Not much to say about this one. While not the worst HQN I've read, it doesn't stand out as anything awesome.The heroine, Christine, is an extremely broke orphan. She's got nothing to hold her in England, so she accepts a rich old bat's invitation to become her secretary on a lush Caribbean plantation. She's on edge because some street-peddling fortune teller looked at chicken bones & told her to beware the devil at Archangel, her new place of employment. But who's the devil? Is it the resident Jerkoff Alpha, the old bat's nephew, who's obsessed with Christine's purity? (Jerkoff or not, he sure does make her girl-bits swoon when he touches her arm. Oh noes!) Or is it the petulant, foot-stomping, abusive young grandson that the old bat is pushing on Christine with hopes of marriage? Sure, the petulant young grandson keeps trying to menace her into submission...but regardless of any unwanted rom-suspense plotlines, she's absolutely certain she could never be happy in such a posh atmosphere because Alpha Jerkoff keeps a boat tied in the nearby harbor. Bastard.Yeah, we all know what's gonna happen. :PCompared to other Alpha Assholes in HQNland, this hero doesn't do anything physically threatening aside from a couple possessive kisses; in fact, he makes a habit of rescuing the heroine from her repeated moments of peril. What set me against him was the guy's obsession with rape. He meets Christine in a shitty part of town & she's terrified that some local hoodlums are stalking her with evil intent...which he sees fit to taunt her with at every opportunity. WTF. "Don't worry, I won't rape you in front of everyone." "Still worried you'll be raped behind a bush?" "Your precious virtue is intact, little prude." None of these are exact quotes, but whatever -- it made my nose wrinkle. Any guy who talked like that to me would be dumped to the curb, no matter if he saved me from drowning....But otherwise, a fairly tame Harley. Christine was a limp dishrag & the rushed ending falls flat (despite proper karma dished out in full), but the author did make a stab at some romantic suspense atmosphere. I also liked the whole Caribbean plantation angle; I'd have liked to see more details of that setting, but there's only so much to be done with HQN page counts.2.5 stars, rounded up. I'm feeling generous today.
