TEMPTED BY THE TEXAN – Kathie DeNosky
The Good, the Bad and the Texan , Book 6
Harlequin Desire #2429
ISBN: 978-0-373-73442-9
February 2016
Contemporary Series Romance

Wild Maverick Ranch, Texas – Present Day

For years Jaron Lambert and Mariah Stanton have danced around their mutual attraction. He thinks he's too old for her, and she thinks he's silly for ignoring her. Late one night, Mariah's car breaks down, and who should be in the nearby bar other than Jaron. With her car unable to start, he invites her to spend the night at his ranch, where one thing leads to another. The sex between them is beautiful and glorious, but after realizing he took her virginity, Jaron pulls back, much to Mariah's disappointment. However, the next morning, after he learns she is out of a job and soon to be homeless, he offers her a job as his cook. While he makes it clear to her he isn't expecting sex to be part of the job duties, how can they deny the still simmering attraction between them?

Mariah has always had a crush on Jaron from the moment she met him when she was eighteen, but he rebuffed her, claiming he was too old for her. While that may have been true back then, she is now older and ready to have a relationship with him. She still wants Jaron, and soon they're unable to resist the temptation. Working for him as his live-in cook leads to close encounters and an interesting discovery by Jaron…Mariah can't cook. But he creates a new job for her, especially since it means they'll be spending more time in bed together. Jaron can't promise Mariah a future, but how will he feel if he has to let her walk away?

Throughout The Good, the Bad and the Texan series Jaron and Mariah's chemistry has been apparent to those around them, but they've pretended it doesn't exist…until the night he invites her to stay at his house after her car breaks down. In TEMPTED BY THE TEXAN they finally get to act upon that mutual attraction and it's a five alarm inferno that neither wants to end, even as he tells her that marriage is not in his future. Jaron hasn't shared with Mariah or anyone else much about his childhood. Raised by a man who turned out to be a serial killer, Jaron is afraid he'll turn out to be like his father, and therefore he doesn't deserve a wife or children. While Mariah didn't enter into their relationship with the idea that a ring on her finger is required, she does want some kind of future commitment from the man she has fallen in love with.

Mariah and Jaron are connected due to the fact that her sister is married to Jaron's foster brother. As such, they can't avoid one another due to the numerous “family” gatherings. Jaron has watched his five other foster brothers fall in love and marry, and he's determined that this fate won't happen to him. With his father's murderous past, no way does Jaron want to pass on the “bad” genes.  However, the more that Mariah is around Jaron, the harder it is not to fall deeper in love with him. It's not unreasonable that she wants more than a temporary fling with him. But trying to get to the root of his aversion to commitment and marriage only has him pulling away from her.

The final book in Kathie DeNosky's series, TEMPTED BY THE TEXAN is a sizzling hot tale that will pull readers in and make it a “don't want to put down” type of book. Jaron and Mariah are intriguing and likeable characters who deserve to be together. Can Jaron get past the ugliness of his childhood and see that Mariah is the woman for him? Make TEMPTED BY THE TEXAN a part of your next reading adventure. You won't be sorry.

Patti Fischer