Review: Captivating.... Loved it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 6, 2008
As the second son of the Earl of Warren, Captain Dylan Blake has always been made to feel unloved and unwanted.  After the last ten years fighting for his country he's come home a hero, but even his heroic accomplishments have done nothing to earn his fathers acceptance or love.  Irritated and at loose ends he is goaded by an old adversary to a wager; if he can get the elusive Lady Natalia Sinclair to dance two dances with him in one evening, he'll win two hundred pounds. Needing the funds, Dylan takes on the challenge.Feeling her huge dowry is her only attractive feature, Lady Natalia has found it extremely difficult to trust.  Reading and following the heroic deeds of Captain Dylan Blake - Natalia had built Dylan up into a dashing hero.  Unfortunately when she finally met him, she wasn't charmed and rejected his initial request for a dance.Discovering that his father had ordered his older brother Michael to win her hand, Dylan is determined not to come in second place again. Initiating a campaign to win Natalia's heart, Dylan loses his and just as Natalia is ready to admit to her love, the details of his "wager" come to light.  Would Natalia's broken trust be too big an obstacle for the two awakened hearts to overcome?***  Tracy Seybold writing as Diana Bold has once again captivated me with her skillful blend of intriguing plots and intelligent characters. My only problem with this story was that I started it too late in the evening and had trouble putting it down - so much so that after much tossing and turning, I to get up and finish it!Bold fashioned Dylan as a very compelling and intriguing man terribly hurt by his inability of having his father demonstrate any loving kindness towards him except in the form of disgust.  After ten years of heroic fighting Dylan sold his commission quickly running through his funds.  Knowing it would infuriate his father Dylan showed up late for a fete and his father cut off him off financially which partly explains his drunken error as to how he was so easily goaded into a wager - a wager which in itself was actually quite innocent.  Just have the very snooty daughter of a duke dance twice in one night with him.  Having caught the lady's eye earlier in the evening Dylan was sure of his charm and utterly shocked when the seeming star struck young woman refused to dance with him.Natalia was a victim of low self-esteem.  At school she'd been the victim of jealousy, and made to think that the only attractive thing about her was her huge dowry.  As a young impressionable girl this peer pressure marked her and wariness of anyone who tried to get close. Having followed Dylan's exploits of heroism during the war, Natalia was infatuated with the hero, but not enough to fall at his feet.  It wasn't until she had a chance to get to know and talk to him that she was able to understand and begin to trust; especially when she realized that he sought  the very same thing as she - someone who really cared.