"Romantic supense with a twist"

Lily Mansfield is a hired assassin for the CIA. She goes seeking vengeance when her best two best friends and their daughter are killed by crime family. Lucas Swain, a CIA agent, is sent to bring her in or bring her down. Lucas boss is in a bad car accident, leaving Lucas alone to deal with Lily and what he has found out regarding a mole feeding info to the bad guys. Lily knows she shouldn't trust Lucas, but he makes her laugh. An laughter has been in short supply lately in her life. Then there is the sexual attraction between them she is faced with a man that not only turns her on, but makes her laugh. This plot takes enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages. Witty, funny and fast paced reading is the order of the day with this one. Linda Howard has once again delivered a first class read.

Reviewed by Judith Saul
Posted August 14, 2004

Summary

If you sense someone's watching you from afar, or if you feel a shadow other than your own at your back, I might as well pack it up and call it a day.

It's a job that makes a killing. Efficient, professional, and without apology, Lily Mansfield is a hired assassin, working as a contract agent for the CIA. Her targets are the powerful and corrupt, those who can't be touched by the law.

Now, after nineteen years of service, Lily has been drawn into a dangerous game that hasn't been sanctioned, seeking vengeance for her own reasons. Each move bolder than the next, she is compromising her superiors, drawing unwanted attention, and endangering her very life. Though stress and shock have made her feel somewhat invincible and a little cocky, Lily knows that she too can be taken out in an instant. And if it's her time, so be it. She intends to go down fighting.

A CIA agent himself, Lucas Swain recognizes the signs of trauma in the line of fire. His orders: either bring her in or bring her down. Yet he too is drawn into the game with Lily Mansfield, dancing on a tightrope as he tries to avoid a major international incident while still battling a tenacious foe who is dogging their every step. Keeping laser focus on the task at hand while vigilantly watching her back, Mansfield never sees the lethal peril that lies directly in her path . . . and how loyalty has a price.