Susan Anderson Skintight

Skintight

Susan Anderson

Mira, Jul 2005, $6.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 0778322009

Jackson "Jax" Gallagher arrives in Las Vegas using a high stakes poker tournament to hide his efforts to steal his late father's prized autographed 1927 World Series ball from his dad's widow dancer Treena McCall. Jax was estranged from his father, but loathes the widow who he assumes took advantage of the much older man. He regrets the loss of the ball, an heirloom from his grandfather, but he foolishly used it in a poker game in Monaco with the dangerous Sergei Kirov, fan of Americana collectibles. Failure to payoff his debt will mean broken bones.

Jax meets Treena but hides from her that he is her stepson albeit older than her. He is shocked that she is nice and seems to genuinely like her dad and fails to come across even remotely as a gold digger. As they fall in love, he knows he cannot steal the ball though he will be lucky to survive the beating from Kirov's thugs and fears she will hate him when she learns who he is.

Treena is a nice person (perhaps too good) who actually nursed an ailing Big Jim throughout their short marriage, which in turn cost the dance captain spot. She loved Big Jim like a father and mourns him when she meets the son, who she falls in love with like a lover. Jax appears selfish at first but ultimately tries to do the right thing. Kirov is an interesting Elvis loving thug. Together this threesome makes for a fine romantic suspense with the action coming late.

Harriet Klausner