Dying To Please by Linda Howard

Loyal. Beautiful. Professional. Impeccably organized. Potentially lethal. Sarah Stevens is a woman with many distinctive qualities. First and foremost a butler par excellence, skilled at running large households smoothly and efficiently. She is also trained bodyguard and expert marksman--indispensable to her elderly employer whom Sarah has come to respect and love. Then one night she thwarts an attempted burglary, a courageous act that awards Sarah her "fifteen minutes of fame" with the local press. But the exposure is enough to catch the attention of a tortured soul, who unbeknownst to Sarah, will stop at nothing to have her for himself...


It really is hard to find LH books that are not keepers. I thought that this was one the first time I saw it. I doubted for one moment if whether I'd get it or not because there was no mention of a hero in the synopsis. But I just had to get it because it was one of the very few LH titles (keepers or not) that I don't have yet.

And oh boy, did I make the right choice or what.

I don't think but declare Thompson Cahill as one of LH's sexiest heroes ever. Hot diggity damn! I'm nearly speechless about this guy only that he's so freakin' hot and absolutely sexy. And I love the way LH makes her heroines extra special. And Sarah Stevens is no different--love her to bits. Cahill plus Sarah equals one explosive chemistry that never waned through the entire story.

Needless to say, this was another one-sitter. Also because the story was fast-paced and there were no gaps in between so turning the pages was not an effort.

Some might hate Cahill for suspecting Sarah of murder, even for a millisecond. But he was a cop and he only did the right thing by getting himself out of the investigation and let the others do the work. On the other hand, I might have hated him if he let Sarah off the hook just because he was sleeping with her even if some evidence pointed at her. He would've come out a horny loser who didn't know how to do his job right. But the best thing about him was that he knew he was wrong to even suspect her of murder. Insensitive clods wouldn't have and wouldn't have cared that they'd hurt someone. And despite that, he was already thinking of ways to apologize--go down on his knees and grovel for her to take him back.

I'll stop salivating now. Lemme just say that if you want chemistry leaping right out of the pages, this is your book.

And who'd have thought strip wrestling can be sooo much fun?

Final verdict: 8.5/10. Awesome read and a must-have.