Lindsay McKenna, Beyond the Limit

Beyond the Limit

Lindsay McKenna

Harlequin HQN, December 2006

ISBN: 0373771428

Marine combat engineer Major Pete Trayhern is placed in charge of the construction project in Afghanistan, where he will work closely with civilian construction companies. He expects the work to prove difficult, as the Taliban wants the Americans to fail. However, after his mom lectures him about finding the right woman, Pete leaves the States to begin his project.

He is stunned when he meets his civilian counterpart, head of the Roland Construction project in Afghanistan Calandra Roland, as he never expected to see a female civilian in this dangerous third world nation. As each ignores their attraction, danger mounts from what Pete thinks is a traitorous source. When Cali is injured Pete no longer can avoid his feelings for her. He loves her and she reciprocates, but first they must finish the project and uncover who is behind the destruction of their construction work. When someone abducts her it looks like the dirty work of the Taliban.

Morgan's Mercenaries next generation (Pete is Morgan's son) is at its best when it depicts the struggles to build modern facilities in Afghanistan during a war in which the enemy will sabotage anything. Though the villain seems a stretch, readers will appreciate this fine romantic suspense, in which headline news serves as the backdrop as the military-civilian complex tries to reconstruct the war-torn country under hostile conditions.