Seduced by His Target. Gail Barrett
Secrets, passion and revenge fuel this thrilling new installment of award-winning author Gail Barrett’s BURIED SECRETS series!
For victims of violence, Nadine Seymour—formerly Nadira al Kahtani—is a savior in surgeon’s clothing. But this time it’s Nadira who must be saved…from her own corrupt family. Rasheed Davar—a rebellious CIA agent seeking to avenge his wife’s murder—could risk his undercover mission to save her. But will he?
As a dangerous plot heats up in the nation’s capital, Rasheed can’t deny the mounting tension—or his desperate need to tamp down his attraction. Nadira is beautiful. She is brave. And she’s just the kind of high-stakes hostage who could awaken his own battered heart—and lure them both into the terrorists’ crosshairs….
“Men like you are selfish,” she continued, her voice trembling.
“You think your stupid beliefs give you the right to take whatever you want. But you’re wrong. What you believe is wrong. And you’re not going to win.”
Her chest heaved. Her eyes stung, but she blinked back the tears, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She would not show any weakness around this man.
His eyes turned even blacker. He closed the distance between them, but she held her ground, refusing to budge. “Stay in the hut, Nadira. Don’t try to escape.”
“Or what?” she taunted. “You’ll kill me?” She let out a high-pitched laugh.
His big hands gripped her shoulders. He gave her a shake, fueling her temper even more.
But then his mouth was on hers. She froze, utterly shocked, the feel of him slaying her senses—his warm, hard lips, the scrape of his sandpapered jaw, the strength in his massive hands. A thought bubbled up, that she needed to resist this, but it vanished like smoke in the wind.
Buried Secrets: Three murder witnesses, one deadly conspiracy.
Dear Reader,
When most people think of cosmetic surgery, they think of facelifts and fillers, implants or liposuction—procedures designed to enhance a person’s beauty and youth. But there is another side to plastic surgery, the healing side, restoring features disfigured by accidents, violence or disease.
The heroine of Seduced by His Target, Nadine Seymour, is just such a plastic surgeon. She specializes in reconstructive work on battered women. Coming from an abusive background, Nadine understands the value corrective surgery can have, not just in making these victimized women beautiful again, but in helping repair their broken lives.
But Nadine has wounds of her own, deep ones she has avoided for fifteen years. Now, when her past finally catches up to her, she must stand her ground and confront her enemies, including a lethal warrior who is everything she most fears...and desires.
This is the last installment of the Buried Secrets trilogy. It has been quite an adventure watching these three courageous runaways confront their pasts, face down their biggest fears and earn the happy endings they deserve. I hope you’ve enjoyed their stories as much as I have.
Happy reading!
Gail Barrett
Seduced by His Target
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, 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 Award.
Gail currently lives in western Maryland. Readers can contact her through her website, www.gailbarrett.com.
I’d like to thank my brother, Ken Archer, for helping me with the financial details of this story, and my critique partner, Karen Anders, for her expertise and support. Thank you both!
To John, one of the good guys.
Contents
Chapter 1
It was the perfect day for a kidnapping.
Steel-gray clouds hovered over the mountains, obscuring their escape route. Thunder rumbled in the distance, promising to mask any cries for help. The local farmers, exhausted after a brutal day spent toiling in the Peruvian highlands, had taken shelter in their drab mud huts, oblivious to the terrorists preparing to pounce.
Gazing through his binoculars, Rasheed Davar lay flat on his belly in a tuft of chiliwua grass, studying the American medical team milling around their camp below. “Which one is the target?”
The terrorist beside him lowered his binoculars, his silver tooth gleaming in the dwindling light. “She’s not here yet.”
She? Rasheed shifted, a sliver of uneasiness stirring inside him, but he clamped down hard on the doubt. He couldn’t react, couldn’t show any hesitation or concern. Too many lives depended on this mission’s success—including his.
Schooling his expression into indifference, he thumbed the focus on his binoculars and continued to survey the camp. A young blond woman fed kindling into the campfire. A gray-haired man sat beside her, stirring something in a metal pot. Both