Acceptable Risks Read online

  Acceptable Risks

  By Natalie J. Damschroder

  When security expert Jason Templeton’s team is ambushed while protecting a weapons manufacturer vital to U.S. interests, he risks his life to save the man’s daughter…and loses. Unbeknownst to Jason, his mentor had been funding experimental medical procedures after losing his young wife. Using the untested drugs, Jason is brought back to life, stronger and faster than before, but also vulnerable in new ways. He’s determined to find the traitor in their midst, who is after the miracle drug.

  That means protecting the brilliant scientist Lark Madrassa. Their attraction and compatibility are undeniable, but Jason tries to deny his growing feelings for her, thinking he is too damaged. When Lark’s father is kidnapped they have to rely on each other in a dangerous plot to uncover the double agent. Before, Jason always accepted the risks—but what about when the life of the woman he loves is on the line?

  95,000 words

  Dear Reader,

  April is a bit of a mixed-bag month, isn’t it? In some countries, like here in the United States, it’s tax season, which for many is either a very stressful time or a time of “Hurray! Tax-return money arrives!” We also get Easter weekend, which comes with days off for some. April is also the month where we finally (hopefully) really start seeing the change of seasons from winter to spring, let out a long breath and kick our children outdoors for longer periods of time (surely it’s not just me who does that?).

  So I guess it’s only appropriate that our releases this month are also a mixed bag. Carina Press is able to bring you an assortment of titles to help bust you out of any lingering winter blues. The month starts off with a smokin’-hot bang via Abby Wood’s erotic contemporary cowboy romance Consent to Love. Joining her in the first week of April are Sandy James with her contemporary romance Rules of the Game, and Regency romance The Perfect Impostor by Wendy Soliman.

  Also in the contemporary romance genre in April we have His Secret Temptation by Cat Schield, Serious Play by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon, and North of Heartbreak by Julie Rowe. Historical romance author M.K. Chester joins the April lineup with Surrender to the Roman, and Juliana Ross heats up the Victorian era with erotic historical romance Improper Relations. Returning with three more books in her White series is author Susan Edwards.

  Talented Natalie J. Damschroder returns with another crowd-pleasing romantic suspense, Acceptable Risks. And if you love that book, make sure you check out her previous romantic suspense, Fight or Flight, from our 2011 release schedule!

  For those of you who prefer your romance a bit more…otherworldly, Kaylea Cross’s Darkest Caress is a paranormal romance of magical races, darkly handsome men and fiercely independent women. Ella Drake takes us to her vision of our post-apocalyptic world in Desert Blade, and new Carina Press author Kay Keppler’s Zero Gravity Outcasts takes readers on a science-fiction adventure with a hint of romance.

  Fans of male/male romance should be on the lookout for Brook Street: Fortune Hunter, the next in author Ava March’s regency historical trilogy.

  Last, but certainly not least, we’re very pleased to present debut author Christopher Beats’s steampunk noir Cruel Numbers this month. Visit Christopher’s alternate historical world in which the North loses the War of Southern Secession, one girl’s talent for analytical machines has made her a valuable asset in the new world, and steam-powered gadgets may give war veteran Donovan Schist the edge he needs to save his life, and hers.

  I think April’s schedule of releases is a good reason to wish for just one more snow day—so you can stay inside and read! I hope you enjoy these books as much as we have.

  We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to [email protected]. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.

  Happy reading!

  ~Angela James

  Executive Editor, Carina Press

  www.carinapress.com

  www.twitter.com/carinapress

  www.facebook.com/carinapress

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to Margaret Henry—Nanny—who embodied every admirable trait I bestow in my heroines.

  Acknowledgements

  My list of thanks is going to look pretty familiar. First go to (in order they returned my critique!) Victoria Smith, Vicky Burkholder, Megan Hart, and Misty Simon, who’ve always known what my books need to be better. Then, of course and always, to my editor Elizabeth Bass, whose suggestions are shamingly obvious after I read them, and whose enthusiasm and encouragement is tremendous. And finally, to every reader who buys, devours, or skims one of my books, your interest and appreciation make this a job worth doing. Thanks especially to every one of you who takes extra time to review, blog, tweet, or comment on my books. The relationship between author and reader has never been so close, and it’s magical.

