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Heaven Sent (Hideaway (Kimani), 4) - Softcover

Buch 4 von 15: Hideaway Legacy

Alers, Rochelle

 
9780373831906: Heaven Sent (Hideaway (Kimani), 4)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0373831900 ISBN 13: 9780373831906
Verlag: Harlequin Kimani Arabesque, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

With her half brother serving time in an American prison for a crime he didn't commit, Serena Morris-Vega returned to her childhood home of Costa Rica to help her influential stepfather obtain his son's freedom. But when a mysterious stranger shows up on the Vega estate, close to death, Serena discovers that the secrets surrounding his true identity not only strike very close to home, but also prove to be dangerously seductive….

Corporate CEO David Cole is struggling to remember what happened only a few days before. The only thing he is sure of is that the gratitude he feels toward Serena for saving his life is igniting an all-consuming passion. But soon, one man's vendetta could force David and Serena into a daring game of deception. And as they struggle to trust each other, they must go beyond the bounds of law and duty to save themselves—and a love that promises forever….

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Hailed by readers and booksellers alike as one of today's most popular African-American authors of women's fiction, Ms. Alers is a regular on bestsellers list, and has been a recipient of numerous awards, including the Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing and a Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award.  Visit her Web site www.rochellealers.com  

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June 14

San José, Costa Rica

David Claridge Cole felt the jet losing altitude, but he did not stir. He sat, eyes closed, his chest rising and falling heavily from the change of pressure within the descend ing aircraft. The set of his strong jaw and the vertical lines between his eyes marred the normally attractive face of the musician-turned-business man. He wanted to be anywhere but on a plane flying to Costa Rica in the middle of June.

A slow, crooked smile replaced his frown as he recalled the prior evening's festivities. It had been a long time, too long, since he had enjoyed a night filled with music, sumptuous food, and celebrating that lasted until pinpoints of light from the rising sun pierced the cover of the night time sky.

He had been the best man in a wedding party, and the reveling following the ceremony had reminded him of how much he missed a life-style that had been a never-ending party. As the percussionist for the popular jazz band Night Mood, he lived nights and days measured by recording sessions, live performances, and promotional parties and tours. He'd been on a dizzying merry-go-round that he never wanted to get off.

But it all stopped when his older brother Martin resigned as CEO of ColeDiz International Ltd. to embark on a political career. He had been expected to take over the responsibility of the day-to-day operation of the family-owned export company. He'd even surprised himself, once he learned all of the laws and regulations regarding export tariffs as well as environmental sanctions and controls.

He'd assumed control of ColeDiz at twenty-seven and now, at thirty-six, he wanted out. Running ColeDiz for nine years had offered him the experience he needed for a future undertaking. It wasn't that he minded being a businessman. However, he didn't want to have to concern himself with the fluctuating prices of bananas or coffee. What he wanted to do was focus his energies on discovering new musical talent. The idea of setting up his own recording company had come to him more than a year ago, and the notion grew stronger each time he boarded the corporate jet for a business trip.

His last meeting with Interior Minister Raul Cordero-Vega had not gone well. What should have been a civil meeting ended with a hostile verbal confrontation. David hadn't waited for the corporate jet to fly him back to Florida, but had taken a commercial flight instead. Vega had threatened to increase the tariffs on bananas for the second time in less than a decade, because he claimed the plastic casings used to protect the fruit during harvesting were found in the digestive tracts of turtles washed up along the Costa Rican coast line. Environmentalists were pressuring the government to fine or expel the foreign-owned companies, and Vega's solution was to double the already enormously high tariffs.

Martin Cole's last act as CEO had been to transfer many of the ColeDiz ventures to Belize, while leaving the conglomerate's most productive banana plantation near Puerto Limón. And after conferring with Martin and his father Samuel, David was given the go-ahead to negotiate the sale of their one remaining Costa Rican business enterprise.

He opened his eyes, his smile widening. This was to be his last trip to the Central American country. Under another set of circumstances he would have enjoyed the lush nation filled with more than fifty active volcanoes, because the region was beautiful and so were its people. They were a warm, polite, and friendly exotic mix of native Indians, Spanish, and people of African descent.

Estimat ing it would take him less than two weeks to conclude his business dealings with Vega, he felt some of his resentment waning as the sight of the San José airport came into view.

Pain, frustration, and fatigue were clearly etched on the face of Interior Minister Raul Cordero-Vega, aging the man. Two weeks before, anyone glancing at the tall, erect, graying man would not have taken him for sixty-two. Now he appeared to be ten years older. That morning he'd received a telephone call telling him that his only child, a son, had been arrested and charged with drug traffick ing and the murder of a United States DEA agent. This bit of news had torn his world asunder.

Gabriel Diego Vega was locked away in a U.S. prison and denied bail because the prosecutor feared he would leave the States and not return for his trial. Not even the high-priced lawyer Raul had retained to handle his son's case could get the judge to change his decision, though he pleaded that Gabriel would willingly surrender his Costa Rican passport.

So much for American justice, Raul seethed silently. A surge of rage darkened his brown face at the same time his hands tightened into fists. While his son languished in the bowels of an American prison, other known criminals ran rampant through the streets thumbing their noses at U.S. justice. Men who were known to openly engage in illegal activities felt the warmth of the morning sun and enjoyed the smell of fresh air while Gabriel lay in a small concrete jail cell on a narrow cot inhaling the stench from his open commode.

"Not my son!" he whispered to the empty room. Not the child he'd waited thirty-six years to father.

A sharp knock on the door dis turbed his turbulent thoughts. "Come in!" There was no mistaking the harshness in the command. The door opened slowly and his eyes widened in surprise. She had disobeyed him. He'd told her not to come to Costa Rica. She was to have remained in the States—with Gabriel. She was all his son had there.

Large, clear-brown eyes took in the thunderous expression on the face of the tall, white-haired man. At one time that expression would've sent her running from his celebrated temper, but no longer. She was thirty years old, a grown woman. The tyrant she had once feared was gone forever, and in his place a broken man. Serena could see her stepfather hurting. What he was feeling at that moment, she also felt. Raul had lost a son and she her half brother.

Holding out her arms, she walked slowly into his study. "Poppa." Her normally husky voice shook with raw emotion. "I had to come."

Raul crossed the room and pulled her gently to his chest. Burying his face in her wealth of unruly curls, he held her close, feeling the trembling in her tiny body. "I told you to stay, Chica. I told you to stay because Gabriel needs you."

Pulling back slightly, Serena blinked back the tears flooding her large round eyes. "Gabe wouldn't see me."

Raul frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He refuses to see me."

His frown deepened. "Why?"

Serena shook her head, a riot of reddish-brown curls moving as if they'd had taken on a life of their own. "I don't know. I spoke to his attorney, and he says that Gabe doesn't want to talk to anyone except those who are his legal counsel." She sniffled, bringing a tissue to her pert nose. "I'm his sister, and he won't see or talk to me."

Embracing her again, Raul brought her head to his chest. "Whatever you do, don't breathe a word of this to your mother."

"How is she holding up?"

"Not well. She won't leave her room."

Extracting herself, Serena paced the length of the carpeting lining the expansive room. "I don't understand any of it, Poppa. Gabe called me and said he was going down to the Keys—"

"What keys?" Raul interrupted.

Remembering that her stepfather was not an American, and that he was not familiar with the terminology, she smiled for the first time in two weeks.

"The Florida Keys. He told me that he and a friend were going on a sailing expedition down to the...

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Verlag
Harlequin Kimani Arabesque
Erscheinungsdatum
2010
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0373831900
ISBN 13 
9780373831906
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
320
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