Luz had nightheat, the sensuous quality in a woman that makes men ache with desire. Nick loved and lusted for her the first time he saw her. But what he didn't know was that Luz had secrets---that beneath the glamour and sex appeal was a woman determined to turn her back on wealth and challenge a corrupt political system. Even if dong so meant her life. Nick started out dirt poor---as a child, he survived the war-torn frozen hell of the siege of Leningrad and saw his mother starve to death as fat-cat bureaucrats ate well. He learned early that there were the haves and have-nots in this world. He was going to get everything rich people had---and more. From a brutal Soviet orphanage to a plantation in the steamy jungles of the Caribbean, from sultry, violent Havana to the dangerous streets of Santo Domingo, Nick battled men who controlled and exploited the wealth of nations. With bootleg vodka and exotic rum, he built a business empire that would one day bring him into conflict with the most brutal dictator in the Caribbean---and a struggle for the love and life of the only woman he ever truly loved.