VORTEX – Cherry Adair
Cutter Cay , Book 3
St. Martin's Paperbacks
ISBN-13:  978-0-312-37195-1
June 2012
Romantic Suspense

On the Ocean Outside Lima, Peru – Present Day

Logan Cutter and his treasure hunting boat, Sea Wolf , are on the ocean outside Lima, Peru, looking for the remains of the sunken ship, Nuestra Senora de Garza, when his dog, Dog, starts barking. Logan looks over the side of the ship and sees the strobe of a life vest on someone in the ocean.  The woman he tries to save fights him tooth and nail, scratching and trying to crawl up his body and almost drowning him in the middle of her rescue.  The mermaid calls herself Annie, and when he asks her why she's in the middle of the ocean with a life vest half on, her response tells him that she is lying with every word she says.  Logan 's father was a constant liar, and since he was a small child he's had his “lidar” on high alert.  Logan can pretty much put up with anything but liars.  In charge of the family business finding treasures under the oceans, his multimillion dollar operation hasn't come close to finding this treasure and pretty soon they must move on or find somewhere else to look for the ruins of the ship.

Daniela Rosado has been on the run from her old boyfriend, Senator Victor Stamps, for months.  With the last of her money, she ran to Peru and found three never seen before cousins.  They are all descendants from someone working on the Nuestra Senora de Garza that sank years ago, leaving their ancestor with a large emerald.  Inside this emerald shaped like a small cup was a map to the sunken ship scratched in by their ancestor, and her cousins were sure Logan Cutter came in possession of the emerald.  Her cousins knocked her on the head and threw her over their ship close to the Sea Wolf, telling her she better get Logan to look at the map and change directions from where he's diving.  Of course they don't have the resources to launch a dive, so they prefer stealing any treasure Logan brings up.  Daniela is lying through her teeth every minute after Logan rescues her, even calling herself Annie.  Daniela can tell Logan doesn't believe a word she says until they are attacked by men, and she finally realizes they were probably sent by the senator, who will stop at nothing to get her back after all the things she knows about him.

Logan can't believe the men who attacked his ship, and after the first time, he calls his brother who sends some operatives from T-Flac to protect the Sea Wolf , and by now more importantly, Annie.  After years of ignoring women and devoting himself to this family's company and the lure of the sea, their coming together is wild and explosive, not to be denied by either of them.  Gradually Logan gets more of her story from Daniela, and realizes something must be done to protect her, and also deal with the new dive position that is giving up treasure beyond compare.  How many men sent by Victor will it take to get Daniela off the boat?

Cherry Adair is continuing the saga of the Cutter family featuring the eldest brother, Logan.  In charge of their company, he is the responsible one who loves the sea.  Told from his and Daniela's points of view, they each struggle with their attraction to each other.  Logan loves the peace and excitement of the sea and hunting treasure, and usually doesn't miss women.  Daniela has endured through an awful relationship with someone else, and is almost traumatized by what she's gone through.  But their tentative steps toward each other culminate in a conflagration that sees no signs of wearing off.

The men working on the Sea Wolf , Jed and Wes, are devoted to Logan , as well as Dog, the, ahhh, dog.  The story does intersect with the T-Flac series and some operatives arrive to save their treasure, and their lives, but mainly to protect Daniela.  And Senator Victor Stamps is an evil man with eyes upon the presidency, but the heart of criminal.

VORTEX continues the story of the Cutter brothers and their salvage business.  While dealing with pirates trying to steal their treasure, Daniela's problems with a barely sane Senator, and Logan 's fear of commitment, Daniela and Logan somehow let their lust for each other overcome all obstacles and lead them down a path neither of them ever expected.

Carolyn Crisher