Fire and Desire

An oil research summit in Rio de Janeiro leads to romantic adventure for renowned geologist Corinthians Avery and Trevor Grant, the head foreman of Madaris Explorations. A tense relationship, which began at a business meeting two years before, is complicated when Corinthians, attempting to seduce a colleague by secretly entering his hotel room half naked, inadvertently reveals herself to Trevor instead. A terrorist takeover of their hotel forces the notoriously contentious African-American pair to take cover in the jungles of South America, where Trevor's survival skills and fluency in Portuguese, honed from 15 years in a Marine Force Reconnaissance unit, come in handy. Jackson (One Special Moment) turns up the heat in the already steamy surroundings as Trevor and Corinthians put their differences aside and respond to their mutual attraction, revealing a passion for each other hidden by years of anger. The duo's rescue and return to U.S. soil is only the beginning of Jackson's special brand of intrigue: now Trevor must save Corinthians from a Middle Easterner who lusts after her and has made arrangements for her abduction to his country. (July)