Dark Angel

Luciano da Valenza has just been released from prison where he spent five years serving time for a crime he didn't commit. Now that he is free, his thoughts have turned to revenge. He began with the Linwoods, who he believed framed them, and then to the youngest daughter, who dumped him the day before he was arrested. He would have never believe Kerry could have been a part of the plot to frame him, but why else would she tell him she couldn't marry him, the day before he's arrested?
Kerry Linwood has just learned that her grandfather took a loan from Luciano several years before that hasn't been paid. In an attempt to save her family home, she goes to London to see Luciano and try to reason with him. She is unprepared for his loathing of her. She is also unprepared for the desire she feels for him.
Lynne Graham does a poor job of writing of these two people. Luciano, to me, was a arrogant jerk who punished the one person that had loved him in his life. He totally disregards the reason that she broke their engagement. Kerry was depicted as a spinless, naive schoolgirl who was so overcome by lust that she set aside all the abuse that Luciano hurled at her. This is my first Lynne Graham and I don't think I will have the courage to waste a day reading another of hers.

Five years ago, Luciano De Valenza was convicted and imprisoned for embezzling from the Lynwood family's wine business. Young Kerry Linwood was engaged to Luciano, but broke off their engagement the day before his arrest for reasons unknown to him. Luciano has been released from prison, and is back to wreak havoc on those responsible for his arrest, and to clear his name in a crime he swears he did not commit. For starters, he plans to take everything that belongs to the Lynwoods, including Ballybawn Castle, and already made a jump start destroying the Lynwood wine business while in prison.
So where does poor, naïve Kerry stand in all this? Luciano wants her, of course, but swears all he is doing is purging his system of whatever leftover feelings he had for her. Enter the evil stepsister Rochelle, dear old dad Harold Lynwood, and one must wonder if Kerry will ever have any self-respect after the games they play with her life. The only family member who seems to genuinely care at all for Kerry is cousin Miles, and he even leaves us wondering at times.
The story line is a good one, and there are plenty of probable suspects in the embezzlement. My problem was in understanding Kerry, her undying love for Luciano, who treats her less than well most of the time, and whose caveman attitude wears you down. As in all romances, there does come a happy ending, but all to often in the course of the book I just had to wonder "why" - did Kerry put up with so much from everyone? There are redeeming moments when she finds family unbeknownst to her, and they do help her develop a spine and stand up to others, along with adding some colorful whit and humor to the story. It just took a long time to reach that point! This was an OK read, but I was expecting more, and it just didn't materialize.