Her Lone Star Protector (Silhouette Desire, No. 1426)

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Summary: Romantic Times Review
Review: SD#1426 Her Lone Star Protector- Texas Cattlemen's Club THE LAST BACHELOR

When florist Rebecca Todman discovers the body of her neighbor, and client, private investigator Rob Cole becomes HER LONE STAR PROTECTOR. Rob's instinct tells him she's hiding something, but doesn't realize they both have something in common...abuse. Peggy Moreland deftly handles a sensitive subject, while adding mystery to this fine romance.

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Summary: They Have Both Been Hurt, Can They Find Happiness Together?
Review: When Rebecca Todman let herself into Eric Chambers" house to water and care for his plants, as she usually did, she didn't expect to find him dead in the bathroom, strangled with his own tie. She knew instantly he was dead as death was no stranger to her. She'd seen her abusive husband up dead up close when he'd crashed their car. Then death had been good to her, ending the horrible way he'd treated her, but this time death made her a suspect.

P.I. Robert Cole is hired by the dead man's boss at Westcott Oil to get to the bottom of the murder. However, it appears that Chambers had no enemies, so Rob goes after the only suspect he has, Rebecca. It doesn't take long before he recognizes the signs of someone who had been abused. He knows first hand, because his father had beaten and abused him cruelly when he'd been a child, right up until Rob got big enough to almost kill him with his bare hands.

He finds himself falling for Rebecca, but he's afraid that he has an inherited mean streak that will come out. She's falling for him, but she's afraid of all men. Will they eventually overcome their fears and get together? And while we wonder about that, there is a killer on the loose in this small Texas town.

Ms. Moreland filled her romance with just the right amount of tension to make sure her readers read the book in one sitting. I know, I did. It's true, we're given few clues as to who the killer is, but this is firstly a romance and the real suspense is if and when our hero and heroine will get together, and how will they overcome the obstacles, in this case their shared fears, that are conspiring against them.