The Unrelenting Tide (Islands of Intrigue: San Juans - Christian Romantic Suspense) Read Online Free PDF Page B

stiffened and her fist clenched around a handful of his shirt.
    “Upstairs, when you saw the mirror, you said, ‘He’s really back.’ What did you mean?”
    She stood still for so long he thought she wasn’t going to answer the question, but finally she stepped away from him. She swiped her fingers under her eyes, pulled a Kleenex from the box on the coffee table, and blew her nose. She glanced toward the kitchen. “Why don’t you grab us a couple of drinks from the fridge. There’s something I need to show you.”
    So many questions clamored for an answer, but he held them in check. “Alright.”
    When he returned from the kitchen, Devynne was holding the remote control and the opening credits of a movie were flipping by at sixteen speed. She wanted to show him a movie? He frowned and set her can on the coffee table in front of her, sinking into his own end of the couch as he studied her intent expression.
    She paused the movie and glanced over at him.
    He arched a brow and raised a questioning hand.
    She pointed to the TV and he turned to study the screen. The motion was frozen on the image of a young blonde wearing camouflage and a safari hat. She stood in the middle of a jungle and in the background a snake slithered through the trees, forked tongue dangerously close to the nape of the oblivious woman’s neck. But it was the burn marring the actress’s cheek that triggered his memory. He turned to Devynne. “I’ve seen this one.” He scrunched up his face trying to remember the title. “ Genesis … something or other. About scientists who go into South America to search for the fountain of youth, only to find a tribe who’d already discovered it and how evil they were because they lived for so long. Good movie.”
    She nodded. “ Genesis Expedition . It was my first big break.” She cocked her head toward the TV.
    Her first—? The bottom dropped out of his stomach and he snapped his attention to the woman on the screen. Blonde. His gaze skittered over to Devynne’s brunette curls. The onscreen actress had half her face marred by the burn she’d received at the hands of the evil tribesmen in the movie. But that was where the differences ended. The same small upturned nose. The same wide set blue eyes. The same smooth arched brows. His jaw went slack as he looked back at her. “You’re…?”
    She nodded. “Shania Hane.” She set the remote down and rested her elbows on her knees. “I lived in Los Angeles with my sister. She was hoping for a big break, too. We’d both dreamed of acting all our lives.”
    Carcen closed his eyes. Devynne had told them she was an only child, born and raised in Colorado. “So…Colorado…?”
    She shook her head, tears springing into her eyes. She snatched another Kleenex from the box on the table beside her. “We grew up in California. Our parents were killed in a car crash when I was eighteen and my sister was twenty-one. A year later my agent John Halstead landed me that part.” Her head tilted toward the screen. “It was my dream come true. Until a stalker started leaving me notes and presents at the studio.”
    He wanted to be angry. All this time she’d been lying to him! Yet the thought of a stalker going after her knocked any shred of anger to its knees. She’d just been trying to protect herself. “Dev, I’m so sorry.” He’d heard the story. He’d also heard that actress Shania Hane had been killed in a plane crash at sea.
    “At first I found the things he did humorous. The whole crew joked about it and would place bets on when and where the next gift would show up and what it would be. But after awhile, it really started to bother me. Still, I brushed it off, because a lot of the other actors said those types of things just came with the territory.” She shrugged. “I tried to go along with the fun.”
    “Did you go to the police?”
    She snorted. “Yes. But he was always careful. Never any fingerprints or DNA on anything he left. The few