“About four weeks after the operation, when I was just starting to walk again, they brought him into the same ward. He was angry they didn’t give him a private ward and made such a fuss they pulled a man in the last stages of cancer out of his room and gave it to Zalaya.”
“The poor man,” Minnie breathed.
“He was pleased about it—it gave him company he was glad to have and everyone was so relieved to have Zalaya out of the ward they were happy to keep him entertained. Only, the fuss Zalaya made alerted me. I knew Zalaya from before. One day, perhaps, a long time from now, I will tell you about that.”
“You said—Zalaya said—Duardo tried to kill him.”
“Reverse it and you have the truth,” Duardo replied. “Zalaya tried to kill me and yes, he had the gun. He came up on me in the physiotherapy room. Afterward, I knew I would never survive the investigation as Duardo Peña and Zalaya and I looked enough alike that it was worth the risk. A nurse helped me arrange it. When I took his eye patch, I learned that it was a prop and the eye beneath was perfectly normal. Zalaya must have used it as a way of moving around incognito. If he took off the patch, anyone trying to describe him afterward would never link the man with two good eyes to Zalaya with the eye patch.”
“That was what Serrano learned—that Zalaya didn’t need the patch,” Minnie said. “He went away satisfied when you showed him your eye.” She thought about it. “Torrez told him?”
“Perhaps. Who knows? Torrez will never tell anyone anything else.”
Minnie shivered but did not regret the man’s death. “You shot your own leg, put on his eye patch and dog tags and...?”
“I only intended the bluff to hold up long enough for me to get out of the city,” Duardo said softly. “I knew the illusion would not hold for long. I knew Zalaya. I knew what he was. There were things Zalaya did that I would not be able to do. Yet there I was in Zalaya’s suite and everyone believed me, including Serrano. When I tried to find a way out, there was none. I had to keep juggling, keep all the balls up in the air for as long as I could.” He turned look at her. “Then you came along.”
“Yeah, well, I know what I did,” she said. “I blew it all for you.”
“It was inevitable anyway, Minnie. The bluff would never have lasted. What you did was find me a way out of it that left me still breathing.” He took a deep breath. “You might have got me killed, back in the helicopter, but you also saved my life today.”
Her heart leapt hard. “You forgive me?” she breathed wonderingly.
“There was never anything to forgive,” he said. “If anyone must ask forgiveness, it is me. There are things I have done as Zalaya... God, Minnie, I think it would have been easier if Torrez had killed me. I keep thinking of the things I have done, that I did to you—”
She rested her hand against his thigh. “Stop,” she said quickly. “Just...stop.” She swiveled to face him properly. “Perhaps we should agree that your time as Zalaya never happened. Not between us.”
He shook his head. “I can’t agree to that,” he said, his voice rough. “I have watched you defy Zalaya for four days and although I thought I loved you before, it was nothing compared to how I love you now. I can never pretend these days did not happen, Minnie. I am in awe of your courage and your incredible strength.” He took a deep breath. “Last night Zalaya told you to take one last moment, but that was me speaking. I wanted one last night with you, as myself.”
He reached out, his long fingers stroking her cheek. “Could you ever again consider...?”
She took his hand in hers and held it tight. “I can’t see a way around it, Duardo.”
His head bowed.
“No, there’s no alternative I can figure out. I’m afraid you’re going to have to live up to that deathbed promise of yours and marry me.”
He crushed her to him and dotted kisses all over her face. “If I must, I will make such a sacrifice,” he told her.
“On the mouth,” she begged breathlessly. “A real kiss.”
He kissed her hard and long and when he let her go, she rested a hand against his chest. “There’s just one teeny condition,” she said.
“Oh?”
“You have to get rid of that moustache.”
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The next book in the Vistaria Has Fallen series.
Hostage Crisis, Book 3
Hostages of the Insurrectos, both with secrets to keep.
For weeks, Olivia has been held against her will, along with other UN diplomats held captive on Vistaria by the psychotic Captain Ibarra. She desperately hides her identity and nationality to survive.
Daniel, an English businessman with secrets of his own, is caught in the same net. He defies the guards any way he can until forced to use Olivia’s window one night.
They have nothing in common but a will to live, which sparks a conflagration that threatens every hostage on Vistaria, and their own hearts, too…
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About the Author
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
Romantic Thrillers Series
Fatal Wild Child
Dead Again
Dead Double
Terror Stash
Thrilling Affair (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
Blood Ascendant
The Sherlock Holmes Series
(Romantic Suspense/Mystery)
The Case of the Reluctant Agent
Sherlock Boxed In
Beloved Bloody Time Series
(Paranormal Futuristic Time Travel)
Bannockburn Binding*
Wait
Byzantine Heartbreak
Viennese Agreement
Romani Armada
Spartan Resistance
Celtic Crossing
Kiss Across Time Series
(Paranormal Time Travel)
Kiss Across Time*
Kiss Across Swords
Time Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Chains
Kiss Across Deserts
Kiss Across Kingdoms
Time and Tyra Again
Kiss Across Seas
Kiss Across Worlds
The Kine Prophecies
(Epic Norse Fantasy Romance)
The Branded Rose Prophecy
The Stonebrood Saga
(Gargoyle Paranormal Series)
Carson’s Night*
Beauty’s Beasts
Harvest of Holidays
Unbearable
Sabrina’s Clan
Pay The Ferryman
Hearts of Stone (Boxed Set)
Destiny’s Trinities
(Urban Fantasy Romance Series)
Beth’s Acceptance*
Mia’s Return
Sera’s Gift
The First Trinity
Cora’s Secret
Zoe’s Blockade
Octavia’s War
The Second Trinity
Terra’s Victory
Destiny’s Trinities (Boxed Set)
Interspace Origins
(Science Fiction Romance Series)
Faring Soul
Varkan Rise
Cat and Company
Interspace Origins (Boxed Set)
Short Paranormals
Solstice Surrender
Eva’s Last Dance
Three Taps, Then….
The Well of Rnomath
Jewells of Tomorrow
(Historical Romantic Suspense)
Diana By The Moon
Heart of Vengeance
The Endurance
(Science Fiction Romance Series)
5,001
Greyson’s Doom
Yesterday’s Legacy
Promissory Note
Quiver and Crave
Xenogenesis
Junkyard Heroes
Evangeliya
Skinwalker’s Bane
Contemporary Romances
Lucifer’s Lover
An Inconvenient Lover
The Indigo Reports
(Space Opera)
Flying Blind
New Star Rising
But Now I See
Suns Eclipsed
Worlds Beyond
Non-Fiction Titles
Reading Order
(Non-Fiction, Reference)
Reading Order 2016
Copyright Information
This is an original publication of Tracy Cooper-Posey
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2017 by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Text design by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Cover design by Dar Albert
http://WickedSmartDesigns
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
FIRST EDITION: December 2017
Cooper-Posey, Tracy
Prisoner of War/Tracy Cooper-Posey—1st Ed.
Romance—Fiction
Suspense – Fiction