State Secrets

Cookbook author Holly Llewellyn is the last person who should be labeled an "enemy of the state"—or is she?

After all, her brother is a missing traitor, and with her ties to the president, the Secret Service isn't taking chances….

So they send in agent David Goddard, undercover. But after one glance, David knows Holly isn't just an "assignment"—she's a woman who'll change his life.

Assigned to shadow her in Spokane, David enrolls as pupil number thirteen in Fruitcake 101. Scraping mixing bowls and drying copper pans hardly looks like dangerous surveillance—except keeping his professional distance proves impossible once he steps into her kitchen.

Between testing couscous recipes and flying model airplanes in Manito Park with her young nephew, Toby, Holly senses danger behind David's easy charm. Dodging questions about his background seems routine for a federal agent—until her fugitive brother calls, forcing David to choose between his assignment and the family he is falling for.

• Law Enforcement: David is used to guarding the Oval Office, but surveillance on a cookbook author tests every rule in his Secret Service training.
• Forced Proximity: An unexpected dinner invitation and late-night coffee in her South Hill cottage quickly blur the boundary between investigator and protector.
• Family Secrets: Holly will do whatever it takes to shield seven-year-old Toby from the fallout of his father's defection, even when late-night phone calls threaten their fragile peace.
• Holiday Romance: Between snowy afternoons in Manito Park and an invitation to an Inaugural Ball in Washington, festive cheer collides with cold federal reality.
• Also by This Author: Always a Cowboy, Once a Rancher and Country Strong.