I'm slowly picking up Eileen Wilks's backlist. Her new books I buy as soon as they're released. Check out her website, by the way (click on her name above)--I love how you can navigate through her bookshelf chronologically. And I got a nice little zing when I noticed that some of her favorite books are mine as well.

Charlotte Masters is the character described in the title. She'd been Rafe Connolly's father's assistant and had begun a relationship with Rafe, but then a computer tech she'd urged them to hire sabotaged the company computers, an attempt was made on her life, and then she disappeared.

Rafe's found her, and if he can find her, whoever wants her dead can, too. So despite her misgivings, Charlotte accepts Rafe's offer of security, but draws the line at the marriage he's also offering.

Expecting...and in Danger is a nice little gem of a book, at only 177 pages, but Charlotte and Rafe working out their feelings for each other--does he want her or their child?--does she want him or safety?--with the backdrop of hired killers out to get her and with both of them trying to figure out the reason for the initial sabotage makes for a wonderfully intense romance. They both have secrets and have some soul-searching to do--not an easy thing when your life is in danger, but it all works. Everything fits together, with developments in one plot thread affecting another.

These characters are realistic and have very human and believable emotions. It's not the usual back-and-forth or the big misunderstanding that stands between them, but honest problems. Rafe's bewildered and betrayed; Charlotte's between a rock and a hard place; they want each other, but they want to be sure it's for the right reasons on both sides.

The only drawback is that this is a later book in one of those continuity series--ones written by a variety of different authors--and of necessity there's some backstory here to catch readers up on what happened in the previous books. In general, it fit in the story, and I never felt lost, but it was noticeable. If I happen to find the other books in the series, it might be fun to read them, but I'm not going to search them out.... unlike other books by Eileen Wilks. I may try a little harder now to find the rest of her backlist. ( )