Secrets and Seduction: 5 Romance Novels (104 page)

Rick’s words replayed through his mind. Maybe Ileana leaving was the way for their relationship to end without her getting hurt. There was a whole new life awaiting her in Cuba. And men her father would approve of.

That thought irritated him and he kicked up the pace to try and outrun his jealousy. He should be relieved to let her go and tell her he hoped she got the presidency.

Hell, he’d have plenty of problems once he lost several of his biggest customers. He wouldn’t have time to see Ileana if she stayed because he’d be working sixteen-hour days again. But if she left, Ileana’s father was not only going to get to punish Michael through his business but personally, too, by forcing Ileana to Cuba.

If Michael said nothing, Ileana might go and solve one of his dilemmas. On the other hand, if he said he wanted her, it would put her in a dilemma of her own—her family or him, her company or him. That would be cruel. He cared enough about her to want her to achieve her dreams.

“You don’t look like you’re enjoying this,” Ileana noted as they took a right turn to circle the park.

“I was thinking about the clients I’m going to lose. Some of them are irreplaceable.”

Her gaze clashed with his. “Will you survive the exodus?”

“I don’t know.”

• • •

Ileana held Michael’s words close to her heart. She was sure he’d been playing the double entendre game with her.

Between the run, several bouts of lovemaking and the emotional day, she dropped off to sleep immediately within the circle of Michael’s arms.

Deep in the night she was torn from a dream, her heart pounding, breath coming in gasps. She’d sensed Michael was in danger, then she’d heard gunfire. He’d jerked, and dropped, shouting her name. Had he been hit? Would he die of his wounds? She needed to know but the horror of it had woken her before the Sight could show her everything.

What could she do to stop this from happening?

Ileana had to write down the dream before the details faded away. She slipped from under Michael’s arm and felt her way out of his bedroom in the dark. As she walked in the direction of the kitchen, she hoped she wouldn’t knock anything over or make noise loud enough to wake him. She was afraid she’d cling to him and babble incoherently in her fear.

Locating the light switch, she soon found a pad of paper and began to write what she remembered. The place he was standing looked vaguely familiar, although there were no signs on the white wooden building. Michael was wearing a navy suit with a white shirt, but he dressed that way nearly every work day. It was bright, probably sunny, so it had been during the day.

Would the problems someone was causing at his company escalate so that instead of targeting his business someone would target him? Or was that someone’s intention all along? Michael thought he was being softened up for a protection scam. A perfect setup would be to frighten him, or worse, wound him. Unless that someone knew he’d gone to the police. Maybe now Michael was a liability instead of a prospect. Maybe someone planned to send a message to other targets—some form of, “Don’t go to the cops.”

Ileana shook with the cold that gripped her after one of her dreams. But she was also terrified for Michael. She didn’t want anything to happen to him.

Although she wracked her memory, no other clues surfaced. She cursed herself. The Sight never showed her the same dream twice, so she’d have no opportunity to revisit the scene and pay attention.

But Michael had shouted her name. She had been there, too. Some of the buildings around Calderon were made of white wood. If he came to where she worked, that would explain some of the dream.

But he wouldn’t come to Calderon. Their relationship was still a secret. They had no plans to see each other during the day. She stared out the back windows where moonlight reflected off the water. The threat wasn’t immediate because it was dark outside now. Her last dream had given her nearly twenty-four hours’ warning. She’d met Michael less than a day after dreaming he’d become her lover.

Michael planned to return to work tomorrow. He’d been away from the office for a week. She didn’t think she could convince him to take another day off.

And with things so volatile at Calderon, she didn’t believe she’d be able to take a day off to shadow him. But would he heed a warning from her? She had to try.

Ileana didn’t think she’d be able to sleep any more tonight. If she was at her house, there would be plenty to do. But she wanted to be here in the morning to warn Michael, so she had to stay.

His kitchen was gleaming and modern. Michael had simple taste in food. He liked fresh food, easy preparation, usually healthy, often grilled. It was a man’s kitchen, and yet she had no difficulty picturing herself here, making her mother’s favorite Cuban recipes. Ileana didn’t cook often herself, usually only on weekends, but when she did she liked to make quantities of food and freeze it.

