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KIDNAPPED BY THE COWBOY
ISBN: 0373295014
Harlequin
Pam Crooks
TJ Grier is an honorable man
but few in the vicinity of Amarillo, Texas would agree considering
he confessed to killing a ten-year old boy, the brother of Callie
Mae Lockett and son of his former employers, Penn McClure and Carina
Lockett.
He’s on a quest to prove his
innocence now that he’s free, the reasons for his initial confession
complicated. He believes Callie Mae’s slick lawyer fiancé is
responsible for the boy’s death, even if he wasn’t there to pull the
trigger. But seeing as no one associated with the Lockett’s will
even speak to him, warning Callie Mae, the woman he’s pined after
too many years to count, isn’t going to be easy. And then he has no
proof—just a lot of intuition.
When she shows up at his run
down ranch, arm and arm with her fiancé hoping to keep him from
selling his land to developers, TJ can barely breathe to look at
her. Part of him is poleaxed by her mere presence, part of him, a
significant part, is angry that she’d believe him capable of gunning
down any child much less her brother. When her fiancé creates a
ruckus to spook his prize thoroughbred, the horse that was going to
earn him enough money to clear his name, TJ impulsively seizes the
chance to kidnap Callie Mae and make her listen to him. That he does
it at gun point isn’t going to change anyone’s bad opinion of him
but he’s desperate to find the truth and Callie Mae can help him.
Riding away with the culprit
who’d killed her brother, Callie Mae is furious to find herself at
the mercy of a man she’d once admired, maybe was even attracted to.
She’s also confused as to why her fiancé caused this situation. That
TJ is trying to persuade her there is more to the story of her
brother’s death seems self-serving, but then so many things haven’t
made sense. If she could just get free and go back, wouldn’t her
doubts disappear? Along with her attraction to the most unsuitable,
reprehensible man she knows? So why isn’t she trying harder to
escape?
Pam Crooks masterfully paints
a detailed portrait of a tortured man and the lengths he’ll go to
get back his good name. That TJ Grier is more hero than villain
gives the reader plenty to root for. Callie Mae defines the new
generation of ranch woman—more woman than ranch but with a steel
spine and a will all her own. A suspenseful mystery, a flaming
passion and enough friction to light a fire combine to keep those
pages turning. One of her best.
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