This Time Love by Elizabeth Lowell

From the Publisher

Joy Anderson was young and trusting when she served as a guide for aspiring journalist Gabe Venture. Surrounded by the staggering natural beauty of New Mexico's Lost River Cave, Joy gave herself freely to the most extraordinary man she had ever known. But even the passion they shared could not hold him—and Gabe left Joy with a broken heart . . . and, nine months later, with a cherished, if painful, reminder of their lost love. Now Joy is a respected doctor with no room in her life for shattered dreams. And Gabe has returned at the pinnacle of his profession, longing to fill the inner emptiness that has rendered his achievements bittersweet. Joy, however, has nursed her wounds and moved on; he has arrived far too late to be welcomed back into her heart.

But while there is still magic beneath the rolling New Mexican desert—in the breathtaking world of mystery and wonder where the miracle was born—can it ever be too late for love?

Publishers Weekly

Globe-trotting adventurer and bestselling author Gabe Venture returns to the remote, "unearthly beauty" of New Mexico's Lost River Cave and the memories of the young woman he left there seven years ago, in Lowell's latest, a revisiting of her 1986 romance Sequel. Hardened beyond her 27 years by the untimely death of her parents and the effort of keeping her single motherhood secret from Gabe, cave expert Dr. Joy Smith-Anderson is not worried she'll fall for him again, but she is afraid he'll discover just how much she's come to hate the man who "taught her about love and betrayal." Gabe's writing an article on the cave, which is bound to draw publicity and should help Joy receive a much-needed grant for further exploration. Because of the stakes, the duo repeatedly tries pushing aside their inner turmoil during the reunion for work, highlighting Lowell's strength at expressing subtle emotional shifts in her characters. While the author's well-researched cave information and descriptive passages of natural scenery adapt well to audio translation, the dialogue doesn't fare as well. Lines like "She's in my blood like malaria" are barely palatable in print, but hearing the female narrator's affected, overly gruff rendition makes them truly comical. Listeners may find the otherwise professional recording quality and portrayal of female voices seriously marred by the lack of a second, male reader. Simultaneous release with the Morrow hardcover (Forecasts, Dec. 16, 2002). (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

When Lowell rewrites her 1980s Silhouette novels, she adds a male point of view, profanity, and a more detailed plot. Unfortunately, she doesn't excise any of the intense emotionalism that worked so well in category format but is unrealistic in a longer work. Joy Anderson and Gabe Venture fell in love seven years ago, but Gabe had too much riding on his career to stay with her. He never learned about the child she carried, so neither one is prepared when they meet again. Gabe and Joy operate on an emotional level so high and deep that it would break the average mortal. Their mutual guilt and pain grow heavier as the story progresses. Laural Merlington has little difficulty expressing those emotions or remembering the characters in play. However, she can't overcome a story burdened with endless angst. Public libraries should purchase for popularity.-Jodi L. Israel, MLS, Jamaica Plain, MA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

• Read a Sample Chapter

Read a Sample Chapter

Chapter One

I couldn't have heard right.

Joy Anderson closed her gray eyes and fought to breathe. Hand clenched on the radiophone, she prayed that she hadn't heard her boss say Gabriel Venture's name. This was just a nightmare and all she had to do was wake up.

Warily her eyes opened.

Nothing changed.

She was still sitting in a patch of pure yellow sunlight pouring through the cottage's four-paned kitchen window. The phone was hot to her touch, all but burning her ear.

She couldn't see the man she was talking to. She didn't have to. The memory of Harry Larkin's broad, professionally amiable face was imprinted in her mind. He was the one who had managed to land the two-year grant that was running out while she sat in the New Mexico desert and listened to the name of her nightmare.

Gabriel Venture rising out of the past, haunting her in daylight as he had in dreams.

"Yeah, it's quite a shock, isn't it? The great Gabriel Venture is coming to your very own boondocks to do a major article." Satisfaction rang in Harry's voice. "But then, he makes a specialty of places that are so remote they don't even have cell phone coverage. He was even here some time ago, back when nobody but dedicated amateur cavers knew much about Lost River Cave."

Some time ago?

Joy started to close her eyes, then forced them to stay open. No place to hide. No way out. Just herself and the past crashing down around her, bruising and cutting and battering.

Oh yeah, Gabe was here. Six years, eleven months and twenty-nine days ago, give or take a few hours. But who's counting?

The bitter words went no farther than Joy'smind. She was too shaken to speak and much too careful of her own and her daughter's privacy to reveal that she knew the time of Gabe's departure to the day and hour.

It was hard to forget. Kati had been born nine months after Gabe drove out of New Mexico's pale, searing deserts in pursuit of the Orinoco River's steamy green mysteries. Joy had loved Gabe then, and had envied him the freedom of the world waiting at his feet.

When he left, she'd hated him.

And resented his freedom even more.

Joy slammed the door on that line of thought. No matter how difficult it had been to watch while Gabe explored the world the way she had always wanted to, she wouldn't have traded Kati for all the freedom on earth. Not then. Not now.

Resenting what couldn't be changed was a game for spoiled children. She was no longer either spoiled or childish. A mother couldn't afford to be. Especially a single mother.

"I told Gabe's editor that we would be only too happy to help him," Harry continued, unaware that he had lost his distant audience. "It's about the only way the Lost River grant might be renewed."

Realizing that it had been too long since she had put air in her lungs, Joy took a quick, shallow breath, then another.

"I don't have to tell you what a grant renewal would mean," Harry said. "Not only your own job, but those of the people who work for you. The National Park Service has been very pleased with your groundbreaking exploration and academic papers on Lost River Cave. So has the university. The whole thing has been quite a feather in our cap, publicity-wise." He paused, waiting for her response.

Silence.

"Dr. Anderson?"

With an effort Joy pulled her shattered thoughts together. From her subconscious she called up the last few moments of Harry's speech.

Only too happy to help him.

She shuddered as she felt the full force of feelings she thought she'd buried so deep she would never have to face them again. Or face herself ... the child she had been, certain that all she had to do was ask, believe, love, and what she wanted would come to her wrapped in a shiny big bow.

She had been wrong.

When she realized how wrong, she'd wanted to bury her foolishness in the past along with Gabe, bury it beyond recovery. But it was all coming back now, knives of rage twisting through her.

All I want to do with the great Gabriel Venture is never to see him or hear his name again.

Ever.

Barring that piece of good fortune, I'd like to drop him down Lost River Cave's deepest, blackest hole and throw the damned rope in after him.

The savagery of her own bleak emotions shocked Joy even more than hearing Gabe's name had. Until this instant, she believed that she'd forgotten -- if not forgiven -- Gabe's sweet smile and sweeter touch, and the terrible bitterness of his betrayal.

Betrayal? No. Stop right there. That's the spoiled child whining about life being unfair. That child grew up.

She had to.

Unconsciously Joy squared her shoulders.

The adult knows that Gabe didn't betray me. He never promised me one single thing. He just took what I offered, thanked me kindly, and left me holding the bag. Quite literally.

But Kati was inside that bag.

Hating her father won't do me any good, won't do Kati any good, and it sure as hell won't bother Gabe. Hating him almost destroyed me once. I won't let it touch me now. I won't let him touch me.

Ruthlessly Joy shoved her emotions into the dark pit she called the past. After Gabe had left her, she'd raged in silence against him, cried out her loneliness in her parents' arms until her throat was raw, and kept on raging inside herself until she was emotionally exhausted.

Then her parents had stepped on the wrong helicopter and died ...