Tycoon Takedown

Cardello’s listless second Lone Star Burn title (after Taken, Not Spurred) misses its mark. When sophisticated New York investment tycoon Charles Dery visits his sister at a Texas horse ranch, an inexplicable attraction ignites between him and Melanie Hanna, a cleaning woman and cook. Devoted mom Melanie heads to New York to find Todd, the father of her son, and tell him he has a child, but she runs into Charles, the last man she wants to see. The emotionally scarred leads keep bumping into one another, passionately falling into bed and then just as quickly fumbling the next steps. As they wrestle with their past demons, they slowly grow closer, despite Melanie’s rigid insistence on Charles earning her young son’s approval before she can open her heart, and Charles’s deep fear of letting them both down. A bland, formulaic style and overly simple word choices keep this read flatly anchored to earth, burdened by forgettable characters and a thin plot. Agent: Dan Mandel, Greenburger Associates. (Mar.)