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PART ONE

PROLOGUE

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

HE TURNED AROUND AND looked back down the e in the pit of his stomach

“She’s not coed her mind”

“Of course she’s co, Jeff Relax”

Gunther Hartog looked at Jeff Stevens with genuine pity How terrible it must be to be so in love

Jeff Stevens was the second-most-talented con artist in the world Sophisticated, urbane, rich and char, Jeff ildly attractive to the opposite sex With his athletic build, thick dark hair and intensely masculine aura, Jeff Stevens could have had any woman he wanted The problem was, he didn’t want any woman He wanted Tracy Whitney And with Tracy Whitney, one could never quite be sure

Tracy Whitney was the most talented con artist in the world It had taken Jeff Stevens a long time to realize that he couldn’t live without her But he knew it now The sinking feeling in his stouests in the church No one to witness his humiliation, apart from Gunther and the crotchety old priest, Father Alfonso

Where is she?

“She’s fifteen minutes late, Gunther”

“That’s a bride’s prerogative”

“No It’s ”

“Nothing’s wrong”

The old ently He’d been honored when Jeff asked hi In his late sixties, with no children of his own, Gunther Hartog loved Jeff Stevens and Tracy Whitney like fa to hio straight A tragedy, in Gunther Hartog’s opinion Like Beethoven retiring after his fourth symphony

Still, it onderful being back in Brazil The warm, wet air The scent of bolinhos de bacalhau, the delicious codfish fritters cooked on every street corner The riot of color that existed everywhere, fro dresses, to the frescoes and stained glass s of the tiny, baroque Chapel of St Rita, where they now stood All of itand alive

“What if Pierpont got wise?” The worry lines deepened on Jeff Stevens’s face “What if?

He stopped, midsentence There, silhouetted in the church doorway, stood Tracy Whitney The sunlight blazing behind her looked alel sent froel Jeff Stevens’s heart soared

Tracy’s slender figure was shown off to perfection in a si chestnut hair cascaded around her shoulders like poured uises over the years—Tracy’s was a fluid, changeable beauty, which accounted for part of her success as a con artist—but he had never seen her look more lovely than she did today Tracy’s mother used to tell her that she had “all the colors of the wind” in her Jeff Stevens understood exactly what Doris Whitney had e fro to herelse besides Triumph, perhaps? Or excitement? Jeff Stevens felt his heart rate quicken

“Hello, Gunther, darling” Tracy walked purposefully toward the altar, kissing her mentor on both cheeks “Hoonderful of you to come”

Tracy Whitney loved Gunther Hartog like a father Tracy missed her father She hoped he would have been proud of her today

Turning to Jeff Stevens, she said, “Sorry I’m late”

“Never apologize,” said Jeff “You’re far too beautiful for that”