Danger in Paradise (2 page)

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Luke wiped sweaty palms on his jeans as he walked down Duval Street. Even though he’d had practically all day to clear his head, he opted to walk to the restaurant instead of drive. Meeting a woman who could be Maria Santiagos’ twin disturbed him on too many levels. Maria’s twin sister Anna had disappeared twenty-three years ago when she was just five years old.

And he’d never stopped blaming himself for it.

Loud island style tunes blared through the outside speakers as he walked up to the restaurant. The place was completely open and without central air, but a breeze from the Atlantic constantly blew through and huge fans had been set up in the four corners of the establishment.

Customers were three deep at the bar, but he spotted Hope Jennings immediately. He’d be blind not to. Even though she looked exactly like his childhood friend, he’d have noticed her anyway. Her startling pale, bluish gray eyes separated her from the crowd with their intensity. He’d never seen that exact color on anyone.

Except Maria and Sonja Santiago.

And of course Anna.

Though Sonja was Afghani, her skin was ivory pale. Her husband Jose was Cuban and naturally darker. Maria had inherited traits from both her parents and while she had a golden glow year round, the woman he now stared at was a little darker and a lot leaner. Probably because she spent all her time in the sun. Other than those small differences, the two women had to be connected somehow.

His first instinct was to tell the Santiagos about Hope, but he couldn’t get them excited with false dreams. Not after all they’d been through. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, but he’d figure it out before they headed to Miami.

As if she knew she was being watched, Hope scanned the crowd, her eyes like heat seeking missiles. When she spotted him, she waved, dropped a quick kiss on the cheek of the older gentleman next to her, and fought through the throng of people toward him.

“You sure you want to have dinner here?” he shouted above the noise when she finally maneuvered her way through drunk, dancing people.

She just smiled and pointed behind him. “Follow me,” she said.

Or at least that’s what he thought she said.

They pushed through more people until they were outside and away from the mob.

“Where are we going?” he asked when she continued down one of the long wooden docks, away from the restaurant.

“There’s an Irish pub a couple blocks from the marina. It’s a lot quieter. Unless you want to stay here?” She paused and motioned behind them.

“No.” He couldn’t hear himself think, and a nice, quiet dinner with Hope didn’t sound like a bad thing at all. It would give him a chance to pump her for information.

She didn’t say much on their walk so he took the opportunity to steal glances at her profile. She’d worn a dark blue summer dress that tied around her neck and hugged her curves in all the right places. He also noticed she had a nasty scar on her right shoulder. The faded white cobwebbed marking was old, but was stark enough to make him wince. Whatever had happened to her, it had to have hurt. His first guess was a bullet wound, but that didn’t seem likely considering she was a photographer. Even the thought of her being shot made something primal in him stir.

They stopped in front of what looked like an abandoned building.  Hope grinned and opened one of the green doors.

“Trust me, the food here is great. Don’t let the atmosphere fool you.”

“Do we just seat ourselves?” He glanced around the dimly lit restaurant. There weren’t any patrons and everything was green. The walls, the table cloths, even the hostess stand was the hideous color.

“Yes, they’re not busy tonight so I don’t think any hostesses are working.”

He followed Hope and tried not to stare at her too much. He didn’t want to come off like a pervert, but it still freaked him out how much she looked like Maria.

An Irish flag hung on the wall next to the booth they slid into. Though the dark cherry wood had a few nicks, it was definitely high quality.

A dark-haired man wearing a green Hawaiian T-shirt and cargo shorts appeared with two menus. “Can I get y’all drinks?”

“Corona,” Hope said. He’d had her pegged as high maintenance, but that was probably because she looked so much like Maria.

“Same here.”

The man winked at Hope, then looked him up and down with a cold stare before he turned and made his way across the room toward the bar. Seconds later he returned with identical beers.

“Thanks,” Hope spoke to the bartender and took a sip of her beer. “Can you give us a couple minutes?”

Again the man nodded then left them alone.

“Come here often?”

She shrugged. “My dad owns this place and Frank knows what I like.”

“Frank would be the bartender?” The man had disappeared behind the bar and was shouting something at a rugby match on one of the televisions.

