Header PromotionStill Temptation by Angela Wells (HR 3006)
Verona Chatfield agreed to act as her younger friend's chaperone for a summer in Greece due to a combination of circumstances - not the least of which was the fact that she had just quit her job as it didn't offer enough of a challenge. The girl, Katina, is 17 and desperately homesick; she was sent to England for school after her mother died the year before, she's just learned her brother may be arranging a marriage for her, and he will not let her come without a chaperone. So Verona goes...but when she meets the brother in the airport he is not at all who she is expecting!
Verona is not quite what Andreas Constanidou pictured either - he finds himself flirting with her at the airport before he realizes who she is and isn't (a grey-haired, aging old lady). He makes it clear he is not sure she is suitable for the task but on the other hand he wants her to stay and will send Katina back to England if she doesn't. He also sets some ground rules - she musn't sunbathe topless as the tourists are wont to do, and she musn't hang out with the kamaki (boy toys for the tourists), but he seems free to grab her at any available moment and Verona does not resist Andreas' kisses except in words.
So the plot is soon complicated by the appearance of Bob who claims that Andreas is planning to marry off Katina asap so that he can marry Bob's former lover Yana the only woman ever to be installed in Andreas' apartment. Verona believes him but at the same time seems to be falling in love with Andreas herself. Will she resist Andreas? Will Andreas love her back? Is Katina being forced into marriage?
I've read this book 4+ times now and find it quite enjoyable. I definitely have some major quibbles with it - for instance did Greeks on Crete really slit their wives necks over things less offensive than topless sunbathing even in 1989? - are Greek wives really that blasé about infidelity because they know they aren't likely to be divorced? Although these points aren't critical to the plot, they make me cringe when they come up and make me feel maybe I shouldn't be reading this. More important to the plot, I don't really feel that Andreas and Verona really get enough face time together... On a more positive note, the subject of the arranged marriage was handled very well, with Andreas showing himself to be a modern man, and allowing Verona to explore a bit of her prejudices. I was very happy for Katina and her fiancé.
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