Heaven Sent

by Rochelle Alers

  Her lashes swept up, her gaze fusing with his as shivers of an awareness passed between them. It had gone beyond the physical urgency to join her body to his. It was now a realization that their future was inexorably entwined, and Serena knew and accepted the reality that the man holding her to his heart would become her husband and the father of her children.

  “Why did you leave him?”

  The quiet sound of his questioning voice startled her. She flashed a nervous smile. “How do you know he didn’t leave me?” she asked, answering his query with one of her own.

  His right eyebrow lifted slightly. “Any man who’d leave you is either insane or a fool.”

  “He became a fool, so I wasn’t given much of a choice.”

  She related the bizarre changes in her ex-husband’s behavior only days into their honeymoon and how he had begun stalking her because he suspected she was involved with other men. Without disclosing Xavier Osbourne’s name, she revealed the terms of her annulment and the legal restraints that were imposed to keep him away from her.

  “He’s never attempted to bother you since the annulment?”

  Serena shook her head. “He may have loved me, but he loves practicing medicine more. There was no way he would’ve jeopardized having his medical license revoked or suspended.”

  What David did not want was a man from her past threatening their future, or a repeat of the scenario that had kept his older brother and sister-in-law apart for ten years.

  A shy smile softened his features. “Do you think you can put up with a scarred, vain, arrogant, frustrated musician-turned-businessman for the next fifty years?”

  She felt a spurt of heated blood rush through her veins as she took a breath of astonishment. Luz Maria had predicted it, but a small part of her hadn’t believed—until now.

  “What are you asking, David Cole?”

  His hands moved from her face to her waist, pulling her flush against the solid strength of his body. “I think you know what I’m asking, Señorita Serena Morris.”

  Her gold-flecked, clear brown eyes locked with his jet-black gaze. “No, I don’t,” she countered, unwilling to make it easy for him.

  A scowl marred his beautiful male face. “Yes, you do.”

  She would not back down. She couldn’t with David, because if she did she would always have to defer to his authoritative personality. He was born into wealth, and was no doubt spoiled. He’d admitted that he was used to winning, and there was no question that he considered her one of his many conquests; she was also aware that she could not escape her destiny, that she would marry him, but she did not want him to think he could negotiate and close the deal on their future within four days of their meeting.

  “Tell me,” she taunted. “You can say everything else that comes to your mind.”

  The words lodged in his throat. What was he afraid of? That she would laugh at him? That she would reject his offer? That she would think him foolish because he’d confused gratitude for something more?

  Swallowing painfully, he forced a dimpled smile. She returned his smile, and in that instant the vain arrogance she’d accused him of claiming returned.

  “I want you to marry me.”

  Serena’s smile faded at the same time her lids fluttered wildly. He’ll make you happier than you can imagine. He will offer you a life filled with things most women only dream about. He will give you your heart’s desire.

  Luz Maria’s words attacked her at the same time she replayed David’s proposal over and over in her head. I want you to marry me.

  “Why me?” she asked, refusing to relent. What frightened her was that Luz Maria’s prophecy had manifested itself within days.

  “Why not you?”

  Her lids flew up and she glared at him. “I asked the question first.”

  David shook his head in amazement. “Why are you so stubborn?” he whispered.

  “I’m no more stubborn than you are,” she retorted.

  “We are going to have very willful children,” he predicted with a wide grin.

  He sobered quickly. “Speaking of children,” she said, “what happened yesterday cannot happen again. I’ll expect you to protect me whenever we sleep together until—”

  “Until what?”

  What she was beginning to feel for David was nothing like she’d felt for Xavier. And she’d believed she loved her ex-husband. With David it was confidence, safety, and security. She knew that once joined to him she would be protected. She was also realistic enough to know that their living together would be volatile and passionate—in and out of bed.

  “Until we’re married,” she whispered.

  He wanted to shout out his joy. She had accepted his proposal. It was a backhanded acceptance, but that did not matter. What mattered was that she was willing to become a part of his life.

  His mint-flavored breath fanned her moist face seconds before his mouth covered hers in a kiss that branded her his possession. Parting her lips, she rose on tiptoe to meet his kiss with her own fiery imprint.

  “Why me?” she asked again, between his soft, nibbling kisses.

  “Why not you,” he mumbled, planting tender kisses at the corners of her mouth. “Because you’re the other half of me. You’re what I need to make me whole. You symbolize what I appreciate most about life—rain, music, and the splendor of the rising sun. Your tears are rain, washing away a fear that leaves a comforting peace. Your body throbs with a rhythm that beats in perfect harmony with mine, and your smile reminds me of the rising sun, so that I look forward to sharing everything I have with you.

  “What I feel with you I’ve never felt with any other woman,” he continued in the musical Spanish she’d come to love listening to. “You wanted to know about someone else seeing the tattoo.” She nodded numbly. “After I got it I felt exposed because of where it is. I did not want to become that vulnerable to a woman. Any woman.”

  “But I’ve seen it.”

  “That should tell you something about the power you hold over me.”

