Yesterday's Enemy

by Lee Stafford

He used her secret to keep her there

Ten years after her stepfather's financial ruin, travel consultant Nicole Bradbury returned to the Spanish fishing village of Puerto de Castello on business and found herself in the powerful grasp of the man responsible for it all--Steve Rodriguez.

Wealthy and manipulative, he drew her back to Vistamar, her onetime home, and forced her to accept the job he was offering.

And he forced her to acknowledge passion she had never known before. But how could she reconcile the man she knew now with the enemy she'd been taught to hate?

Genres: Romance

189 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1988

About the author

Lee Stafford was born and educated in Sheffield, England where she worked as a secretary. However, she has been a compulsive scribbler for as long as she can remember. She lives in Sussex with her husband, their two teenage daughters and three cats.
To keep fit, she swims and does a weekly dance exercise class. when not traveling to research new backgrounds, she likes to relax at the small apartment they have recently bought in France.

Reviews

[JR]

Of late, I've been on a bit of a Lee Stafford binge (she also wrote historical novels for M&B), but have to report that 'Yesterday's Enemy' is one of her more middle-of-the-road offerings.

The novel opens with heroine Nicole Bradbury, who works for a London-based travel agency, setting out for Spain set on righting the wrongs she believes the Spanish-American Hero served up to her (now deceased) step-father when he'd owned a business in Spain.

Despite being geared up to wreak revenge, the Heroine proves pretty quickly she hasn't the temperament for it - she begins by (genuinely) befriending the Hero's sulky teenage daughter, then makes a badly bungled attempt at stealing papers from the Hero's office and caps it off, after an enforced period of residence at the Hero's villa, by succumbing to his manly wiles.

Fortunately, the Hero is not the villain the Heroine thought he was it turns out her step-father was the one embezzling from the business he co-owned with the Hero's father and after a few last-minute bonus misunderstandings, the pair attain their HEA.

I'm rating the book a three-and-a-quarter vintage romance read.

[Myrna]

I guess if I call the hero Spanish, I'll offend all Catalonia?

Too stuffy and tame for my tastes.
Nicole believes Steve ruined her stepfather. Steve believes Nicole is up to something and needs to be kept close.
Do you feel the love?
I don't.

[More Books Than Time]

This could, should have been good. Characters we can relate to, a decent plot, bit of travelogue, yet it is dull. I stopped about half through and read the ending. Ho hum