"Hot sex and a determined hero convince the heroine of the importance of love."

The Club caters to a select membership: rich and powerful sexual adventurers seeking wild times, although the married men are monogamous. Kimberley Madison is bound by a clause in her mother's will that forces her to stay a virgin until her wedding night - and the man she marries must be her father's choice. Her strict and self-righteous father, Senator Madison, enforces this requirement by quarterly gynecological exams, hoping to prove she's lying. He intends her to marry a man who can restrain her passions - precisely the sort of Man Kimberley would hate. The stunning little redhead copes with the clause by retreating to The Club for periodic rounds of anal sex. Jared Reddington, her stepbrother, has long been attracted to her, but the night he spots her indulging in a bit of release with a stranger, he becomes determined to have her and to save her from herself. But Senator Madison has made it clear to Jared that he is not an acceptable spouse for his daughter.

When Jared's life is threatened, Kimberley, an ex-cop and now member of a top-notch private security firm, is assigned to the protection team. Because she finds Jared as dangerously exciting as he does her, she refuses at first - but her only other choice is resigning. Unwilling to jeopardize her career, she agrees, and is assigned to spend the next few weeks with him at his farm.

What she doesn't know is that it is really her lige that has been threatened, and that this is a ploy to keep her safe, agreed to by the Secret Service. Jared, ex-Special Forces, decides to bring in some men he trusts, suspecting that one of her team could be a ringer. And then, in the privacy of his home, he sets out to prove to her that no inheritance is worth the price she's paying - that she deserves to love and be loved. And his arsenal of weapons is formidable, including a two male/one female threesome so scorchingly hot yet wildly tender I'm surprised it didn't melt my Rocket reader. But will it be enough to melt the wall of ice Kimber had built around her heart - and will she be willing to sacrifice her inheritance and her chance to defeat her obnoxious father for a real love and real happiness?

What a wild ride! Kimberley, stubborn, honorable and desperate for her father's love and approval - yet equally determined not to let him win this game - is a spirited heroine the reader can care about, and she has enough issues to make her interestingly imperfect. When she finally breaks through her wall of distrust, we cheer for her. Jared is an equally wonderful hero, competent, capable, an Alpha male who's found his mate, but refreshingly willing to admit that he loves a woman who's never given him anything but smartass comments. This is one dominant guy who deserves the term; he's confident enough to realize that showing your emotions doesn't make you less masculine and that dominant doesn't mean domineering. Senator Madison makes a darned good opponent, a self- righteous prig who truly believes he's doing the right thing - but who, in the end, can be brought to see reason. The only mystery is what Jared's long-suffering, charming mother sees in the man.

This is a beautifully crafted romance with characters so real they bleed and a compelling storyline, and sex scenes that are enough to satisfy the most demanding reader. While the threesome is the one that springs to mind immediately, what makes the sex so memorable isn't the way Leigh handles it, but the tenderness and gentleness beneath the passion. All too often we get flamingly hot sex, but without real caring. Leigh delivers on all fronts. This is a keeper. It has everything: wonderfully believable and complex characters, an interesting plot, incandescently hot sex, and a romance that will linger in your heart long after you turn off your computer or reader.

Sensuality Rating: Super-hot; non-monogamous sex, anal sex, oral sex, male/male/female threesome.

Reviewed by Gillian Fitzgerald
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted November 8, 2004

Book five of the Bound Hearts series

Summary

Kimberly has run from Jared for a year now, sensing the weakness he could be to her future. But she never expected the sacrifice he would make for her. One that will rock her soul, and destroy the very foundations of all her beliefs.

Her sexuality, her heart, and all she's fought for in the last six years will be tested when an assignment takes her to Jared's farm, and into his bed. There she will learn the true meaning of hunger, of love...as well as the deception and the lies that have governed her life for so long.

Anything worth having is worth sacrificing for. Kimberly is about to find out if she can pay the price, and risk not only the inheritance that should be hers, but also her heart to the one man who can still the fires that rage in her soul.