  “I don’t want power, David. I want trust. Without the trust we have nothing.”

  He froze, his expression impassive. “What about love?”

  She blinked once. “That’ll come with time.”

  Nodding, he released her, taking a step backward. “Thank you for accepting me.”

  She also inclined her head. “Thank you for asking.”

  Both had retreated behind a facade of formality, where the shock of what they’d agreed to shook them to their very core.

  Serena gave him a half-smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me I’d like to take a shower.”

  David studied the woman who was to become his wife, committing everything about her to memory before he limped past her and out of her bedroom, closing the door softly behind him.

  Serena didn’t know she’d been holding her breath until she heard the soft click of the lock. “What have I done?” she whispered to the silent space at the same time tears filled her eyes.

  Her brother had been charged with drug trafficking and murder, she’d slept with a man she’d known for three days, her parents were expected home within hours, and it was incumbent upon her to inform them that their houseguest had proposed marriage and that she had accepted.

  “Soy loca.” And she was crazy. As crazy as the events going on behind the closed doors at La Montaña.

  Serena heard the angry sound of her father’s voice before stepping into the living room. He was pleading with his wife, who held her head aloft as she climbed the staircase without giving him a backward glance.

  “You can’t leave me!” Raul shouted to her back.

  Juanita stopped, turned and glared down at his angry features. “I’m not leaving you, Raul. I’m going to my son!”

  “He’s also my son.”

  “What’s going on here?” Raul and Juanita froze, their gazes registering the bewilderment on Serena’s face. “I thought Gabe was going to be released.”

  Raul�
�s hands tightened into fists. “He will not be released.”

  Serena bit down hard on her lower lip. “Why not?” There was no mistaking the tremor in her query.

  Raul’s angry gaze swept from his daughter to his wife. “Because the U.S. ambassador refuses to get involved.”

  “That’s why I’m leaving,” Juanita explained. “My son can’t come to me, so I’m going to him.” Turning, she continued up the staircase at the same time Raul stalked off to his study.

  Serena clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the screams of frustration threatening to escape. No, no, no! She shook her head, refusing to believe what she’d just heard.

  Willing her legs to move, she raced up the staircase and to her mother. The door to the enormous bedroom stood open. As she waited in the doorway watching Juanita Vega rip dresses, blouses, skirts, and slacks from the closet racks, she discerned an emotion in the older woman that she’d seen only once—rage. The other time she’d seen her this enraged was when she thought her husband had hit her daughter and bloodied her nose.

  “What happened, Mother?”

  Juanita gave her a quick glance before she went back to the closet, withdrawing a large Pullman bag. “I’m going to Florida.”

  “Without Poppa?”

  “Sí!”

  “Why?”

  Juanita’s hands stilled as she turned and stared at her daughter. “I don’t want him with me. I can’t accomplish what I need to accomplish with a foreign-born husband in tow.”

  “What are you talking about, Mother?”

  “I’m still an American, while Raul and Gabriel are foreigners in the States. U.S. officials don’t look too kindly on foreigners who commit crimes against their country.”

  “I’m going back with you.”

  “You can’t. I want you to stay with Raul. I don’t want him here alone. As it is, he thinks I’m leaving and never coming back.”

  “But, Mother—”

  “Don’t Mother me, Serena! Please, Baby Girl, don’t add to the madness affecting this family,” she added in a softer tone. “Help me keep nuestra familia together.”

  If her mother wanted her to help keep their family together, then why was she leaving her behind? She’d acknowledged Raul Vega as her father, but the reality was that they shared no blood ties. Juanita and Gabriel were her family.

  She did not know how, but she felt her mother’s pain, pain that had torn her life and her family asunder. “How long will you be gone?”

  Juanita placed a small leather case containing her passport on the bed beside her luggage. “As long as it takes for me to get answers to a few questions, questions that the American ambassador to Costa Rica will not or cannot answer.”

  “Will you call me?”

  Walking over to her daughter, Juanita pulled her close. “I’ll try to call every day.”

  Serena kissed her scented cheek. “Thank you for that.” She forced an artificial smile. “Do you need help packing?”

  “Yes, Baby.”

  It took the two women less than half an hour to pack and double check everything Juanita Vega needed to return to the land of her birth.

  Juanita made her way to the first floor and informed Rodrigo to take her bags out to the car. She had less than two hours to take the commuter plane out of the Limón airport for a flight back to San José, where she would take a connecting one to Miami, Florida.

  Serena waited in the car with Juanita for Rodrigo. The two women were silent, wondering whether Raul would come to see his wife off.

  The seconds slipped into minutes. Serena exited the spacious Mercedes-Benz sedan when the front door to La Montaña opened and only the driver appeared. She did what she had never done before—she silently cursed Raul Cordero-Vega for his stubborn pride.

  Rodrigo took his position behind the wheel, started the engine, and drove off without a backward glance. Serena watched as the car made its way down the curving, winding road, disappearing from view, then turned and walked back to the house.

