Raintree: Inferno by Linda Howard

Raintree: Inferno (Silhouette Nocture) by Linda Howard

The book starts out so promising. Dante Raintree is owner of the casino in Reno the Inferno which is ironic on more than just the name level since Dante is a Level 1 Fire Master AND his casino burns down as the first action of the book.

As Dranir ("king" of the Raintree clan) Dante is the most powerful of his family as so has some rather interesting gifts aside from being able to control fire.

When he first meets Lorna Clay, it's because he thinks she's been cheating in his casino, counting cards or something because she continues to win without appearing to try. But she's not cheating... she just knows what cards are coming, which slot will pay off. Before he is done questioning her the fire alarms in his casino go off and Dante uses a mind compulsion to get all of the guests (and Lorna) down the stairs and into safety. He then uses that compulsion to keep Lorna with him despite the fact that she is extremely afraid of fire. When Dante is unable to calm the fire that is raging through his casino he turns to Lorna and takes her raw power to help save them from the heat and the smoke that is overwhelming them. Several hours later he takes her to his home under the pretense that he's not done questioning her and keeping her under the compulsion. By that time she's figured the compulsion thing out and is spiting mad. To make matters worse he orders her to "strip" so that he can see if she has the mark of someone of the Ansara clan (a rival and enemy) but doesn't bother to explain himself. Since she doesn't have the mark, Lorna is a "stray" as Dante calls her - not affiliated with either the Raintree or the Ansara clans which makes her inherent power and precognitive ability so much more unusual. She's untrained which is the next pretense for keeping her with him.

The Ansara were the ones that set the casino on fire and it took four of them to maintain that fire and still Dante and Lorna survived. Their next attempt to kill the Dranir is with a car accident on the highway but again Dante and Lorna both walk away pretty much unscathed due to some tricky driving and a protection charm.

By this time they are on better terms with each other and really learning the extent of Lorna's power. She feels sick before each attempt on their lives and is able to save him from the last attempt - a marksman with a rifle outside his home. The book pretty much ends with Dante calling his two siblings, Gideon and Mercy, and warning them about the upcoming attack on the family home.

The book ends starkly even though the action is obviously nowhere near finished. I have heard the following two books are better, so I'll have to see how that goes...