Gaelen Foley, His Wicked Kiss

His Wicked Kiss

Gaelen Foley

Ballantine, May 2006, $6.99

ISBN 0345480104

In 1818 deep in the Venezuelan jungles, British native Eden Farraday lives with her scientist father, Dr. Victor Farraday. While she wants to have a season in London with "normal people" maybe even find a husband, he obsesses over elixirs ever since his wife died and says she can marry his assistant Connor O'Keefe.

When Victor breaks his promise to escort Eden to England, she decides she must find her own way. Opportunity arises when Lord Jack Knight and his devilish crew sail nearby following a meeting with Bolivar's rebels in which he offers them retired British veterans to fight alongside their peasants and farmers. Eden asks Black Jack to take her to London, but he refuses. An independent, Eden sneaks onto his vessel where Jack finds his pretty feisty stowaway when it is too late to turn back. Figuring her payment would be her, he places her in his cabin, but soon the rogue and the eccentric fall in love.

The keys to this superb regency romance are the relationship between the lead couple that Gaelen Foley deftly maneuvers and the need to know what turned Jack from an aristocrat to a scoundrel (with a conscience). The fast-paced story line is character driven as Jack begins to change due to his falling in love (though in fairness his "goodness" is part of him as he supports the rebel cause in South America for more than just silver). Sub-genre fans will want to read this fine tale for to not would be fool's folly.

Harriet Klausner