The rest of the house lay in darkness. She could hear a clock ticking somewhere. Eventually, the regular ticking and the encroaching darkness soothed her nerves enough for her to try sleeping. She craved being in Michael’s arms.

Ileana turned off the light and felt her way back to Michael’s bed. He lay fire warm on the sheets, breathing softly. She’d lost her chill by now, so she slid in beside him and slowly snuggled her back up against him. He moved and his arm slipped around her. He exhaled into her hair and lay still once more.

She vowed to protect him, whatever the cost.

• • •

In the morning, Ileana told Michael her dream as they dressed to go to work.

“Was I hurt?”

“I don’t know. I told you, I woke myself up.”

“It was just a dream. You have a lot of worries on your mind right now. They manifested in your sleep.”

“No. It was the Sight. You know I have it. I can tell the Sight from a regular dream. It’s much more vivid.”

“Ileana, I’m not a believer.”

“But your sisters-in-law both have some special ability.”

“I don’t have to believe what they do just because they married my brothers.”

Ileana hadn’t considered he would doubt her. But she had to keep trying. “Will you promise to be especially careful today?”

“There’s no reason.”

She told him her suspicions from last night. “It could be the people who left the dead woman at your warehouse. They killed her. What’s to keep them from coming after you?”

“My business hasn’t been bothered since I involved the police. Whatever the cops are doing is working.”

“Can’t you do it because it will make me happy?”

Michael smiled suddenly and it transformed his face. “I’m all for pleasing you.”

Ileana pinched his butt. “It’s all about sex with you.”

“Can you blame me? We’re great together.”

She wished he meant that another way. “Yes, we are. Dinner tonight?”

“I need to go to the hospital tonight.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Michael hesitated. “All right. We’ll go as soon as you get here. We can eat later.”

Ileana kissed him long and hard before she left. “Be careful.”

“I will.”

• • •

Desiree walked into Michael’s office soon after she arrived at work. “I’ve been watching the news. Cubans are talking about going home. We’ve got Cuban clients. Have you heard anything from them?”

“Yes. They’re planning to emigrate. Calderon will go first. The others look to Calderon. I don’t know if any of them will keep a presence here or not. Calderon probably won’t.”

She sat in his client chair. “How are we planning to react?”

“I’m sure clients will sell their businesses. We’ll need to have the clients introduce us to the new buyers to make sure they continue to buy from us. And we’ll need to find other new clients. I found some prospects on my last business trip I haven’t had time to pursue.”

Desiree frowned and shook her head. “It’s crazy. They’re Americans. Why would they want to leave the greatest country in the world?”

“The older Cubans weren’t born here. They were forced from their homeland. They didn’t leave willingly. They want to go home.”

“You sound like you understand them.”

Michael rubbed his face. He did understand wanting to go back to an earlier time and place. “Walk a mile in someone’s shoes, they say.” Which gave him an idea.

“Why don’t you come with me to the Front Street warehouse? I want to check out the shipment of goods that just arrived. We can stop for lunch in Little Havana, get an idea how Cubans feel about Castro and Cuba. I’ll see if one of our Cuban clients can meet us and provide a native guide, so to speak.”

“That would be wonderful. Thanks, Michael. And maybe we can try to convince the client to stay.”

Since he was going to invite Ileana to lunch, he knew Desiree didn’t stand a chance, but he made a noncommittal sound.

Ileana accepted his invitation with alacrity and gave him directions to her favorite local eatery in Little Havana. He warned her he was bringing his assistant with him. Ileana responded by warning him they would more than likely run into people she knew there.

Miami traffic was unusually heavy for mid-morning. The traffic report cited Cuban celebrations.

“I think we’re seeing exactly how Cubans feel about what happens in their homeland,” Michael told Desiree.

“I’ve lived in Miami my whole life. I knew we had a large Cuban population, but I never thought much about them. I’ve only visited Little Havana once while I was in college.”

“I think they want cultural separation.” He’d found that out firsthand during Ileana’s father’s threatening visit.

