Shannon Drake, Reckless

Reckless

Shannon Drake

HQN, Sep 2005, $16.95

ISBN: 0373770618

From the deck of her father's vessel the Promise, Katherine "Kat" Adair sees her beloved Lord David Turnberry fall from his ship The Inner Sanctum into the Thames; when no one reacts, she jumps and rescues him. However, before she can get back to her boat, she runs out of steam. Notorious rake Lord Hunter Macdonald sees the two "fools", jumps in, and saves her life though she refuses to acknowledge he did. Afterward David insists someone deliberately pushed him into the river.

Hunter asks Kat's father, an artist, whether his daughter can join an Egyptian archeological expedition. He agrees, but she becomes concerned when she hears rumors of some dying on their last trek. When Hunter learns that David wants to make Kat his mistress, he decides to protect her by naming her as his fianc e. In the Sahara someone tries to abduct Kat with only Hunter keeping her safe. She falls in love with her heroic rescuer who feels the same way as they search for items of antiquity while trying to uncover who is behind the deadly attacks on this expedition and the previous one.

This is an exhilarating historical romantic suspense due to the RECKLESS antics of the heroine who dives head first into dangerous situations that forces her champion to keep rescuing her. The story line is action-packed but brings out the English Egyptology period during the reign of Queen Victoria especially in Egypt. Fans of nineteenth century adventure romances will appreciate Shannon Drake's tense thriller.

Harriet Klausner