Jeweled Seduction

When Calum promised his father that he would get the family’s heirloom necklace back he had no idea of the challenges that he would face.

It had been easy to slip under Brian MacIver’s guard; Calum had quickly become a trusted employee. Things started to unravel the moment that he met Brian’s pampered daughter, Valerie. He had tried to kidnap her, but she had not come with him willingly. Then she attacked him as if fighting for her life so that trying to imprison her had proven to be quite a task. The last thing he expected was that she would be able to warn her father just who the kidnapper was, forcing Valerie, Calum and his butler Max to go into hiding.

The simple plan was to get back his father’s precious heirloom and bring Valerie to his dying father in Scotland. Calum never could have foreseen the amount of grit and determination in a woman who had been described as meek. Nor could he have predicted the incredible physical response he experienced in her presence. Daily contact is difficult because his mind is constantly sidetracked by hot, erotic daydreams starring himself and the daughter of his father’s enemy.

Valerie hated Calum. She hated that time spent in his company turned her on in a manner that her fiancé never had. Each time she submitted to his advances, she disgusted herself a little more. Conversely, she cannot help but to lust after Calum. With his overwhelming masculine aura and the element of danger, Valerie begins to wonder if she would be betraying herself and her father if she were to live a little on the wild side, while she has the chance.

Calum and Valerie both hold the missing pieces of the same puzzle. If they are ever to see the whole picture their worlds will be turned upside-down. Valerie is horrified that she has feelings for a man who has kidnapped her and openly admitted the lengths that he is prepared to go to get what he wants. She is desperate to escape before it becomes too painful to leave him. Calum’s well-thought-out plans have been thrown asunder. Time spent in Val’s company is causing him to doubt all that he has ever believed in.

Readers will be swept along in the turmoil, reluctant to see the tale finish yet desperate for a happy ending. I found myself cheering on Valerie’s escape efforts and amused when Calum gradually realises that he is in way over his head. Both characters are realistic; their motives and emotions build up the romantic tale and force out buried family secrets. Romantic moments are passionate but not explicit; they serve to complicate matters delightfully. This contemporary romance goes beyond the physical to a clash of soul mates that were raised on a family legend which had made them enemies. Jeweled Seduction will be remembered fondly by this reader; I will be keeping a watch on author Carol McPhee.

Reviewed by: Naomi