CHLOE AND CRISTIÁN ARRIVED EARLY at the new Government House. They made their way to the upper level of the three-story complex built into the side of the mountain, overlooking the sprawling city of Pascuallita.
“It’s impressive,” Cristián said, for this was the first time he had seen the building in person. “It doesn’t look this big on the media.” The international news outlets had been babbling about the low-impact design of the building for weeks.
“It runs back into the mountain quite a way,” Chloe said, lifting the hem of her ballgown up so she could climb the sweeping stairs. “It gave the engineers fits. Only, now it’s done and world leaders want to come and check it out, they’re all puffed up as if they knew what they were doing.” She laughed. “Duardo is letting them get away with it, too. He says they must answer all the math questions, so they should be compensated for it.”
A private lounge room was located on the top level, behind the President’s office suite. Military guards came to attention as they approached the doors and one reached out with a gloved hand to open the door for them.
Cristián raised his brow again.
“You’ll get used to it,” Chloe said.
“I hope not,” Cristián said fervently.
There were already many people in the lounge room, all of them familiar faces.
Duardo came forward, his arms out. He was wearing his formal dress uniform with the starched shirt front but hugged them both anyway. “You made it,” he said to Cristián. “How did the book tour go?”
“Frantically,” Cristián admitted. “It got to where I had to check my phone to remember which city I was in.”
“He reached number three on the New York Times list this morning,” Chloe added.
Duardo rested his hand on Cristián’s shoulder. “The Minister of Agriculture actually quoted you, last week, right there in the cabinet room.”
Cristián grinned. “I wrote it to keep you on your toes, brother.”
Duardo nodded. “Because four heads of state sitting at my dinner table tonight won’t do that.”
“Mexico, United States, and…?”
“Canada and Argentina.” Duardo’s smile was easy. “They’re not here because I won the election again. They’re here for the deals they can make tomorrow. I keep reminding myself of that, so I can focus on shifting them away from resources to services.”
“They still want the silver,” Cristián summarized. “I have been away too long. They don’t want the new computer chips?”
The chips used Vistarian silver and were built in a factory on the west coast. More factories were being built to meet the growing demand.
“They will want them once we show them what phones can do when they have one of our chips,” Chloe said.
Adán Caballero moved up to Duardo’s side. “Cristián! You’re back!”
“Oh, hey, you forgot the other head of state at your dinner table, Duardo,” Cristián said. He shook Adán’s hand. “Congratulations on the Oscar, Adán. Again.”
Parris Graves floated over to join them. She wore a soft green chiffon ballgown, and her hair was loose and curling over her shoulders. Bright red lipstick finished the outfit.
Chloe nudged Cristián with her elbow as he stared at Parris.
Parris laughed. “I know, it’s not fatigues,” she admitted. “Or dress blues.”
“Do you still wear a uniform even at the White House?” Chloe asked curiously. “Aren’t you an advisor now?”
“Military Intelligence advisor,” Adán said proudly.
“Which means I still must prove to the officers in the room I have bigger balls than them. The Colonel pips really help with that.”
“It floors me no one has connected you two together, still,” Cristián said. “They’re still calling Adán an eligible bachelor.”
Parris laughed. “He never was that, even when he was single.”
Adán laughed.
“Is that…Garrett, over there?” Cristián asked, looking at the clean shaved sandy-haired man in a tuxedo and blinking. “Wow, he looks different!”
“He’s a walking testament to his own therapies. There’s virtually no scarring on his face anymore,” Chloe said.
Duardo nodded. “He’s started a new tourist trade with his therapy center up in the mountains. They’re booked over a year ahead on elective surgeries for non-Vistarians, despite raising the price a dozen times over to control the demand.” He waved at Garret, who nodded.
Garrett moved around the edges of the lounge room. On the way, he picked up Carmen’s hand. Carmen excused herself from the group she stood with. Calli and Nick, who were also part of the group, looked up. Calli smiled and tugged on Nick’s jacket and the two of them came over to where Cristián and Chloe stood.
“You were looking grim,” Duardo told Garrett. “Problems?”
Carmen sighed.
Garrett glanced around the small group. “It’s all family here,” he told Carmen.
She pursed her lips. “I just found out. I’m pregnant.”
