WANTING WHAT SHE CAN'T HAVE - Yvonne Lindsay
The Master Vintners , Book 5
Harlequin Desire #2297
ISBN: 978-0-373-73310-1
April 2014
Series Romance

Akaroa, New Zealand - Present Day

Alexis Fabrini fell hard for Raoul Benoit the first time she met him – when her best friend Bree introduced him as her fiancé.  Her envy over Raoul and Bree's happiness caused Alexis to withdraw to the point that she hadn't been aware of her friend's pregnancy until well after Bree died during childbirth.  Alexis returns to New Zealand to learn that nine month old Ruby is living with her grandmother, and Raoul wants nothing to do with his child.

Still grief-stricken over the loss of his wife, as well as the betrayal of realizing she kept a life-threatening illness from him, Raoul has retreated to his vineyard, determined to never care for anyone again.  Alexis and Ruby are possibly the last people in the world he wants to see, but with his mother-in-law's upcoming surgery, he has little choice but to hire Alexis as Ruby's nanny and allow them to live in the house.  The spark of attraction he feels for Alexis is not what he wants, and it adds another layer of guilt since he'd been attracted to her from their first meeting.

While Alexis does whatever she can to get Raoul to connect with his daughter, he's doing his best to avoid all of it, including the simmering desire for Alexis.  When the lust between them becomes too strong to ignore, Raoul insists that it will be nothing more than sex between them, but can Alexis convince him otherwise?

In WANTING WHAT SHE CAN'T HAVE, two people who have long denied their attraction to each other are forced to face it as they deal with a whole lot of emotional issues.  Bree's sudden death hit both of them hard, and Ruby's ill health when she was born prematurely made it all the more difficult for Raoul to be around her.  He's afraid of losing anyone he loves again, so decides it's better not to love anyone – including his infant daughter.  As Alexis begins to understand what's holding him back, she only becomes more determined to help Raoul, no matter what.

Though connected to the Master Vintners series, this book stands well on its own, as its focus isn't directly on the Masters family.  A gripping, emotional story, check out WANTING WHAT SHE CAN'T HAVE.

Jennifer Bishop