A Clandestine Affair by Wayne Joanna

Author:Wayne, Joanna [Wayne, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-04-09T01:23:27+00:00

JACI HADN’T FALLEN ASLEEP AGAIN until the first rays of the sun had begun to melt away the grayness of dawn. Strangely, it hadn’t been thoughts of the body in the water but memories of Raoul’s lips brushing hers that took the most blame for keeping her awake.

The kiss had been surprising, but not nearly as unexpected as the titillating thrill that had coursed through her like a tidal wave. And it wasn’t even that much of a kiss. More like a brush of lips that he’d backed away from before it got started.

The kiss had been a fluke, and so had her reaction to it—some kind of arousal brought on by her shaky emotional state. Wouldn’t her mother have a field day with that explanation?

Not that any of it mattered. Jaci had far more im portant things to worry about than almost kisses. For one thing, it was pretty certain now that her imagination had been working overtime last night. And if that was the case, she had to get hold of her emotions immediately.

There was no place in forensics for that sort of hysteria. Her professor would be appalled. Carlos had been livid.

But as disapproving as the old caretaker had been last night, he’d come though this morning. He’d been hard at it a little after 7:00 a.m., scooping out trash with a long-handled net. He’d pulled out lots of gunk, but nothing that even resembled a body.

Jaci dropped into one of the white wicker chairs and began to flip through pages of notes she’d made on the Santiago family.

Her information about the children’s mother was extremely limited and not all that reliable, having come from a series of articles written about Andres Santiago’s involvement with the Central American drug culture, and published in a now defunct South American periodical. Fortunately, Jaci read Spanish, though not all that fluently.

The mother of the Santiago children, the first Mrs. Andres Santiago, had died giving birth to their only son. The son became the joy of Andres’s life.

Three and a half years later, Andres married Medina, the daughter of a Central American dictator who’d been overthrown in a military coup.

Her father, General Norberto, had been executed along with his wife and only son. Medina escaped only because Carlos Lazario, a first lieutenant in the general’s army, managed to sneak her out of the capital.

Andres smuggled them both out of their war-torn country. A few weeks later, he’d married Medina and brought both her and Carlos to Cape Diablo.

Shortly thereafter, the eighteen-year-old Alma Garcia was brought to the island to become nanny for the three Santiago children. Her father, who’d worked for Andres, had been slain in a battle with pirates trying to take over a shipment of illegal drugs headed to Miami.

Jaci was once again struck by the irony that Alma Garcia and Carlos, the last to arrive, and with no blood ties to Andres Santiago, were the only ones who remained on Cape Diablo.

With them on her mind, Jaci walked to the window and stared out at the villa.

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