WILD AT HEART

When hard-nosed police officer Alex DeMarco is arrested for the murder of a wealthy and sexually voracious woman, the closest thing to an eyewitness is PI Valerie Parker, who was paid by the dead woman's husband to follow her. Alex is innocent, but will Valerie hold against him the fact that he had her dismissed from the police academy five years earlier, the day after they spent a passionate night together? After someone takes a long-range rifle shot at Valerie, she begins to believe in Alex's innocence, but a reckless act on her part forces them on the road in search of evidence to clear his name. Once Valerie and Alex begin working in concert, the pace picks up and the chemistry between them combusts. Although some of the details concerning Val and Alex's experiences growing up are clichéd—he was abused by his father and she was sexually abused by her stepfather—they work through their issues in a mature manner and forge a stronger emotional bond in the process. Members of Alex's eccentric family, introduced in Graves's previous book (I Got You, Babe), make an appearance, which will please fans, and a red herring helps maintain the "whodunit" tension. Despite a few abbreviated sex scenes, which tease rather than titillate, this is an intoxicating (if far-fetched) tale. (Oct.)