Blush

Cheeky heroines and dark-as-sin heroes, Forster's trademark characters for a dozen and a half romance novels, surface once again in this hard-edged, sexy romp (after Come Midnight). When supermodel Gus Featherstone fakes her own kidnapping to shake lose a chunk of her trust fund, she doesn't expect to end up blackmailed into marriage by her ruthless ``kidnapper,'' Jack Culhane. Jack, a former U.S. Customs undercover agent who lost his wife and infant daughter five years earlier when an elaborate sting operation went wrong, takes the bogus kidnapping job to infiltrate the Featherstone mansion and recover a priceless van Gogh he believes was obtained illegally. When Jack finds the painting, he knows, he'll also find the persons responsible for his family's deaths. The conclusion, which involves a cream-puff secondary character and a clever plot twist, will not only surprise readers, but move them as well. (Feb.)