This book has a great story line...the only problem I had with this book is that the heroine and hero are stepbrother and sister and are in love with each other. The story focuses on Rowdy and Kelly. He was a marine and a well known bad boy. He happily shares the title with his cousins, Natches and Dawg, who are trained assasins for the military. Not only do they share this title, but thier women as well--sometimes at the same time. Rowdy is conflicted between keeping thier code of arms and keeping Kelly all to himself. Rowdy has also stepped up to be Kelly's protector from a rapist that almost got away with raping Kelly. The Rapist is obsessed and wishes nothing more than to finish what he started. He will have to get through these three Nauti boys first. ( )

Author: Lora Leigh
Series Connection: Nauti boys
ISBN: 0425214133
Genre: Contemporary Romance/Suspense/Erotic Romance
4 Hearts

Rowdy Mackay has waited a long time for Kelly Benton to grow up. He had always known he was going to claim her, but knew she was too young for what he wanted from her, so he enlisted in the Marines and bided his time. Now years later he's back to stake his claim, but is he too late?

Kelly has loved Rowdy since he saved her from a bunch of bullies in the playground when she was nine years old. She had been saving herself for him, until one tragic night everything went wrong. After a brutal attack, Kelly isn't the same girl that Rowdy left behind.

Since her attack Kelly has been hiding away, while the man who attacked her stalks her with phone calls and watches her every move. Rowdy won't sit back and wait for something to happen, he's a take-charge man, but can he keep Kelly safe from the insane man who wants to own her?

I've been anxiously awaiting Lora's new "Breed" series book and found that it wouldn't be out until August, so I decided it was time to check out one of her other series I hadn't read and came across this four book series. (I know they called it a trilogy originally, but I found a fourth book, "Nauti Intentions" was released in early April.) These books are similar to the August brother's series, but not as dark. As a matter of fact the MacKay cousins are related to the Augusts.

So far this is shaping out to be a good series, written in Lora's normal erotic style. The heroes are strong and possessive and the heroines are feisty and adventurous. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the series shapes up.

Description:
First in a trilogy that crosses the boundaries of erotic fiction-from the bestselling author of Megan's Mark.

Too weak to resist young Kelly Benton's attempts at seduction, Rowdy Mackay left home eight years ago. Duty as a U.S. Marine put a safe distance between temptation and the nubile Kentucky vixen. Now he's back home and ready to engage in the kind of erotic games that have earned him and his two cousins a Nauti-boy reputation in three counties.

Once it was Kelly's dream too-to feel the heat of the boy she desired. But an attack from a stalker still on the prowl has left Kelly terrified of a man's touch. Now as fear and desire converge, Rowdy fights to save her from the deadly threats of a stranger, to rid her of her demons, and to satisfy a hunger more powerful than either can imagine. ( )

This was my first Lora Leigh book and I will not be my last. This book is steamy and it so delivers. ( )

**Courtesy of CK2S Kwips & Kritiques**

There was one thing US Marine Rowdy Mackay could always count on when he returned home on leave, and that was that Kelly Salyers’ arms would always be ready to welcome him home, her eyes would twinkle at him, and that flirtatious smile she reserved for him would always be there. Now he’s out of the Marines, come home with the intent of finally claiming Kelly’s love, but the girl he has known all of his life is virtually unrecognizable to him. More than skittish, she is now downright frightened, hiding herself away behind frumpy clothes that nowhere resemble the sexy little ensembles she used to tease him with. Something has happened, something to change her drastically, and Rowdy is going to find out what.

Kelly has always loved Rowdy, since she was a little girl he protected from bullies at the playground. She knew he ran from her because she was too young for him, but she also knew that one day he’d come back for her. She’d saved herself for him for years, but the serial rapist that attacked her last year and continues to stalk her changed everything. Now she’s unsure of herself, everyone else, and even nervous around Rowdy, whom she has always trusted with her life.

But Rowdy and his cousins, known as The Nauti Boys, rally around Kelly, pooling their skills honed in the Marines to protect her from the stalker. Kelly doesn’t know what frightens her more – the stalker’s continued threats, or the knowledge of what Rowdy will do to him when he catches the rapist…

I first discovered author Lora Leigh’s work in April of 2006, and hungrily consumed every one of her books I could purchase since then. Although Nauti Boy, the first book in her Nauti Boys series, was previously published as an ebook, it had been pulled by then to be reworked and expanded for a print publication with a new publisher, Berkley. I have to say, I was disappointed at the time, but only because the blurb and excerpt for this book had me seriously hankering for it. I kept telling myself it would be worth the wait for an expanded story, and while the wait seemed interminable, it was definitely worth it!

Rowdy is everything I hoped for and more, strong, fierce in his love for Kelly, implacable when it comes to her protection… He is all Alpha Male, in the very best way possible, but his dominate personality is tempered with his concern for Kelly and his sensitivity towards her needs and fears. He reigns himself in to a degree, allowing her time to find her footing once again, but he forces her to face and conquer her fears, while drawing her stalker out for a final confrontation. Teamed with the other Nauti Boys, his cousins Dawg and Natches, they make a formidable group.

Although Kelly appears as a frightened bird with a broken wing in the beginning of the story, the author allows us glimpses of Kelly’s former strength and spirit, which have been squashed through her ordeal, but not completely destroyed. Watching her find herself once again, becoming the woman she was before the attack, is inspiring. The reader finds themself believing that overcoming such a brutal attack might be possible for anyone with the kind of support system Kelly has, especially the support of Rowdy. Because it is obvious, even with her mother, his father, and his cousins helping her, Kelly could not begin truly healing until Rowdy’s return home, until he makes it clear in no small way that the attack could never change his feelings for her. Rowdy promises not just physical safety, but emotional as well, and this allows her soul to begin healing.

The suspense plot with the serial rapist/stalker is every present throughout the story, and pushes the scenes along at a frenetic pace, although the story never feels rushed at all. Instead, the pace serves to sweep the reader up in the action alongside Kelly and Rowdy, and guarantees you won’t want to put Nauti Boy down until you’ve finished it!

Although Lora Leigh’s work with other publishers has always been great, fans can’t help but be excited by her releases with New York publishers, which have pushed her to new levels, increasing the action and suspense, while never diminishing the heated romances that Leigh is so well known for. It is easy to see why she made the NY Times Best Selling list with one of her recent releases, Dangerous Games, and I won’t be at all surprised to see this book make it there as well!

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