  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 Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  “Sector one, all clear.”

  “Sector two, all clear.”

  “We’ve got an unidentified hotel employee in sector three,” the third voice said.

  Jason Templeton tapped the keyboard of his laptop to bring up the cameras for that sector. “Detain him.”

  “Already on it.”

  Jason watched Allison, his mission leader for sector three, and one of her agents close around the young man who’d just come out of one of the conference rooms. Allison hadn’t activated her com, so he couldn’t hear the exchange, but all three stayed relaxed as the guy showed his ID card, nodded, and removed his wallet from his back pocket. He slipped out another card—probably his driver’s license—and handed it over. A few seconds later, he went on his way and Allison and the agent moved back to position.

  “All clear, JT, he was on the list. He cut his hair yesterday and shaved his goatee. Looks a decade younger.” She sounded amused.

  “Thanks, Allie. I’m coming down with Matt and the client in a few minutes. Sweep the hallways and station two agents in the Madrid room.”

  “You got it.”

  “I’m clicking off. Buzz if you need me.” Jason turned to his boss and best friend as he came out of the bathroom in their top-floor hotel suite.

  “Everything in place?” Matt rubbed his dark, silvered hair with a towel and automatically scanned the laptops lined up on the antique sideboard. “No flags?”

  “So far, so good.”

  “Good.” Matt turned away from the computers and leaned back against the desk. “For being a paranoid businessman, Kolanko isn’t very logical.”

  “I know. But I couldn’t convince him to hold this meeting in his offices.” Hotels weren’t easy to secure, even hotels used to hosting the world’s leaders and other at-risk guests. But Hummingbird’
s job was to take the highest-risk locations and eliminate those risks. In fifteen years, they hadn’t been compromised. Now their reputation was as much of a deterrent as their presence.

  Normally, Jason ran a job like this one on his own. But Kolanko was one of their biggest clients, a weapons manufacturer with three dozen government contracts, most with the U.S. but some with countries the U.S. currently found less than friendly. He’d insisted on meeting military officials in a neutral location, despite Jason’s advice to avoid public access. He’d also requested Matt oversee the meeting personally. Jason originally thought the guy just wanted to show off, but overseas tensions had risen lately, generating resentment between competing governments that both bought from Kolanko.

  “Ready?” Matt checked his now smoothly combed hair in the mirror and straightened his suit jacket.

  “As ever.” Jason tapped his com onto open frequency. “Allie, we’re heading to the principle’s suite. We’ll be down in five.”

  “Got it. We’re ready.”

  As they walked down the plushly carpeted hall toward the elevators, Matt’s phone beeped. He pulled it from his inside jacket pocket and checked the display. “Dammit, I forgot to call Lark. She says she’s coming home next week.”

  “Her fellowship is over?” Jason hadn’t seen Matt’s daughter in years, not since she left for college and a career that took her all over the world.

  “Apparently.”

  Jason shook his head. “You don’t know?”

  Matt shrugged as he tapped out a reply to Lark’s text. Jason knocked on the door of Kolanko’s suite and one of their operatives opened it. He nodded at Jason and signaled to someone inside the room.

  “Lark does her own thing,” Matt said. “Checks in once a week, tells me when she’ll be around. You know.”

  Jason knew Matt wasn’t as cavalier as he sounded. When Lark’s mother had died a decade ago, Hummingbird—the company she’d named, claiming the incongruity would feed their mystique—demanded all of Matt’s attention. He could have pawned his daughter off on caregivers and private schools, but he’d helped her with her homework, chaperoned school dances, and tried to teach her the business. Though she’d become a botanist instead, they’d stayed close.

  Something Jason tried not to envy. He hadn’t chosen to be alone, though many in his position did. A family had always been one of his goals. It hadn’t worked out so far, but he was only thirty-six. There was time.

  Matt pocketed his phone and straightened as Kolanko and two gigantic bodyguards—not Hummingbird issue—came into the hall. Jason schooled his features. He disapproved of massive bodyguards. Sure, bulk meant strength. But it also meant losing flexibility, and their size, especially compared to the always-smaller protectee, screamed, “Target this!”

