Sex and spitefulness often give way to love in Rogers's novels (A Reckless Encounter, etc.), and this salacious Civil War romance is no exception. Like Scarlett O'Hara, Cameron Campbell is a spoiled Southern belle used to getting her way, so when Captain Jackson Logan, a handsome rogue suspected of blockade running, spurns her, she vows to hate him forever. Six years later, he returns to her family's Mississippi plantation to deliver a message to her senator father. Much to Cameron's dismay, Jackson decides to stay for a few days. While Jackson and Cameron wrestle both in and out of the sheets, Cameron's sinister brother, Grant, kills their father and seeks to auction off all of their slaves, including Taye, Cameron's freed mulatto companion. Grant is as unrealistic as villains come, and Cameron can be hard to stomach as well, particularly when she throws one of her many temper tantrums. Although Rogers is well known for her classic 1970s bodice-rippers, the forced seduction formula will be off-putting for some readers, as will her trite dialogue ("If only you would let me take you into my room, I could show you the moon, the stars...."). But the story moves at a fast clip, and some readers may hold out until the end simply to see Grant get his just deserts. (Dec.)
