"A great hero and heroine!"

Elizabeth Quinn needs help with a police case. The case of her best friend Tina's death was ruled a suicide but Elizabeth knows that Tina would never kill herself. Tina had too much to live for. She was finally getting her life back together and she looked forward to having her five- year-old son Alex back with her. Alex had been living with Tina's mother Luisa who is Elizabeth's housekeeper. Elizabeth had come to love Alex as if he were her own even if he was deaf. She understands about physical impairments all to well.

Elizabeth's friend Grace Dugan steers her to Detective Beau Riley. Beau was Grace's partner until she decided to take maternity leave. Elizabeth recognizes Beau as the guy she snubbed at a party at Grace's the year before. Elizabeth has a speech problem due to slight brain damage at birth. People have always made fun of her and called her stupid to the point that she has very low self-esteem. Beau just makes her very nervous and her problem seems to become worse when she's around him.

Beau really doesn't want to help the Ice Princess as he calls Elizabeth but there are some discrepancies in the case so he decides to look into it a little bit on his off time as a favor to Grace. The more he and Elizabeth dig, the more evidence they find indicating that maybe Tina didn't kill herself. The problem is the killer doesn't like the fact that they are getting closer and closer to figuring out exactly what happened.

I discovered RaeAnne Thayne last year and boy, am I glad I did. I can't get enough of her fabulous books. My one problem is they are so good that I read them much too quickly. That's exactly what I did with this one. To me, Elizabeth was so different from how she is actually perceived. She will do anything she can to hide her problem. Every time she lets Beau get a little too close, she's so afraid he'll discover that she's stupid and inept. Beau just thinks she's a rich snob. He wants to get close to her but she keeps pushing him away and he just can't figure out why. I think Beau is just the kind of hero that Elizabeth needs. Even though this one just came out, I'm already looking forward to RaeAnne Thayne's next book!

Reviewed by Kathy Boswell
Posted April 11, 2003

Summary

Beautiful Heiress Elizabeth Quinn really had a medical excuse for having a hard time making conversation. But even if she hadn't, heart-stoppingly handsome detective Beau Riley might have left her tongue-tied. Still, Elizabeth needed the good detective. There had been a murder, and it affected the beloved little boy in her care. So speak with him she must. If only she were sure her traitorous heart would leave it at that ...

Beau had already tried to get somewhere with Elizabeth -- and all it had gotten him was the cold shoulder. And now, suddenly, because she needed his help, she was pursuing him? His head was telling him to get out while the getting was good. Unfortunately, his heart was giving him a different message entirely ...