Kai Tiernan hires on with the Triple H Ranch in Jackson
Hole, Wyoming as a mechanic and wrangler. She learned her
trade in the Army, working on aircraft in Afghanistan.
However, she grew up on a ranch and knows her stuff as a
wrangler as well. Kai is very thankful for this job,
as it is the twentieth ranch she has visited because no one
takes her seriously as a mechanic.
While putting her things in the wranglers' lockers, Kai
runs into the ranch foreman, Gil Hanford. They are both
shocked to see each other. Gil was her late husband Sam's
best friend and best man in their wedding. He was with
Sam when Sam was killed in a fire fight in Afghanistan.
But Kai and Gil also have a jaded past beyond
just being acquaintances. They spent five days and nights
as passionate lovers when Gil's brother was killed in
action. He came to Kai for comfort, and things escalated
from there. Then Gil disappeared one morning and Kai
never heard from him again. That was five long years ago.
For a few days, things are strained at best between them.
Gil tries to talk to Kai, but she is too bitter to even
hear him. When he has her as a captive audience in his
truck on a trip into town, he shares the reason he was
unable to contact her during those five years. Kai
suddenly realized her bitterness is unfounded. Maybe they
can pick up where they left off. Maybe this strong
attraction she still feels between them is very real.
Lindsay McKenna has penned another great romance in NIGHT
HAWK, the tenth tale from her Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Series. It's a story about loss and starting over. Kai and
Gil come from very
different family
backgrounds. Those beginnings make them the people they
are today. They are both headstrong characters who don't
mince words when speaking their mind. Ms. McKenna
incorporates sex trade and drug trafficking into the
story line and brings back characters whose stories she
has previously told as minor characters. Although NIGHT
HAWK is set in Wyoming, most of the characters have
military backgrounds and are SEAL or Delta Force
operators. Ms. McKenna is a master of the military
romance genre.
After losing his comrade, Sergeant Gil Hanford thought a
visit to the man's widow would be the decent way to honor
his late friend. But Gil found more than comfort in Kai
Tiernan—he had always secretly desired beautiful Kai, but
a
sudden, mutual passion helped assuage their grief…until
duty
reared its head, removing him from her arms, seemingly
forever.
Four years later, Kai is starting over at the Triple H
Ranch
in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Born a rancher, she is looking
for
a new beginning—but her new boss is unforgivably
familiar.
Kai has tried to move past the memory of what happened
between her and Gil, even though she's never forgiven him
for leaving her. But even as they begin their journey
toward
something new and oh-so-uncertain, a shadow emerges,
determined to claim Kai for itself.
Excerpt
Gil put his hands on his hips, staring at her. “I’m the
foreman.”
Kai closed her eyes for just a moment, opened them,
feeling the air sucked out of her lungs. “Y-you work
here, too?” No! That wasn’t possible! This couldn’t be
happening! Her mind worked at the speed of light. Her
heart expanded with traitorous emotions, wanting Gil.
Again. God, she could not go there! The bastard had
walked out on her after five days of the most wonderful
loving she’d ever experienced with a man. Gil had left
suddenly without explanation, never to return. She hadn’t
seen him for four years.
Anger flowed through Kai. Gil had used her as a
convenient sex partner to bury himself in to get rid of
his grief. His brother Rob, a Delta Force operator with
another team in Afghanistan, had been killed. Gil had
seen his brother’s body to the morgue at Bagram and then
looked her up.
Touching her brow, Kai saw his generous mouth moving into
a resistant, thin line. She remembered that mouth. Far
too well. The pleasure he’d given her. Kai had never
known such tenderness and vulnerability in a man until
Gil had walked into her life for those five days. She’d
been a widow for a year. When he reappeared, he said he
needed her. Silly her. She’d believed him and they had
ended up in a five-day sexual feast that was the best
thing that Kai had ever encountered with a man. Yet, on
the sixth morning, when she awakened, Gil was gone. No
note. No explanation. No email. No…nothing. She wished
she could have forgotten him, but she never had.
And now, he was towering over her, all six feet of him,
broad, capable shoulders beneath a white cowboy shirt, a
black leather vest stretching across his powerful chest.
His Levi’s were worn and dirty, but from Kai’s view, his
strong, hard thighs were just as beautiful now as they
were when they’d captured her legs and held her in place
to give her the most incredible pleasure she’d ever had.
And then, he’d run. Kai had never felt so used by a man.
Now, the bastard was standing there, defensive,
bristling, and she could feel the energy pouring off him
toward her. She was only five feet seven inches tall. She
wasn’t short, but she wasn’t Gil’s height, either.
What would he do? Try to get her fired? Invent some lame
excuse to let her go? Would he do that to her after what
they’d shared? She searched his eyes, which were now a
darker, stormy blue. Kai could feel how taut and upset he
was. It felt as if they were two boxers in a ring sizing
each other up, looking for weak spots, a place to get in
and punch, taking the other down.
Kai & Gil have a lot to work out in this book. The review is amazing & down to earth. Will put this on my TBR list. (Lois Imel 6:36pm January 19, 2016)