In 2002, Mark Vincent, onetime senior special agent, ran into John, a troubled little boy, at a local McDonald’s. Concerned, although it wasn’t his business, he gave the kid his business card and left. Three years later, Mark is director of his department at the WBIS and married to Quinton Mann, the former CIA spook who now writes spy novels. They’ve settled into a life of quiet domesticity and are even considering adopting a cat. All this changes when John, now using another name, barrels into Mark’s life with a secret no one expects and on the run from an organization that wants him despite the collateral damage. What will Mark, the man known as “the best” in the intelligence community, do when he learns what this secret is? Will it affect his relationship with Quinn? And how complicated are things going to get when Mark decides to get involved?

Mann of My Dreams Book 5: Complications

I’D BEEN TO ANY number of black tie affairs, so I wasn’t surprised by the elaborate setting my publisher had arranged, especially since it wasn’t quite as impromptu as I’d been led to believe. The numerous tables had vases with elegant sprays of spring flowers as their centerpieces. An open bar offered high-end liquor, and food stations provided seafood, vegetarian dishes, and pasta selections. In addition, there was a carving station with a choice of prime rib, pork loin, or turkey, as well as another offering venison or buffalo.


Off in a corner, a string quartet played “Gliding Dance of the Maidens” from Borodin’s “Polovetsian Dances.”


I wasn’t in the mood to…schmooze, as Mark had put it, so I filled a plate with slices of roast pork, steamed vegetables, and a scoop of mashed potatoes covered with gravy. A server holding a tray with a lone champagne flute approached.


I gave her a cool smile. “Thank you, no.”


Chapter 40