus headquarters about a mercenary mission. No, he savored a good night’s sleep. Morgan also knew that since the kidnapping, Laura had kept a lot of her emotions in, and had lost some of her childlike spontaneity. Over time, he’d learned how to read her when she internalized things, and he tried to stimulate conversation with her, to find out what was going on inside that intelligent head of hers. Tonight was one of those nights, he realized. Laura rarely woke him up like this. He wondered if she was worried about one of their four children. Jason, their firstborn son, in particular, who was going through a very rough time the last couple of years as a maturing teen.
“What’s bothering you?” he asked quietly. He felt her hand range across his chest, her touch always wonderful. Savoring the feel of her slender, feminine body against his own, he moved his fingers across her shoulder.
Closing her eyes, Laura sighed. “It’s about Jenny.”
His brows drew downward. “Jenny? My assistant?”
“Yes.”
All sleepiness left him as he wondered why Laura needed to discuss the woman who worked for him at Perseus. “What about her?”
“You know how much we both like her,” Laura began.
“Yes…” Where was this leading? Normally, Laura didn’t discuss business at 2:00 a.m. with him. She helped out occasionally on hiring people for Perseus. Otherwise, she had her hands full with their four children, devoting her life and time to them, not Perseus. “She’s become like a fifth child to us,” Morgan agreed.
The fact that Jenny had a lot of Laura’s own traits hadn’t escaped either of them. With her short blond hair and pixie face, Jenny looked more like one of their children than Morgan’s secretarial assistant. Jenny had been abandoned at birth, given up for adoption, and she still didn’t know who her parents were. When Laura had discovered that fact, she’d automatically extended a hand to the young woman of twenty-four, and made her a part of their extended family. Morgan didn’t mind. Jenny was a superb worker, highly intelligent, and had graduated from Bryn Mawr in the top ten percent of her class. She had a degree in psychology, and spoke three foreign languages fluently. Jenny was no ordinary secretary, by a long shot. She was, literally, Morgan’s right-hand person at Perseus. Everything that went on, Jenny knew about. She was reliable, trustworthy and hardworking.
“You know her birthday is coming up in a week? She’ll be twenty-five?”
Rubbing his face, Morgan muttered, “Oh…no, I forgot. Damn…It’s a good thing you reminded me.” He made it a point to remember the birthday of every one of his employees. But Jenny kept the list for him, and knowing her as he did, he realized she’d never tell him her birthday was coming up! She didn’t like to take the limelight or have anyone make a big deal over her. She was almost a shadow, a behind-the-scenes player in all respects.
Laura nodded her head. “A senior moment, sweetheart.”
They both laughed. Now that Morgan was in his mid-fifties, he had found out that his memory wasn’t what it used to be.
“I have a special gift in mind for her,” Laura said enthusiastically. “And that’s what I need to talk to you about.”
Raising his brows, Morgan said, “Okay…whatever it is, get it for her. She treats you like the mother she doesn’t have. You don’t need my okay on it.” He felt Laura laugh and she hugged him.
“Don’t be so quick to agree, Morgan. The ‘gift’ I have in mind is unusual and does require your approval.”
“You’re up to something….”
She laughed liltingly. “You’re slow, Trayhern. Must be the time of morning I woke you up.”
He grinned and squeezed Laura, placing a kiss on her smooth brow. Morgan treasured these special moments they shared. They didn’t have many, not with four kids and the demands of Perseus hanging over their heads all the time. “Why is it the man is always the last to know?” he teased back.
Laura kissed his cheek and then sat up. The sheet fell away and pooled around her hips. She saw the glimmer in Morgan’s dark blue eyes and reached out and skimmed her hand across his massive chest. “That’s why you guys needs us girls around.”
Catching her hand, he pressed a kiss to it. “Okay, I give. What’s going on?” He liked the way the pale peach silk nightgown with the deep V-neckline revealed her slender body. Even after carrying his four children, she was as beautiful and desirable to him as ever.
“I’ve been thinking…”
“Uh-oh…now I am in trouble!”
She giggled and met his smiling eyes and cockeyed grin. Despite Morgan’s overwhelming workload, when he was with her, he was more like a little boy than the serious, conservative military tactician that he was. With her, he let down his walls. He trusted her. He loved her. “Yes,” she whispered wickedly, “I think you are….”
