Thursday, February 26, 2015

The Bounty Hunter's Forbidden Desire - Jean Thomas (HRS #1842 - Mar 2015)

A desperate search through Alaska leads to danger--and undeniable passion

Bounty hunter Chase McKinley will do anything to locate his missing brother--even kidnap the man's girlfriend. But Haley Adams has no leads on her ex...other than a mysterious package that brings murder in its wake. Handcuffed to the sexy tracker, she's stunned when her outrage turns to attraction...

With only an Alaska postmark, Chase follows the trail--with Haley. He put her in danger; only he can protect her. But who'll protect him from the woman he desires and can never have? With every step, they get closer to his brother...and to a killer who sets the perfect trap--with them as bait.

Good story with a very different premise. I found the whole concept very believable, especially in today's world.  Chase's brother is missing and the only lead he has is his brother's girlfriend. Rather than just knocking on her door and asking her about Josh, he uses his bounty hunter credentials and kidnaps her instead. She's furious when she realizes what he's done, but understanding when she finds out why. Unfortunately, she hasn't heard from Josh in weeks and has no idea where he is.

When they return to her home, they discover it has been ransacked. Her neighbor later delivers a package from Josh, one that contains some mysterious seeds. After a visit to a prominent botanist and university professor to ask his opinion on the seeds, the man is found murdered. Having nothing but the postmark on the package as a clue, Chase is determined to follow up on it. For her safety, he insists on taking Haley along. 

The danger that they are in doesn't stop the attraction that has flared between them. Chase has never felt anything like it for any other woman. But he is also very conflicted about it; after all, Haley is his brother's girlfriend. He has spent most of his life watching out for his brother, and taking his girl is definitely against the rules. Haley is just as attracted to Chase, but suffers none of the qualms. She knows that what had been between her and Josh wasn't serious, but Chase is not convinced that Josh felt the same way. I loved the way that Haley understood Chase's feelings, and tried to have patience as they searched for Josh, knowing that the truth would set Chase free to return her feelings.

Arriving in Alaska, they discover that Josh was investigating a story about an international seed depository and a criminal intent on having control of those seeds for himself. I loved following along with Chase and Haley as they learned more about the depository and its purpose. The danger had followed them, and as they got closer to discovering what Josh had learned, it only got worse. The tension built in a realistic fashion and I was glued to the book until it was resolved. I admit I wanted to smack Haley for falling for the trick that was played on her, she should have listened to the soldier who was with her. It did add another layer to the danger, and also gave the reader a chance to actually meet the bad guy. I loved Chase's solution and the way it turned out. 

The only thing left at that point was to find Josh. There had been plenty of worry that he had been killed, but Chase refused to give up hope. I loved how he was found. It was fun to see how much more clearly Haley saw things, and how it took some blunt speech from Josh to open Chase's eyes. I liked the way that things turned out for all of them.

No comments:

Post a Comment