Gift of Fire

Jayne Ann Krentz

9/28/2008

Although she loves Jonas, Verity Ames worries about him. Jonas Quarrell had a strange and violent past, with a strange psychic power that can overtake him. She has the channeling power he needs to keep his own under control. Jonas is a strong, vital man. Yet he is content to wash dishes in her vegetarian restaurant. He's letting his education and training go to waste.

So Verity becomes his business manager. She procures a job to verify that a castle transplanted to the San Juan Islands is truly an Italian Renaissance castle. The fact that the owners suspect there is a hidden treasure somewhere in it only adds to the allure of the consulting position. Jonas lets Verity's enthusiasm guide him.

The current owners inherited the building from an eccentric uncle who was also a Renaissance expert. Uncle Digby had been searching for the lost treasure in the castle most of his life with no success. Now not only are the current owners searching, but so is someone from Digby's last few years. This person won't let anyone get in the way of finding the treasure and taking it away with no one else's knowledge. Anyone who gets in the way could die.

This is one of Jayne Ann Krentz's older romantic suspenses. It's no longer in print but used copies can be found. Gift of Fire appears to be the sequel to Gift of Gold (I have to find this second novel to be certain).

Gift of Fire starts with an acknowledged romantic connection. Verity and Jonas are already a couple. But their future needs clarification. After his troubled life Jonas is content to be a dishwasher in Verity's restaurant. But she worries that he will want to return to the risk taking life style he had lived before he found her. Plus she hates seeing his intellect go to waste.

Krentz has a touch for romantic suspense that appeals. The reader knows Gift of Fire will have a happy ending because it's a romance. The path to get there is worth reading.

Although out of print, you can find used copies of this book at . Also, don't forget to check your local public library.

Notice: Very explicit sexual situations