In Safe Keeping

Sue raises the stakes from the very first scene of her over-the-top but enjoyable second Heroes and Babies contemporary (after In Safe Hands). Owen Michaels was drugged and held captive for years by crime boss Damien. Damien murdered Owen’s best friend, Mary, and thought it would be a good joke to make Owen raise Mary’s infant daughter, Mia. At the first opportunity, Owen took the baby and ran, pursued by thugs while the cops failed to protect him. Firefighter Lucas Attiker has spent three years lamenting his inability to rescue his own son from a fire. His guilt is assuaged somewhat by saving Mia and Owen from a raging Colorado forest fire, but then Owen flees the ER with Mia and ends up in Lucas’s spare room. Lucas offers help, protection, and the kind of love that Owen has always wanted. But before they can forge a family, Lucas and Owen must outrun the killers on their trail and overcome the guilt they both carry. Readers willing to overlook some melodrama and the absence of positively portrayed women will find earnest heroes and a romance that is refreshingly honest in its exploration of love and desire after grief. (Sept.)