Her Beautiful Assassin

Family Secrets #5

by Virginia Kantra

SUBJECT: Marcus Evans, man or mercenary?
FAMILY HISTORY: United States Navy SEAL; possibly one of the Extraordinary Five.
DEEPEST SECRET: He's been programmed to kill the woman he's sworn to protect.

The brilliant and beautiful ambassador to Delmonico, Samantha Barnes was a key player in international affairs, and someone intended to eliminate her from the game. It was up to Navy SEAL Marcus Evans to watch over her and keep her out of harm's way. But protecting Samantha might be more difficult than anyone had ever imagined. The lethal programming in Marcus's mind had been unlocked and had awakened the assassin within. Forced into hiding, Samantha and Marcus discovered an intense connection that inevitably drew them into each other's arms. Could the powerful passion they shared overcome the demons that plagued him? Or would putting her trust in Marcus ultimately prove deadly?

Five extraordinary siblings,
One dangerous past.
Unlimited potential.

Genres: Romance, Romantic Suspense

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra is the author of thirty books of women's fiction, contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense.

Kindred spirits and Anne of Green Gables fans, look for Anne of a Different Island , coming January 20, 2026.

Her latest release, The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale , a contemporary reimagining inspired by Dorothy's adventures in Oz, follows Kansas graduate student Dee Gale as she flees personal heartbreak and public humiliation to enroll in the writing program at Trinity College Dublin (the Emerald Isle!).

Meg and Jo , a contemporary novel inspired by the classic story Little Women, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and was a People Magazine pick.

Beth and Amy (May 25, 2021) "continues her delightful 21st-century retelling of Little Women...Kantra’s compulsively readable update will attract a whole new group of readers, as well as satisfy Alcott devotees."—Publishers Weekly

Her stories have earned numerous awards including two Romance Writers of America's RITA (R) Awards, ten RITA nominations, and two National Readers' Choice Awards.

Carolina Dreaming, the fifth book in her Dare Island series , won the 2017 RITA (R) Award for Best Contemporary Romance - Midlength and was named one of BookPage's Top Ten Romance Novels of 2016. Her work includes the popular Children of the Sea series and, in e-book format, The MacNeills stories.
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Reviews

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marc Evans has super-human strength, was adopted when he was 10 and has no memory of his life before then. That tells us he's probably one of the extraordinary five. He's also a Navy SEAL and is assigned to protect Delmonico Ambassador, Samantha Barnes. When the director tells him there's a leak in the department and he wants Marc to take Samantha to a safe house for just the two of them, Marc follows orders without question. And so he more or less kidnaps a warily trusting but still put out Samantha. Even though they both know they shouldn't get involved, neither has much of a choice, the chemistry between them is too strong and the time spent getting to know each other has heightened their feelings for each other. When Samantha is nearly killed several times, Marc begins to suspect that even he might not be able to protect her.

This one upped the suspense just a bit more...this was less action suspense and more mental. As Samantha starts encountering death traps around the safe house, the first suspicion is that someone has followed them. But evidence starts mounting and it soon becomes clear that Marc is actually trying to kill her because of subliminal messages and hypnotic suggestion . This added an interesting twist to the story, which was an easy one to figure out after Mr. Director started spouting nursery rhymes. Still, I liked how this impacted their budding relationship and for once, I didn't mind the separation angst. The reunion was well handled too. I guess my only complaint was how quickly Samantha just got over the fact that she'd been kidnapped. It seemed awfully early on to be trusting a new security guy so implicitly. I mean, she still got some jabs in and showed some displeasure, but on the whole, she was pretty accepting. Though, I could see that she had no other option - girl was stuck, but I didn't expect her to be so happy about it. I also wasn't so thrilled with the rather abrupt denouement and ending. I needed more discussion and reaction especially about the pregnancy It was a really good continuation of the series, but I do wish the ending had been drawn out significantly more.

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this authors other works, but was not expecting much from this one. I was surprised. I want to read more of this series. Sometimes a series where each book is by a different artist is good, sometimes it is a big zero. I hope the rest of the series is as good as this one.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the extraordinary five, but one day when he is guarding Samantha and is at the computer he is given a secret signal from someone knows how to do so.

[Mιss •kαthєяίиє• Τhε Emεrαℓd Pяίиcεss® · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly good. At first I thought the summary was a bit too much but the story itself was good enough that you wanted to read it. But still the Proteus program was too far-fetched...