Cathie Linz, Bad Girls Don’t

Bad Girls Don't

Cathie Linz

Berkley, November 2006, $7.00

ISBN: 042521284X

In Rock Creek, Skye Wright detests authority figures, so when Sheriff Nathan "Studley Do-Right" Thornton stops her for speeding she acts nasty towards him. He takes her in when she fails to produce the proper paperwork. The belly dancer takes this as an affront and that Nathan flaunted his authority. In her mind he initiated an act of hostility towards her that she plans to insure he will regret, which he does, even before they reach the station as protesters wanting the belly dancing mommy to go arrive too.

Nathan is attracted to the wild woman, though he does not want to care, as he never moved past a personal tragedy involving his Annie. Adding to his discomfit is that he likes her four year old daughter, although she is an apprentice bad girl too. Between the two Wright females, Nathan wonders what is right about his life if he lets them go. Skye, to her shock, feels the same way about the straightest person she ever met, but she believes her Studley still has Annie exclusively inside his heart.

One thing is for sure, Cathie Linz makes a case that opposites attract with this lighthearted contemporary romance, starring two likable individuals who see life 180 degrees apart. The lead couple is a fun pairing, though their conflict is minimal, while the return of the eccentrics from GOOD GIRLS DO adds to the overall humor of the tale.