Trying to become the youngest person ever to make partner in your law firm can do some serious damage to your love life. Add to that all-consuming ambition a tendency to carefully plan anything and everything in your life and you’ve got a character just burning to be a heroine in a Harlequin Blaze.

Genna Monroe, our young associate, finds herself far from her Chicago home at a retreat for her firm in New Orleans, where, despite her best intentions, she finds herself responding to the city’s sensual atmosphere. Especially when an evening walk in the hotel’s garden turns into an adventure in eavesdropping involving a sexy-voiced man and a Spanish-speaking woman, both of whom clearly understand the value of verbal foreplay. When the tryst is interrupted and Genna finally manages to sneak out of the garden, she finds her good friend and co-worker Nick Cavallo smoking a cigar. Surely Nick wasn’t the man whose voice she found so seductive?

Well, Genna may not be privileged to know the man’s identity, but, fortunately, the reader is clued in almost immediately. Not only is Nick Genna’s verbal soulmate, the handsome lawyer has been in love with her since they met four years earlier when Genna was to be a bridesmaid at his marriage to one of her closest friends.

But, happily for all parties involved, that wedding never took place. Though Warren doesn’t go into great detail, Nick and his fiancé broke up amicably, so amicably in fact that his now happily married ex-fiancé and Nick are now the best of friends. After the breakup, Nick quietly helped Genna get a job at his law firm and for four long years has been patiently waiting (with the help of a few willing bimbos) for Genna to emerge from her workholic frenzy and notice his Prince Charming-like self. Genna herself is clueless to all of the above.

But now Nick knows there’s never been a better time to make his move, especially since Genna confesses to him both her adventure and her enormous attraction to the man she’s never seen. With the help of a masquerade party (you’ve got to love that New Orleans) Nick uses his disguise as Neptune to seduce Genna’s mermaid – all without ever showing her his face. They have, as Linda Howard likes to say, wild monkey sex.

But retreats can’t last forever, and it’s up to Nick to come up with a plan to keep seeing Genna – and eventually show her how he feels – back in their Chicago firm.

I’m always impressed when a writer can create believable characters within the space limitations of series romance. Nancy Warren does a terrific job here with both her characters and her story and I also have to admit that since I’m partial to the man-who-patiently-waits scenario, this book was especially appealing to me. Whisper is smoothly written, extremely entertaining, satisfyingly erotic, and a good bet for those who enjoy the Blaze line.