GENRE: Historial Romance
SETTING: California, 1848
SERIES? No
MY GRADE: C
SYNOPSIS: Victoria Ryan tasted sweet freedom -- and love -- in Boston, far from the cast-iron code of behavior that shackles women in Alta, California. Now she has come home to find nothing has changed -- that she is to be married against her wishes by her father's decree. And she will share a hidden fortune with anyone who helps her escape.
Rugged and rough, Nick Kincade carefully guards his secrets as he lives by his own law. Yet the cold-as-steel ex-Texas Ranger is willing to escort the bewitching, headstrong lady back East. For the past has already linked Victoria's destiny with his. And anything can happen on the hard, twisting trail -- especially for two strong courageous hearts who are irresistibly drawn to adventure ... and to the searing, white-hot flame of perilous desire.
MY THOUGHTS: I was so uninterested in this story. Though it was released in 1996 it does read like one written at least ten years earlier and I mean that as a compliment. The story was even divided into five parts which was a common thing back then the 70s and 80s). I think the story spans about a year and most of the story takes place in California. At the beginning the story takes place in Boston, Massachusetts and Mexico. The majority of the story is Nick trying to hunt down the two men who raped and murdered Gisela Perez, a woman he had a sexual relationship with when he was in Mexico. I didn't care for any part of the story. Too much stuff was going on; Nick trying to find the murderers, her father, then uncle, wanting/forcing her to marry a man named Rafael, the government trying to find where her father hid money he'd earned by selling guns to 'foreign powers' and so on.
Tory was engaged to Peter Gideon in Boston, months before meeting Nick. We never met Peter. She's from California but has been living with her aunt and uncle in Boston for years. I feel a bit bad for her because when she wouldn't marry Rafael she felt she had to flee...and it was downhill for her from there. She and her maid were being chased by her brother and uncle Sebastian and then she met up with Nick, who helped her get away from them.
There's one part near the end where Tory is kidnapped and almost raped by two men. What annoys me about that is if they'd wanted to rape her they'd have done it when she was first kidnapped. Nick came along and saved the day.
Tory confesses her love for Nick at the end but I'm not buying it. They weren't together much throughout the entire novel and she couldn't stand him and all of a sudden she's in love? This is certainly no love match. They get married in the epilogue but I just don't see why they're married. They only spent a lot of time together while he was helping her escape. Their relationship is severely underdeveloped. I don't see Nick as a 'dangerous man' as the title says.
This was a huge disappointment and I can't recommend it to anyone. This isn't part of a series and the author has no website.
