Claire Betancourt is the mayor of a small town in Florida peopled with eccentrics and characters who share a laid back attitude and love of the coastline. Point man for a rich executive, Jack Hogan, arrives in town to survey the security before his boss reopens the resort where he first met his wife during the 60's.

Since Jack is a former secret service agent, he immediately clashes with Claire, who fills in for the school crossing guard, owns a resale dress shop and has come to appreciate the ways of her community. After all, they welcomed her with open arms three years ago after she moved to the area following the death of her husband with her young daughter. Now she feels she must run interference between the security expert and the locals.

The two are opposites -- who do what opposites tend to do and become attracted to one another during their various clashes over the security gaps Jack keeps finding. Claire is adamant that everything in Heron Point is fine and that Jack is being alarmist until she is forced to reconsider when her daughter is kidnapped and Jack is the one with the experience to find her.

Cynthia Thomason has written a nice and easy story of instant attraction between two strong characters who on the surface seem to be an unlikely match. Her descriptions of the eccentrics, my favorite being Hester Poole and her pink ladies, populating the town and the contrast of small town safety versus big city danger are well done and reinforce that bad things can happen anywhere.