Total Exposure by Tori Carrington, Harlequin, Code Red, November 2004

Total Exposure is the eighth installment of Harlequin's Code Red series and focused on Fire Chief Dan Egan and burn specialist Dr. Natalie Giroux. Like all of the characters we've met thus far in this series, both are heroic and courageous in their own right. The couple find themselves stranded on an island off the coast of Courage Bay during a storm, making rescue until the storm has cleared impossible.

Dr. Natalie Giroux put her career about everything else. When she finally decided to settle down and marry, her fiance died shortly before their wedding day. As she gets to know Dan in the close quarters they're in, Natalie finds that being alone isn't as acceptable to her as she once thought. She is a strong heroine, unwilling to back down when Dan refuses to let her see the wound he has.

Dan Egan is Courage Bay's fire chief and a widower with a college-aged daughter. He loved his wife and two years later still wears his wedding band. He is a courageous man who is getting up there in age and feels his life isn't what it once was because he is now more of a pencil pusher. He comes to realize while on the island with Natalie that he can still love his late wife and move on, living again.

I enjoyed this couple. It's always reading about couples that are more mature, deeper into their lives than the beautiful twenty-something's normally written about. The chemistry between them was clear from the beginning. Total Exposure is an enjoyable read and a worthy addition to the Code Red series.

©Susan Falk and phantomroses.com