Mission: Marriage. Karen Whiddon

strode toward her, keeping close to the wall, staying in the shadows, but coming. For her.

      Natalie began to shake.

      Shots rang out. Crouching, the man began to run. More shots. So far, he hadn’t been hit. He’d always been lucky that way.

      At least, until the day he’d died.

      Dead. He was dead and buried.

      Rocking back onto her heels, she rubbed her eyes and took another look.

      She hadn’t been wrong. The man she’d loved more than any other, her soul mate, her husband, the man she’d mourned, the man she’d never thought to see again, kept moving toward her.

      Frozen, she watched as he continued, his low crouch purposeful and unafraid. Or maybe he didn’t care. After all, a man couldn’t die twice, right?

      Her heart drummed in her ears. Sean. Her husband, Sean. This couldn’t be real, couldn’t be happening.

      She wasn’t the type to faint—not anymore. Too many hard lessons learned. Instead, she’d taught herself to push back, to fight.

      But how did one battle a ghost?

      From the smoke and the grave, against the periodic bursts of gunfire, he continued to come toward her. He moved exactly the way she remembered—purposeful and bold, dodging bullets as though he were untouchable. She’d often thought that very arrogance had been what had gotten him killed.

      Killed.

      Yet here he was, ducking under the concrete overhang into her shadowed hiding place, solid and real and alive.

      When he reached her, he stopped, his dark gaze intense. She couldn’t move. He was still beautiful, even in the dust and the dirt and the danger. She caught her breath, unable to speak.

      “I’m here,” he said, his voice husky, as though too long unused, a hint of wariness in his gaze.

      “I …” She moved toward him, inspecting him, still unable to believe what the fates had just returned to her.

      “Get down,” he snarled, yanking her behind the concrete wall with him as the shooters let loose with several rounds of shots.

      “What the—” he cursed, letting her go. “They’ve got AK-47s. You must have royally pissed someone off. Why are they trying to kill you?”

      She still couldn’t find her voice. Unable to help herself, she let her gaze roam hungrily over his muscular body—the way her hands used to.

      “Either I’m dead, dying or you’re not dead,” she said, feeling like an idiot, still not sure what to think.

      “No.” His dark gaze locked with hers, daring her wrath. “I’m not dead.”

      “Sean.” Fierce joy rose in her. Joy and disbelief and … anger. Anger, fury, rage. Hard and hot, pushing away everything else. “I went to your funeral. You died in a car crash on your way to the airport.”

      He dragged his hand through his hair. “It was set up,” he said, unsmiling. “I went into hiding. But your father called Corbett, who told me you were in trouble. I’ve come to help.”

      To help. Not because he loved her or missed her, but because his boss had requested it. Of course. Anyone who’d pretend to die, who’d let his wife grieve and mourn …

      Speechless, all she could do was shake her head. Then suddenly, tears streamed down her cheeks as she began to weep, crying in great big, gasping sobs.

      Another round of shots rang out. They both ignored them.

      “Don’t.” Reaching for her, his expression looked pained, and she remembered how he’d always hated it when she’d cried. He’d welcome a fight, maybe even a discussion, but he’d never been able to deal with a woman’s tears. Or, more specifically, hers.

      Suddenly, she hated him. “Stay away from me.”

      “But I—”

      “No.” Still crying, she felt rage again knife through her, chasing away the pain. Blinding fury, the kind she’d had to draw upon again and again to get through her grief.

      Then, she’d been angry with him for dying. For leaving her. Now, she was enraged to learn he’d lived.

      She looked lovelier than he’d remembered, which shouldn’t be possible. Her face had haunted his dreams each and every night of the two years they’d been apart. He’d kept track of her from a distance, relying on Corbett Lazlo to keep him up to date.

      Now, he stood before the woman he hadn’t seen in two long years, the woman he’d never stopped loving, and prepared to face her wrath. After all, he’d expected it, and God knows he deserved it.

      Another round of gunshots shattered the concrete floor in front of them.

      “This way.” Grabbing her, Sean dove deeper inside the building.

      Because she had no choice, she went with him. “What are you doing? I’ve walked the perimeter—there is no other door. We’ll be trapped.”

      “Yes there is. You must have missed it. I had the satellite check out this place before I got here. There’s another way out, though it’s on the other side of the shipping area. This warehouse has apparently been abandoned for a long time. Vandals have busted out the back loading doors.”

      “How do you know the shooters won’t already be there?” Despite her question, she shook off his grip and pushed ahead of him. When she glanced over her shoulder to make sure he followed, her face was absolutely expressionless. Not the fury he’d expected, not even sorrow. Instead, she had the cold, calculating look of a seasoned undercover agent, one prepared to do what had to be done to make it out alive.

      “I don’t. Where’s your backup?” he asked her.

      “I don’t have any. I’m not supposed to be here.”

      “What?”

      Ignoring him, she kept moving.

      Wary, he stayed close behind her. This was Natalie, and knowing how much his return from the grave must have shocked her he wasn’t sure what to expect.

      More gunfire, closer this time. “They’re moving in,” he said. She didn’t respond.

      He grabbed her arm. “Nat, stop.”

      Her eyes narrowed and he braced himself for the storm.

      Instead, face blank, she looked at him and shook her head, as though she found him wanting. “I would suggest,” she said, her voice deadly calm, “that you let go of me. If you don’t want to go with me, then turn around and go back to whatever rock you crawled out from under.”

      Ah, now this was the Natalie he knew. “Let’s postpone this discussion for after we’ve gotten out of here alive, don’t you think?”

      Immediately she nodded. “Of course. Forgive me. I wasn’t aware there was a code of conduct for how a wife is supposed to act when learning her beloved husband had faked his death and not only lied to her, but voluntarily spent the past two years away from her.”

      He glared back. “There isn’t. But there is a code of conduct for staying alive. Move!”

      “Right.” She lifted her chin and took off.

      More gunshots. “What the hell are they doing, shooting randomly in the dark?” He cursed. “They’ll hit their own men with the ricocheting bullets. Stupid idiots.”

      The blackness had become absolute. And he didn’t dare light a match. Hands out before him, he felt his way, concrete pillar by concrete pillar.

      “I hope you’re right about this exit. If you’re wrong, we’re trapped here.”

      “Satellite photos are pretty accurate. There should be another hallway here to the left.”

      Bumping