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Intimate Strangers
A magnificent wilderness. A small plane goes down. The man and woman in it survive. He's an outdoorsman. She's a city girl. They have nothing in common... but a growing, powerful passion.
He looked like just another macho cowboy
Jessica's job as advertising agency fashion coordinator often took her to obscure locations. Yet none was quite as desolate as the predicament she found herself in after her small plane went down in the Tetons.
Chad O'Bryan, the pilot, seemed to hold the keys to their survival, but Jessica was convinced he was more brawn than brains--a mindless stereotype out for just one thing. But Jessica soon discovered that the long, lean stranger wore many guises--and had many talents. And she discovered herself....
He looked like just another macho cowboy
Jessica's job as advertising agency fashion coordinator often took her to obscure locations. Yet none was quite as desolate as the predicament she found herself in after her small plane went down in the Tetons.
Chad O'Bryan, the pilot, seemed to hold the keys to their survival, but Jessica was convinced he was more brawn than brains--a mindless stereotype out for just one thing. But Jessica soon discovered that the long, lean stranger wore many guises--and had many talents. And she discovered herself....
- GenresRomance
187 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
2 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Marton
575 books542 followersI've been a writer, one way or another, all my life. Before I could read, I made up poems and my mom wrote them down for me. In elementary school, my teachers almost always let me write poems or stories instead of requiring me to do art projects. Always, I dreamed of becoming a published writer...and that dream came true! I write novels about sexy, powerful men and independent-minded women, and what happens when they find each other and fall in love. My books are sexy and romantic, and they've very often full of romantic suspense. I write the kinds of books I love to read, and I hope that makes my readers happy.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 11, 2016
Re Intimate Strangers - SM takes us on an adventure with this one. Every once in a while an HP author gets a yen for the big outdoors and we get to go into the back country for a survival situation and a bit of romance. Of course to be in HPlandia, there has to be mention of a big city and some sophisticated jet set lifestyle moments - SM has that covered when she has her h's job as the model herder for a NYC ad company.
The story starts with the h on a big L-1011 jet (I think it was used because they had Rolls-Royce engines - RR is exotic, GE isn't and they make DC-10 engines.) She is praying the plane will stay in the air, there is a lot of turbulence and the h hates flying a lot. She sees a handsome Marlborough Man type sitting a few aisles away, he keeps smiling at her and she is in no mental state to deal with smiling cowboy Casanovas. Nope, she is way too busy having a little inner ranty moment - though that grin of his is worth a few ranty moments to avoid thinking about when the plane might crash. The man does come over and ask to sit with her, no assigned seating on this plane, but the h is too busy with the rantyness and prayer and besides she isn't available for a pick up, so she runs him off.
On her way back from the bathroom, the h has cautiously made her way towards her seat when she gets diverted to the other aisle (the plane has three rows of seats across) and the Marlborough Man stops her to chat. There is more turbulence and the man tries to soothe her fears, he loves to fly but he can appreciate the panic that non-flight lover's experience. He gets the h to sit with him a bit and makes some jokes about air travel and the power of belief to hold the plane up and the h starts to think he is rather nice after all. Then the turbulence worsens and the h starts to panic, so the H does the only thing he can think of and he kisses her. It is a good kiss too, but the h is totally outraged and tells him off.
Finally the plane lands without wrecking and the h has a connecting flight to the remote lodge where the modeling shoot she is supposed to be herding models for is at. Except nobody has ever heard of the airline she is flying on, the h starts to get a bit worried. Plus her luggage is a bit balky and when she finally finds out where her gate is, she has a very long trek ahead of her with no porter in sight. The h sets out for the designated departure area, but her wheels fall off her ancient suitcase and she has a lot of heavy things in it. Mainly camera's because she really wants to be a photographer and she works at the ad agency because it pays well but also because she gets to work around srsly professional photographers and watch and learn from them.
The h finally makes it to her takeoff point and finds herself looking at a lot of teeny tiny planes. She figures she missed her connecting flight cause there is no jet, but it turns out that she has to actually fly in one the teeny tiny planes (it is an amphibious plane and they are usually very small two seaters). Not only does she has to force herself into a toy to get to the location, (because this lodge is really remote-there are no roads for access, you either hike or fly in) her pilot turns out to be the Marlborough Man from the plane. Well the h isn't delighted, but she has a job to do and the H is really nice and reassuring, so swallowing her fear the h gets on board and starts praying.
Takeoff goes okay and the H is really being reassuring by hold her hand. Then a big storm hits and the H winds up landing the plane in a little lake when it gets struck by lightening and the engine dies. The plane starts to sink, but the h and H make it to shore with the H's capacious backpack and her bag with some clothes and one little camera with some film. SM puts little paragraphs of the H's POV in the story, so while he tells the h very little, we know that things are looking pretty bad. They aren't even close to the shoot in the Grand Tetons, they are in the Wind River Valley and it is really remote and hard to get in and out of. The h thinks they are just going to do an bit of overnight camping and then find a road in the morning. The H knows better, but he orders the h around and won't explain and they have some words about that. They get to a good camping spot and more words are exchanged. The h thinks the H is wild roping cowboy on the make who can fly a plane and the H thinks the h is modern city slicker who hangs out in fern bars in NYC. They find out they are both wrong.
The H is actually a wildlife biologist who has taken the job of flying things in and out on the location shoot because the h's bosses wanted someone familiar with the local flora and fauna as well as a pilot's license. The h is really from Canton, Ohio and was a Girl Scout so she knows a little bit about camping and things, she isn't just a city slicker clothes horse - tho she does have the stock lecture "Fashion is Not Frivolous" to smite unbelievers with. The two of them go back and forth in a believable fashion about their initial impressions of each other. The h tries to explain about Central Park in Manhattan and the H thinks she is mocking him. He knows NYC fairly well, he teaches in between field missions at Hunter's College and he does wolf studies at the Bronx Zoo - the H's specialty is wild wolves, but he likes to compare them with wolves in captivity. They both wind up apologizing to each other again and settle in for the night.
