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Sander's Protection #1
Target of Opportunity
A clear and private danger...
HEART's DENIAL
Tall, intuitive, DANGEROUS -- bodyguard Kyra Austin was definitely NOT his usual type of woman, Cash Riordan realized. But then, his usual women weren't determined to protect him from international terrorists. As if he needed protection. What he NEEDED was privacy. But what he WANTED -- more and more -- was long-legged, cool-headed Kyra in his arms....
Heart-hammeringly handsome, charismatic -- on-screen, actor Cash Riordan was the man every woman dreamed of. Except Kyra Austin, who'd learned to be wary of men who looked too good to be true. But winning his heart was hardly her concern. Keeping him safe and alive was -- despite his indifference to the evil that stalked him. And especially despite the simmering yearning she felt for his offscreen, VERY private charms....
HEART's DENIAL
Tall, intuitive, DANGEROUS -- bodyguard Kyra Austin was definitely NOT his usual type of woman, Cash Riordan realized. But then, his usual women weren't determined to protect him from international terrorists. As if he needed protection. What he NEEDED was privacy. But what he WANTED -- more and more -- was long-legged, cool-headed Kyra in his arms....
Heart-hammeringly handsome, charismatic -- on-screen, actor Cash Riordan was the man every woman dreamed of. Except Kyra Austin, who'd learned to be wary of men who looked too good to be true. But winning his heart was hardly her concern. Keeping him safe and alive was -- despite his indifference to the evil that stalked him. And especially despite the simmering yearning she felt for his offscreen, VERY private charms....
252 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
49 people want to read
About the author
Justine Davis
252 books217 followersAuthor biographies are supposed to give you all those statistics, books written, awards won, etc. and I will, I promise...but first let me tell you about this ornery little tomboy (back then, the boys had all the fun...) who was always the one to make up the stories the neighborhood kids would "play". For those who came of age in the computer game era, this is something that was done usually in the backyard, by any number of summer-bored children, with props where appropriate. (Did you know a 55 gallon drum tied to a picnic bench makes a very cool horse?) It wasn't until much later that this tomboy realized two things: A) not everyone made up stories in their heads all the time, and B) in real life, the boys that had already had all the fun now seemed to always be winning.
But I digress. I was born on a farm down in Iowa....well, not quite, but close; Boone, Iowa is in the middle of farm country, but I arrived at a hospital. In a snow storm. Make that a blizzard. My sister tells me she knew my destiny when I was very young, because when I first saw the Disney classic Old Yeller, I was apparently so upset that I promptly went home and rewrote the story. In my version, the dog lived, of course. Should have been a clue.
Possibly in response to that blizzard I was born in, I've been a West Coaster since before I was a year old, and intend to stay that way. I have a history of staying. I started my first full time job right out of school (well, there was a very brief sojourn at a place where they made, among other things, burial vaults, but I prefer not to recall that one...) and stayed for twenty-one years. I've been married to the same wonderful guy for going on two decades now. We lived in our last house for seventeen years. (I won't even mention how many dumpsters we filled moving after that long....)
Readers seem as fascinated by my first career as they are with my writing. My time in law enforcement was many things, exciting, nerve wracking, and irritating, but most importantly never, ever boring. It was fascinating enough that I didn't think about writing seriously for several years. I kept a journal, and wrote long letters, collected quotes, mentally rewrote movies, and still made up those stories in my head, but never dreamed of actually writing for publication. I was having too much fun helping to catch bad guys, and being continually amazed at the situations people get themselves into. And eventually I walked away with a wealth of background and story ideas, and knowing some truly great people who work very hard to keep all of us safe. I'm proud to have been one of them, and I'm very aware that I have had the great good fortune of having had two jobs in my life that I love. Many people don't get even one.
But now that I'm in the delicious position of being able to make a living telling those stories in my head, I promise my readers two things: A) I'm staying--I'll keep writing as long as you keep reading, and B) in my stories, the girl--tomboy or not--always wins!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And now, the official stats:
Justine Dare Davis sold her first book in 1989, and followed that up with the sale of nineteen novels in less than two years. Her first four books were published in 1991, and she saw all reach the finals for either the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award or the Romance Writers of America prestigious RITA Award. She has since won the RITA award four times, along with several Reviewer's Choice awards and three Career Achievement awards from Romantic Times. At the 1998 national conference, Justine was inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame, making her one of a very select group of just eight writers. She also had four titles on the Romantic Times "Top 200 of All Time" list. Her sales now total more than 45, and her books have appeared regularly on best seller lists, including the USA Today list. She has been featured in several local newspapers and nationwide by Associated Press, has appeared on CN
But I digress. I was born on a farm down in Iowa....well, not quite, but close; Boone, Iowa is in the middle of farm country, but I arrived at a hospital. In a snow storm. Make that a blizzard. My sister tells me she knew my destiny when I was very young, because when I first saw the Disney classic Old Yeller, I was apparently so upset that I promptly went home and rewrote the story. In my version, the dog lived, of course. Should have been a clue.