  Raul walked into David Cole’s bedroom, slamming the door violently behind him. He struggled to control his temper when the American did not move from his lounging position on the bed.

  “I see you’ve recovered very quickly.”

  David’s impassive expression did not change as he stared out across the room. “I had excellent care,” he drawled, his voice a monotone.

  As he crossed his arms over his chest Raul’s features hardened with a sinister grin. “Lucky for you, Señor Cole, because I need you alive and well. I’d like you to make an international telephone call for me.”

  David sat up, swinging his bare feet to the floor. “To whom?”

  “Your father.”

  “My father retired from ColeDiz years—”

  “This has nothing to do with ColeDiz business,” Raul interrupted, his voice escalating with his mounting tension. “This little matter has to do with progeny. A son for a son.”

  David’s forehead furrowed at the cryptic statement. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I want you to call your father and tell him that if my son is not released from that stinking Florida sewer within the next sixty days he will lose his son, body part by body part. I don’t care how he does it, but I want my boy out of that hell-hole.”

  Every nerve within David’s body vibrated with a liquid fire that rendered him unable to move, speak. He couldn’t believe he was being held hostage for crimes Gabriel Vega had committed more than three thousand miles away from where he stood. A slow smile flitted across his battered face when he realized that Raul Vega was crazy, a madman drunk on his own power.

  Resting his hands on his slim hips, he shook his head slowly. “You’re sick.”

  Raul’s face darkened with a rush of blood. “And how do you think your father will feel when I amputate your precious fingers and send him one for each day he exceeds my sixty-day deadline?” He noted David’s expression of horror. “Fingers, toes, ears. I really don’t give a damn, Señor Cole. I’m willing to wager your father will bankrupt ColeDiz to buy and sell the politicians who are responsible for putting my son behind bars if it means getting you back in one piece. And despite your obvious shock, I know you’re going to agree to my proposal, because if you don’t I’ll make certain you’ll never father children. Yes!” he ranted as his eyes took on a glazed look. “I’ll have you castrated before the sun sets on this very day.”

  The fingers Vega threatened to amputate curled into tight fists. David longed to wrap his hands around the man’s throat and squeeze until he pleaded for him to spare his life. And the truth was he would probably spare the lunatic’s life, while Vega would take his as easily as he would swat a bug.

  Folding his arms over his chest, he stared down at the floor before his head came up slowly. A hint of a smile touched his mouth. “You really have a lot of confidence in my father.”

  “What I have is confidence in his name and his money. Enough talk. I’ll bring you a telephone and you will make the call. I shouldn’t have to warn you that what we’ve discussed in this room stays between us. Or else—”

  “Or else you’ll geld me? Or better yet, kill me?” David whispered savagely.

  Raul leaned in close to his face. “I won’t kill you, but when I’m finished with you you’ll pray for me to put you out of your misery.”

  “You would do it? I doubt that, Señor Cordero-Vega. You’re too much of a coward, or too smart, to dirty your hands with murder and mutilation.”

  “That’s for me to know and for you to find out. I can reassure you that I’m not a man without scruples. I’m prepared to make your stay bearable. Everything at La Montaña is at your disposal. Think of it as your home away from home. The only exception is that you won’t be able to leave until I receive confirmation that Gabriel has been released.”

  “And if he isn’t?”

  “Then the drama of an eye for an eye and a son for a son will play out until the final curtain.”

>   David thought about his father’s failing health. Samuel Cole had suffered a life-threatening stroke four years before, and David was certain he would never survive another if he had to undergo the strain of negotiating for the life of his child.

  “I’ll make the call. But not to my father.”

  “If not him, then who?”

  “My brother Martin.”

  Raul’s top lip curled under his neatly barbered, gray mustache. “No good. Call your father.” Turning, he opened the door, walked out, and returned within minutes with a cordless phone.

  David took the instrument, staring at it before dialing the area code for West Palm Beach, Florida. A chill of foreboding numbed him when he heard the break in connection.

  “Cole residence,” came a familiar female voice.

  “Mother, it’s David. I have to speak to Dad.”

  “No ‘how are you’?”

  “How are you, Mother?” he queried impatiently.

  “Well, for an old woman.”

  “You’re not an old woman, and you know it.”

  “When are you coming home?”

  “I don’t know. Mother, please put Dad on the phone.”

  “He’s resting.”

  “Wake him up.”

  “David—what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just need to talk to him.”

  There was a soft sigh before Marguerite Cole spoke again. “I’ll get him.”

  David felt the throbbing pain in his head for the first time in hours. All he’d shared with Serena faded with her stepfather’s threat against his life.

  “David,” came the wavering male voice in his ear.

  “Dad, I want you to listen to me and listen good. I need for you to—”

  His conversation with Samuel Claridge Cole lasted less than two minutes. He pressed a button and ended the call, then flung the phone across the room, bouncing it off the solid mahogany door before it fell to the floor.

  Rage darkened David’s eyes, making them appear even blacker, while Raul gave him a satisfied smile. “Very nice, David,” he stated quietly, using his given name for the first time.