Valerie Rochelle's adolescence was spent rebelling against her parents' grand plans for her future. Starved of their affection, she turned to animals for comfort. The special bond she develops with them leads to her becoming a veterinarian. Valerie has blossomed into an attractive, outgoing woman; a fact that does not go unnoticed by the wealthy and fiery-tempered Teddy de Mornay. Both charming and popular, and certainly handsome, Teddy appears to be the ideal man for Valerie. But as she quickly discovers, his smile conceals a rather different nature. One stormy night, Valerie is called out to a remote horse farm in the country, she meets the mysterious but intriguing Wyndhym Ashley Conrad III. Once celebrated for his daredevil ways, Wyn has become a recluse, resigned to keep his terrible secret forever hidden in the mysterious shadows of Stonelair, his country estate. And though Wyn is Valerie's perfect antidote to Teddy's increasing demands, her happiness with Wyn is threatened with the emergence of Wyn's greedy soon-to-be ex-wife, who will do anything to satisfy her powerful lust for his money. For each of them has a past with an unforgiving enemy who will do anything to destroy so perfect a love. From Publishers Weekly"Don't take the ring!" you want to shout, when slithery Teddy de Mornay offers a humongous canary diamond to Valerie Rochelle. Valerie not only had the democratic good taste to drop the "de la" from her own name when she added "Doctor of Veterinary Medicine," she's also a woman of character tender yet tough, loyal and fearless. Alas, Teddy's romantic persistence, backed by a libido that doesn't quit, is persuasive. Then Valerie's pager intrudes: a horse has been taken ill at the mysterious estate called Stonelair, and the plucky vet drives off alone through the dark, twisty landscape. (The cinematic locale of this sudsy romance-thriller, never specified, is a rich Eastern seaboard community with lush scenery, vast mansions and prosperous farms.) It isn't only the stallion Storm Warning that needs healing, however. Laird of the manor Wyndym Ashley Conrad, who was dragged across a field in a polo accident, is scarred body and soul. Before Valerie and Wyn can have their happy ending (this time she gets a green diamond, to match her eyes), they have to do battle with the cocaine-fueled greed of his separated wife, Arielle; the perfidy of major domo Santo Ducci; and the crazed jealousy of one of Valerie's associates, whose rage drives her to murder several beloved pets under Valerie's care. Plausible? Subtle? Inventive? None of the above. But bestselling Gould (Time to Say Good-Bye) knows what makes a yummy, lo-cal summer salad: snaky evil defeated by redemptive true love with lots of hot un-dressing as the thunder crashes. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From BooklistWealth and lineage have never been enough for Valerie Rochelle. Denigrated for her shyness as a child, she's found happiness, much to her society mother's bewilderment, working as a veterinarian in upstate New York. When Teddy, an old family friend, proposes, her mother is ecstatic, but Valerie is less than thrilled. Nonetheless, she accepts, but her reluctance is exacerbated when she pays a house call to the mysterious Stonelair estate to tend to an ailing horse. She and the estate's new owner, Wyn Conrad, connect on a level that she and Teddy never reach, and she learns that he's a former polo enthusiast who was severely injured in a match and has been a recluse ever since. Telling her mother and fiance that the engagement is off is the least of the lovers' worries as bad things happen to Valerie's friends and a plot against Wyn unfolds. Gould's steamy tale about the lives of the rich and troubled is perfect for a read on the beach. Patty EngelmannCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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