Terrific start to the new series. Lauren's widowed sister-in-law and niece disappeared. Lauren had promised her brother she would look after Courtney, a sweet young woman but rather naïve. She believes that Courtney was conned by a man claiming to be her late husband's best friend from the army. Courtney inherited a lot of money, and this man Trey claims that he and Mike were going to start a ranch for at-risk youth. Since Mike never mentioned such a plan to Lauren or Courtney, Lauren is very suspicious. She thinks Trey wants to get at Courtney's money. The only thing she's heard from Courtney is that they are looking for property in Eagle Mountain, so that is where she goes.

I felt terrible for Lauren because it was evident that she is worried sick about Courtney and her niece, Ashlyn. When she arrives at Eagle Mountain, she goes right to the sheriff's office, where Deputy Shane Ellis takes her information. I could feel her frustration when he couldn't do anything for her because no crime had been committed. Courtney has briefly been in touch, and there's no indication of foul play. Shane does promise to check into Courtney's whereabouts and ask her to get in touch with Lauren.

Shane is a great guy. He's new to the department, having taken a job as a deputy after an injury ended his pro baseball career. He's still finding his feet as a deputy, which is made a little more difficult by people still seeing him as a baseball player. I liked that he took Lauren's fears seriously and offered to help during his downtime.

Neither Shane nor Lauren expected the sparks of attraction that flared between them. Lauren tries to resist, both because she wants to concentrate on finding Courtney and because she won't be staying in Eagle Mountain. She has her job as a nurse practitioner back in Denver and only took a couple of weeks to look for Courtney. Shane doesn't fight it nearly as hard. Everything about Lauren appeals to him, and he'd love to talk her into staying in Eagle Mountain. I loved how they worked together to find Courtney and discover the truth behind the ranch scheme. Shane is protective of Lauren and sometimes gets frustrated by her tendency to go off on her own searches. The more time they spent together, the closer they became, and there were some terrific scenes of their growing friendship and more. I loved watching Lauren fall more in love with the town as well as with Shane. I liked the ending. Though things weren't entirely resolved with Courtney, Lauren makes some decisions that allow her to pursue her feelings for Shane while staying close to her family.

The story's suspense was excellent and kept me turning the pages late into the night. Lauren's suspicions about Trey seemed logical, and her inability to reach Courtney emphasized her fears. Everything she and Shane discovered deepened her fear for her family's safety. The addition of the man named Tom to the group upped the intensity as everyone appeared to agree that he was an unsavory character. I had a bad feeling when Tom became involved with a local young woman with a reputation of liking bad boys. When Talia turned up dead, Tom was nowhere to be found. Because Tom and Talia were seen with Trey and Courtney, the sheriff's office became much more interested in finding Courtney. Information came from an unexpected source, but I was a little leery of believing everything said. The intensity ramped up when Lauren became a hostage. The final confrontation was a nail-biter, and I was glued to the pages until it was over.

While Talia's murder was resolved, there are still questions about Trey's intentions. Courtney's conversation with Lauren at the end helped relieve a tiny sliver of Lauren's fears. I can't wait to see what lies in store for Eagle Mountain, the proposed ranch, and Courtney. ( )