Robin Lee Hatcher - Melinda Rucker Haynes
Hatcher, Robin Lee - IN HIS ARMS (Harper - 1998) (4)
This story caught my attention from the first chapter and held it until the very end. The heroine, Mary Malone, is a pregnant Irish girl alone in a new country. The hero, Carson Barclay, is a lonely man who grew up in a saloon with a mother who didn't love him. When the two eventually meet, their destiny is sealed...
It has been a year since Mary arrived in America and she is working as a maid to support herself and her son, Keary. An accident causes her to flee New York City with her child, and on the train heading west she forms a friendship with a woman named Blanche. Blanche owns the Painted Lady Saloon in Whistle Creek, Idaho and offers Mary a job as a bookkeeper. Carson, the sheriff of Whistle Creek, is immediately attracted to Mary, but his desire dims when he finds out she's going to be working in the saloon. Despite their personal differences and other developments with which they must contend—a mining dispute that turns dangerous, and a ghost from Mary's past—we see the realization of a love powerful enough to overcome anything.
The author has brought to life a wonderful hero and heroine to whom readers will open their hearts. The love and compassion that flowed between Mary and Carson, although fragile at times, was so warm and beautiful...and uplifting that it brought tears to my eyes. ~Robin Peek for Bookbug on the Web
Haynes, Melinda Rucker - WING AND A KISS, A (E-book; Starlight Writers Publications - 8/99) (3+)
When Elizabeth Stanton meets her new stepbrother, Corbin Marshall, for the first time, their relationship literally gets off to a bumpy start. Terrified of flying, she agrees to let Corbin fly them to the home base of Desert Airlines in a two-seater airplane. He doesn't understand the depth of her fear as he is an ex-military jet jockey who loves to fly. After running into a thunderstorm en route, Elizabeth feels absolutely murderous toward him by the time they land.
In turn, Corbin is upset because he believes his new stepsister is at Desert Airlines to examine their records to see why the normally healthy airline is suddenly losing money, and to see if they qualify to receive a loan in order to keep the airline going. In reality, Elizabeth is there in order to examine the records; but while she is doing so, her father and business partner are buying up the airline's debts and stock shares in order to launch a takeover. But then Elizabeth starts to wonder why an airline that was financially stable is suddenly, upon the placement of Corbin as CEO, losing a lot of money and business. So she begins to investigate, but she doesn't realize she'll lose her heart in the process.
In A WING AND A KISS, Melinda Rucker Haynes pens a story that will keep your interest at full throttle until the end. Corbin is a sexy pilot who is bewildered as to the cause of the airline's financial dilemma. The reader can understand his feelings of betrayal when he discovers Elizabeth's true motives. The only problem I had with the story was the way Corbin treated Elizabeth at this point, and how long the anger lasted. The plot is an interesting one though, showing betrayal on several layers, and it's obvious the author did her research in regard to airplane operations. ~Pat Cavender for Bookbug on the Web
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