"A fine work from this talented author"

Mercenary Cord Romero returns to his Texas ranch to recuperate from a near death experience caused when his enemy Raoul Gruber tried to kill him with a bomb. Waiting for him at his spread is his estranged foster sister, Maggie Barton, who left a job in Morocco to be near Cord, whom she loves unrequitedly.

Cord knows he must destroy his foe so he joins Lassiter Detective Agency where Maggie works, to have an opportunity to get closer to Raoul. However, Raoul remains elusive with powerful protection as befitting the head of an international corporation that actually serves as a front for a child labor ring. When Raoul learns who Maggie is, he decides she is the perfect pawn to get at Cord even as the duo tries to lure their adversary into a trap.

The story line is loaded with action and non stop suspense as the "duel" between the hero and the villain play out in three countries. Maggie and Cord struggle to overcome their troubled childhoods in order to form a permanent relationship, but the male protagonist is too macho and cavalier when it comes to the heroine. Still fans of fast- paced romantic suspense thrillers will enjoy the rapidly moving DESPERADO.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 25, 2003

Summary

Tough, relentless and a force to be reckoned with, Cord Romero lives for the adrenaline rush that comes with being a mercenary for hire. Risking his neck is all in a day's work.

Having barely survived a murder attempt from an elusive enemy, Cord has made it his personal mission to neutralize his foe—the head of a multinational corporation that fronts a child labor ring. Cord knows only too well how deadly—and conniving—this man can be. He's seen it firsthand.

In order to get closer to his target, Cord joins forces with the Lassiter Detective Agency, where he's reunited with his childhood friend Maggie Barton. Cord is surprised to find Maggie is no longer the impressionable young woman he once knew. A recent widow, she is now a strong and independent woman in charge of her own life—and an expert in a profession that places her as Cord's equal. She has one vulnerability, however: a tragic secret from her past that threatens her relationship with Cord...and sets her up as a pawn for his deadly enemy.

On this, the most important case of his life, Cord Romero cannot afford to be distracted. And he reluctantly acknowledges that Maggie plays an indispensable part in unraveling the child labor magnate's links to a shady global corporation that is the source of his wealth. Forced to trust each other for their very survival, Cord and Maggie embark on a lethal game of cat and mouse that can only leave one winner standing.