Roxanne Rustand, Operation: Second Chance

Operation: Second Chance

Roxanne Rostund

Harlequin SuperRomance, Feb 2004, $5.25, 296 pp.

ISBN: 0373711859

He spent five years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. His career as a special agent is only a distant memory. Perhaps what hurts the most is he lost five years of watching his precious daughter grow. Starting life over is not enough for former special agent T. J. Cauthen. He is obsessed over finding out who set him up to take the fall before he finally retrieves his daughter from his brother.

In Silver Springs, Wyoming, T. J. goes undercover as Joe Coughlin taking a room at Abby Hilliard's boardinghouse. He believes that his beautiful landlady is where to start in unraveling who destroyed his life as her late husband remains the key. To his shock he finds Abby and her little charge interesting. He hopes that the woman who has given him a reason to live leads him to the Ricardo Torres gang, but is also an innocent bystander because once he tells her the truth that he used her as a pawn to achieve vengeance, he fears how she will react.

This is an exciting second chance at love romantic suspense though the intrigue elements enter late. The story line is fun to follow as Abby blows away all of preconceptions that T. J. had of her before they met. Though love blossoms between the lead couple, he is wary of any relationship and she was the victim of a terrible marriage. A precocious five year old adds insight into the lead protagonists especially the heroine. Contemporary readers will enjoy Roxanne Rostand's fine tale of redemption through love not vengeance.

Harriet Klausner