I enjoyed the suspense of this book and the opening moves of the romance between Gavin and Jacqui. Jacqui is a wildlife biologist who gets an anonymous phone call saying that the wild mustang herd in Blue Larkspur is in trouble. Though she should pass that information on to the coworker who covers that area, she is reluctant to do so before checking it out herself. Especially since that coworker, who is also her ex-boyfriend, just screwed her over with their boss. When she finds the herd, she sees indications that her tipster is correct. Unfortunately, someone runs her off the road on her way back to town.

Gavin is a true crime podcaster who plans to do a series on his father's crimes and has returned home to Blue Larkspur to prepare for it. His eleven siblings are unhappy with his plans, not just because of the memories it will stir up. They have one family enemy they are trying to get back in prison after he was mistakenly released, and Gavin's plans could make that more difficult. If he can't do the series he wants to do, he needs to find something to take its place.

Gavin spots Jacqui on the side of the road and rescues her. She has quite the fan-girl moment when she recognizes Gavin, which makes him feel good. She tells him about what she found, and after thinking about it overnight, he realizes it could be his next story. The two agree to work together to find out the truth about the threat to the mustangs. I enjoyed seeing them get to know each other. I liked how easily they could talk to each other and share things they don't usually discuss. Gavin has family issues from an incident when he was a child and often feels out of place with his siblings. I liked how Jacqui listened to him and subtly encouraged him to look at things differently, resulting in some mending of fences and the likelihood of more.

At the same time, Jacqui is drawn to men who appear to need fixing in some way. Previous relationships have left her feeling used, unappreciated, and reluctant to risk her heart again. She's wondering if Gavin falls into that category. I liked how she supported him at the family gathering. I loved how the Colton clan pulled her into their circle and her enjoyment of being part of it. I liked how Gavin and Jacqui grew closer by the end of the book wanting to see more of each other. Since the entire book takes place over one weekend, I was glad to see no premature declarations of love, just an interest in seeing where their relationship might go. There was a revelation that caught me by surprise, as I wouldn't have guessed it, and it didn't appear to be an issue with them.

The suspense of the story was good and kept my interest. I wanted to see how it would turn out. That's not to say I didn't have a few raised eyebrow moments. First of all, the first bad guy, Henry Rollins, was stupid. Instead of leaving an anonymous tip directly with the police about the upcoming theft of the horses, he called Jacqui, expecting her to call the cops. Instead, she checked it out herself first. It made some sense that Jacqui would want to be sure it was true before doing anything about it.

I enjoyed seeing Jacqui and Gavin use logic to identify the tipster, though their surveillance plans could have been better thought out. The fire scene was intense, and they were lucky it wasn't worse. The tension ramped up when Jacqui's hotel room was broken into, and the police chief's disapproval hit home. The final confrontation was a nail-biter when Gavin and Jacqui were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I liked the reality that they didn't escape unscathed, though it did have a satisfactory resolution. ( )