trust

Ann Jacob's Heart of the West trilogy

Ellora's Cave

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Back Cover:

Wealthy rancher Mitch Ramsey had never given much of a second look to his neighbor Emma Davis, until an unexpected encounter led to a night of unbridled passion. Mitch figured their affair could be a discreet diversion, one they had both gone into with eyes wide-open.

Then Emma's father made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Marry Emma and Mitch would inherit what he had always coveted--the entire Davis ranch. But Emma was never to know....
 

Spoiler Warning: All my reviews contain spoilers to some degree. 

Favourite Scene:

To hell with their drinks. To hell with his vow to keep things platonic. He wanter her… now, with a single-minded determination that made him feel like a bull charging a red flag.... 

Before the sound of his door closing had finished echoing through the cab, he was on her. Reaching out, draging her across the vinyl seat and kissing her senseless. His hands were everywhere, groping, yanking, tearing her clothes away so he could get to her naked flesh. 

Front Teaser:

He turned andsaw her.

For a moment they both stood perfectly still, staring at each other.

‘Tegan Jones,’ he said through his teeth. ‘I wondered when you were going to crawl out of the woodwork.’

‘Mr  Sinclair,’   she   responded   numbly,   forcing  her outstretched hand to stop trembling.

‘What the hell are you doing here? Looking for another rich man to fleece?’

My Review:

They met 10 years ago when the heroine was 18 and broke her engagement to Sam, the wheelchair ridden friend of the hero.  The hero thought she was a gold-digger who used Sam and discarded him, and he called her names and was very bitter towards her.  They meet again because he contracts her interior decorating company to work on his home, her ideas are pitched, and he likes her ideas but someone else put their name on the proposal to avoid a blow-up.  When he finds out she's involved, he's angry, but soon he apologizes for the past and asks her out.  They date.  They eventually have sex.  They start to have problems with trust: the heroine thinks the hero is using her for some twisted revenge, and the hero doesn't want to have to defend himself against ridiculous accusations. 

Back Cover:

The marriage persuasion...
Businessman Carlo Carlucci won't take no for an answer. The passionate Italian has set his sights on British tour guide Francesca Bernard, who stirs him with her beauty and innocence more than any other woman...
But Francesca is also an heiress, and already engaged to a man whom Carlo believes is a gold-digger. There's only one way he can protect Francesca—and fulfil his desire—and that's to claim her for himself, as his wife. So begins Carlo's slow, but intense, and incredibly sensual, seduction to persuade Francesca to become his bride...  

Favourite Scene: (aw, he is unsteady seeing her cry)

'I h-hate you,' she sobbed.
 
'Si' he agreed with a touch of unsteadiness. 'I am a monster. Shout at me. Slap my face. But don't weep; I'm not worth it.' 

Back Cover:

Twelve months ago their marriage was perfect...Then Billionaire Tyler Benedict returns home to find his bed empty and Lianne, his wife, gone! Now Tyler will do anything to get his bride back! Tyler hires Lianne to be his personal lawyer-it's a deal she can't refuse. But this time Lianne is wise to Tyler's ways, he's after more than just a business arrangement; he wants her back where he feels she belongs...at his bidding!  

My Review:

This was refreshing!  The hero loved his wife, and told her that clearly from the beginning.  When lies were told about him being involved with another woman, the hero didn't get stuffed up on pride and refuse to explain himself, he simply told her the truth: it's a lie, and wanted her to trust him.  When she didn't trust him, he didn't give up on her like other heroes have, instead he set a very determined plan into action, as soon as he physically could (three months went by before he could get away to chase after her), to get her back. 

For a first book Ellen Hartman has written a wonderfully witty story with lots of angst. The wit is never forced and the conflicts are believable. Rhian MacGregor has cared for her orphaned nephew for almost eight years and her ex-fiance left her five years ago taking away the magazine she had helped to found. Since then she has been writing instruction manuals.

Wow!

I didn't realize, at first, when I got this book, that it was part of a series of stories by Beverly Barton from 2004. Beverly really brings the characters to life. It's as if you're the proverbial "fly on the wall". She grabs your attention from the "get-go" I actually read this all in one day. In bewteen, the kids, the job, the house etc....