He attends to Gwen during her recuperation, tending her dog and growing more and more attached to this fiery girl with a Scottish brogue.

Ian accompanies Gwen to Scotland when her solicitor in Aberdeen informs her that her mother has been shot in the head. Gwen has not seen her mother in eight years. She does not know the truth of her family’s troubled past and her own earlier arranged marriage.

She discovers many things on her trip to Scotland. The biggest surprise is the French-Swiss-Scottish seven-year-old who is her half sister and new charge. And then there’s the fact that the man she thought of as her father was really her uncle. Gwen herself has been marked for murder to ensure someone else’s inheritance.

The characters contrast in many ways. Gwen is guarded, Ian is very open. She is an independent spirit, confused and shocked by her true family heritage. She is somewhat rash and quick to take action. He is more solid, stable and reliable. She has sublimated some very troubling memories of her childhood. Her family tree is tangled. Ian’s family is warm, loving and accepting. Ian has very little difficulty rearranging his own life to protect her. He changes his mind about spending his life without a “significant other.”

Little Josie arouses parental feelings in both Gwen and Ian. She is surprisingly sweet and docile in the new and strange environment she is forced into after her mother’s death.

The settings seem authentic and the characters are likeable. The action-packed conclusion is violent, scary and satisfying. Author Lyle has packed a lot into this engrossing story of Gwen’s past and present.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Mildly sensual

Reviewer: Lynn Bushey
January 24, 2007