Dance While You Can

It all started with a silly prank, a play, and a dance—a love so enduring, so indestructible that it would survive against all odds. Elizabeth Sorrill is the junior matron at Foxton's elite School for Boys. Blessed with the kind of beauty others only dream about, her attractions prove irresistible to Alexander Belmayne, the 17-year-old son of the Lord Chief Justice. But their passionate affair is shortlived as bitter lies and scandal force them apart. Angry and frustrated at Oxford, Alexander thrives on his reputation as a heartbreaker, until Bohemian beauty Jessica Poynter draws him into a fast life of glittering excess and depravity in London's high society. But when a chance meeting brings Alexander and Elizabeth together again, their passionate reunion leads to a breathtaking crime fired by an overwhelming obsession—a hatred so violent it knows no limits.From Publishers WeeklyIn the conventional romance tradition, British writer Lewis ( A Class Apart ) wastes no time hurling her protagonists into a passionate situation that colors the futures of both. Junior matron (nurse) Elizabeth Sorrill is the first crush of most of the boys at Foxton's, an English public school, and she unwittingly encourages the lustful fantasies of senior student Alexander Belmayne, son of the lord chancellor. Only a few years older than Alexander, Elizabeth cannot deny her own attraction, and the two have a brief affair that ends badly. Angry and hurt, Alexander goes off to Oxford and launches a career of debauchery at the same time he begins his law studies. Pregnant with Alexander's child, Elizabeth returns briefly to work at her father's carnival, but is rescued from this tawdry life by wealthy art dealer Edward Walters, whom she marries. The older man becomes obsessed with eradicating Elizabeth's memories of Alexander, while her former lover marries Jessica Poynter, upper-crust bohemian, as a kind of perverse penance for his previous womanizing. There are many other complications, related in a breathless, portentous style, and though the plot often strains credibility, fans of the genre may find a new favorite here. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the AuthorSusan Lewis is the bestselling author of 24 novels, including Cruel Venus, Dance While You Can, Darkest Longings, A French Affair, Obsession, Vengeance, and Wildfire. Her novel The Hornbeam Tree was short-listed for the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2005.