In this novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts, diamonds can be a girl’s best friend…or her worst enemy.
Someone had set them both up. Now, handcuffed together, bounty hunter Jack Dakota and bail jumper M. J. O’Leary were on the run from a pair of hired killers. And M. J. wasn’t talking―not even when Jack found a gigantic blue diamond hidden in her purse. Everything told Jack the sexy skip he’d been hired to recover couldn’t be trusted…everything, that is, but his heart.
In this fast-paced second book of Nora Roberts’s Stars of Mithras series, bounty hunter Jack Dakota figures he’s in for an easy assignment when he accepts a job tracking beautiful bail-jumper M.J. O’Leary. His plan is simple: find her, push his way into her apartment, explain the situation, and bring her in.
When M.J., a fifth-degree black belt, misinterprets his intentions and attacks him, Jack is forced to reevaluate his assumptions. Jack and M.J. discover they’ve both been set up. M.J. is no bail-jumper, and whoever put Jack on her trail knows it.
Before they can figure out what’s happening, a goon with a gun–and every intention of shooting M.J.–interrupts their discussion. They join forces to fight him off and escape, but much to the tough-minded M.J.’s annoyance, Jack takes charge of the situation and she finds herself handcuffed to the door handle of his beat-up, souped-up Oldsmobile.
Jack has no intention of letting M.J. go until he gets to the bottom of things. The men on her trail are professionals, and if she’s not directly involved in something illegal, she is involved in something that’s likely to get her killed. The cynical bounty hunter is no knight in shining armor, but he finds himself in the uncomfortable position of protecting her; whatever is happening, M.J. isn’t talking about it.
Searching her belongings, Jack discovers a magnificent blue diamond. M.J. is forced to explain that a friend in trouble sent her the stone for safekeeping. The diamond is one of a priceless trio known as the Stars of Mithras, which her friend was appraising for the Smithsonian. But someone else knows M.J. has it–someone who will stop at nothing to obtain it.
Soon Jack and M.J. are on the run, forced to work together to stay alive in an ever-tightening web of danger and conspiracy complicated by an attraction neither can deny.
Great series I read this book a while back and had a little trouble finding it again because I couldn’t remember the titles but I finally did and I am glad! I normally don’t like smutty romance novels, but these books are perfect. There is the perfect amount of romance, suspense, and character development for me to be happy. I enjoyed both the mysticism and realism in this series. Each book does well as a stand alone but you really need all three to get the full arc.
Better than the 1st in the series Of the three books in The Stars of Mithra series, this is the best as the action is faster, and the characters are more interesting. M.J. and Jack are rough at the edges, smart-assy and interesting. Although all 3 women turn out to have unexpected strengths, M.J. is the strong and independent woman one encounters in so many Nora Roberts novels. The story line draws the reader in quicker and the action keeps the story moving well.Â
Reading an author backwards can be fun! Nora Roberts continues to evolve as a great story teller. This trilogy is a great story, and somehow I missed it when it was published. What I noticed about her storytelling is that she has slowed the pace of relationships and created more delightful back stories to define her characters.Â