A mature and passionate man and woman fall into a purely physical affair, both content to protect their hearts and hide their emotional scars, until they begin to fall in love with each other against their will. I was surprised that I kind of liked this novel. The leading lady, Kaye, is a beautiful, elegant, cultured woman in her early thirties, divorced and full of self-doubt about her choices in life. She married straight out of college and divorced six years later, after determinedly struggling to make a terrible marriage work. Her husband, Frank, was emotionally abusive and manipulative, decimated her youthful self-esteem, criticized her artistic hobbies such as sketching and painting, and cheated on her with almost every woman with a pulse. Despite all of it, Kaye had been in love and determined to make the marriage work, and for six years she struggled until she gave up in despair and divorced. She moved to Montego Bay for a fresh start, luckily well supported on a lavish court-ordered alimony - for all his faults, Frank had been very independently wealthy.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
But moving to Montego Bay, a wealthy Californian enclave, brought her into a glittering and glamorous world, Kaye moved there because her close friend since college, Charlotte, lives there with her husband Peter. Montego Bay is beautiful, its most brilliant star a man who floors her in a way nobody else has. Creighton is suave, handsome, dangerous, and exciting. When they are introduced at a party that Charlotte and Peter host, they are immediately attracted to each other and cannot take their eyes off of each other. They flirt aggressively and Creighton invites her to go sailing with him. The tension crackles between them - this is a very adult heroine, compared to most Harlequin girls. On Creighton's boat under the warm California sunshine, their dark chemistry explodes and they have sex, beginning an affair. Creighton warns her laconically that she shouldn't get attached because he has no heart to give, and he can't deal with any hysterics as much as he likes her. To Creighton's surprise, Kaye laughs and says that she has no intention of falling in love with anyone ever again. Amusedly accepting each other's emotional dysfunction, they begin an affair, happy that they can sate their purely physical desires (or so they think) without risking hurting themselves or each other.
But as they get closer, something happens to both of them. They find an easy sense of camaraderie that they can feel with nobody else, and have the same taste in books and music and plays. Creighton has never been with a woman who stimulates him so much intellectually and Kaye has not felt a man understand her like this in many, many years, if ever. They slowly begin to get over their fears and fall in love. Charlotte tells Kaye that Creighton was a trainwreck a few years ago, but nobody knows why. When Kaye attempts to ask Creighton about this, his defenses go up and he pushes her away at first, which makes Kaye feel her own vulnerable heart, which she is giving to him, is being threatened, so she stops talking to Creighton for a few days. Eventually, afraid of losing her, Creighton comes back and confesses why he has trust issues: when he was young, he was betrayed by his mother (who wanted his inheritance to go to her favorite son by her first marriage), betrayed by his first love who cheated on him, and lost his father in a plane crash - and his father had always loved him faithfully. Slowly, determinedly, Kaye breaks down Creighton's walls with steady, growing love, not budging in the face of his storms and tantrums, since she's finally gained the courage to realize that this is her second and perhaps last chance at a really fulfilling relationship with a man who excites her and stimulates her like no other. Creighton eventually realizes this too, as he takes her out to dinner on his boat, and proposes with an enormous solitaire diamond underneath the moonlight. Kaye joyfully accepts.
Best part of story, including ending:
I really like the slow unfolding of this story, without too much drama, about two mature and damaged individuals.
Best scene in story:
When Peter asks Charlotte if she is the only woman in Montego Bay that Creighton hasn't slept with and if so, what is wrong with her. It was funny.
Opinion about the main character:
Kaye's independence and maturity were refreshing, and I loved her courage and tenderness.
