“Your father doesn’t sound like a very nice man. Sorry.”

“He isn’t a nice man, and there’s no need to apologize.” He linked his fingers in between hers. “He was a rotten father. He never remembered birthdays or gave us much affection. He was gone most of the time, so our housekeeper pretty much raised us after Dad booted our stepmother out for cheating on him.”

She sighed. “I guess we both had pretty rotten childhoods.”

“Yours was worse than mine, honey,” he said softly, smiling at her reaction to the endearment. “I had neglect. You had something a lot worse.”

She nodded. She moved closer to his side. He let go of her hand and slid his arm around her.

“I’ll be a better mother than mine was,” she said quietly.

“I’ll be a better father than mine was,” he returned.

She drew in a long breath. “I forgot to tell you. I have to go out of town this weekend. I wouldn’t go, but I promised.”

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“My best friend is getting married,” she lied. “I promised I’d be her maid of honor.”

“I could drive you,” he offered.

“I’d love that, but she lives in Miami.”

He burst out laughing. “Okay. That’s a little far to drive.” He could have offered her a ride in the family jet. But she didn’t know about him yet. He wasn’t anxious to tell her. He was enjoying being just a man, with his best girl beside him. “I’ll miss you,” he added gently.

She pressed close to his side, just as Old Faithful shot water and steam up into the air. “I’ll miss you, too. But it’s only for a couple of days.”

His arm contracted. “Okay.”

SHE WAS CRAWLING through the underbrush in Nicaragua with her small commando group. They’d adopted her two years earlier when she asked a local man—one who’d retired from duty as a mercenary soldier—a lot of questions about what mercenaries did. So he introduced her to his five old comrades. They were flattered by her curiosity, took her under their collective wings and began taking her out on missions with them through various insect-and snake-infested jungles. They’d taught her the ropes, and now she could handle military hardware right along with them. She learned about covert operations from the ground up, which gave her books a realism that many armchair adventurers couldn’t manage.

Dan handled communications. Reg was their demolition expert. Harlan was the heavy weapon specialist. Ry was the leader and strategic planner of the group, with Craddock as his second in command and small weapons expert. Mina was small weapons backup, and she was proficient with a .45 auto.

On this mission, they were rescuing a small boy who’d been kidnapped by a poor relative of a very wealthy family. He was holding the boy for ransom, and the parents were afraid of local law enforcement. The father knew Ry and phoned him for help. He called in the group.