Renegade » (Reprint)

Diana Palmer is renowned as one of North America’s top ten romance writers. When she published her first novel in 1979, fans immediately fell in love with her sensual, charming romances. A die-hard romantic who married her husband five days after they met, Diana says that she wrote her first book at age thirteen—and has been hooked ever since. Diana’s hobbies include gardening, knitting, quilting, anthropology, astronomy and music.

For newly appointed police chief Cash Grier, life in rural southeast Texas was quite a departure from his former world of subterfuge and black ops. But as a true renegade, Cash had learned never to take anything at face value. Even now he sniffed an undercurrent of unrest in the air and made it his personal mission to keep law and order in the streets of Jacobsville. Complications arose when Cash found himself distracted by his traitorous desire for Tippy Moore--the "Georgia Firefly."

The combative barbs he'd once relished exchanging with his gorgeous sworn enemy no longer gave him the same satisfaction. Cash was stunned by Tippy's amazing transformation from "spoiled" Hollywood starlet to unassuming beauty who had almost as many skeletons in her closet as he did. Despite himself, the hard-edged Texan discovered a kindred spirit in this woman who was selflessly devoted to raising her beleaguered younger brother. Before long, Cash, a man who prided himself on self-restraint, found himself powerless to resist their explosive chemistry.

Just as Cash was beginning to believe that Tippy might be the one for him, an unforgivable betrayal ripped them apart, spiraling them in different directions, leading to despair, deceit--and unexpected danger.

Publishers Weekly

Palmer's new romance catches up with small-town Jacobsville, Tex., police chief Cash Grier and fashion model-turned- film star Tippy Moore, who crossed paths in the author's previous novel, Lawless. Hardened, war-weary Cash, a former mercenary, swears he'll never trust another woman again after a crushing betrayal by his ex-wife ("They say bullets are dangerous. But the most dangerous thing on earth is love.'); red-headed Tippy's sunny exterior hides a horrific past of abuse and neglect, making her equally wary of men. An idyllic meeting in New York, where Tippy lives, segues quickly into a rather improbable series of events, including a miscarriage, a kidnapping and a daring rescue. When Cash whisks Tippy off to Jacobsville for her own safety, the pressures on the couple ease, but Palmer concocts some convoluted sideplots featuring local politicians trying to work outside the law and a state senator arrested for inebriation. Too many pages are wasted reiterating ad infinitum the trust issues that plague Cash and Tippy, but Palmer knows how to make the sparks fly between her protagonists. The ties binding Tippy and Rory, the nine-year-old half-brother she cares for, and the solid relationship Cash builds with both of them are heartwarming and endearing. (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.