Everything to Gain

Readers will be disappointed by the clipped prose and thin characterizations that mar Tyner's (Secrets of the Heart) light romance-cum-thriller. Six years after their brusque breakup, Caroline Duval and computer expert Derek Roberts cross paths at a swanky restaurant in Hartford. Derek is in town on business, but when he spies Caroline leaving the table of another man in a flurry of frustration, he decides to step in and offer his assistance. Unable to bury the hatchet despite their serendipitous reunion, each vows to move on. Caroline decides to stay with a friend in Atlanta and volunteers for a summer teaching position at a community center. Coincidentally, Derek regularly teaches a computer workshop at that same center. After a few less-than-friendly encounters, the two finally rehash the past and discover that their reasons for ending their relationship were based on the vicious and unfounded lies of a jealous fellow college student. In the end, only a loosely developed side story involving the kidnapping of Caroline and Derek's sister-in-law temporarily revives this standard-issue plot. (Mar.)