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Conard County #6
Point of No Return
BURIED SECRETS
What should have been a tranquil winter became a waking nightmare for Sheriff Nathan Tate. Hidden caches of chemicals threatened Conard County with disaster. And a different buried secret threatened the love he'd thought could withstand anything...
Marge Tate had lived in fear that the past would return to haunt her. She had always known that her proud and honorable husband wouldn't see her long-ago mistake as anything other than betrayal. But however angry he was, could he really turn away from the love they had shared for so long?
What should have been a tranquil winter became a waking nightmare for Sheriff Nathan Tate. Hidden caches of chemicals threatened Conard County with disaster. And a different buried secret threatened the love he'd thought could withstand anything...
Marge Tate had lived in fear that the past would return to haunt her. She had always known that her proud and honorable husband wouldn't see her long-ago mistake as anything other than betrayal. But however angry he was, could he really turn away from the love they had shared for so long?
249 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Rachel Lee
372 books141 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Rachel Lee is a New York Times best-selling author and the winner of Six Romantic Times magazine Reviewers' Choice Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a five-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America's RITA® Award. She has penned a wide variety of novels in several genres including fantasy, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy. She resides in Tampa, Florida.
Rachel Lee is a New York Times best-selling author and the winner of Six Romantic Times magazine Reviewers' Choice Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a five-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America's RITA® Award. She has penned a wide variety of novels in several genres including fantasy, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy. She resides in Tampa, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 15, 2018
I didn't think I would like this as much as I did because:
Set in a rural, western small town - Author's world of a Wyoming Country
Law Enforcement hero - He's the sheriff of said county
Intrigue sub plot - A train derailment leads to the discovery of hazardous waste being dumped on ranches around the county. Sheriff's band of merry men have to solve it.
Older H/h H/h are in their late 40's and have been married almost 25 years. They have six (6) daughters. Three are still living at home
Part of a series Minor characters/places, etc. . . are introduced without much explanation
However this was an excellent marriage in trouble story , which I love. And boy is this marriage in trouble.
The blurb and the comments gave me no clue of what caused this marriage to flounder after so many years - just that it was the heroine's fault. You find out within the first two pages of the story, but I'll warn you that this review will contain spoilers for that betrayal in the next paragraph.
Backstory:
H/h were high school sweethearts. The heroine's father disapproved of the H, so they used to sneak around. When the hero went off to Vietnam as a member of Special Forces, the heroine finally had sex with him and found herself pregnant at 17. She wrote to him, but he never answered. He was declared missing and presumed dead during her pregnancy. His mother moved out of town. The heroine's father tried to pressure her to abort the pregnancy, but she insisted on going through with it. They sent her to an aunt in Colorado and gave the boy up for adoption. No one in their small Wyoming town ever knew she was pregnant.
When the hero is found alive and finally returns, the heroine's father told her to not tell him about the adoption (turns out he intercepted all of the heroine's letters to the hero in attempt to break them up). He didn't want to look bad, plus the adoption was closed and they would never find their son again. Hero was pretty messed up when he got back from Vietnam, so heroine kept her counsel.
The story opens when the 27 year-old Navy Seal secret baby finds his birth mother after hiring a private investigator. Heroine knows him right away because he looks like his father. Navy Seal has to go out on a mission and doesn't want to know his father until he returns. He asks her to keep the secret for 4 more months - as sort of a test? That's not really clear.
Anyhow, he shows up the week before Christmas and . . . it does not go well. The hero feels betrayed by the heroine. That their entire marriage is a lie. That he really never knew his wife if she could keep something like this from him. He walks out the day after Christmas and that's where the story really ramps up the angst.
The heroine is devastated, but we don't get that much of her point of view. It's the hero's hurt, rage, and guilt that moves the story along as he makes a bad situation ten times worse.
He gets a lot of push back - from his "lady lawyer" who warns him about filing for divorce and letting the courts take control of some of the most sacred parts of his life - his children, his home, his income, his future.
From his youngest daughter who feels abandoned by him and doesn't understand his rage when she feels like she's gained a big brother, so what's the problem.
From his colleagues who put up with his bad mood.
From his son who decides to spend his Navy Seal leave hanging around with the guys at the sheriff's department and getting to know his family. (His adoptive parents are dead)
I was on team heroine the whole time (except when she went out to dinner with the new guy in town - it just made the hero more enraged), but the author did a great job with the hero's feelings and how he finally, finally worked through them. This was not a facile, easy ending. And I'm glad the heroine wasn't a complete doormat - she had guilt - but she also had some objectivity since this was a mistake made at 17 and she knew what an uncompromising man her husband was.
I believed that the H/h would move forward by the end of the story - they both had a lot to lose and everything to gain. This is for angst junkies and those with a high tolerance for angry and hurt heroes.
