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CHAPTER ONE

In one s on the cool water and the blazing afternoon sun to lull his turbulent thoughts

Up the hill, froathering, he heard thewoht now, he felt very apart fros to stay afloat, Chris closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the gentle lap of the water Usually that worked

Not this tiht back to when he and Dare Macintosh had shared this property alone, Dare in his expansive house up the hill, Chris in his smaller hoh-level mercenary required ultiht-handDare’s records and doing co Dare’s beloved dogs For a very long time, their only visitors had been Dare’s partner, Trace Rivers, and occasionally Trace’s sister, Alani

Through the years, Dare and Trace had built up contacts in the governhest-profile businesses They had friends in high places and better friends in low places Although they re influence allowed them to succeed where local authorities couldn’t

The success came at a personal cost Given the top-secret nature of their work, Dare and Trace didn’t trust easily, and because their lives depended on it, they’d guarded their privacy against all intrusions

But then, while on a mission to save Alani from the human traffickers who’d kidnapped her, Dare had also rescued Molly Alexander In short order, they’d fallen in love andDare so happy

Not too long after that, Trace had met Priss Patterson…and ht a third anization Jackson had fallen hard for Trace’s sister, Alani, and they were not only irl who those ladies as regulars at the lake hadn’t prepared anyone for Arizona Storm She was like a little sister to Jackson, and had been by far the most wounded soul Chris had ever met Thank God Spencer Lark had proved a reasonable, determined man He’d not only won Arizona’s heart, but also respect from Trace and Dare and acceptance from Jackson Even before Spencer had proposed to Arizona, he’d been invited to join thehappy fausted with himself, Chris dunked his head under the water, shoved his hair away frohter and conversation drifted around hi everyone to hang out whenever the e hadn’t slowed the, love made them only ood at that, at saving innocents, infiltrating situations that others couldn’t,without a trace

Off to his right, a fat carp jumped out of the water and landed with a splash Chris barely acknowledged the disturbance

Someone called down to him, but he pretended not to hear

Damn it, for a man who didn’t like to stew, lately he’d done an awful lot of it