  “We are ready?” Kolanko asked.

  Jason checked in with Allison, who confirmed status quo. He started down the hall, Kolanko and Matt side by side behind him, followed by the bodyguards. Jason pressed the elevator button and scanned the foyer, making eye contact with his agent positioned in front of the window. Reassured that everything was fine, he turned back to the elevator as the door opened.

  Kolanko started forward, but Jason flung out his arm, stopping him. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. “Wait.” He drew his pistol and held it ready, barrel at the floor, while he studied the empty elevator.

  “What is it?” Matt came up on his left and saw what Jason had seen. He drew his own weapon. The elevator floor was about an inch lower than the hallway floor. It hadn’t been that way yesterday.

  “Back to the room.” Jason reached inside and yanked the stop button to hold the elevator, then radioed his explosives guy to investigate. By the time he reached the room with the others, everyone was on high alert.

  “I do not have time for such shenanigans over such a trivial thing,” Kolanko blustered as Jason holstered his gun and shut the door to the business suite. “This is an old hotel. Perfection is not anticipated.”

  “Maybe not from elevator cars,” Matt responded implacably, “but it is expected from my people. If Jason thinks someone tampered with the elevator, someone probably tampered with the elevator.”

  “Are you the elevator repair guy?”

  Jason could not remember the last time something had taken him by surprise. The small, high voice, coupled with a tug on his pants leg, made him jerk to the side and spin, his hand back on his weapon, before he realized it was a little girl.

  Holy fuck.

  He managed to keep the words inside his head. “Who are you?”

  “I am Adrina. That’s my daddy.” She pointed at Kolanko. “If you’re the elevator repair guy, how come you’re in here?”

  “I’m not the…never mind. Matt.” He raised his voice over Kolanko’s. Matt lifted a hand to stop the client’s rant and turned his head, his eyebrows rising when he saw Adrina.

  “Who’s this?”

  “She is my daughter. Ignore her.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible, Mr. Kolanko.” Matt’s tone didn’t change, but the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. “Her presence compromises your security.”

  “How? She is no threat to any—”

  “She’s a variable. An unaccounted-for variable. You know better,” he finished quietly, and the posturing, self-important businessman sagged.

  “I had to bring her,” he explained to Matt. “Her mother will not allow her to be away from me, and this meeting—”

  “Who else is here we didn’t know about?” Matt demanded.

  “My assistant, Bella.” He motioned to a woman in a suit who stood near the windows, hands folded. “She was to remain in the suite with my daughter during the meeting.”

  Jason sighed. “Come on, Adrina.” He held his hand down, and she reached up and took it. “Show me your room.” It would be better if she didn’t hear the rest of this conversation, and he doubted she’d remain in her room alone with all the excitement out here.

  While the five-year-old chattered about her age, the ages of all her stuffed animals, and her mother, who was on a shopping spree in Prague, Jason quietly checked in with his team. Everything was normal in the conference corridor and the main lobby. Their expert was descending into the elevator shaft now.

  “How old are you?” Adrina settled at a small table and resumed coloring a half-finished picture of what appeared to be a knight on a white horse.

  “I’m thirty-six,” he told her automatically. This room of the suite was an interior bedroom, no windows, one door. A secure trap.

  “And the other man? The shiny one?”

  Jason’s mouth twitched. “You mean the guy with silver in his hair?”

  She nodded. “It shines. So do his teeth. Not his suit, though. It is a good suit.” She said this last solemnly, and Jason figured her mother was training her to be a professional shopper.

  “Mr. Madrassa is forty-six.”

  “Does he have any children?”

  “A daughter.” Jason fidgeted.

  “How old is she?”

  “I don’t know, twenty-five, maybe, twenty-six.” Older than his image of her, he realized, which was barely out of her teens.

  “Does she have any children?” She colored hard and fast, turning her sky purple behind the dark gray knight and white horse.

  “No.”

  Allison’s voice came over his com. “JT, they found something.”

  “Report.”

  “No explosives, but cables were cut. The weight of you big brawny men would have sent it plummeting.”

  He eased out a breath. “Were the brakes or fail-safes tampered with?”

  “They’re bringing in engineers. You’ll be stuck up there for a while.”