Kate Sampson’s father, Gray, was killed in a fall from a horse and since then Kate has had the sense that things aren’t right on their ranch. She can’t accept that Gray’s death was truly an accident and when it seems that someone is trying to kill her she realizes that she needs help. The only person that she can think to call is Zack West. She’s known him since she was a child and he was a confused teenager befriended by Gray. Kate and Zach never got along. She resented the time her father spent with Zach and he thought she was a spoiled drama queen. Their last meeting was particularly acrimonious and Kate isn’t anxious to renew acquaintances, but she knows that Zach loved her father and she’s counting on him wanting justice for Gray’s murder.
Zach’s last protection assignment went terribly wrong and he’s quit Wild West Protective Services and returned to the family ranch to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Kate’s call for help comes as an unwelcome surprise, but he can’t bring himself to tell her no. Gray’s death hit Zach hard and he feels that he owes it to his friend to help his daughter. Zach figures that he’ll go through the motions and sooth Kate’s fears and that will be the end of it. Then he finds evidence that Gray really was murdered and finds himself back on protective duty. Spending so much time in close contact with Kate leaves him wondering if she’s still the same resentful child he once knew or if she’s really grown into a woman worth knowing. As the danger on the ranch increases and Zach is unable to find any leads he starts to worry that he may never get the chance to find out.
I’m not a fan of romances where the h/h have a significant difference in age and first met when the heroine was a child. That always feels a little skeevy to me, even when there’s no objective reason to feel that way. Once I got past that factor I found myself liking Kate and Zach. They’re each carry a lot of baggage. As much as she tries Kate just can’t stop resenting the time Zach spent with her father. In Kate’s eyes Zach had his own large, loving family and still insisted on taking the attention of her only parent. Zach has no idea that she feels that way. He simply remembers her acting like a brat and would just as soon forget it. They get to know and like each other in the present, but the past is still looming in the background. The big air-clearing fight and its resolution worked for me.
The mystery of Gray’s death and the attempts on Kate’s life worked less well. My usual complaint with category length suspense is that the mystery is solved too quickly. In this case the problem was just the opposite. The mystery carries over to later books in the series and the only way to extend it was to have Kate and Zach totally fail to ask the obvious questions about the crime. That was especially a problem for the character of Zach. He has years of experience and is considering a career in law enforcement, so having him make such an obvious error does him no favors. It was especially jarring because in other ways he comes across as smart, which is what you would expect for someone who did the sort of protective work that he did. The problem didn’t ruin the book for me, but I would have given it a higher grade if Ms Cassidy had found a way to allow Zach to be smarter.
Grade C+
Will I read the next book in the series?: Yes. It's already in my TBR and I liked this one well enough to read about the next West brother.
Where Are You Reading Challenge: Oklahoma
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