Love Behind the Mask: Book Two of the O’Connor Sisters Trilogy (The O’connor Sisters Trilogy, 2, Band 2) - Softcover

Lowenstein, Raj

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1490790187 ISBN 13: 9781490790183

Verlag: Trafford Publishing, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

Esperanza Ricardo Maria O’Connor is whisked from her home in Naples, Florida, to central Minnesota, where she falls under the protective custody of Kyle Moran. Heavily disguised, Esperanza and Kyle clash as Kyle struggles with his demons, while Esperanza struggles to keep from losing her heart.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Raj Lowenstein lives with her husband and Boxer/Huskey mix in the Pacific Northwest. Their three children and three grandchildren live in Colorado and Texas. She has a Bachelors' Degree in American Sign Language Interpreting with a Minor in Jewish Studies from the University of Houston. Check out her other books, upcoming books and events at.... www.rajlowenstein.net.

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Love Behind the Mask

Book Two of the O'Connor Sisters Trilogy

By Raj Lowenstein

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2018 Raj Lowenstein
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9018-3

CHAPTER 1

THE BEGINNING

I woke quickly but did not move, not daring even to let my eyelids flutter. The sounds, the smells of this place were unfamiliar. I was lying on a sofa. I knew from the shape and feel of the material under my hand wedged between my body and the back of the couch. I touched the fabric of my silk pajamas, allowing myself an inward sigh, grateful that I was, at least, still dressed. There was an ache in my shoulder, more like a sting, that hadn't been there when I had gone to bed. Other than that discomfort, I felt intact.

I listened for a moment and became aware of five separate voices. Three were muffled and distant, perhaps in another room, while two were nearby. Those two spoke in deep-voiced whispers, trying maybe not to wake me with their voices but not too concerned if they did.

One voice was deeper than the other and without much of an accent. The other had a distinctive Latin flavor. This I could use. If the five men hadn't hurt me yet, I doubt they would. Or at least I prayed they wouldn't.

I allowed a small moan to escape my lips as I stretched. Then after hearing the Latin-voiced man inform the others I was awake, I sat up and allowed my eyes to focus on the two men sitting on the coffee table directly in front of the couch.

They were dressed in dark slacks and wrinkled button-up oxfords. From what I could see, three men now stood in the arched entryway; all five were dressed in the same nondescript colors. If they had worn ties, they had long since been discarded. I let my eyes travel over the room, seeing instantly this was not my home in Naples, Florida. It was dull with furnishings old and worn.

I focused on the three men standing in the archway. They returned my careful scrutiny before stepping back into opposite ends of what must be a hallway.

"I am Special Agent Garrett of the FBI's High Profile Bureau or HPB. This" — he indicated with a side glance at the man next to him — "is Special Agent Villarreal. Are you Esperanza Ricardo Maria O'Connor?" the man asked me, his voice calm and patient.

Villarreal, a polished-looking man, distractingly handsome, repeated his question, "Soy el agente especial Garrett de la High Profile Bureau del FBI o HPB. Este, es el agente especial Villarreal. ¿Está usted Esperanza Ricardo Maria O'Connor?" His voice, like the others, was calm.

The fact they had brought someone in to speak Spanish to me was unnerving. I am a red-haired — well, really, strawberry blond — with a peaches-and-cream complexion, freckled-faced, green-eyed woman, which always surprised everyone the first time I spoke. This meant they knew enough about me to suppose that under duress, I might understand my native language better than English.

I had been born in New York to a Spanish actress who returned to Madrid with me when I was two. She was fair and blond. My father was an American actor of some accomplishment who had been born of Irish immigrants. This all conspired to make me look very much like a native of County Galway, Ireland, and not what most thought of as a Spaniard from Madrid.

I looked at the man who spoke in English. He was tall and square-jawed. Not a handsome man yet still attractive. I responded, "Soy una ciudadana americana," in the calmest voice I could manage.

"I'm an American citizen," Villarreal voiced.

Nonplussed, Agent Garrett continued in English. "Are you the daughter of Spanish national and actress Consuela Teresa Antonia Del Torro?"

"¿Está usted la hija del nacional española y la actriz Consuela Teresa Antonia Del Torro?" Villarreal repeated.

"No he hecho cualquier cosa illegal." I pressed on not answering his question.

"I have not broken any laws." Villarreal duplicated my comment over Garrett's next question.

"Are you the daughter of American national and actor Richard Calvin O'Connor?"

Without a pause, Villarreal continued this overlapping interrogation. "¿Está usted la hija del nacional americano y el actor Richard Calvin O'Connor?"

"¿Dónde usted me ha tomado?" I continued.

"Where have you taken me?" Even through the fear, I was impressed with Villarreal's ability to match my inflection.

"Are you the twin sister of Catálan Orlando Teresa O'Connor, also known as Cat Conners?"

"¿Es usted idiotos?" I finally said in a raised voice.

"Are you Idiots?" Villarreal voiced and then translated, saying, "¿Está usted la hermana gemela de la Catálan Orlando Teresa O'Connor, también conocida como Cat Conners?"

Because we were talking over each other, I didn't at first comprehend the last question that had been asked. When it finally sank in, I froze and turned my attention from Agent Villarreal to Agent Garrett. I knew at that moment I had a wide-eyed expression of cautious understanding. My twin, Cat Conners, whom family and friends called Teresa, and I had been known to occasionally play elaborate pranks on each other. She had the money, as I did, to do just about anything we wanted. I would not have put it past her to pull a stunt like this on me. It was always for fun, never really malicious. But sometimes we like to push the envelope. We had been doing this since we were kids.

"You know I speak Inglés, English." It wasn't a question but a statement, and to my chagrin, it sounded like Jew no I espeek ingles, English.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I watched Villarreal open his mouth to speak and then slowly close it. The coffee table was higher than the couch, so Garrett and I were eye to eye. Again, he asked in his calm voice, "Are you Esperanza Ricardo Maria O'Connor?"

I nodded.

"Are you the daughter of Consuela Teresa Antonia Del Torro and Richard Calvin O'Connor?"

"Yes, and that bruja Catálan is my twin. You know this already," I said, not being in the mood for this early morning prank as Villarreal supplied the translation of bruja (witch).

"How much is she paying you to do this?" I was genuinely fuming, and my accented rage was making my English almost impossible to understand. I stood and moved from the couch and headed toward the hall, only to be blocked by two of the men who had earlier seemed to disappear.

"Ms. O'Connor," Agent Garrett's voice said behind me.

I turned and faced him, my breath catching in my throat. Garrett, Villarreal, and the two who had been behind me but were now shoulder to shoulder with the others produced guns and badges. I moved to the chair at my back and lowered myself with a thud.

I knew with the money in the right hand, anything was possible, but Garrett, Villarreal, and the others didn't look as if this was a joke to them. So I asked, "Is Teresa all right?" Villarreal followed the two men out of the small living room, and Garrett took a seat on the couch. "She is fine but in some trouble."

This was a surprise to me. Although Teresa and I had never been close, growing up on the opposite sides of the Atlantic, we were not estranged. She had worked hard from the time she was ten or eleven years old to become the artist she was today. Her name was never attached to any type of Hollywood scandal. She was a consummate professional, just as our parents had been on both sides of the Atlantic.

"What trouble?" I asked, curious to see how something on the West Coast affected me in Naples,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Trafford Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1490790187
• ISBN 13: 9781490790183
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 298
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland