"Howard knocks your socks off with this sizzler!"

As a young girl full of dreams, Faith Devlin looked at sexy, sophisticated Gray Rouillard with worship. He was the rich boy from the hill, the 'golden boy' who had it all. A powerful family, the Rouillards ran the small town where Faith lived with her family. As she began to fill out, those emotions depended to desire. But always, she worshipped Gray.

Their lives could not be more different. Gray was the son of the Rouillard family; their money controlled the town of Prescott. Faith lived with her siblings, her shiftless father and her sexy mother, rumored to be the mistress of Gray's father. The Knight in Shining Armour image is shattered and ground in the dust one dark night, forever changing both Gray's and Faith's lives. Gray was all things bright and beautiful until he throws Faith and her dirt-poor family out of their small rented house. Gray's father was a notorious womanizer, but he always knew family came first, before his women. But that night, Gray's father and Faith's mother disappeared. It appears Gray's father was so bound up in Faith's witchy mother, that they ran away together, leaving both families to pick up the pieces. Hurt and betrayed, Gray strikes out and he seizes on punishing the family of the woman he views as responsible for his father's betrayal. Faith awakens in the middle of the night, lights surrounding the house, while Gray, and the men he commands, toss her family out with little more than the shirts on their back. That night, Faith's dreams, worship and puppy love die an ugly death at the hands of a cruel Gray.

The memory of that night has lived inside of Faith. It drove her onward when her family broke up and scattered due to lack of money and pushed her to get beyond her poor white-trash roots and make something of herself. She worked hard, little taking time for a personal life, and through the years, finally makes a success of her business. She is proud of her life but knows there is no going on until she faces the ghosts of the past, and what really happened the night Gray humiliated her, the night his father and her mother vanished. Deep inside, she knew her mother was capable of selfishness, but she fears as the years passed, and she never contacted any of the family, something is very wrong.

So, Faith returns to Prescott to confront the man who destroyed her life, her dreams, and solve what really happened that night oh so long ago. Faith has little hope of returning to Prescott unnoticed. She has grown into the mirror image of her mother. So the instant she sets foot in town, knowledge of her presence spreads like wildfire. She never expected a welcome back to Prescott, but at the same time, she is shocked at the lengths the townspeople go to make her feel unwelcome. Shocked, but not unprepared Faith is determined not to let anything stand in her way even Gray Rouillard. And for a change his money won't help him. He cannot buy her, he cannot scare her away. She is in Prescott until she uncovers the truth. Gray's mother and sister have a fit when they see the daughter of the women that destroyed their family, and demands Gray take action. He tells her with the police looking on to leave the motel where she is staying; the grocery will not even sell her goods, the police harass her. However, this Faith is not the little trusting girl who could not defend her family or herself, and nothing, not even the sexy Gray will stop her from finding out what really happened to their parents.

She was prepared for everything - except Gray. He has matured into a man even more lethally sexy than her childhood dreams. Though he sees her as the living representative of the woman who destroyed his family, he cannot help the attraction he feels toward her. Gray is a true Alpha male, powerful, arrogant and used to getting everything his own way. He wants Faith and comes at her like a steamroller.

However, there is someone else in town very frightened by Faith's return. When her life is threatened, Gray finds himself rushing to protect her. And now, it has Gray wondering just what did happen that night?

Vivid and gripping characters, a powerful setting, sexy steaming romance and an intriguing mystery, Howard weaves a spell like none other. She gives you a real man's man, not just what a woman thinks a man is. The sex scenes are scorching, so sizzling they will knock your shocks off in typical Howard at her best. She makes you 'feel' so much as few writers can do.

Reviewed by DeborahAnne MacGillivray
Posted April 26, 2003