A remote manor house, Cornish cliff-top
locale, and ghostly apparitions are the perfect backdrop for a Gothic story, and
duly set in place the author delivers on that theme with a tale of inheritance,
and a rather independent minded heroine. Minerva Goodridge is no shrinking violet.
Thus, undaunted by tales of ghosts, and rather enchanted by a stranger’s
helping hand, Minerva is soon in love with a house, whilst inner awareness to
Gideon Drake’s masculinity leads to lustful imaginings. The Hero, Gideon,
is a man on a mission to solve a mystery, and the heroine just so happens to
have the keys to a house that may, or may not afford clues, or indeed resolve a
family secret. As a man of the world, Gideon is far from immune to Minerva’s bodily
charms, and albeit he’s a stranger to the district he’s already somewhat
familiar with her inheritance, and as keen to win her trust, as invade her
privacy. But can Minerva trust him, and will her lustful imaginings be her
downfall?
This is a lively tale of one woman’s
singular independence at a time when most young women were either chaperoned at
the behest of their parents, or a companion was thus engaged by a single
heiress to ensure compliance with social expectations. But Minerva is essentially
a rebel who flaunts her wild independent spirit and gives not a hoot to the social
mores and graces of her lifetime. She is as earthy and as sensual as the ivy
clinging to the structure of Trekellis Manor.
