cathy richard dodson

When he hears that his uncle is offering a million dollar reward for the return of a lost wallaby (even though the wallaby, Wilma, was a favorite), political pro Noah Francis thinks it's time to go home to Bennett, Texas--a small town he's avoided since college, and straighten things out. It's also a chance to spend some quality time with his teenage daughter, Krissy--which is important since Krissy has been angry with him since her mother and he divorced. Noah suspects he'll run into his teenage hearthrob, Lou Ann Miles. What he doesn't suspect is that his heart willl still throb, or that any of that old magic will remain.

When he left Bennett, he'd stomped her heart flat and Lou Ann isn't about to forgive him for that. At least she doesn't mean to until sexy Noah Francis is back in town. He's a lot better looking than he was as a teenager, and his daughter, lost and angry, tugs at her heart. But the things that drove them apart in the first place remain--Lou Ann will never move to Washington D. C. and Noah is nothing if not a political animal. Then there's the secret she's been holding for so many years--a secret that will almost certainly destroy any residual affection Noah feels for her.

Author Cathy Richard Dodson spins a charming romance with a sexy female sheriff, a politician who really ought to be a cowboy, and a really strong teenage girl in Krissy who threatens to steal the whole story, and manages to get things rolling in the right direction no matter how stubborn and proud her father and Lou Ann insist on being.

Dodson gives the classic romance favorite reunion theme several clever twists and manages a hero who has some definitely out of the ordinary characteristics--especially for a Texan. Her wealth of secondary characters: Krissy, Lou Ann's mother and sister, and Noah's uncle in particular, really bring the story to life.