Dangerous Secrets

Dangerous Secrets by Caroline Warfield 2015 Regency Romance

The story takes place in 1820 Rome with Major Jamie Bently, aka Lord James Phineas Heyworth, taking the job of interpreter for widow Eleanora Haley. He has a past he can’t forget or forgive and is avoiding his three friends who live in England by staying in Rome.

The hero in a romance often has demons tormenting him and the love he feels for the heroine helps him come to terms with them. Warfield does an excellent job of taking us on Jamie’s journey to find redemption.

Nora’s father is a vicar who does not approve of her traveling alone to see her ill brother, Robert, who converted to Catholicism in order to marry. Robert names Nora guardian of his daughter Isabella and dies. Nora, who can’t have children, falls in love with the child, who also takes an intense liking to Jamie.

Isabella lives in a convent, and the Reverend Mother Margarita is a shrewd woman who knows who Jamie really is and warns him to tell Nora. When Isabella is kidnapped Nora agrees that they must marry to avoid Isabella’s Italian relatives from taking custody of her. Add in Jamie being recruited to spy on the relatives while trying to hide his own secrets, and Nora has plenty of reasons not to trust him.

Although the hero and heroine fall in love, they have plenty of problems to sort through before they can live happily ever after. Some stories are too simple, but this one had a complex plot that keeps the pages turning.

More book reviews can be found at http://www.authorfreeman.wordpress.com

#romance #Rome #Regency #CarolineWarfield