STORMCHASER SUMMARY:
No one charters the depths of passion on the high seas like New York Times bestselling author Cherry Adair
DESIRE RUNS DEEP
Somewhere off the coast of Greece, a king’s ransom in gold, emeralds, and silver coins lies waiting at the bottom of the sea. Finding this ancient treasure would be a dream come true for marine archeologist Calista West. But that’s not why she’s here. She didn’t climb aboard Jonah Cutter’s magnificent yacht seeking fortune or fame. She’s come for revenge—against the sexiest, most seductive, modern-day pirate she’s ever encountered…
Like his famous half brothers, Jonah is a master of salvaging ships—and driving women mad with his movie-star looks and raw animal magnetism. Tall, dark, and devastating, he manages to make Callie forget her mission. Every moment they share under the hot Mediterranean sun is an erotically-charged adventure neither can resist. But when Callie discovers what he’s really after—the lost city of Atlantis—is it too late to change the course of her heart…or go all in with the lover of her dreams?
The Cutter Cay series is:
"Action-packed drama." —Fresh Fiction
"Sizzlingly sexy." —Booklist
"Enticing." —Seattle Post-Intelligencer
AUTHOR BIO:
Cherry Adair has garnered numerous awards for her innovative action-adventure novels, which include White Heat, Hot Ice, On Thin Ice, Out of Sight, In Too Deep, Hide and Seek, and Kiss and Tell, as well as her thrilling Cutter Cay series for St. Martin's Press. A favorite of reviewers and fans alike, she lives in the Pacific Northwest.
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HURRICANE SUMMARY:
Rydell Case’s ship is his home, his heart, and his reason for being. After his ex-wife left him—taking his brand-new megayacht, Tesoro Mio with her—she sailed off with a royal billionaire and out of his life forever. Now Ry spends his days searching for treasure—until his ship is hijacked. With the prospect of his salvage business tanking, he needs both the ship and his ex back—if only she didn’t despise him more than any man on earth. . .
When Addison D’Marco boards Tesoro Mio to find her ex-husband in her cabin, she’s furious. Ry is more handsome, more annoying, and more determined than ever. Addy can’t believe he has the nerve to demand the ship back after the way he broke her heart. With her fiancรฉ about to board, she doesn’t want Ry back in her life to ignite painful memories and never- forgotten desires. But could it be that, amid troubled waters, Addy and Ry can salvage what they once had and have a second chance at love. . .or does fate have something else in store?
Hurricane by Cherry Adair is part of her Cutter Cay series.
ONE
The
day didn’t look like
second hand revenge. Instead of ominous dark clouds hanging low over a pewter
sea, the hot Greek sun reflected glittering sapphires off the Mediterranean.
The wake of the motor launch frothed blindingly white as it carried marine
archaeologist Dr. Calista West to the megayacht Stormchaser, anchored
in open waters south of Crete.
Salt
spray cooled her bare arms and legs as the Riva
Iseo cut through the dark water. The sleek,
twenty- seven foot Italian
work of art, with yards of glossy mahogany, soft
leather, and sleek lines, looked like something straight out of a James Bond movie. Expensive and
ostentatious.
Draco
Thanos, the short, wiry forty- something chief engineer of Stormchaser sent to
collect Callie from Heraklion, controlled the fast tender with all the
deference of a guy handling a sleek sports car.
Callie
wasn’t even sure what day it was anymore. A short flight in yet another
ostentatious, expensive toy, a private plane from Athens. A twelve- hour flight
from Miami, an hour flight from Athens to Crete, and another two hours by
luxury tender. She was hardly at her best to deal with Jonah Cutter. Tuning out
Thanos, who’d kept up a steady conversation in broken English for the duration,
she spread her feet, bracing her hands on the rail as they hit some chop. Her
stomach did a somersault that had nothing to do with the waves. The closer the
motor launch carried her to Stormchaser,
the harder Callie’s heart pounded.
Anticipation.
Fear. Excitement.
Thanos
pointed unnecessarily. The massive ship was freaking impossible to miss. “There
she is.” Callie’s fingers tightened on the rail as the ship loomed large
against a sparkling backdrop of calm azure water and robin’s- egg- blue sky.
Brilliant sun bounced off acres of white paint and gleaming brass. Twenty, thirty mil? Callie
guesstimated, put off by the unnecessary fl aunting of the Cutters’ wealth.
