Review: Stolen Heat

Stolen Heat
Elisbeth Naughton
Romantic Suspense
Stolen Trilogy/Book 2
Love Spell/August 2009
Purchased

From the author's website ~

His past tore them apart. Her lies thrust them back together. Now a killer’s out for revenge, but the biggest threat for both may just be the heat they thought they’d already lost…

Antiquities dealer Peter Kauffman walked a fine line between clean and corrupt for years. And then he met the woman who changed his life—Egyptologist Katherine Meyer. Their love affair burned white-hot in Egypt, until the day Pete’s lies and half-truths caught up with him. After that, their relationship imploded, Kat walked out, and before Pete could find her to make things right, he heard she’d died in a car bomb.

Six years later, the woman Pete thought he’d lost for good is suddenly back. The lies this time aren’t just his, though. The only way he and Kat will find the truth and evade a killer out for revenge is to work together—as long as they don’t find themselves burned by the heat each thought was stolen long ago…

After reading and enjoying Ms. Naughton's first book, Stolen Fury, I picked up the second book in the trilogy and dove in. The story starts out with a hero who has reformed his shady business dealings and the heroine is dead. Okay, she's not really dead but everyone, including Peter Kauffman, thinks she is. Imagine his shock when he sees her at an art auction. After Kat comes back into Peter's world, his life becomes an adventure he couldn't have imagined.

Peter Kauffman is the business partner of Rafe Sullivan, the hero of the first book. Peter runs an art gallery and acquires objects for the gallery and it's customers. Over six years ago he met Kat Meyer when she was working on a dig in Egypt. Peter's initial reason for getting to know Kat may not have been honest but once he got to know her, he fell hard for her. Then the unthinkable happened and Peter is left without the woman he fell in love with. He moves on but never has the feelings he had for Kat with any other woman.

Kat Meyer is one hell of a survivor. She's had to learn how to become a different person, to blend in with her surroundings and learn to disappear when needed. She's spent the past 6 years staying out of sight while keeping an eye on Peter and his collection of artifacts. When she faces Peter after all these years it's with sadness and regret. She does help him and shows that her feelings haven't changed. Just the circumstances they find themselves in. Kat is still in love with him but doesn't think there is any chance they can be together.

There are flashback scenes that show how Peter and Kat meet and fall for each other before everything fell apart. I'm not a big fan of flashbacks but I didn't mind these. It lent to the character development and explained the series of events that led to Kat taking such drastic steps nearly six years ago. It also showed a more innocent and trusting Kat. She's darker now, more experienced with the evil in the world. I did like Kat. I liked her ability to use her intelligence and not panic when things don't go as planned. She's very good at thinking on her feet.

Peter is not my favorite hero of the trilogy. It's not that he isn't likable, but he did come across as more closed off and less forgiving towards Kat. I didn't like that he had loved this woman but had so much mistrust for her. He would rather believe the worst of her than give her the benefit of doubt concerning what she did six years ago. It's not that Kat's been perfect but she did have very valid reasons for what she did.

Stolen Heat is a fairly fast paced read with lots of intrigue. The killer that's after Peter and Kat is interesting and kept the action part of the plot moving. And I really liked seeing Hailey Roarke again. She's the ex-wife of Rafe and friends with Peter. She's also the heroine of the third book and IMO the most interesting of the group. Book three, Stolen Seduction, is Hailey Roarke and Shane Maxwell's story.

Rating: B