Meltdown

He walked over, stretched the neck of the sweatshirt and helped slip it over her head. Her soft hair slid over his fingers, like satin brushing his skin.

Their eyes locked. Coop’s blood kick-boxed in his skull. And he was excruciatingly aware of how close she stood, that her warm, lush lips were just inches away from his.

He needed to move, step away. He couldn’t succumb to the urge to kiss Zoe. But everything inside him clamored to touch her, feel her, taste her again….

He should let her go. This was the wrong place, the wrong time. Zoe was off-limits, part of his surveillance case. Taboo.

But he never had obeyed the rules.

Dear Reader,

Superheroes have never impressed me much. I prefer reading—and writing—about ordinary people who get caught in extraordinary circumstances, people who have to use their wits to survive.

Scientist Zoe Wilkinson is one such person. Her quiet world explodes when her grandfather is kidnapped and she finds herself under suspicion for espionage. Desperately out of her comfort zone, pursued by everyone from government agents to deadly gunmen, Zoe must scramble just to stay alive. And when she gets stranded in the desert with her ex-lover Cooper Kennedy, a sexy pilot with an agenda of his own, she faces danger of a different sort.

I had a great time watching Zoe and Coop unravel this puzzling case—and battle the sizzling attraction that won’t subside. I hope you enjoy their race through the desert heat!

Gail Barrett

Gail Barrett always knew she’d be a writer. Who else would spend her childhood grinding sparkling rocks into fairy dust and convincing her friends it was real? Or daydream her way through elementary school, spend high school reading philosophy and playing the bagpipes, and then head off to Spain during college to live the writer’s life? After four years she straggled back home—broke, but fluent in Spanish. She became a teacher, earned a master’s degree in linguistics, married a Coast Guard officer and had two sons.

But she never lost the desire to write. Then one day, she discovered a Silhouette Intimate Moments novel in a bookstore—and knew she was destined to write romance. Her books have won numerous awards, including a National Readers’ Choice Award and Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart.

She currently lives in western Maryland. Readers can contact her through her Web site, www.gailbarrett.com.

To my wonderful agent, Pam Hopkins, for her support over all these years.

I’d like to thank the following people for their enormous help with this book: Eber Crossley, Bob Mills and Piper Rome for answering my aviation questions; Chris Sarno for being a good sport and letting me sit in his plane; Robin Farley for providing military details; Mike Morrell, Rich Talipsky and Maggie Toussaint for inventing a brilliant nuclear process; John K. Barrett for teaching me how to shoot; and Joe Barrett, for patiently explaining computer encryption. These extremely competent people tried their best to help me, and I take full responsibility for any and all mistakes.

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

She’d stumbled into a nightmare.

Zoe Wilkinson clutched the steering wheel of her rattling Honda, her fingers numb, her breath coming in labored gasps, her gaze locked on the remote Nevada airstrip shimmering ahead in the desert haze. Her calm, orderly existence had exploded. The tranquillity she’d sought her entire life had been torn into shreds.

She jerked her gaze from the bumpy dirt road and braved a glance in her rearview mirror. Dust billowed behind her speeding car, obscuring her view of the black sedan. But those killers were back there, following her. They’d broken into her apartment, chased her through the mountains outside of Ely, pursued her into the wide-open desert where she couldn’t hide.

She sucked in a reedy breath and slammed the gas pedal flat to the floor. “Come on,” she pleaded to the car. “Go faster.” She had to make it to the tiny airstrip and beg a flight to the ghost town where her grandfather had hidden that flash drive.

Before both she and her grandfather died.

Raw hysteria burbled inside her. She tried to swallow, but her throat was dustier than the sand stretching to the horizon on every side.

This shouldn’t be happening. She was a nuclear chemist. She’d led a staid, quiet life for years. She shouldn’t have the FBI monitoring her movements, rumors of espionage swirling around her, unknown assailants dogging her heels.

And her grandfather—a world-renowned physicist—kidnapped, suspected of treason. Possibly dead.

Terror slashed her belly at that dreadful thought, but she forced the fear aside. He couldn’t die. She wouldn’t let him. He was the only family she had left. And no way was he a traitor, no matter what the FBI claimed. He would never sell nuclear secrets to enemy agents. This was all a horrific mistake.