“Well, he’s the bartender and manager.”

“So your dad owns this place, too?” He turned back to face her.

“Yes, in addition to the marina and this place, he owns one more restaurant.”

“Is he the man you kissed earlier?” The question slipped out before he could censor himself.

Her dark eyebrows rose, but she answered. “Yep, that’s my dad.”

“You take after your mother?” The man he’d seen her with was about six feet tall, maybe in his fifties, and with his sandy blond hair and green eyes, they didn’t look the least bit related. He knew it was a personal question and normally wouldn’t have asked something like that, but he couldn’t help it. Finding out everything there was to know about Hope had jumped to the most important thing in his life at the moment.

Her pale eyes narrowed. Instead of answering, she glanced at Frank, who was returning to take their orders.

“Y’all need a couple more minutes?” The man’s thick southern drawl hung heavy in the air.

“I want my usual. Luke?”

“I’ll take the special I saw on the board,” he said and nodded at Frank, hoping for some kind of friendly response.

The man grunted at him and took the menus.

“Did I do something to piss him off?”

She chuckled. “He doesn’t like strangers and he really doesn’t like it when I date. You and I know this isn’t a date, but he doesn’t.”

“Look, I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot, so if I’ve done anything to make you feel uncomfortable, let me apologize now. I don’t want my behavior to affect your decision to work for the Santiagos.” He couldn’t let her out of his sight until he knew if she had some sort of connection to them.

A small smile played on her lips. “Okay, you did kind of freak me out earlier, but I had my dad run your information and you check out.”

He nearly choked on his beer. “You had me checked out?” Sure, he’d had one of his guys do a basic check of her too, but it surprised him she’d done the same.

She shrugged and her grin grew even wider. “Yes and I’d do it again. My agent said you were legit, but I wanted to be sure. Okay, let’s get down to business. I want dates, information on where I’ll be staying, the works. I don’t like leaving anything to chance.”

“Well, I spoke to Sonja today and she’s willing to double what she was originally going to pay if you can leave tomorrow.” He waited for a moment as she digested the information. He thought she would have probably gone for it anyway, but his employer was desperate to have Hope and only Hope.

Now he wondered if there was more to Sonja’s insistence than she’d originally let on.

“Double? Why is this so important?” A discernable caution edged her voice.

Hope obviously didn’t trust people and he couldn’t blame her for being wary of him. “The Santiagos will be celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary and Sonja wants to surprise her husband.”

“With pictures?”

He nodded. “Not just pictures. His home has been in their family for generations. Thanks to political contacts, even when Castro took over, they were able to keep their beach front property.”

She let out a low whistle. “People would kill for real estate like that.”

That was an understatement, but he chose not to comment directly. Instead, he gave her a lot more information than he needed to. He figured if he laid everything on the table, she’d realize he wasn’t lying. “Even though they own the property in Cuba, they’ve lived in Jamaica for the past couple decades. They just bought a home in Miami. They’re trying to settle in and she wants to decorate their new home completely in photographs from his family’s ancestral home.”

“Nice wife.”

His voice softened when he spoke. “That she is.” He started to say more when Frank returned with their food.

“When’s their anniversary?” she asked as she picked up her fork.

“In a month.”

“Jeez, no wonder she’s willing to pay double.” She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, then asked, “Is that all?”

 
“No. When you’re through, she also wants you to come to Miami to photograph her and their daughter.”

Her shoulders lifted slightly. “I don’t normally do portraits, but it won’t be a problem.”

He picked up his fork and stabbed a shrimp, hoping his relief wasn’t obvious. Normally he didn’t have a problem hiding his emotions, but her very presence threw him off kilter. “I thought you might have other work lined up, but this is great.”

“Hey, as long as they pay for travel expenses, I wouldn’t mind if they wanted me to go to China.”

“Can you leave tomorrow?”

She nodded and took a bite of her coconut shrimp.

He cleared his throat and continued. “We can either fly into the Bahamas or Jamaica, and then head to Cuba, or we can sail there.”

“Whatever works for you, but sailing is a lot quicker.”

Well that was interesting. He’d expected more of a reaction. “You don’t care that it’s illegal to travel there?”

