From Publishers Weekly
Cassie Deville rips off her own bodice at the start of this new romance by the author of Midnight Warrior. When Jared Danemount, Duke of Morland, meets the bare-breasted, sarong-swathed heroine on the beach in Regency-era Hawaii, he thinks she's just another Polynesian maiden. He doesn't know, as he tries to ride her wild stallion, Kapu, and gazes hungrily at her pectorals, that she is the daughter of his sworn enemy, Charles Deville, an artist who betrayed Jared's father during the Terror. Cassie offers herself as Jared's sexual hostage if he will take her, Kapu and Lani, Charles's Polynesian mistress, back to Europe with him so that she can try to save her father's life. Although, in a bit of role reversal, Cassie goes nightly to Jared's cabin aboard ship, she will not spend the night or give her heart. Johansen, who specializes in hot talk and steamy sexual politics, is less skilled once her lovers disembark. In unimposing Regency set pieces, Cassie makes friends with Jared's French ward, Josette; she shocks British high society with a low-cut red dress; she tries to save Jared's life as he stalks the cruel French villain. In a disjointed way, Johansen has provided sex talk for grown-ups and other scenes for adolescents.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Taken from France as a young child, Cassandra Deville has grown up wild and free in the South Seas. She spent her childhood following her artist father from island to island as her father crossed the seas, in constant fear that his mortal enemy would find and kill him. One day, when Cassie is on the brink of womanhood, the unthinkable happens. Jared Danemount, her father's sworn enemy, sails into the harbor with a retinue of sailors, ready to drag her father back to face his execution in France. Jared is enchanted with the bare breasted beauty he meets on the deserted beach. He's stunned to find that she is the daughter of the man he has sailed from England to capture. His desire for the beauty turns to rage when she drugs and binds him, allowing her father to escape back to France. Cassie knows that her father is on his way to France in a desperate attempt to clear his name. She strikes a bargain with Jared. She will sail to France as his hostage with the understanding that he will have his way with her. A battle of wills ensues that carries them across the seas to Jared's castle, where both find the true meaning of love and honor.Ms. Johansen draws her characters with passion and tenderness! A passionate, headstrong heroine you can cheer for! An entertaining voyage to the lush South Seas! This story sizzles with passion!Annette Carney --
Copyright © 1994-97 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved --
From Literary Times
