Dangerous Haven

Rating:
Summary: Emotionally intense -- Highly recommended
Review: Vengeance on his biological father's memory motivates Brand Templeton. At seventeen his mother had left her hometown pregnant with only five hundred dollars and a number to call from his father. Over the years his father's estate called Hawk Haven came to represent his mother's lost dreams. Now Brand has inherited Hawk Haven and he intends to raze it to the ground as soon as he buys out all shares in the property. Indeed, he had been prepared to hate the house where he was conceived in violence; instead, Brand finds himself admiring it. Thus he makes the decision to stay at Hawk Haven until he makes a final decision on how to dispose of the place.

Widow Sharon Smith maintains a small mail order herb business in addition to her housekeeping clients. Four years have passed since her husband died, and she misses a man's touch. She had carefully fielded the former owner's advances, and Sharon plans to maintain a careful distance from Brand as well. She does not know that Brand has spent the last two years buying up notes and stock in his father's pet project, the Green Fire Resort. He only needs only last key block to implement his plans to destroy a final chuck of his father's business empire. Sharon is the owner of the remaining stock of Green Fire Resort, and she treasures her memories of being there with her husband. Despite her determination to keep her distance from Brand, Sharon soon finds he reawakens desire that has slumbered since the death of her husband.

Author Barbara Clark creates a novel fraught with emotional intensity in DANGEROUS HAVEN. As Hawk Haven becomes the place to bring two wounded souls together, they quickly discover the dangers of passion and hidden motivation. Brand arrives planning vengeance against a man already dead, and finds love instead. Sharon has long mourned the loss of her husband, but Brand's arrival forces her to reevaluate the past, giving her insight she previously ignored. When Brand surprisingly proposes marriage with some unexpected conditions, they set into motion events that either promise to bind them together forever or to destroy their bond all together. A terrific read, DANGEROUS HAVEN comes highly recommended.