Deborah Linton has just had her heart broken, having fallen for a man who was just looking for a good time, ignoring his warnings not to take him seriously, so she heads to Venice for a restorative vacation. Only right away she goes out for a stroll in the mist the first night, almost gets accosted by two teens and is saved by Matthew Tyrell. "They get off to a bad start as he doesn't seem to believe her about the teens and reminds her of Robert in his carefree casual sort of ways. He pursues her by asking her to a party to tactfully fend off the teenage daughter of a business-ful-y important aquaintance and she eventually agrees before getting his last name and realizing that he is the man she had covered as a journalist a while back when his company had developed a drug which caused a few deaths when not tested properly for long enough. At the party they get into a physical altercation when they misreact to each other over a pass, tearing her dress - and the paparazzi snap a picture. The next day when Matt learns she's a journalist he blames her for it and announces they are engaged, whisking her off to a villa to hide out. She responds to his kisses, but is she over Robert (it's been less than a week)? Is Matt serious about her or is this just a pick up game? Will he believe her about her involvement with the story?
The language the book is written in is really interesting, especially at the beginning when Deborah is walking in the mists in Venice - it matches the setting perfectly. I'm less enamoured of the climax of the book and scenes around that period as I don't handle anger well and it seems that neither do Deborah and Matt - Matt has a temper and Deborah would sort of rage in a helpless unproductive way that made me feel even angrier. They do seem a pair for each other though - Deborah is never frightened by Matt's temper and she certainly gives as good as she gets. I left the book confident that they would be good for each other and stay together HEA - my confidence bolstered by the way Deborah and Matt conversed and addressed the fact that she had thought of herself as in love with another man just a week before. The book is slightly dated (copyright 1981, so it was published when I was being conceived), especially in the attitudes of the secondary characters like Deb's sister Andrea, but Deborah and Matt are modern in their mores and addititudes so that didn't bother me either.