Possibly in response to that blizzard I was born in, I've been a West Coaster since before I was a year old, and intend to stay that way. I have a history of staying. I started my first full time job right out of school (well, there was a very brief sojourn at a place where they made, among other things, burial vaults, but I prefer not to recall that one...) and stayed for twenty-one years. I've been married to the same wonderful guy for going on two decades now. We lived in our last house for seventeen years. (I won't even mention how many dumpsters we filled moving after that long....)
Readers seem as fascinated by my first career as they are with my writing. My time in law enforcement was many things, exciting, nerve wracking, and irritating, but most importantly never, ever boring. It was fascinating enough that I didn't think about writing seriously for several years. I kept a journal, and wrote long letters, collected quotes, mentally rewrote movies, and still made up those stories in my head, but never dreamed of actually writing for publication. I was having too much fun helping to catch bad guys, and being continually amazed at the situations people get themselves into. And eventually I walked away with a wealth of background and story ideas, and knowing some truly great people who work very hard to keep all of us safe. I'm proud to have been one of them, and I'm very aware that I have had the great good fortune of having had two jobs in my life that I love. Many people don't get even one.
But now that I'm in the delicious position of being able to make a living telling those stories in my head, I promise my readers two things: A) I'm staying--I'll keep writing as long as you keep reading, and B) in my stories, the girl--tomboy or not--always wins!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And now, the official stats:
Justine Dare Davis sold her first book in 1989, and followed that up with the sale of nineteen novels in less than two years. Her first four books were published in 1991, and she saw all reach the finals for either the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award or the Romance Writers of America prestigious RITA Award. She has since won the RITA award four times, along with several Reviewer's Choice awards and three Career Achievement awards from Romantic Times. At the 1998 national conference, Justine was inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame, making her one of a very select group of just eight writers. She also had four titles on the Romantic Times "Top 200 of All Time" list. Her sales now total more than 45, and her books have appeared regularly on best seller lists, including the USA Today list. She has been featured in several local newspapers and nationwide by Associated Press, has appeared on CN
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 2, 2018
3.25 stars
This was a very typical category. Both the h/H are woe-me type characters. The heroine after her ex used her for her family name, publicly humiliated her and cheated on her. The hero despite being a successful actor still sees himself as the skinny kid everyone picked on, so he enjoys dating shallow women now. The heroine is assigned to protect him. Of course the hero doesn't want to believe his life is really threatened. Despite her best efforts heroine is attracted to him but doesn't want to fall for another pretty face since she has self-esteem issues. She is also protecting the hero who doesn't take the threats seriously and when the heroine gives him the truth that it could be someone close to him doing this lashes out. All in all this was an enjoyable one-time read but nothing very special.
This was a very typical category. Both the h/H are woe-me type characters. The heroine after her ex used her for her family name, publicly humiliated her and cheated on her. The hero despite being a successful actor still sees himself as the skinny kid everyone picked on, so he enjoys dating shallow women now. The heroine is assigned to protect him. Of course the hero doesn't want to believe his life is really threatened. Despite her best efforts heroine is attracted to him but doesn't want to fall for another pretty face since she has self-esteem issues. She is also protecting the hero who doesn't take the threats seriously and when the heroine gives him the truth that it could be someone close to him doing this lashes out. All in all this was an enjoyable one-time read but nothing very special.
January 22, 2016
The men in this book are sooo immature,
The Hero moans that the women have only ever looked down on him until he became famous now his "dates" are only after him for what he can do for their career, but never tries dating or meeting people outside of the acting field. All while using them for how they look, all of them are cute little bubbly blondes and thick apparently, but their the shallow ones.
Hero's best friend was conveniently on a break from his wife, when the girl they all fancied when younger turned up looking for the hero, she slept with the best friend and ended up pregnant, somehow I doubt she'd have hooked up with the chubby best friend if she was trying to snag the rich and famous hero.
Best friends wife has suffered many miscarriages and can no longer get pregnant, so these men come up with the idea to lie and say the child is the hero's and claim him publicly, pay support.
That is the better option in their opinion rather than coming clean and letting his wife know and letting her make her own decision on whether to stay with him after impregnating the woman who used them when they were younger for school help and was only interested in getting to the hero. they'd rather she find out in eighteen years when the child support stops.
