Texas Hero

Texas Hero
Merline Lovelace

Talk about reinventing himself! Once Jack Carstairs had nearly been drummed out of the Omega Agency–all for falling for the beautiful and powerful woman he'd been assigned to protect. Now the crackerjack agent was back, protecting that same woman–and getting ready to move in for the kill. Or to prevent the kill, as the case might be.And it was. For Jack's current assignment was to protect lovely Ellie Alazar–historian extraordinaire, whose doubts about the heroes of the Alamo were evidently not sitting well with whoever was taking potshots at her. Once Ellie had been Jack's whole world. Now she was targeted for rewriting the past, and Jack couldn't help but wonder: Could she also rewrite their past–only this time, with a happy ending?

CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR

MERLINE LOVELACE

“Merline Lovelace is the brightest new star in the romance genre. Each new book is an adventure.”

—New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

“Ms. Lovelace delivers sizzling romantic adventure in the finest tradition and leaves us begging for more.”

—Romantic Times, on Night of the Jaguar, from the original CODE NAME: DANGER miniseries

“You won’t want to wait for the next book in this four-part series!”

—The Paperback Forum, on the original CODE NAME: DANGER miniseries

“…One of the best dramatic and heart-throbbing miniseries to hit the bookshelves in ages.”

—Affaire de Coeur, on the original CODE NAME: DANGER miniseries

“Full of spine-tingling adventure à la James Bond, but Ms. Lovelace doesn’t let that overshadow the tension-filled romance.”

—Genie Romance Exchange, on Perfect Double, from the original CODE NAME: DANGER miniseries

Texas Hero

Merline Lovelace

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

MERLINE LOVELACE

spent twenty-three years as an Air Force officer, serving tours at the Pentagon and at bases all over the world before she began a new career as a novelist. When she’s not tied to her keyboard, this RITA

Award-winning author and her husband of thirty years, Al, enjoy traveling, golf and long lively dinners with friends and family. Be sure to watch for Once a Hero, the next in the CODE NAME: DANGER miniseries, in Intimate Moments.

Merline enjoys hearing from readers and can be reached through Harlequin’s Web site at www.eHarlequin.com.

This book is dedicated to my own handsome hero, who I first met in the shadow of the Alamo.

Many thanks for all those wonderful San Antonio memories, my darling.

Contents

Prologue

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

Epilogue

Prologue

“Thank God for air-conditioning!”

Swiping a forearm across his dirt-streaked forehead, the tall, flame-haired grad student followed his team leader into the welcoming coolness of San Antonio’s Menger Hotel.

“If I’d had any idea how muggy it gets down here in July,” he grumbled, “I wouldn’t have let you talk me into assisting you on this project.”

“Funny,” the woman beside him responded with a smile, “I seem to recall a certain Ph.D. candidate begging me to let him in on the dig.”

“Yeah, well, that was before I realized I’d be branded as a defiler of history and practically run out of Texas on a rail.”

Elena Maria Alazar’s smile faded. Frowning, she shifted the strap of her heavy field case from one aching shoulder to the other and stabbed at the elevator buttons. Eric’s complaints weren’t all that exaggerated. He and everyone else working the project had come under increasingly vitriolic fire in recent days.

Dammit, she shouldn’t have allowed the media to poke around the archeological site, much less elicit a hypothesis as to the identity of the remains found in the creek bed. She was an expert in her field, a respected member of the American Society of Forensic Historians, for pity’s sake! She headed a highly skilled team of anthropologists and archeologists. She knew better than to let her people discuss their initial findings with reporters. Particularly when those findings held such potentially explosive local significance.

She couldn’t blame anyone but herself for the howls of outrage that rose when the San Antonio Express-News reported that Dr. Elena Alazar, niece of Mexico’s President Alazar and professor of history at the University of Mexico, was rewriting Texas history. According to the story, Ellie had found proof that legendary William Barrett Travis, commander of the Texans at the Alamo, hadn’t died heroically with his men as always believed. Instead, he’d run away from the battle, was hunted down by Santa Anna’s troops and was shot in back like a yellow, craven coward.

Ellie and her team were a long way yet from proving anything, but try telling that to the media! The Express-News wasn’t any more interested in running a disclaimer than a correction to identify her as a professor of history at the University of New Mexico. Never mind that Ellie had been born and raised in the States. To the reporter’s mind—and to the minds of his readers—she was an outsider attempting to mess with Texas history.