Chloe frowned. “And that’s a problem?” she asked gently.
“You live in the most peaceful medical center in the world up there,” Calli pointed out. “Nothing could go wrong.”
“Except I don’t know how to raise babies! I’ve never even held one,” Carmen admitted in a rush.
Duardo laughed and put his arm around her. “I’ll have Minnie teach you.” He looked over her head and waved again.
Minnie joined the group, her hand on her extended belly. She glowed, as usual. Carmen sighed again.
Duardo drew Minnie around to his side. “Carmen is pregnant and worried.”
“Really? That’s wonderful!” Minnie said. “You’ll love being a mother.”
“That’s fine for you to say,” Carmen shot back. “You’ve had fifteen kids already.”
“Three,” Minnie countered gently. “This will be four.” She shook her head. “I didn’t think I was ready, either. It just works out.” She frowned slightly. “Although, I’m surrounded by kids and mothers all day, so there’s that.”
“You’re still working with war survivors, Minnie?” Cristián asked.
Minnie gave a small smile. “As long as there are survivors who need help, I’ll keep working with them and kicking Duardo’s butt to get the right services in place for them.”
“Playgrounds is the latest,” Duardo muttered, looking stressed.
Minnie rested her hand on Carmen’s wrist. “You’ll be fine. You’ll see.”
“I suppose I will,” Carmen said. “There’s no going back now.”
Garrett laughed and kissed her temple. “I do know how to change a diaper,” he reminded her.
Carmen looked thoughtful. “Hmmm…”
Cristián frowned. “Where are Danny and Olivia? Are they here tonight?” he asked Duardo.
“My new Foreign Minister is in Europe with her husband,” Duardo said. “A diplomatic tour.”
“I guess that’s the classic euphemism,” Cristián said. He looked around the group as everyone smiled. “Come on. Daniel’s ‘something’ in government and follows Olivia everywhere. You’re telling me he’s not running Duardo’s intelligence department?”
Duardo gripped his shoulder. “It’s good to have you back home, prodding everyone out of their complacency.”
A chime sounded and Calli looked up. “Dinner in ten minutes,” she called, lifting her voice so it would travel across the big room. “Everyone but Duardo needs to find their seats.”
Cristián rolled his eyes. “You get to make an entrance, big brother?”
“Believe me, it is not my idea,” Duardo breathed.
Cristián met his gaze. “You’ll be fine,” he murmured.
Chloe slid her hand into Cristián’s. “I’m not quite fine, though,” she whispered into his ear.
Cristián glanced at her, startled.
Chloe nodded. “April,” she said softly.
Cristián drew in a slow, slow breath, an
d let it out. “God, it’s so good to be home.” He pulled her into his arms. “Think we can figure out how to raise a child?”
Chloe considered for a moment. “If he or she is anything like either of us, we’re in deep, deep trouble.”
*
NICK DREW CALLI OUT ONTO the slender balcony at the top of Government House. It overlooked Pascuallita and the lowlands. The sea was a dark curve on the horizon. “The view here really is spectacular,” he said, sliding his arm around her waist. “I’m glad Minnie insisted it be put in the design. The perspective is humbling.”
“I think that was the point,” Calli said. “We used to sit on the little balcony at the big house in Acapulco, watch the sea and worry about you and Duardo and the others…I think Minnie meant for us to never forget it.”
Nick let out a breath. “It makes me think of how it all began. It underlines just how far we’ve come in five years and all of it has come about because one man is directing a tiny group of people. Serrano was so wrong about everything.”
“Serrano wasn’t humble enough,” Calli said. “Although you have your share of arrogance, el leopardo.”
Nick laughed. “Not nearly as much as I used to. That’s what the war taught me. It’s not about power, in the end. It’s about people.” He turned her and put both arms around her. “And it started with you.”
“If that’s an oblique reminder that I started the war, Escobedo, then you’re ruining your chances of sleeping in my bed tonight.”
Nick smiled. “I wasn’t even thinking about the war. I was thinking about all the changes which have happened—to me, and in me. They’re good changes and none of them would have happened if you hadn’t got yourself arrested the night of the Festival.” He touched his lips to hers, lightly. “Although, if you want to feel responsible about something, then consider this. If you had not dashed to Vistaria to help your uncle keep Minnie company, then every single person standing in Duardo’s lounge room tonight would not be here.”
