"Did she truly find a forever kind of love?"

Years ago, Sam Callaghan alias Spike, knew Hope in the most intimate way. He lost contact with her and the baby she had. Plagued by nightmares, stemming from his gift of second sight, he never has stopped looking for Hope. Now he has found her.

In 1974, her husband Jesse put Tina, called Hope by him, up as a marker in a card game that Spike won. She wasn't sure if Spike really wanted her, or if he just wanted to save her a beating, but what she got was the most wonderful weekend of her life. She wanted to stay with him, Spike wanted her to stay with him, but in the end she knew she had to return to Jesse to protect them both. So she went back to the cabin in the mountains, where death and birth will both come to be. However, a lot more had happened here than either Spike nor Hope knew about.

Kristina (Tina) Donovan, now on the shady side of forty, can't believe that the Spike who saved her 15 years ago is really First Sergeant Sam Callaghan of the West Virginia State Police, nor that he is here in Hagerstown, Maryland. Though that is not her real problem. Her real problem is back in West Virginia on a piece of land the state is going to bulldoze for another highway. Leaving her teenage daughter with her friend, Tina heads back to where it all began...

Now this past is coming to light, and all the secrets both Sam and Tina have will be revealed. Will they be able to win this last battle for the future they and their daughter deserve?

This story was good, the mystery was great, the charecters were likable. I don't often care for stories with teenage kids that tend to take the lead, but I really liked Kara. Those who like a story of lost love found will enjoy this one. For me, the sadness of the lost years these people could have shared overshadowed my enjoyment of it. Of course the story had to be real enough to me for it to affect me this way and it was. And, oh my, I fell in love with the hero Sam.

Sensuality--NC17: oral sex; descriptive sex; clinical and some crude language; digital anal penetration. Monogamous sex. Sexually explicit scenes: 11.

Reviewed by Flora Bell
Courtesy Sensual Romance
Posted August 27, 2003

Summary

Tuesday, July 23rd, 1974:
She damn well should have killed her husband Jesse the night he used her as his marker in a poker game with "Spike." When "Spike" won that marker, he stole Hope's heart. Spike wanted more than just a weekend with Hope. He wanted forever. That was more than Hope could promise. A man like Spike, a good man, would never understand the evil a demon like Jesse was capable of.

Wednesday, May 3rd, 1989:
Now he's First Sergeant Sam Callaghan, and he's back. When a chance meeting drops Kristina Donovan into his arms, their pasts twists in on both of them, threatening to tear apart their worlds, for better or worse. Hope—Kristina—was the love of his life, the woman who can still rock his world with a single kiss. When he's around her, Sam forgets to think. But first and foremost he's always been a cop...and it's possible that Tina really did murder her husband Jesse.

Publisher's Note: this title was formerly published as Peaceman by Margaret Riley.

Sexual Content: Hard R. Genre: romantic suspense.