“Spectacular,
isn’t she?” Thanos said proudly as he slowed the tender, angling it sideways to
dock aft next to the wide dive platform where a guy sat reading. He got to his
feet as they approached, lifting a hand in greeting. Callie waved back.
She
used both hands to tuck any loose hair back into the neatly tucked French braid
on the back of her head, even though she knew there were none. She was too
controlled to have flyaway hair. Her penchants for order and organization were
perfect for her chosen career. She’d come by them the hard way. By now the
traits were ingrained and comfortable.
Without
the fi ne cooling misted spray of the water, and wind generated by the fast
movement over the sea, the sun beat down unrelentingly, drying her damp clothes
in minutes.
“She’s
something, all right.” Too big, and far too fancy for a dive boat, but wasn’t that
the Cutters all over? A family of modern- day treasure hunters, they flaunted
their wealth like robber barons or nouveau riche Internet millionaires, with
total disregard for anyone daring their ownership of the seas.
For
a moment Callie had a niggle of misgiving for what she was about to do. Jonah
Cutter hadn’t done anything to her personally; she’d never even met the man.
Never met any of
the Cutters. But they adversely impacted people she loved.
She
was uniquely qualified to balance the scales.
Straightening
her shoulders, Callie grabbed her duffel before Thanos could reach for it.
Ingrained and as sure as her dark hair and green eyes was her in de pendence.
Drawing in a salt- laden deep breath, Callie let it out slowly as the tender
bumped the edge of the wide dive platform where the older man, dressed in cargo
shorts and a yellow polo shirt, waited to grab the rope.
And the game begins, she
thought, braced to disembark, her fingers tightened on the bag’s handles.
Lying
was against everything she believed in. Been there, spent a lifetime perfecting
the skill. Just because she was good at it didn’t mean she liked doing it. But
not only did she have to lie through her teeth for the duration, she had to be
convincing as well.
She
reminded herself that these people were not her
friends. She could not soften and bond with them. Growing to like anyone on
board Stormchaser would
make what she was going to do harder.
She’d
known going in that she’d have to keep to herself as much as possible. She was
here to do a job. Making friends would muddy the waters and certainly
complicate things. And, she admitted, make her second guess herself— which she
unfortunately usually did. She tended to overanalyze things before jumping in.
Indecision was, she knew, her worst characteristic. Still, once she’d made a determination,
after weighing it from a hundred different angles, she tended to be like a dog
with a bone defending the decision.
Her
friends tried to get her to be more spontaneous. But it was hard for her. Every
decision had consequences, and those had to be weighed and calculated and
looked at from every angle.
What
wouldn’t be hard? Pretending. That she
was damn good at. If anyone knew how to pretend, it was her. She’d done it from
kindergarten on. When she’d learned to lie for her parents. Why they’d forgotten
to sign her up for school programs? Why they weren’t there to pick her up after
school? Why she rarely had a lunch packed, or money to buy lunch? She’d known
instinctively that to say her mama was passed out from Jack Daniel’s would be
bad, and mentioning that sometimes her dad didn’t come home would be worse.
These
circumstances weren’t the same, but she figured she’d honed her acting chops.
She could do this by mentally tarring everyone on board with the sins of the
Cutters. Which were too numerous to count.
And
by keeping as low a profile as possible.
The
gray- haired man held out his hand, helping her from the boat to the diving
platform. “Saul Pinter.” His full, mostly gray beard was neatly trimmed. Fit
and athletic, he had a nice smile and firm handshake. “Welcome aboard, Dr.
West.”
“Thanks,
call me Callie.” A cursory glance revealed the dive platform geared with the
usual dive equipment and a row of wet suits ready and waiting. At least she’d
get to do what she loved. Dive. Discover. “Is Mr. Cutter diving?”
Saul
shook his head, jerking his thumb toward the ladder leading to the deck above
where they stood. “Jonah will have seen you, and be on his way down. Heads up,
he’ll meet you halfway.”
Oh,
Callie doubted that very much, but she merely smiled as her heart thumped.
Anticipation—no, dread? After all the planning, things were finally happening.
“I’m looking forward to seeing our wreck.”
