The next Man on a Mission hero safeguards his charge until she reaches the witness standâand his heart
Caterina âCateâ Mateja is prepping her testimony against the crime kingpin who enslaved her when his henchmen open fire in the courthouse, narrowly missing her. US Diplomatic Security Service agent Liam Jones dodges bullets to get her to safety, and yet the gorgeous man seems to want nothing to do with Cateâs caseâor her.
Itâs not Liamâs job to protect Cate. But after he discovers everything sheâs been through, he makes it his personal mission to ensure sheâll have her day on the witness stand. Staying by her side 24/7 may mean opening his heart to a woman whoâs unable to offer hers.
âSo the other witness must be dead,â Cate said.
Liam nodded. âYeah. I was told a little while ago.â
âVishenko murdered her.â A flat, cold statement.
âMaybe,â he said. âThereâs no proof of that. Not yet.â
âThere may never be proof. But I know.â She tapped a hand against her breastbone. âI know it here. Just as I know heâs the one who tried to have me killed. He is ruthless. Amoral. An animal. Heâll do anything to prevent me from testifying.â
âBut youâre going to testify anyway. Why?â he asked, curious to understand what drove her to take the risk when so many men had refused to flip on Vishenko in the past.
âBecause your brother Alec and my cousin Angelina are right. He is evil, and he must be stopped. No matter the cost.â Her voice dropped to a whisper as if she were reciting an oft-repeated mantra, so that Liam had to strain to hear her next words. ââI am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something.ââ
He recognized the quotation with a sense of shock. There was more to Cate than he knew.
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Be sure to check out the next books in Amelia Autinâs exciting miniseries.
Man on a Mission: These heroes, working at home and overseas, will do anything for justice, honorâ¦and love.
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Dear Reader,
When I wrote McKinnonâs Royal Mission, part of my Man on a Mission miniseries, two characters who intrigued me were Princess Maraâs other two bodyguardsâDiplomatic Security Service agents and brothers, Alec and Liam Jones. Alike in many ways, and yet so different in others. They are emotionally close, as brothers should be, so I started writing their stories simultaneously, weaving the plots together into a cohesive whole, although each book stands on its own, as it should.
But it was the brothersâ differences that caught my imagination. While both men are protectors, Liam, the younger of the two, is moreâmore concerned, more protective, more emotionally involved. Liam is also more idealistic than his pragmatic brother. As I saw him, he should have been born in the twelfth century, roaming the world as a knight-errant, saving damsels in distress.
So the only woman for Liam was either pure as the driven snowâ¦or something else. And I settled on the something else for my heroine because she was more appealing to me. True or not, Caterina âCateâ Mateja has judged herself unworthy of a good manâs love after everything she has survived. Can Liam convince his lady otherwise in Liamâs Witness Protection?
I love hearing from my readers. Please email me at [email protected] and let me know what you think.
Amelia Autin
AMELIA AUTIN is a voracious reader who canât bear to put a good book downâ¦or part with it. Her bookshelves are crammed with books her husband periodically threatens to donate to a good cause, but he always relentsâ¦eventually.
Amelia returned to her first love, romance writing, after a long hiatus, during which she wrote numerous technical manuals and how-to guides, as well as designed and taught classes on a variety of subjects, including technical writing. She is a longtime member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), and served three years as its treasurer.
Amelia currently resides with her PhD engineer husband in quiet Vail, Arizona, where they can see the stars at night and have a âmillion-dollar viewâ of the Rincon Mountains from their backyard.
For Sharon Treister, Stephanie Hyacinth, Susan Kyser Frank, Debbie Oxier, Sharon Wade and a host of other readers whose emails, book reviews and posts kept me going in 2014 and helped me make my deadline for this bookâthis oneâs for you. For my sister, Diana MTK Autin, Esq., who helped me get the legal details correct (any errors are mine and mine alone).
And for Vincentâ¦always.
Acknowledgments
Though itself part of the US Department of State, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security is the parent organization of the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). The DSS is the primary tool by which the DS carries out its security and law enforcement mandate. For more information,
please visit www.state.gov/m/ds.
I have the highest regard for the work these federal agencies perform. Nothing in this story is intended as a negative representation of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security or the Diplomatic Security Service, their duties or their employees.