Calli considered it. “Minnie wouldn’t have met Duardo. Daniel wouldn’t have been at the Whitesands with Olivia. Garret wouldn’t have been helping the rebels, so Carmen wouldn’t have met him. Adán wouldn’t have come back to Vistaria to help and run into Parris, so he would have gone on alone. Chloe wouldn’t have come here to find Cristián because he went silent…” She shivered. “Oh lord, I hadn’t thought of it like that.”
“All your fault,” Nick whispered. “Thank God.”
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More Romantic Suspense
by Tracy Cooper-Posey.
V-Day was the final book in the Vistaria Has Fallen series.
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Dead Double¸ part of the Romantic Thrillers collection.
The woman he must now protect looks exactly like the one he once hated.
An Iranian physics genius in hiding wants to give the west his world-changing theories, but will only give them to Micky Wilde, whose beauty once charmed him. The only problem? Micky is dead. Logan Wilde involved his wife in his grim business and it got her killed. For Logan the guilt runs deep.
Sahara Taylor-Hughes is a San Francisco beachbum with a life and personality a million miles different from Micky’s caustic ways, but she is Micky’s double in appearance. Duped into playing Micky to get the plans, Sahara destroys what little peace Logan has left.
Zaram, a potent renegade terrorist, learns of the plans. He will hold the western world to ransom if he gets them first. Logan must help Sahara beat Zaram, collect the plans and make sure she stays alive, or else lose his mind…and his heart.
This romantic suspense novel is part of the Romantic Thrillers Collection.
Dead Double
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Terror Stash
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A world of palpable danger and political intrigue. Right from the very start the intensity seeps off the pages. Night Owl Romance
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About the Author
Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes romantic suspense, historical, paranormal and science fiction romance. She has published over 95 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favorite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year. Tracy won the award in 2012, and a SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding” She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.
Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey
For reviews, excerpts, and more about each title, visit Tracy’s site and click on the cover you are interested in: http://tracycooperposey.com/books-by-thumbnail/
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Vistaria Has Fallen
Vistaria Has Fallen
Prisoner of War
Hostage Crisis
Freedom Fighters
Casualties of War
V-Day
Scandalous Scions
(Historical Romance Series – Spin off)
Rose of Ebony
Soul of Sin
Valor of Love
Marriage of Lies
Mask of Nobility
Law of Attraction
Veil of Honor
Season of Denial
Rules of Engagement
Degree of Solitude
Once and Future Hearts
(Ancient Historical Romance—Arthurian)
Born of No Man
Dragon Kin
Pendragon Rises
War Duke of Britain
High King of Britain
Battle of Mount Badon
Abduction of Guenivere
Downfall of Cornwall
Vengeance of Arthur
Grace of Lancelot
The Grail and Glory
Camlann
Kiss Across Time Series
(Paranormal Time Travel)
Kiss Across Time*
Kiss Across Swords
Kiss Across Chains
Kiss Across Deserts
Kiss Across Kingdoms
Time and Tyra Again
Kiss Across Seas
Kiss Across Worlds
Time and Remembrance
Kiss Across Tomorrow
Project Kobra
(Romantic Spy Thrillers)
Hunting The Kobra
Romantic Thrillers Series
Fatal Wild Child
Dead Again
Dead Double
Terror Stash
Thrilling Affair (Boxed Set)
Beloved Bloody Time Series
(Paranormal Futuristic Time Travel)
Bannockburn Binding*
Wait
Byzantine Heartbreak
Viennese Agreement
Romani Armada
Spartan Resistance
Celtic Crossing
Beloved Bloody Time Series Boxed Set
Scandalous Sirens
(Historical Romance Series)
Forbidden*
Dangerous Beauty
Perilous Princess
Go-get-‘em Women
(Short Romantic Suspense Series)
The Royal Talisman
Delly’s Last Night
Vivian’s Return
Ningaloo Nights
Blood Knot Series
(Urban Fantasy Paranormal Series)
Blood Knot
Southampton Swindle
Broken Promise
Vale
Amor Meus
Blood Stone
Blood Unleashed
Blood Drive
Blood Revealed