AN UNEXPECTED PLEASURE

Author: Candace Camp ISBN: 0373770626 7/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: HQN BOOKS
Time Period: 1879

Had Theo Moreland, the Marquess of Raine, killed her brother? Journalist Megan Mulcahey had to know the truth. A woman working in a man's profession, Irish-American Megan is used to fighting for what she wants, but Theo may prove her greatest challenge yet! Heir to a dukedom and powerful beyond Megan's wildest dreams, Lord Raine is also sinfully handsome and fiercely intelligent. Megan is determined to discover if Theo is responsible for her brother's suspicious death—and to find out what became of the treasure the men were seeking in the South American jungle. But first she must corss the Atlantic and inflitrate his household—any way she can... The new governess was not what Theo had expected. The dashing, adventurous explorer had always been restless and plagued with wanderlust—until feisty Megan came to Broughton House to teach his younger twin siblings. Now there's no place he'd rather be than admiring the curvaceous redhead. Theo can't deny the strange pull of attraction between them, nor the swift and immediate desire that troubles and excites him. He's seen beauty like Megan's only once before—in a fever dream from which he hoped never to awake. But why is this delicious vision snooping around his mansion like a common thief? As the threads of the mystery grow ever more tangled, Megan and Theo must make a vital choice—continue to cling to the ghosts of their past ...or trust each other to be their future.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Having not read a Candace Camp book in some time, I was very excited to get a chance to read AN UNEXPECTED PLEASURE. I have never been disappointed with any of Ms. Camp's books, and this time proved no exception. AN UNEXPECTED PLEASURE is a fast paced, lively read that teams up a gorgeous, tortured hero with a beautiful, spunky woman who is trying to find justice for the death of her brother, whom she believes was killed by our hero, Theo.

Theo Moreland is astonished when he walks out onto his mother's garden patio one day and sees a woman that he recognizes from a dream that he had ten years ago. Theo doesn't know what is going on, but he knows on thing—he will never fall in love, dream or not. Even though he can't hide the strange sensation that he gets every time he touches Megan or looks into her eyes. Megan is just as surprised by the attraction that she feels for Theo, as this is a man she is supposed to hate—he killed her brother, for goodness sake!

As the plot thickens and Theo and Megan try to figure out what really happened ten years ago, I was literally pulled right into this story, feeling Theo and Megan's love as if it were my own. I felt as if I were there with Theo’s unorthodox, loving
family, feeling all of Megan's fears and watching her happy ending come to life. Through Ms. Camp's writing I felt like I was a spectator sitting front and center at a wonderful play that snags at your heart and makes you wish for it never to end.

Kristal Gorman