In one blow, Rebecca Patterson loses her parents to a car accident, and discovers they weren't her "real" parents anyway. Feeling that she has lost her identity entirely, she turns to P.I. Jake Thornton to help her find her birth parents, who don't seem to want to be found.

Jake is drawn to Rebecca the minute she enters his office, but sees her as fragile and needy. Thinking he is doing her a favor, he decides to keep his distance from her. His attitude has always been "love 'em and leave 'em" and he knows that Rebecca needs more than that.

Not understanding her desire to find a mother who doesn't want to be found, he reluctantly agrees to help her find her "real mother." But what he thinks is going to be a simple, boring case turns out to be one of the most dangerous he's ever been involved with. In the process of saving Rebecca's pretty hide - more than once - he discovers she is not so fragile after all, and doesn't need him.

A little heavier on the romance than the suspense, you'll like this book. Jake is a truly reluctant hero. He falls - all but kicking and screaming - into deep and permanent love with an exceptionally strong and beautiful woman, protesting all the while that there is no such thing as love, and that forever is just a dream.

I really love Sally Steward's characters. They are real people with real problems and flaws we can all relate to.


---K.D.


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