“You
haven’t missed anything. We only arrived late last night ourselves,” Saul told
her, returning to his chair and the book he’d been reading. “We’re all eager to
get started.”
Was
that a jibe because she hadn’t joined them two weeks ago? Callie mentally
shrugged. Climbing the ladder, she observed in a quick sweep the spotless
decks, the gleaming bright work and shiny brass. Stormchaser was spit-
polished. She’d heard Zane Cutter’s ship was a piece of crap, but so far she
couldn’t fault his half-brother on the maintenance of his ship.
Several
men, in the whites of crew members, leaned on the rail on an upper deck
watching her curiously. Callie lifted a hand in greeting and kept going. It was
a perfect afternoon to dive, the ocean smooth with just a slight chop. A light
breeze loosened strands of hair off her face and neck and brought with it the
faint smells of fresh paint and yeasty baking bread.
Water
slapped the hull, and the sound of voices died as the men dis appeared from
view. A gull cried as it wheeled in a perfect circle overhead, then dived like
a jet, skimming the water after some hapless fish.
There
wasn’t anyone else around, and she walked toward a set of sliding doors just as
a man stepped out onto the deck ahead of her. His face lit up as he came toward
her.
Jonah Cutter. Callie
stopped to wait for him, the sun hot on her scalp, the glare off the water
bright despite her dark glasses. The opinion formed before the man even opened
his mouth. Her assessment was quick and unflattering. But then she was
predisposed to disliking him.
Cocky.
Self- assured. Entitled.
Exactly
what she expected. Her shoulders relaxed. Handing Cutter his ass wasn’t going
to be difficult at all.
The
Matthew McConaughey look- alike wore blue, flower- printed Hawaiian board
shorts, a too- tight red T-shirt stretched over sculpted muscles as if it had
been painted on. She’d heard that youngest brother Zane was the vain one, but
clearly his half-brother gave him a run for his money.
Under
six feet tall, sun- bleached shoulder- length hair, movie- star good looks, and
boy, didn’t he know it. Cutter was like a peacock spreading his tail as he
removed his shades to eye her up and down.
Shorter,
less attractive, and more smarmy than she’d been led to believe. And she’d been
led to believe the worst.
Maintaining
a friendly smile, she extended her hand when he got close enough. He was about
the same height, so they were eye- to- lecherous- eye. “I’m Calista West,
thanks for including—”
“Now,
aren’t you just the prettiest addition to the team, darlin’?” he cut in with a
southern drawl and a heated look from unremarkable blue eyes. His lingering
handshake was the opposite of firm. Callie disengaged and resisted wiping her
hand on her shorts as he looked at her like a dog staring at a juicy bone.
Raking his fingers through his sunbleached brown hair, the better to show off
his physique, he gave her a wide, white smile. “Welcome aboard.”
Never
had two words sounded so suggestive. Smoothing a hand over her tightly
constrained hair, Callie made sure the sun glinted off the plain gold band on
her left hand. Although she suspected a guy like this wouldn’t be deterred by a
wedding ring, she had other methods to repulse if the ring didn’t work.
Copyright © 2017 by
Cherry Adair and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Paperbacks.
My Review:
This is book 4 in the
Cutter Cay series. Jonah has the
chance of a lifetime to be a treasure hunter like his half-brothers. When
he finds a sunken Chinese ship off not far from the Greek Isle, Jonah
thinks this is his chance and he snaps it up and runs for the opportunity to
show he is like his brothers. He thinks
this sunken ship is his holy grail and his gold mine. He needs an archeologist worth their weight in their field and
one who wont try to disprove this find just because they wont believe what has
been found. This marine archeologist is none other than Calista.
Thing is, she isn’t what she appears to be. She is an archeologist but she also
wants to help her mentor out and in order to do so, she will gladly undercut
Jonah by taking his research to help her mentor.
There are many twists and
turns beset with Betrayal, Conflict, Angst Sexual Tension and Passion in this book. There are so many things at play –Jonah and
Calista are a good couple- each have what they are after and then they realize
there is more to life than that one dream. The mystery and suspense that are interwoven help boost
the storyline. At times the story does become dull but it will pick back up. I didn’t
like when the ending became rushed for I wanted to see the story naturally
progress but overall, this was a good addition to the Cutter Cay series.
My rating: 4.4 stars ****
"I
voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an
honest review***
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