She couldn’t ignore him
The gang of train robbers swore they could smell a reporter a mile away. Maybe it was her perfume that saved Mary Michael Dennehy from the brutal fate of her newspaper colleagues on the train to Colorado. Instead of being killed, she was kidnapped by the one named Ethan Stone – a man whose lazy, derisive smile was distinctly unsettling, and oddly familiar. He didn’t seem to think much of her stubborn defiance, her disgust for his crimes, or her pathetic attempts to escape. She only wished she could be as indifferent to his potent masculinity, and the way his lips slanted over hers, drawing a response from deep within her that was at once wild and sweet…
He couldn’t forget her
Ethan recognized her instantly. The last time he’d seen her, her hair had been a nest for pencils and the tip of her nose had propped up gold-rimmed spectacles. Something about her had made him wonder what such a modern city woman – a reporter, for Christ’s sake – would be like in bed. He’d never forgotten her, and wasn’t about to let her open that fascinating mouth of hers now and get herself killed – and him along with her, if she recognized him as the undercover detective he was. Without the pencils and spectacles, she was damned alluring. It would be his pleasure to indulge his secret fantasies and distract that razor-sharp brain of hers with a slow and subtle onslaught of Wild Sweet Ecstasy.
This is the infamous book that I slapped myself in the eye with. It’s the first book in Goodman’s Dennehy Sisters series. I’ve read this series completely out of order. I read the third book first and the fifth (and final) book second. I finally decided to pick the first book up. Jo Goodman can always get me out of a slump, which is why I decided to pick up Wild Sweet Ecstasy.
Isn’t that cover so 90’s? It’s not the cover that I have, but how could I not share it w/ everyone? Of course it’s not what I imagined Michael and Ethan looking like, but it’s close.
As one of John Mackenzie Worth’s five bastard daughters, Mary Michael Dennehy has worked hard to make a name for herself without her father’s influence. Taking a job at the Chronicle, Michael knows that she has more than one obstacle to overcome. Not only is she a woman in what is considered a man’s job, she is also Jay Mac’s daughter. Little by little, Michael proves herself to her editor and co-workers. When she finds herself on No. 367 heading west, Michael has no idea how her life is about to change.
U.S. Marshal Ethan Stone has worked hard to get into the gang that has been robbing trains all across the country. When he sees Michael on No. 367, he vividly remembers the first time he saw her at the Chronicle offices. What he doesn’t know is if she’ll remember him. Ethan can’t take a chance that she’ll expose him, so he does the only thing he can, he knocks her out and claims that she’s his estranged wife. Now Ethan’s job is harder; he has to protect Michael and bring down the gang of robbers.
Michael doesn’t remember Ethan even though he looks familiar. Michael doesn’t take the time to try to figure out where she’s seen him before. All she can think about is her five co-workers that were murdered, one by Ethan’s own hand. For that reason, when Ethan asks her to trust him, she’s not very inclined to do so. Planning on turning these men in to the first lawman she comes across, Michael isn’t prepared for what happens when she’s brought to Madison, Colorado. That’s when she realizes that getting away is going to be virtually impossible and that her only ally is Ethan.
Though Ethan tries to protect Michael as best he can, there’s little he can do when the leader of their gang takes a liking to her. Though he’s almost convinced himself that all he wants is for Michael to leave Madison safely, he can’t deny what he’s started to feel for her. Now all he wants to do is get them both out alive, something that seems less likely as each day passes.
I loved this book. The Dennehy sisters have fascinated me since I first read about them. Their mother and father have the sort of love that is timeless and the fact that their father is married to another woman has not stopped them for being together for the last 25 years. Thought it might seem tawdry and wrong, it’s far from that. Moira Dennehy and Jay Mac Worth were born for each other and you can see each of them in their five daughters.
Michael is a heroine that defies society’s expectations of what a woman should or should not be. She is someone that has succeeded in doing what she wants to do with nothing other than sheer determination. Her attraction to Ethan was far from welcome, her inner struggle apparent. Ethan doesn’t tell Michael who he is b/c he doesn’t want her to accidentally give him away. So as far as she knows, Ethan is nothing but a thief and murderer. That she’s attracted to him is something that she’s unprepared for.
5 out of 5.
This OOP book was published by Zebra Books. You can buy it used here.
Other books in the series:
I think I read this one a long time ago! I use to love those vintage Zebra covers!
How’s the eye doing? ;)You’re like the kid from A Christmas Story!
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the cover! Oooh, how those cover takes me back – and after reading your review, the storyline, too. Sounds like good times.
Can’t wait to look it up.
mph
Oh, I loved this series. I remember reading back when I was a baby romance reader. 😉 This series and Linda Lael Miller’s Orphan Train series helped me cut my series-reading teeth. If only I knew then what I was starting. LOL
LOL @ the hitting yourself in the eye with the book.
Sounds like a good series!
I remember this book, and yes, I do have it with the original cover. I haven’t read any Jo Goodman in years…perhaps I should pick some up soon. Thanks for the memories.