Ruthie Knox
Along Came Trouble
Loveswept / March 11, 2013 / $2.99 digital
An accomplished lawyer and driven single mother, Ellen Callahan isn’t looking for any help. She’s doing just fine on her own. So Ellen’s more than a little peeved when her brother, an international pop star, hires a security guard to protect her from a prying press that will stop at nothing to dig up dirt on him. But when the tanned and toned Caleb Clark shows up at her door, Ellen might just have to plead the fifth.Back home after a deployment in Iraq and looking for work as a civilian, Caleb signs on as Ellen’s bodyguard. After combat in the hot desert sun, this job should be a breeze. But guarding the willful beauty is harder than he imagined—and Caleb can’t resist the temptation to mix business with pleasure. With their desires growing more undeniable by the day, Ellen and Caleb give in to an evening of steamy passion. But will they ever be able to share more than just a one-night stand?
In Ruthie Knox's Along Came Trouble, if Ellen Callahan were asked which part of her mattered most in the wider scheme of things, undoubtedly she would say, “I am Henry’s mother.” Callahan is still recovering from an unfortunate marriage. Her professor husband did nothing to bolster her self-esteem and the final straw was his infidelity with a co-ed. It’s hard to cut the ties with an alcoholic ex when his mother babysits her grandson and the professor is a man-about-town in the small university burg of Camelot.
So Ellen Callahan has every reason to be wary of attention from an attractive man—she has worked hard to provide a stable, secure life for herself and her son and to call her organized is to very much minimize how much comfort she gains from controlling her LEGO-rich environment.
Caleb Clark is no ordinary security guard. He rose through the ranks in Iraq, and is therefore accustomed to managing soldiers. Bred into his bone is the prime directive, save lives and keep those for whom you’re responsible safe. Caleb resigned from the army because he felt he was needed at home. His father is recovering from a stroke and it’s time to settle down. Providing home town security for the extended family of a high-profile star like Callahan’s brother is an incredible opportunity for Clark, and he does not intend to be run off his mission because Callahan can, in her opinion, take care of herself, thank you very much.
Caleb Clark knows that paparazzi are not a trivial threat and he steps up to convince Ellen Callahan that she needs his help. Even though Ellen believes that “powerlessness was for suckers” and enjoyed dunking tea over the head of a pap she dubs Weasel Face, it hasn’t had the desired effect. It takes Caleb Clark to run the photographer off Ellen’s property AND grab his memory card.
Here’s where the fun begins. Caleb thinks Ellen is attractive, sexy, appealing and yes, he wants to get to know her better. He tussles with the ethics of having a relationship with someone he has met through the job, but he convinces himself that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with pursuing her. Ellen’s doubts are more of the “Can I ever trust a man again; I’m so busy being a mother/lawyer/sister/friend; How could I possibly find time for myself?” Of the two of them, she’s the harder nut to crack, even though she realizes Caleb is a “disarmingly attractive specimen.”
Knox has unerring ability to pick the perfect words to make her characters come alive. Ellen has her guard up, way up—but her innate self-honesty has her admitting to herself that Caleb has “disarmed her.” That little play on words is just one example of Knox's deft touch.
Caleb realizes Ellen needs to control what they do together, from a kiss to making love to spending time together, but he fights hard for what he wants too. Who would think negotiating would have so many sexy overtones? Part of Ellen is tempted to have a fast fling with a delectable man-treat, because, as she so devastatingly puts it, “Day in and day out, she walked around with all the sexual power of a Twinkie, but here she was somehow making his eyes go all louche and predatory, and it gave her such a heady rush. She imagined herself in dominatrix boots and black leather, tying him to her bedposts. Unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the solid, beautiful body beneath.”
But Ellen the single-mother, Ellen the crusading lawyer, Ellen the grown-up woman, knows that “the last thing she needed was to be the wind beneath another man’s wings” and she is not going to allow her libido to lead her around by the nose. Nope, she wants Caleb in her bed, but she wants it quick and dirty—the female equivalent of slam bam, thank you, ma’am. Although Caleb is not averse to slam and bam, he’s looking for some long-term wham too. Feel the temperature rise when Caleb murmurs, “Mmm-hmm. We have something in common.”
Neither one gives in easily, but when your mutual goal is fantabulous sexy times, the agreed upon contract sizzles:
One more time, he ticked off each item on his fingers. “Lots of sex. Sleepovers allowed, but only when Henry’s not home. Dates to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis, but not this weekend, and not if they interfere with your work.”
She interrupted him. “And both parties to agree they’re meaningless.”
He shook his head. “I’m not agreeing to the meaninglessness of anything, Ellen. You think what you want. I’ll think what I want.”
And they’re off to the “we shall see about that” sexual, emotional, and meaningful (sorry, you had to know that) races. As an aside, what a world Knox is building in Camelot, but the previous novella and the stories to come never overshadow the couple that is crafting their relationship right before our eyes.
Learn more about or pre-order a copy of Ruthie Knox's e-book Along Came Trouble (out March 11):
