Heat of the Moment is one of those books where I have a tough time picturing a happily-ever-after for the hero and heroine. It’s an absorbing read, but the leads are extremely hard-edged characters and the ending is a head-scratcher. The book follows Into the Fire, which I haven’t read, but I might go back and pick that one up to learn more about J.D. and Sable (the hero and heroine of that book, who are secondary characters this time around).

Terri (Teresa) Vincent is a homicide cop. This is one serious, no frills chick. She is a woman in a man’s world of the New Orleans PD. She drives a Harley, wears no makeup, and her idea of a wardrobe is jeans and baggy shirts. Her family is Cajun, basically one generation removed from swamp rats, and she has burned lots of bridges with her family because of her job. Her best friend is her partner, J.D. Gamble, Cort’s brother. She has known them both for years, and at her first meeting with Cort, sparks flew, but they were not all friendly, warm sparks. They both have a lingering distrust of each other – and their attraction.

Cort Gamble, New Orleans’ Fire Marshall, is currently investigating a series of ugly fires believed to have been set by a serial arsonist. There have been multiple victims, and at the crime scene of the most recent fire at a night club, he runs into Terri again. About six months ago they had a one night stand, against all his better instincts, and he hates himself for not putting her out of his mind. To his thinking, Terri is barely even female, and certainly nothing like the beautiful Creole ladies he usually dates. Cort and J.D.’s family is an old Creole family with all the money, mansions and trappings to boot. Terri gets under his skin and burrows there, and he hates it. So, of course, he takes it out on her and treats her terribly. He says horrid and hurtful things to her at the crime scene, and as a result, Terri asks for a temporary transfer from Homicide to Organized Crime to get away from working with Cort.

Unfortunately for Terri, the son of a mob boss was killed in the fire, so she cannot escape working with Cort. Especially since her new boss believes Cort is in league with mob boss Frank Belafini. He orders Terri to investigate Cort to find evidence of his connection to Belafini. Terri knows that Cort has nothing to do with Belafini, and is forced to play both sides to keep her job and protect Cort. However, as other victims are horribly burned, it becomes clear that the killer has a personal vendetta against Cort. Terri is forced to play the part of a high society miss totally against her nature in order to draw out the killer.

It was easy to see that these two had a raging sexual attraction to each other, but less easy to see why Terri put up with Cort. He is outright mean to her, though she hides her hurt well, masking it behind sarcasm. For most of the book, Terri and Cort trade jabs with each other, and nothing more than that. Cort never came across as kind or caring with Terri, just angry and aroused. He didn’t act that way with other women, so wasn’t Terri lucky? I wanted him to grovel much more than he eventually did.

For her part, Terri plays the poor white trash card a bit too much when she is forced to dress and act like a Creole society girl. Come on, no one complains that much about getting a manicure and a facial. Yes waxing hurts, but she acts like she has never even heard of the process. She freely admits to being girly in high school, so she suddenly developed amnesia since then?

Even with the problems between Cort and Terri, this book probably would’ve fared better were it not for the totally unbelievable ending. I was riveted by the mystery of the arsonist, but the villain’s identity, in my opinion, was a complete joke. I felt cheated, and mad. Not a good way to finish a book. However, for some reason, this author’s books still interest me, probably because she came thisclose to pulling together a great book. I’m reluctant about completely warning people away from this one, because I think others may not have the issues I had with the ending. But keep in mind that although the book is promising, it’s far from perfect.