The new goods from Indonesia proved to be mostly mundane. Tourists would buy them because they had Miami’s name pasted on them, but Michael wanted something more from the goods he handled. The supplier’s samples had led him to expect more.

Desiree echoed his thoughts. “Nothing exceptional in this lot.”

“I know. I’m going to have to make a buying trip overseas.” He always went alone, but Desiree had shown a natural aptitude for the business. Perhaps it was time she learned more of it.

“Could you leave Jamal and Tyrell for a couple of weeks?” Her son was only four.

Desiree’s face lit with wonder and delight. “You’d take me with you?” She was an extraordinarily beautiful woman with an equally extraordinary intelligence. His friend was a lucky man.

“You’ve become a great asset to me, in case I haven’t told you lately.”

Her smile was smug. “You haven’t. And thanks, for the compliment and the trip. I’ll talk to Jamal tonight.”

Michael watched her knowledgeable fingers touch the different items, while the look on her face assessed them. When he’d hired her as a favor to Jamal, he thought she’d simply take up the slack on the office duties he could no longer do. But her curiosity about the business had led her to delve deeper into business operations. One day soon he was going to have to discuss her aspirations and a bigger role for her.

Desiree displayed some of that knowledge in her next statement. “We may want to visit Malaysia, too. I’ve heard some good things about their products. I’ll do some research.”

“I’d like to spend a couple of days in Singapore to find some more exceptional pieces,” he said.

“Singapore.” Her look was wistful. “Jamal would love to see it.”

“Maybe he can fly out at the end of our trip and the two of you could spend a few days together.”

“That sounds wonderful. The logistics are something else, though. A sitter, the cost of airfare, him getting time off work.” She sighed, seemingly daunted for the moment. Michael knew she’d rally because she was so upbeat.

“You have a passport, right?” he asked.

She nodded. “Jamal and I went to Mexico before Tyrell was born. I’ll have to get it updated. How soon will I need it?”

Michael kept his personal life separate from business. He was the boss after all. But she might know some things from Jamal. And if they were going to spend several weeks together overseas, they’d have to talk about something other than work.

“I have some personal things going on right now. My mother.” He waited.

“Jamal told me her cancer returned. I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. She had surgery yesterday. Her second mastectomy. She’ll start chemo soon. I don’t want to leave until I know she’s stable.”

“I’ll get started on my passport. It should be ready by the time you are.”

“Good.” And if the Calderons began shifting business and personnel to Cuba during that time, the timing couldn’t be better for a buying trip. It would keep his mind occupied and keep him away from his home and his soon-to-be-single bed. Now that Rick was involved with their parents, Michael could make several buying trips. By this time next year he could be used to sleeping alone.

Yeah, right
.

Their drive from the warehouse to the restaurant tested Michael’s patience. Traffic was in near gridlock. He was sure most of the 650,000 Cubans in Miami were here in Little Havana. Crowds thronged the sidewalks waving two kinds of flags—one was American. He assumed the other was Cuban.

He called Ileana to warn her they might be late. She said she was in gridlock, too, and would wait for them if she arrived first.

Michael turned off the car’s air conditioning and rolled down the windows. Desiree stared out hers in rapt curiosity. Horns honked a merry tune. People chanted in Spanish and English, “Free Cuba!” He heard firecrackers explode, and bottle rockets being shot off. On one corner, a group of young people were dancing.

“My God!” Desiree breathed.

They passed two separate TV crews, their microwave trucks transmitting the amazing scene to viewers. Michael glanced at his watch to see they were already thirty minutes late. He wondered if they would even find an empty table anywhere in Little Havana. Or a parking spot.

Luck or fortune must have guided Ileana’s choice of restaurant. It was a whitewashed wooden building a block off the main street with a parking lot behind it where most revelers wouldn’t look. Michael waited for crowds to cross the sidewalk before he could pull into the lot. It looked full, but he found an open spot. He unlocked his hands from the steering wheel with relief. Debating the wisdom of wearing his suit coat, he left it on in case the air conditioning was set too low.