With a sigh, he struggled up into a sitting position. Leaning against the cool brass headboard, he held her hand in his. “Okay, what have you planned for Jenny’s birthday?”
Laura lost her smile and turned slightly, her knees brushing against his thick, hard thigh as she met and held his glimmering eyes. The moonlight was bright, contrasting starkly with the deep shadows in the room. Morgan’s face was square and large. Even in the moonlight the scar on his face stood out, a constant reminder of that fateful day during the Vietnam War so long ago.
“You know how desperately she daydreams of going on a mission with a mercenary.”
Morgan groaned. “Laura…”
She held up her hand. “Hear me out, darling.”
Groaning, Morgan rumbled, “That’s all it is, Laura. She daydreams. She knows she can’t go on a bona fide merc mission. She’s not trained for it.” Scowling, he added, “Jenny is smart, bright, resourceful and creative, but she’s not merc material. I can’t put one of my men at risk to fulfill some romantic dream she has about this business. You know that.”
Sliding her hand along his jaw, Laura whispered, “You’re overreacting, darling. Remember last week, how you mentioned to me that you have a level one mission coming up in Agua Caliente, Peru? You said you needed to assign someone to interview Major Maya Stevenson’s Apache pilots for that top-secret mission that will be going down in Mexico. Jenny’s a psychologist. Who better to interview and help select the right three women for this? A level one assignment means no danger. Why couldn’t you assign Jenny to go along? Make her feel like she’s doing something important? Let her undertake the interviewing and choose the pilots. I really think if you’d do this, she’d lose her romantic visions of the business. As it is now, that’s all she talks about—to be part of one of your merc teams.”
Groaning, Morgan closed his eyes. “Laura…”
“Morgan, it’s a little thing, but it’ll mean so much to Jenny.”
Opening his eyes, he regarded her shadowed face and absorbed her warm, pleading look. She knew he wouldn’t refuse her. He never did. How could he? Loving Laura was his whole life. Their children were proof of that, and their love had deepened and gotten even better over the years. She was his best friend. And she rarely took advantage of their bond as she was doing now.
Morgan knew that Laura felt deeply for Jenny’s plight as an abandoned child. Laura had a habit of bringing in strays all the time. There was that stray kitten down at the grocers, starving, its eyes nearly matted shut, that she�
�d brought it home and nursed back to health. A pigeon had been hit by a car and was lying on the side of the road, and Laura had stopped and picked it up. She’d put a splint on its broken wing and nursed it back to health. Now that Laura had released it, the dumb bird made its home on the rail outside their bedroom door. Morgan wasn’t very happy about that. The bird messed everywhere.
Morgan’s mind ranged over the many animals Laura had rescued over the years. And he had to admit, if he was honest, that she had rescued him, too. He was a stray. He’d been abandoned in every way possible, yet, she’d opened her heart and her life to him, without question.
Morgan wouldn’t make Laura beg. He respected her too much to play that kind of game. He saw that her velvety eyes were filled with love toward him. Sighing, Morgan squeezed her small hand in his large one. “Okay, okay! So who’s available to go on this mock merc mission?”
Laura released a breath of air, leaned forward and threw her arms around his broad, warm shoulders. “Thank you, darling.” She gave him a quick kiss on his mouth and said, “Matt Davis is coming in from Bosnia tomorrow. He’s been on a level four mission, and I would imagine he’d like something a little safer and quieter.”
Morgan arched one black brow. “Davis? Baby-sitting Jenny? Oh, brother, Laura. That is not a match made in heaven. That’s like putting oil and water together.”
“He’s the only one available,” Laura said, biting her lower lip in thought. “I’ve met him several times. He’s very nice. Good-looking too. And single.”
“Is this all for Jenny’s benefit?”
Laura laughed. “It doesn’t hurt that he isn’t married, Morgan.”
Giving her a dark look, he growled, “You aren’t matchmaking again, are you?” Laura had a penchant for that.
Her mouth twitched. She saw Morgan’s dark, assessing gaze on her. “Me? No. Go look at the database yourself. There’s no one available except Matt. I’m sure if you explain to him the reasons for his being assigned, he’d go along with it. He’s got a soft heart.”
Woman of Innocence Page 1
