This is another installment in Lora Leigh’s Breed series, and in my opinion, one of the better ones.

Scheme Tallant’s father Cyrus is responsible for the orders that sent countless Breeds to their deaths. Tanner Reynolds, a Bengal Tiger Breed, believes Scheme played a role in her father’s actions. He plans to kidnap her and use her to get closer to her father. What Tanner doesn’t know is that far from collaborating with her father, Scheme has been working underground to bring about his destruction. And she has her own reasons besides the evil he has done against the Breeds.

Scheme’s father tries to have her killed but Tanner saves her from the assassin. Despite what scenting her tells him – that there is more to her – Tanner still thinks she is a murderer. He kidnaps her, holding her captive in a cave. Their close proximity only intensifies the feelings they have for each other, and it takes all of Tanner’s control to not act on his desires. He wants answers first and Scheme refuses to give him those answers. But Tanner refuses to let her go until she does.

Scheme is as strong willed as they come. She refuses to bend to Tanner’s will, to let him use her body to get his answers. She wants him, but she wants her freedom more, but turns out there is no freedom from Tanner. The sensuality leaps off the pages as he tries to seduce her and she tries to resist him.

Ms. Leigh makes a wise decision in creating and extending Tanner’s seduction of Scheme. Having the characters thrown together allows Leigh to spend more time developing their relationship. Scheme’s father treated her brutally, and when he finds out about it, it deeply affects Tanner. The more he learns about Scheme and about her past, the more protective he becomes. He begins to fall in love with her, but he knows he must turn her over to the Sanctuary where she will be punished. The only way to save her is to mate with her. There is only one problem. Scheme might not be his true mate. By the time Tanner realizes this, it is too late. He has already fallen in love with her.

Tanner’s Scheme is different from the other Breed books because there isn’t that instant hormonal attraction between the characters. This makes the book a little more romantic in my view because Tanner and Scheme are not together because they have to be.

The only real issue I have is that Ms. Leigh’s books get more and more sexually graphic (if that’s possible), pushing the envelope in ways that slightly bothered me, and that will offend some readers. Also there are some aspects of Scheme’s past, and the way Tanner reacted and continued to react that was a tad overdone. Still, I really liked this one. If you want erotic romance that is truly romantic, and features an interesting story and characters, I recommend this book.