"Sizzling Romantic Suspense"

While Ms. Potter achieved success in romantic fiction through her historicals, she has proven her versatility with her recent foray into romantic suspense. In her latest, she explores organized crime and Tracy Merritta's escape from her life as wife to the heir of the powerful Boston Merritta family. Thirty-four years later, Samantha Carroll is working at her western art gallery in Colorado when two men enter and inform her that her biological father, Paul Merritta, is on his deathbed and wants her to fly to Boston to meet him.

But Sam had no idea that the recently deceased man she grew up calling "father" was not her biological relation. When Merritta's henchmen also reveal that she has a twin brother, Nick, Sam can't understand why her mother, Patsy Carroll (Tracy Merritta) has lied all these years. And when Sam is injured at her home in a bungled burglary attempt, she decides to go to Boston to meet the brother she never knew.

Sparks fly when Sam meets FBI agent Nathan McLean, who helps save her brother's life after a car accident. While Nick has distanced himself from the family by taking the surname Merritt, he and Nathan have been at loggerheads for years over Nick's alleged mob ties. As Sam is understandably torn between loyalty to her newfound brother and her attraction to Nathan, her angst is portrayed credibly and not overdone.

When the attempts on her life become more frequent, Sam must trust Nathan to keep her from harm's way as they take a perilous journey to find Sam's missing mother. Fraught with danger at every turn, this read grips you with its suspense and holds your attention with the sizzling romance.

Reviewed by Sheri Melnick
Posted December 25, 2002

Read an Excerpt

From USA Today bestselling author Patricia Potter comes a riveting novel about a man who thought he'd escaped his unsavory past -- and a woman who didn't know she had one...

Summary

Samantha Carroll's world is turned upside down when the life she always thought was perfect turns out to be a lie. When two cold-eyed men enter her western art gallery, she learns that her biological father is an ailing crime boss who now wants to see her...whether she wants to see him or not. Not only that, she has a twin brother she's never known about.

FBI Special Agent Nathan McLean is convinced that Nicholas Merritta, the son of a crime boss, is laundering money for this father--and McLean has plenty of reasons to take down the entire crime family. What he didn't plan on was falling in love with Nick's twin sister, Samantha.

Nick Merritta is the heir apparent to the crime family, though for years, he's visibly shunned his family's organized crime interests, started a successful business, and tried to outrun his past. He'd believed his mother and sister dead for nearly three decades, but Samantha's unexpected appearance ignites a series of events that threatens to destroy them all.

The past is with you. Always.