Wildest Hearts

Jayne Ann Krentz

When her brother Daniel disappeared in a plane crash, Annie Lyncroft and his fiancee were determined to keep his business going until he was found. Now, a few months later, Annie knows there is little choice left if she wants to keep the business from going under. She approaches Daniel's largest creditor and one of the shrewdest, private businessmen in the Pacific Northwest. She suggests a marriage of convenience to keep the business until Daniel returns.

Oliver Rain is a controlled, private man who rebuilt his family fortune when his father had absconded with the family money years before. Something about the free spirited Annie tugs at him, so he agrees to the marriage. Although he'd like to take it further than she has in mind. Much to his family's surprise they marry within a few days.

His family try to talk Annie out of it. He is a controller, they warn. He refuses to allow his sister to marry the man she loves. His stepmother hides the current man in her life. He holds the purse strings for all the members. He must only have married her to get control of her brother's company. Annie realizes he may hold those strings, but he's also the one who rescued them and made back the money that holds them. She believes she sees past the formidable exterior Oliver projects. After all, she has seen him in his greenhouse with his ferns. Besides, they agreed to divorce once Daniel returns and takes his business back.

Jayne Ann Krentz has a knack with the strong, silent, forbidding type up against the strong, free-spirited loving type of characters. In many ways Wildest Hearts reminds me of her novel Trust Me, another one I like (and occasionally re-read).

I know I could never have persevered the way Annie does against Oliver. Yet Krentz makes the whole of the actions believable for the reader's enjoyment. There's a bit of a mystery that is hidden but surfaces near the end to keep the reader interested. Sit back and enjoy this quick read.

Notice:  Strong sexual content