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These two meet when Jack has Anne cornered in an upstairs bedroom as she, masked and disguised, is caught in the act of helping herself to some glittering goodies. The only way Anne can escape is to use the element of surprise – so she rubs her breasts against Jack’s chest. Momentarily startled to realize the notorious thief is a woman, Anne further throws him off guard by offering her body to him right then and there, as the price for her escape. Jack is further shocked – at himself – when he abruptly decides to go for it and prepares to extract the offered price.

But Anne escapes before Jack can gets very far, turning a routine capture into a personal vendetta. He’s never lost a “man” before, so now his reputation is stained. Further, he wants the woman – he wants her with an intensity he has never known before. In his mind, Anne has now become “his” and he’s going after her with a vengeance.

The focus of this book never leaves these two characters. They are both wounded emotionally, almost beyond repair, and the only person in the world who can heal one is the other. This is a tense, moody, shadow-filled study of a man and a woman who each think they have nothing to live for, nothing to offer, nothing good, until they find each other. Connie Brockway has done a stunning job keeping the intensity of this steamy cat-and-mouse thriller moving along page after page. The writing is lyrical in some places, the imagery clean and sure, and the pain Jack and Anne carry with them is tangible. No lighthearted romp here – but I wouldn’t have missed a word of it.

And, oh, the last page; the last line. Oh, the last line. Thank you, Connie.