Texas Ranger Marc Bannon finds himself forced to work with the woman he has spent the last two years trying to forget. After finding themselves on opposing sides of a murder case, Josette joined the state attorney's office in Austin while he did a quit stint in the FBI before retuning to the rangers. When the man jailed in the murder that was the catalyst of their breakup escapes from a work furlough and winds up murdered himself, it looks like a possible mob hit.

As the two walk the tight rope trying to solve the crime and refrain from picking up where they left off, both are finding that they are still attracted to one another - but can Josette forgive Marc for betraying her trust?

This is such an obvious segment of a series of stories - so many under-developed characters pop in and out of the story, expecting the reader to have read the other novels. The suspense was light - it does not take a brain surgeon to determine who is behind the killings - and if I had to hear the term "minor surgery" one more time... If this is the level of storytelling I can expect from the rest of the series, I can bow out now. Which is a real disappointment since "Paper Rose" and "True Colors" showed a lot of promise.

I enjoyed this book. It is the story of Marc Brannon & Josette Langley. Despite their differences Marc is still drawn to Josie. They need to uncover the truth about a murder & see that justice is served.

This has to be one of the worst books I have ever read...Diana Palmer needs to buy a Descriptionary so she can broaden her terminology and quit using the same words in different ways...You can only have so many 'wicked smiles', 'smiling wickedly', and 'he said with a wicked grin.' By the time you are a quarter of a way through the book you have already put two and two together and know who the bad guys are...Maybe I need to move to Texas and become a Ranger because the very CLUELESS Marc Barron and his girlfriend that works for the State Attorney couldn't figure it out until the woman was in front of him pointing a gun....DUH!...Maybe if the Ranger spent more time trying to work the case instead of dipping his wick into his former girlfriend every 3 pages then it would have saved everyone a lot of time and maybe some of the characters in the book would still be alive and well...He more or less sexually assaults his former girlfriend every chance he gets, when she says no he says yes (can you say rape?)and then makes comments that scream SEXUAL HARRASSMENT LAWSUIT FROM HELL...The characters aren't very well written, the former girlfriend is far more forgiving than the Virgin Mary at the Crucifixion...I would love to meet a woman like her that forgave me after I treated her like the main character did....Bypass this book, don't waste your time on it...A soap opera is more intelligently put together than this book....Talk about someone typing out garbage just to make a quota...Woof!...I have read better prose on the back of a shampoo bottle while taking a crap...Burn this book if you ever get your hands on it and save the world from this kind of tripe...If I could rate it lower than zero I would be in negative 7 digits...I think you catch my drift...

BUT having said that I have certainly read worse. So let's do bad stuff-good stuff. This is a contemporary texas ranger 'mystery' set in cyber america. The 'hero' is a rodeo/fast draw legend who also has a ranch on the side. He is brought in to investigate a murder case and the investigator assigned to him is an ex-girlfriend. However, in their past 'relationship' he has treated her badly and in fact ruined her life.She has gone thru hell because of it but is still drawn to him. (Unfortunately that happens all the time where women are drawn to guys who don't treat them well.) Well here they are trying to collaborate professionally. She's bright, he's bright and putting their heads tog they do some policework. Unfortunatley the book soon goes into redunancy....he's sorry he hurt her and tried to get her in bed......For heavens sake! He has the sensitivity of a llama! The girl was raped at 15. The guy gets off because Mr. texas ranger testifies for the guy implying that she is lying. at 28, they meet again. Despite her 'rape victim' history he seduces her deliberatly and practically rapes her a 2nd time...until he realizes she's a virgin and he's been wrong about her. And then in his 'shock' he resorts to verbal abuse.The girl spends her life ostracized. Her parents die broken hearted because of all the scandal. Now 2 yrs later Mr. "I'm sorry" is trying to seduce her again. OK...so to further test the reality factor, he says he hasn't slept with any woman since her...a 2 yr abstinance...yeah right. And of course, with little adieu, our heroine takes him back.

The good stuff....well, I love a man in uniform...and the visual of a texas ranger, hat, boots, star, etc....is pretty sexy. And our heroine starts out naive but shows us what survival and dignity is all about. The dialogue is witty. The surrounding characters are great. And I like the reference to the "lawless" ranger and christa that I had previously read. Of course I had already read part of the sequel about cash grier too. And I do like trilogies with re-curring info on characters.
It's your call.................