title: Adventure in Panama
author: Freda, Paula
description: Eight years ago Doreen Carlson married Esteban Pereira, the owner of a nightclub and head of the distinguished and honorable Pereira family whose Spanish ancestors date back centuries. From the moment she walked into his nightclub during a vacation in Panama and caught his attention, Esteban relentlessly courted her. Her formal upbringing had not prepared her for his irresistible Latin charm, or his magnetism and suave manner. Doreen, wealthy and refined, herself hailing from a distinguished family in the Hudson River Valley in New York State, succumbed to his charms. They married and for a short time she was ecstatically happy, but their efforts to conceive children met with failure and she can no longer abide living in an old custom world environment. She is determined to leave Esteban and return to the States. Esteban's villa on his huge and elegant estate also houses his younger twin siblings, Ramon and Rosaria, and his grandmother, an honorable matron steeped in Old World traditions. Doreen feels she is suffocating. Although she is free to come and go as she pleases within Panama City, Esteban will not allow her to work, nor is she permitted to visit his club. He uses the excuse that attendance at the club does not befit a Pereira spouse, but Doreen cannot see the sense of his reasoning and suspects there is a darker reason. When she attempts to return to the States, Esteban stops her, confiscating her passport and the keys to her car. Esteban deeply loves Doreen and he has no intention of letting her go. He wants desperately to solve their problems and rekindle the happiness they originally shared, but he does not believe that her returning to the States is the answer. Matters worsen when Doreen defies Esteban and visits the club and meets Elena, the stripper who nightly performs at his nightclub. Very soon Doreen's suspicions come close to confirmation that Elena is Esteban's mistress....