“Technically it’s not illegal for me to be there. It’s only illegal if I spend money there, and I don’t plan to spend a dime. Our government has a lot more to worry about than American citizens visiting Cuba anyway.” She took another bite of her shrimp and lifted her eyebrows at him.

“I take it you’ve been there before?”

“Sort of. I’ve gone diving off the coast of Cienfuegos a few times.”

“How long have you been diving?”

“I guess about twelve years. I almost drowned when I was fifteen and when Mac…Mac taught me to swim and I literally took to it like a fish.”

She probably didn’t realize it, but her entire expression changed when she talked about her dad, and for a moment, she let him see a softer side. A side he very much wanted to get to know. Luke had to remind himself to breathe as he looked at her. “That’s facing your fears head on.” He took a bite of his shrimp pasta when he realized her age. She was twenty-seven. The same age as Maria.

Something solid settled in his gut. It couldn’t be. The odds of finding Anna now were insane. Now, after years of searching and heartache.

“Luke?” Her voice startled him back to the present.

“What did you say?” How long had he been sitting there?

“Nothing, you’re just looking at that plate of food as if it holds the answers to life.” Her pale eyes danced with laughter and his heart stuttered. Actually stuttered.

Which was all kinds of stupid.

He cleared his throat. “Sorry, I was just thinking we need to get an early start tomorrow if we want to make it by dark.”

“So I take it we’re sailing instead of flying?” 

If it made the Santiagos happy, he’d get on a boat. In fact, it was the only reason in the world he’d do it. “Yes, but only because it’s quicker.”

“Tell me you don’t get seasick.”

He took a bite of his pasta and ignored her question. “I’d like to leave around seven tomorrow if that works for you.”

“Sure. Where’s the boat docked?”

“At your dad’s marina.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you the guy with the new Hatteras?”

“Well technically it’s not mine, but yeah, that’s what we’ll be heading down in.”

“I’m impressed.” She pushed her empty plate away and leaned back in her seat.

Hell, he didn’t even like boats, but hearing her say she was impressed did something to his ego. “What do you say we meet at the docks around seven tomorrow? It’ll give us time to pack up your luggage and I’m sure you’ll have a lot of photography gear.”

She smiled and the sight made something inside him stir with primal awareness. “Perfect.”

Hope slipped off her sandals and curled her feet into the plush carpet of her condo. A couple hours to pack was more than enough time to get ready. Normally she only brought bathing suits and summer dresses when going on long dive trips, and she didn’t plan to bring much more this time.

She automatically tensed as her house phone rang then wanted to curse. She didn’t have caller ID, mainly because everyone she knew called her cell phone, and because her home phone was ancient. If she didn’t need a land line for internet access, she’d get rid of it all together.

After staring at it for a few long seconds she snatched it up. “Hello?”

“How long are you going to be gone this time?”

She relaxed at hearing Mac’s familiar voice, and threw another bathing suit into her bag. “A few weeks, maybe less. How’d you know I’d take the job, anyway?”

“It’s a good opportunity, and you’ve got the travel bug…and it’ll pay your rent for a few months.”

She laughed under her breath. If it wasn’t for Mac, she wouldn’t have put down roots at all. Hell, if it wasn’t for Mac she’d be at the bottom of the ocean. “I’ll bring you back something, I promise.”

“Just bring yourself back and promise to call when you get there. Don’t make me send out a search party.”

Seconds after they disconnected, the phone rang again. She picked up, a grin on her face. “Come on Mac, I promise to call. Lighten up.”

Heavy breathing was the only response.

“Hello?” Her fingers tightened around the phone.

“You think you’re safe? Your time is coming, bitch.” His voice sounded slurred, as if he’d been drinking.

The phone line went dead before she got a chance to respond.

Fear snaked down her spine as she placed the phone back in its holder. Though she was tempted to call Mac, she didn’t. But only because she was leaving in the morning. At least she’d be safe for a month. Once she got back, she’d try to figure out a way to deal with this. She started to throw another bathing suit into her bag, but decided to check her front door one more time. It was locked, so she slid the safety chain in place. It might not give her much extra protection, but it made her feel better.