A friend of mine actually had this happen in her husband's family. Her mother-in-law had a baby at 15 (!) and her sixty-year old secret baby just turned up a few years ago. Her husband was a lot more understanding, though. :)
Set in a rural, western small town - Author's world of a Wyoming Country
Law Enforcement hero - He's the sheriff of said county
Intrigue sub plot - A train derailment leads to the discovery of hazardous waste being dumped on ranches around the county. Sheriff's band of merry men have to solve it.
Older H/h H/h are in their late 40's and have been married almost 25 years. They have six (6) daughters. Three are still living at home
Part of a series Minor characters/places, etc. . . are introduced without much explanation
However this was an excellent marriage in trouble story , which I love. And boy is this marriage in trouble.
The blurb and the comments gave me no clue of what caused this marriage to flounder after so many years - just that it was the heroine's fault. You find out within the first two pages of the story, but I'll warn you that this review will contain spoilers for that betrayal in the next paragraph.
Backstory:
H/h were high school sweethearts. The heroine's father disapproved of the H, so they used to sneak around. When the hero went off to Vietnam as a member of Special Forces, the heroine finally had sex with him and found herself pregnant at 17. She wrote to him, but he never answered. He was declared missing and presumed dead during her pregnancy. His mother moved out of town. The heroine's father tried to pressure her to abort the pregnancy, but she insisted on going through with it. They sent her to an aunt in Colorado and gave the boy up for adoption. No one in their small Wyoming town ever knew she was pregnant.
When the hero is found alive and finally returns, the heroine's father told her to not tell him about the adoption (turns out he intercepted all of the heroine's letters to the hero in attempt to break them up). He didn't want to look bad, plus the adoption was closed and they would never find their son again. Hero was pretty messed up when he got back from Vietnam, so heroine kept her counsel.
The story opens when the 27 year-old Navy Seal secret baby finds his birth mother after hiring a private investigator. Heroine knows him right away because he looks like his father. Navy Seal has to go out on a mission and doesn't want to know his father until he returns. He asks her to keep the secret for 4 more months - as sort of a test? That's not really clear.
Anyhow, he shows up the week before Christmas and . . . it does not go well. The hero feels betrayed by the heroine. That their entire marriage is a lie. That he really never knew his wife if she could keep something like this from him. He walks out the day after Christmas and that's where the story really ramps up the angst.
The heroine is devastated, but we don't get that much of her point of view. It's the hero's hurt, rage, and guilt that moves the story along as he makes a bad situation ten times worse.
He gets a lot of push back - from his "lady lawyer" who warns him about filing for divorce and letting the courts take control of some of the most sacred parts of his life - his children, his home, his income, his future.
From his youngest daughter who feels abandoned by him and doesn't understand his rage when she feels like she's gained a big brother, so what's the problem.
From his colleagues who put up with his bad mood.
From his son who decides to spend his Navy Seal leave hanging around with the guys at the sheriff's department and getting to know his family. (His adoptive parents are dead)
I was on team heroine the whole time (except when she went out to dinner with the new guy in town - it just made the hero more enraged), but the author did a great job with the hero's feelings and how he finally, finally worked through them. This was not a facile, easy ending. And I'm glad the heroine wasn't a complete doormat - she had guilt - but she also had some objectivity since this was a mistake made at 17 and she knew what an uncompromising man her husband was.
I believed that the H/h would move forward by the end of the story - they both had a lot to lose and everything to gain. This is for angst junkies and those with a high tolerance for angry and hurt heroes.
A friend of mine actually had this happen in her husband's family. Her mother-in-law had a baby at 15 (!) and her sixty-year old secret baby just turned up a few years ago. Her husband was a lot more understanding, though. :)
February 12, 2025
Marriage in peril, should i say more ?
The h gave their son to adoption when she was 17 and thought the H was dead in the army , and the dad intercepted their letters.
when he came back, they got married, and she never told him about it. It was a closed adoption, and she knew they couldn't do anything about it.
27 years later, the son came back looking for his parents, I felt that the H was entitled to be angry and hurt but it wasn't that angsty because he just needed time to cool off , he obviously still loved his wife.
Surprising what I didn't like is how the h never interacted with the son or tried to know him , I'm a sucker for long lost children and parents bonding, the H tried to bond with the son so bonus point to the H.
The h gave their son to adoption when she was 17 and thought the H was dead in the army , and the dad intercepted their letters.
when he came back, they got married, and she never told him about it. It was a closed adoption, and she knew they couldn't do anything about it.
27 years later, the son came back looking for his parents, I felt that the H was entitled to be angry and hurt but it wasn't that angsty because he just needed time to cool off , he obviously still loved his wife.
Surprising what I didn't like is how the h never interacted with the son or tried to know him , I'm a sucker for long lost children and parents bonding, the H tried to bond with the son so bonus point to the H.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 14, 2024
Read this book in 2007. I'll read anything Rachel Lee writes. I liked the old Conard County books as much as I like the new generation. Always looking forward to more from this author.
August 3, 2017
not sure how I would have handled this situation if I was either one of them
June 7, 2024
This one is very frustrating because the conflict is complicated and it takes the whole book for Nate to work through it and see reason. Glad it ends well but it’s exhausting.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews