The Cowboy, by Jayne Ann Krentz

Book # 3 is The Cowboy, was probably my favourite of the trilogy. It's a B+, like # 2, but I liked it slightly better.

Romance writer Margaret Lark was just getting her life together when Rafe Cassidy, a man from her past, shows up lounging in her house as if he belonged there. He had come back to convince her that he wanted her back and to tell her that his mother and her father were going to get married. Not believing this, she decides to take him up on his offer of going down to his Arizona Ranch. Will history repeat itself when an old boss asks her for a favor, or will she find happiness with her cowboy?

This book started with something I hate: the heroine being manipulated by everyone and his mother to do something she didn't want to do, because they all just knew it was the right thing for her. (There's a thread in AAR's Potpourri Message Board which explains exactly what bothers me about this and does so much more articulately than I could possibly write it. Here's a link to the actual post, at least as long as it's there on the board). I kept wishing she'd tell them all to go to hell, and that Rafe would be forced to try a different way to get Margaret to give him a second chance.

Why did I enjoy this, then? Well, for the most part, it was a guilty pleasure kind of thing, but Rafe did get better. After he'd manipulated into coming to his ranch, he did deign to apologize for what he'd done and ask her reasonably to give their relationship a real second chance. I might be too vengeful, but I usually find heroines forgive heros too soon, and don't make them grovel enough, but it felt just right here.

A little nit to pick: I simply hated the cowboy-wear. Those cowboy boots, with strange decorations... I'd probably find them a real turn-off in real life.