Dream Fever

Readers who prefer their romance spiced with anguish and melodrama will take to Sutcliffe's ( Shadow Play ) tale of love between a plainspoken young Irish maid and a tortured, reclusive sheep-farming aristocrat. Nicholas Sabre was deported from England in 1861 when, duped by the woman he loved, he killed his rival in a duel. A few years later, Nick is just barely surviving--financially and emotionally--on his New Zealand sheep station when Summer O'Neilesp ok lands on his doorstep, claiming to be the proxy bride he sent for. Nick (who signed the proxy form when drunk) bluntly indicates he has no use for a wife but decides she can stay until shearing is finished; then she and the wool can be disposed of during a single trip to town. Summer, who has no life back in Britain, wants to remain and struggles to make herself useful, and Nick reluctantly warms to her kind, forgiving nature. But only when an escalating feud between farmers and Cockatoos (who, like Nick, raise sheep) threatens lives as well as property does Nick acknowledge his growing affection for the young woman. (Nov.)