This plot bothered me a lot, this woman got everything she wanted, money to support her lifestyle and access to the A list, and no consequences. That poor child is going to be so mixed up when he grows up. The poor deluded wife is totally in the dark about it and the best friend has a son that he takes no care or responsibility for.
The hero just needs to grow up and listen when your bodyguard tells you to stay put.
Heroine was great when she shut up about her "perfect ex".
The Hero moans that the women have only ever looked down on him until he became famous now his "dates" are only after him for what he can do for their career, but never tries dating or meeting people outside of the acting field. All while using them for how they look, all of them are cute little bubbly blondes and thick apparently, but their the shallow ones.
Hero's best friend was conveniently on a break from his wife, when the girl they all fancied when younger turned up looking for the hero, she slept with the best friend and ended up pregnant, somehow I doubt she'd have hooked up with the chubby best friend if she was trying to snag the rich and famous hero.
Best friends wife has suffered many miscarriages and can no longer get pregnant, so these men come up with the idea to lie and say the child is the hero's and claim him publicly, pay support.
That is the better option in their opinion rather than coming clean and letting his wife know and letting her make her own decision on whether to stay with him after impregnating the woman who used them when they were younger for school help and was only interested in getting to the hero. they'd rather she find out in eighteen years when the child support stops.
This plot bothered me a lot, this woman got everything she wanted, money to support her lifestyle and access to the A list, and no consequences. That poor child is going to be so mixed up when he grows up. The poor deluded wife is totally in the dark about it and the best friend has a son that he takes no care or responsibility for.
The hero just needs to grow up and listen when your bodyguard tells you to stay put.
Heroine was great when she shut up about her "perfect ex".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 13, 2015
Another review from my goal of rereading and reviewing all the books laying around my house. I read a lot of genre romances in my 20s and 30s and kept a box of them.
I really liked Justine Davis and her tortured heroes back then, but her books don't resonate as much with me now. This one does offer an interesting couple. She is a former cop, now working security. He is a famous actor with great charisma on screen but who comes across as a little ordinary in person. He has been receiving threats, and she is assigned to protect him. They have good chemistry and there was a nice twist to the resolution of where the threats were coming from.
A nice read of its kind.
I really liked Justine Davis and her tortured heroes back then, but her books don't resonate as much with me now. This one does offer an interesting couple. She is a former cop, now working security. He is a famous actor with great charisma on screen but who comes across as a little ordinary in person. He has been receiving threats, and she is assigned to protect him. They have good chemistry and there was a nice twist to the resolution of where the threats were coming from.
A nice read of its kind.
August 15, 2011
Sometimes I read an author's early work and think, "Oh, so that's where her talent stems from." Unfortunately, that was not the case with this book.
Justine Davis thought up a good suspense/mystery plot with some characters who should have been interesting, but failed to deliver on the promise. The reason I did not give this book the lowest rating is because the promise showed through here and there, and I did enjoy the mystery. I guessed wrong on who the villain was.
Davis made the mistake of writing two separate climactic scenes for two different plot elements, and the flow of the story was jarred by that.
I was also disappointed that the copy of the book I acquired through paperbackswap.com had loose pages...caveat emptor.
On the other hand, I do like her other work....
Justine Davis thought up a good suspense/mystery plot with some characters who should have been interesting, but failed to deliver on the promise. The reason I did not give this book the lowest rating is because the promise showed through here and there, and I did enjoy the mystery. I guessed wrong on who the villain was.
Davis made the mistake of writing two separate climactic scenes for two different plot elements, and the flow of the story was jarred by that.
I was also disappointed that the copy of the book I acquired through paperbackswap.com had loose pages...caveat emptor.
On the other hand, I do like her other work....
January 9, 2015
This was a nice read for a Romance novel. I was surprised by all of the suspense & mystery contained within its pages, though. The Author certainly keeps a reader interested in discovering the "culprit" as the story unfolds.
Yet again, I discovered "whodunit" before the guilty individual's identity was revealed. Maybe this can be blamed upon my suspicious turn of mind, at times. I also loved how, initially, the heroine is not considered her client's type, until they each become more acquainted with the other--A pleasant read, indeed.
Yet again, I discovered "whodunit" before the guilty individual's identity was revealed. Maybe this can be blamed upon my suspicious turn of mind, at times. I also loved how, initially, the heroine is not considered her client's type, until they each become more acquainted with the other--A pleasant read, indeed.
January 25, 2015
Sometimes, looking at a picture of a cover, I can recall a book or a memory of where I was when I read it. This is not one of them. The name, cover nor author ring a bell. If not for the notebook that I catalog my books in, I would question whether or not I actually did read this.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews