Maggie Price’s romantic suspense books for Silhouette just keep getting better. With Dangerous Liaisons she’s created my favorite one yet.

Jake Ford’s partner Whitney has just married Assistant District Attorney Bill Taylor. At the wedding reception, Jake ends up dancing with the groom’s sister, Nicole, who runs a matchmaking business. The two share an intense enough attraction that there seems to be no one else in the room. Both vow to stay away from each other afterward, but the murder of three of Nicole’s clients keeps bringing them back together.

Nicole is a strong, independent woman with a talent for matching people up. She also knows what type of person is right for her, and logic tells her it isn’t Jake. She doesn’t want to fall in love again based purely on intense attraction. That’s what happened with the ex-husband who broke her heart with his cheating ways.

If you like your heroes dark and tortured, boy, is Jake the one for you. He’s tortured and doesn’t want to love again because of the death of his wife and kids. His grief sent him into a tailspin that ended up in false accusations of rape and serial murder. He’s stopped drinking and smoking and sworn off women.

The intense attraction between Jake and Nicole was believable, unlike others I’ve recently read. They share a mind-blowing kiss within 24 hours of meeting, but they get to know each other before they get too far.

Price creates good suspense with the murders. It’s not enough to overwhelm the story, but it is enough to create the tense situation and to bring Jake and Nicole into constant contact. Price creates a few viable suspects, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out who the villain is.

All in all, this is a really enjoyable book. It’s managed to pull me out of a frustrating romance slump, and that earns lots of points in my book. If you like romantic suspense that’s not too dark, you’ll like this one.