Dark Wispers: Dark Wispers

Rogers's ( Chanting the Dawn ) banal romance of 13th-century Britain is delivered in execrable prose. Consider a scene in which a young man named Arlen nearly drops some firewood on the ``endangered toes'' of Alyce, the heroine. When she bends down to retrieve the wood, we are told that ``Arlen was horrified that the fine lady felt her toil necessary to see his clumsiness undone and abruptly stooped to forestall the need.'' But Alyce has more to think about than sidestepping logs: her father has been arrested for treason and his castle confiscated. Luckily ``Demon Dare,'' who fostered and trained under her father and who arouses Alyce's ``hungry response to his merest touch,'' offers shelter to her household, including her stepmother Sybillene (a hot-blooded wench who drools over Dare) and Sybillene's sneaky brother Walter. To Alyce, Dare seems inaccessible but decent and devoted to the needs of his tenants. But his own people, including his mother, act like Dare is in league with dark forces, and when the mark of the devil is found near an arson/murder site, Alyce wonders how she can stem the malicious rumors that threaten to destroy the man who threatens to capture her heart. (Feb.)