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A man of integrity…or not?
The moment Captain Reid Sawyer helps social worker Anna Grant with a sticky situation, she’s hooked. He’s gorgeous and clearly interested in her. Yet even as he pursues her, she senses he’s holding back. For someone who prizes honesty and doing the right thing, how much of his evasion can Anna tolerate?
Her trust in Reid is further shaken when he confesses what he’s done to protect his newly discovered brother. Is Reid really one of the good guys? Then he’s involved in a hostage situation. Suddenly, she fears she could lose him before telling him how she truly feels!
She couldn’t look away from Reid now.
Anna wanted him to kiss her more than she could remember wanting anything in a long time.
His head bent slowly, either because he was giving her time to retreat or because he himself was hesitant. She quit blinking, only stared into his eyes. And then his lips touched hers. They were cold, but his puff of breath warmed her face.
A sound seemed to vibrate in his chest, and he tilted his head to fit their mouths more closely together. Anna reached out and gripped the sleek fabric of his jacket, her knuckles bumping something hard. Was he carrying a pistol under there? But right this second, she couldn’t bring herself to care. Her eyes closed and she reveled in the astonishing feel of him nipping at her lips, his tongue stroking the seam until she opened her mouth and let him in.
And then it only got better.
I’ve created many troubled heroes—heck, they’re my specialty!—but Reid Sawyer is one of my all-time favorites. He was more of a challenge than some to write, too, because he’s not an angry man, he doesn’t lash out and he rarely if ever raises his voice. Most people see him as cool, strong, unemotional. He feels driven by duty and, yes, vicarious revenge on a brutal father. In fact, he sees himself as damaged, incapable of real emotion, especially the softer kinds. This is a man who is utterly self-contained, capable of suppressing any powerful emotion almost before it appears.
Maybe that’s what made it so satisfying to challenge his beliefs. First he discovers he has a younger brother who needs him, and then he falls in love with a woman despite himself—and the poor man doesn’t recognize what’s happening to him! Hmm. Come to think of it, he may be the perfect man: calm, competent, protective, quiet and tidy. Well, okay, a guy who says “I love you” once in a while is nice, too!
I never plan my books by thinking, “this one is about the hero,” or “this one is about the heroine.” But most often they come out that way, with the focus most intensely on one character or the other. Sometimes I’m really taken by surprise. I’ve got to admit, though, with only a couple of exceptions, my favorites among my books are hero-centric ones. So maybe I should plan better….
Here’s hoping you, too, fall in love with Reid while you’re saying goodbye to Angel Butte, Oregon, the setting for what was originally intended to be a trilogy but grew to five books. And you never know—I may decide to revisit Angel Butte one of these days!
Janice Kay Johnson
This Good Man
Janice Kay Johnson
An author of more than eighty books for children and adults, USA TODAY bestselling author JANICE KAY JOHNSON is especially well-known for her Mills & Boon Superromance novels about love and family—about the way generations connect and the power our earliest experiences have on us throughout life. Her 2007 novel Snowbound won a RITA® Award from Romance Writers of America for Best Contemporary Series Romance. A former librarian, Janice raised two daughters in a small rural town north of Seattle, Washington. She loves to read and is an active volunteer and board member for Purrfect Pals, a no-kill cat shelter. Visit her online at www.janicekayjohnson.com.
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