High-Stakes Honeymoon

by Raeanne Thayne

• ISBN13: 9780373275458
• ISBN10: 0373275455
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-08-01
• Publisher: Harlequin

Summary

While honeymooning solo might be unconventional, ex-bride-to-be Olivia Lambert couldn't see wasting a fabulous trip to Costa Rica just because her former fianceacute; turned out to be pond scum. Imagine her surprise when a handsome stranger appeared in the jungle...silver machete in his hand and fiendish gleam in his eye.... Well, maybe not so fiendish. Because Ren Galvez was actually one of the good guys. And he was trying to save Olivia--the curvy blonde in the skimpy bikini--from a near-certain death at the hands of one of thebadguys. But who was going to save Ren fromher?

Excerpts

Paradise sucked.Big-time.Olivia Lambert sat on her damp towel, her hands clasped around her knees, watching the sun sink into the Pacific in a blaze of color. Palm fronds whispered a soft song overhead, the warm, impossibly blue ocean gently kissed the sand at her feet and a soft breeze danced across her skin.Behind her, the thick, lush rain forest teemed with color and noise and life--bright birds, exotic butterflies,even a monkey or two.As a honeymoon destination, this remote, wild corner of Costa Rica seemed perfect, especially staying in a guest villa on the estate of a reclusive billionaire. It was romantic, secluded, luxurious.The only trouble was, she'd left her groom behind in Texas.Olivia sighed, gazing out at the ripple of waves as she tried to drum up a little enthusiasm for the holiday that stretched ahead of her like the vast, undulating surface of the Pacific. She'd been here less than twenty-four hours and had nine more days to go, and at this point she was just about ready to pack up her suitcases and catch the next puddle jumper so she could find her way back to the States.She was bored and lonely and just plain miserable. Maybe she should have invited one of her girlfriends to come along for company. Or better yet, she should have just eaten the cost of the plane tickets and stayed back in Fort Worth.But then she would have had to face the questions and the sympathetic--and not so sympathetic--looks and the resigned disappointment she was entirely too accustomed to seeing in her father's eyes.No, this way was better. If nothing else, ten days in another country would give her a little time and distance to handle the bitter betrayal of knowing that even in this, Wallace Lambert wouldn't stand behind her. Her father sided with his golden boy, his groomed successor, and couldn't seem to understand why she might possibly object to her fianceacute; cheating on her with another woman two weeks before their wedding.It was apparently entirely unreasonable of her to expect a few basic courtesies--minor little things like fidelity and trust--from the man who claimed to adore her and worship the ground she walked on.Who knew?The sun slipped further into the water and she sighed again, angry at herself. So much for her promise that she wouldn't brood about Bradley or her father.This was her honeymoon and she planned to enjoy herself, damn them both. She could survive nine moredays in paradise, in the company of macaws and howler monkeys, iguanas and even a sloth--not to mention her host, whom she had yet to encounter.James Rafferty, whom she was meeting later for dinner, had built his fortune through online gambling and he had created an exclusive paradise here completely off the grid--no power except through generators, water from wells on the property. Even her cellphone didn't work here.Nine days without distractions ought to be long enough for her to figure out what she was going to do with the rest of her life. She was twenty-six years old and it was high time she shoved everybody else out of the driver's seat so she could start picking her own direction.Some kind of animal screamed suddenly, a high, disconcerting sound, and Olivia jumped, suddenly uneasy to realize she was alone down here on the beach.There were jaguars in this part of the Osa Peninsula, she had read in the guidebook. Jaguars and pumas and who knew what else. A big cat could suddenly spring out of the jungle and drag her into the trees, and no one in the world would ever know what happened to her.That would certainly be a fitting end to what had to be the world's worst honeymoon.She shivered and quickly gathered up her things, shaking the sand out of her towel and tossing her sunglasses and paperback into her beach bag along with her cell phone that she couldn't quite sever herself from, despite its uselessness here.No worries, she