One Summer by Karen Robards (Dell, 1993) We’ve had a couple of posts on motorcycles and whether a hero who rides one should automatically be labeled a bad boy. There’s no question that Johnny Harris is a bad boy, and the fact that he rides a motorcycle is actually just icing on the cake.

STATS:

Johnny has been in prison for ten years for a murder he didn’t commit. When he returns to the scene of the crime-his home town-the only person willing to give him a chance is his former English teacher, Rachel Grant, whom he’d always had “the hots” for.

THE LOOK:

Scuffed cowboy boots, beat up jeans, and a white t-shirt. Wide shoulders. “The sullenly handsome boy she remembered was still sullen, still handsome, but no longer a boy. He had matured into a dangerous-looking man.”

LEADING LADY:

Rachel Grant is a well-respected woman who takes on the disdain of the town by giving Johnny both a job and a place to stay-the apartment over her store. She believes in his innocence and remembers him as one of her “success stories” as a teacher. She’s loyal, making sure that her ailing father is taken care of, and hates injustice, which she proves when she drags Johnny back to a restaurant that refused to serve him.

The Bad Boy With A Heart:

There are several instances when Johnny Harris shows he has a heart. One of the most dramatic is when he goes to see his abusive father and sees a dog. At first glance, all he saw was a “mangy cur like all the other mangy curs, a little bigger than most. Underfed, bred for meanness, probably dangerous.” But then Johnny realizes the dog is his beloved pet, Wolf, the one he missed so much while in prison. He’s so overwhelmed to see him that he weeps.

The first time he’s able to get really close to Rachel is when they’re out for the night (separately) and he teaches her that she can enjoy dancing. “He shimmied with her, turned her, dipped her back and pulled her up into his arms. All the while the friction of his leg moving between hers stole away the last vestiges of her good sense.” He ends the dance with one statement-”You can run, teacher, but you can’t hide.”

Finally, Johnny telegraphs his love for Rachel loud and clear when he recites a poem by Robert Burns, one he memorized long ago because it had been her favorite.

BOTTOM LINE:

This book has great suspense, great passion, and a message of tolerance, forgiveness, and bucking the odds. Johnny is the younger bad boy coming back to claim the slightly older woman he’s always loved, and the reader cheers when he finally gets Rachel on his bike with the promise that she’ll “love it.”

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Have you ever dated a younger man? What is the maximum age difference that you would be comfortable with and why?

Good Girl Gone Bad by Karin Tabke (Pocket, 2006)

Karin Tabke is known for her hot cops, and Ty Jamerson fits the bill. He’s old school, tough talking, and vitally sexual, but, as the heroine in this book recognizes, he’s also a paradox. “Hard, boorish, and moody, yet he burned with a passion for his job…While he did wrong, skirting the law and sometimes stepping over the boundaries, he did it with the sole intention of getting the bad guy.”

STATS:

A police sergeant and undercover narcotics officer with a documented, but unproven history of police brutality, Ty can barely control himself from strangling the tough IA cop who tries to crucify him for just doing his job. Instead, he gets in her face, grinning wickedly, taunting her with the brush of his body and sexual innuendos.

THE LOOK:

6′3″, long dark hair, short goatee, muscles that strained beneath his black t-shirt. “This man was dangerous. Dangerous in an exciting blood-racing way.”

LEADING LADY:

Three years after she interviewed Ty for IA, Philamina Zorn must now work alongside Ty. Her job? An undercover cop who will pose as a cocktail waitress in a strip joint, Klub Kashmir. His job? The bouncer. Her supervisor. And her tormentor. From the start, she realizes that Ty makes her react rather than respond in her normally cautious way.

Word to live by:

As Ty tells Phil, “do what you have to do to get the job done.”

Not for the faint of heart:

Ty’s a man’s man, a hot cop who swears and catalogs Phil’s charms in the crudest of terms. Even though he labels her in the “no play zone,” and regards her as the enemy, Ty slowly begins to appreciate not only his bone-deep attraction to her (”He wanted to suck those full lips right off her face.”) but also her toughness (”She had balls and he was glad”), smarts, and heart. Most importantly, Ty sees the “bad girl” in Phil and he’s determined to help free her.

Tempered by humor:

Ty’s got a wicked sense of humor, in particular when he’s sparring with Phil. He taunts her with “disciplinary methods” including spanking her fanny and tormenting her with his tongue. And when he admits he’s a bad, bad, man, all Phil wants to do is tame him. He offers to be her “test dummy,” and challenges her to do what she has to do.

BOTTOM LINE:

Of course Phil strips, and of course Ty watches her. He does way more than watch. They spar and they fight their feeling for each other, all while trying to solve a crime and keeping their hearts safe. But it’s apparent from the beginning that this strong, tough-talking, street-wise hero is going to be brought down a peg by the heroine, and that he’s going to enjoy every minute of it!

QUESTION OF THE DAY?

Do you like reading about cops who may do “wrong” in order to do good?