"Love comes calling when these two least expect it"

Private investigator Sydney Jones has worked hard for two years for this moment. She's about to start work for Virtual Lexigen, the company that had offered her brother Mark outrageous sums of money before his apparent suicide. Before his death, Mark told Sydney that he was going to pull out of the deal due to concerns about the unethical nature of the company owners. As Sydney Johnson, computer graphics designer, Sydney hopes to learn just what illegal activities are going on. A former police officer, she knows that she'll need hard proof to bring down her brother's killers.

Jake Trask has been working at Virtual Lexigen for nearly a year. He's determined to uncover why the company was offering so much money for a computer program he and his fraternity brother wrote back in college. They had decided to not market the program due to the potential for misuse. As Jake Taylor, he's made it to VP of Marketing and finally beginning to win the trust of the company's owners. As Kered, he's been helping users of VL's signature program, Dragon's Heart. Jake provides helpful hints, while learning all he can about the program. One user in particular, Skylar, manages to arouse feelings in him that he's suppressed for far too long.

Can two people fall for each other without meeting face-to-face? And without knowing the real name of the other person? Skylar and Kered have become fast friends online, despite their ignorance of the other's identity. In person, Jake and Sydney both feel an undeniable sexual tension between them. A chance event allows Jake to learn that Sydney is his Skylar. How appropriate. Both women he's been attracted to are one and the same. Will Jake be able to break down the barriers Sydney put up? He's had more success with Skylar.

A compelling romantic suspense, DRAGON'S HEART is a one-sitting read. Although the climax of the mystery is glossed over (actually a refreshing change for the genre, not having an overly melodramatic confrontation), I really enjoyed this latest entry from Ms. Michelle. I'm guessing that there will be at least one or maybe two sequels to this story. Jake is a truly memorable hero, who learns that there's more to life than wheeling and dealing. With Sydney by his side, they can achieve anything they put their minds to do.

Sensuality: Rated S-ensuous by the publisher. Explicit sex, light bondage; sexually explicit scenes: 11.

Reviewed by Denise Powers
Courtesy Sensual Romance Reviews
Posted December 13, 2003

Summary

Necessity demands some sacrifices...

Sydney Johnson is living a double life. No, make that a triple life. The demand for answers forces the ex- policewoman/Private Investigator to seek a job undercover at Virtual Lexigen, a software design company. She hopes to find the link between the exorbitant amount of money Lexigen offered her brother for his computer gaming code and his suspicious death.

In an effort to learn the computer gaming business from the players' perspective, Sydney goes online as 'Skylar' and meets 'Kered', a generous gamer who offers to teach her to play Lexigen's top rated video game, Dragon's Heart. Online camaraderie between Skylar and Kered starts to get hot. When Kered asks to meet her, Sydney refuses, knowing her double life, as Sydney Jones, Virtual Lexigen's Assistant Art Director, won't allow her the freedom she needs in a face-to-face relationship.

But the heart has demands of its own...

Jake Trask has his own agenda for working at Lexigen. He needs to know why the owners of Lexigen won't take "no" for an answer when it comes to a computer code he helped write years ago. Working undercover as Jake Taylor, he needs all his wits about him to get close to the company owners. Going online as Kered, Jake discovers the hot and talented Skylar, a woman with as many layers as he himself has.

And now, Jake can't believe the irony when he discovers Lexigen's sexy new employee, Sydney Jones, is really his cyber Skylar—the woman who made him believe in relationships again. He goes after Sydney full-throttle, but as Jake Taylor, VP of Marketing for Virtual Lexigen, not Kered. He wants Sydney more than he imagined possible, almost as much as his quest for answers.