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Summary: When passion heats to an inferno
Review: Infidelity and poison words tore them apart when they were little more than children. On the surface Johnna Delaney and Jerrod McCain were direct opposites. She was the daughter of rich and influential rancher; he was the son of drunk living in a trailer on the wrong side of town. Yet every night while her father sleep, Johnna waited for Jerrod at the end of her drive, and would slip into the night for heated lovemaking and long talks of the future. Then something went horribly, tragically wrong, and he left town nine longs years ago. When Jerrod approaches Johnna to ask her to defend Erin McCall, she refuses. Too bad she's the only defense attorney in Inferno, Arizona. Jerrod's night with Erin nine years destroyed her heart, and Johnna's not ready to resurrect the past. Erin had made it out of the same trailer park where Jerrod lived by marrying one of the most affluent businessmen in town. Everyone in town knew Richard beat Erin regularly, so no one was surprised when her report came that he was dead. His skull beaten in, Erin claims someone else did while she lay unconscious from yet another beating. Despite her best intentions, Johnna can't let an innocent woman be convicted of murder, and takes the case. Danger quickly escalates from both her professional and her personal life. Someone doesn't want her investigating the past and leaves threatening notes on her car. The threats prove real when someone breaks into her house while she's there. Tenacious and undaunted, Johnna refuses to back away from the case. She does try to back away from Jerrod, but he won't let her. He buys the house across the street and begins his new position as a church minister. Despite Johnna's determination to keep the door to the past closed, old feelings reawaken. But there are things said and things unsaid that must be confronted if they hope to have a future. That is, if she survives this case. Author Carla Cassidy demonstrates the overwhelming power of words in ONCE FORBIDDEN... Johnna's father had once forbidden her to see Jerrod, making him all that more attractive. It was the sharing of their pain, so similar despite their disparate backgrounds that brought them together. And it was the words spoken and the silences maintained that tore them apart. Johnna carries the deep-seated wounds inflicted by an emotionally abuse father whose words cut to the quick. Jerrod carries the wounds of a neglectful father still mourning the past at the expense of his only son. Yet second chances allow them to discover the true power of words in a passionate, fast paced tale of danger and healing. Very highly recommended.
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