The h dreams that night that the H was all cozied up with her when she was cold and when she wakes up and the H gallantly provides a fresh twig toothbrush,( he had some bits of foods and things in his big back pack,) she finds out that it wasn't a dream. The H is anxious to get moving, he thinks he knows where shelter is, but it is a fair hike away and winter snow storms are moving in. They start hiking and the h has a hard time keeping up, but she does. There is a bit more arguing about how people dress and work out to keep physically fit, but they agree to disagree and the h manages to hurt her ankle. The H manages to guide them to a ghost town and they decide to hole up and hope for rescue. Neither of them has the gear for a hike out of the Valley, it could be six or seven days and the temperature is very cold, the h doesn't even have a coat - she wears a lot of the H's extra clothes. The H does some reconnoitering and finds a stash of beans and canned goods that are still edible in some of the other derelict cabins. The h and the H settle in for the duration and get to know each other better.
The h is attracted to the H, he saved her life, but she is hesitant to commit to any physical relationship. The H really wants the h, but he understands that she is a bit old fashioned at heart and respects her boundaries. Then the H goes out to fish and a snow covered tree limb dumps snow down the chimney of the cabin they are in and puts the fire out. It is bitterly cold and the matches the h has become soaked. She goes out to look for the H, he has extra matches and she gets hypothermia and the H finds her a few hours later wandering around and completely confused.
The H is scared silly she is going to die and he does't have anything like a hot tub or an electric blanket to help her. So he strips her and himself and they cuddle up for heat. The h gradually recovers and then she wakes up and they are both really close and naked. The h realizes that she is in love with the H and he has been in love almost since he first saw her. They have a nice passionate moment and then they spend the next several days hanging out and being in love and figuring out how to survive the winter if they have to.
The H talks about his future plans which seem to include a lot of traveling to remote and distant locations, the h had been planning on telling the H that she would quit her job and travel with him, only she hears that he intends to go off on his field trips and those trips don't have any room for her. She tells him that she understands that they have no future, they couldn't live in each other's worlds and just as the H is going to respond, a helicopter lands and they are rescued. They get back to civilization and the H has to go talk to the FAA investigators about the plane.
The h waits around for a few hours then goes back to NYC. She is very sad because she loves the H and he never came back, (not that she waited that long.) She gets a promotion at work and she shows her pictures to one of the company's photographers. They were all taken with her little point and shoot camera but the pictures are really good. The photographer sends her excellent pictures of the mountains and the ghost town to the company that made her camera and they want to offer her a job traveling and taking pictures with the camera - it's big selling point is that it is highly portable and takes professional quality shots. They want to use her pictures too, especially the ones with the H. But she needs a signed release from him to use the photos and the camera company is willing to donate money to his research.
The h has to track down the H, which isn't easy to do until she sees an article in a National Geographic type magazine saying the H got his research grant and will be heading off to the remote wilderness. The h calls the magazine and gets the phone number of the H and calls him. He is reluctant to meet at first, but eventually they agree to meet at the Bronx Zoo by the wolf enclosure. The h shows him the pictures and the H seems agreeable until he gets to the last one that was the h's personal picture of him being naked by the firelight and the H gets angry and starts to tell her off.
He yells that he would have gone to work permanently at Hunter College and she yells that she would have quit her job to travel with him and then they both realize what they are saying. The H explains that the investigation took a long time and when he got back, the h was gone. He never meant that the h couldn't travel with him when he was describing his research trips that last day at the cabin, he only heard she did not want to work things out. He also tells her that he got an every other semester graduate seminar teaching job at Harvard so they will be in the wilderness for half the year and in Boston the other half. The h explains that she got a job taking pictures of remote wildernesses with her camera so she can tag along with the H and send back photos for the camera company. They are both really happy and reavow their love for the big HEA.
This one was sweet, with a nice little HEA and some really tender moments between the H and h. The two of them were a good match and SM puts in plenty of little relationship sharing moments to build up the love so that it seems highly believable. There isn't a ton of drama except the big misunderstanding at the end and I thought the h jumped to conclusions a bit too easily, but then she kinda had to cause otherwise there would have been no romantic drama at all. Give this one an airing when you need a calmer but very nice romance and a little break from the wilder crazy train wrecky drama of HPLandia.
The story starts with the h on a big L-1011 jet (I think it was used because they had Rolls-Royce engines - RR is exotic, GE isn't and they make DC-10 engines.) She is praying the plane will stay in the air, there is a lot of turbulence and the h hates flying a lot. She sees a handsome Marlborough Man type sitting a few aisles away, he keeps smiling at her and she is in no mental state to deal with smiling cowboy Casanovas. Nope, she is way too busy having a little inner ranty moment - though that grin of his is worth a few ranty moments to avoid thinking about when the plane might crash. The man does come over and ask to sit with her, no assigned seating on this plane, but the h is too busy with the rantyness and prayer and besides she isn't available for a pick up, so she runs him off.
On her way back from the bathroom, the h has cautiously made her way towards her seat when she gets diverted to the other aisle (the plane has three rows of seats across) and the Marlborough Man stops her to chat. There is more turbulence and the man tries to soothe her fears, he loves to fly but he can appreciate the panic that non-flight lover's experience. He gets the h to sit with him a bit and makes some jokes about air travel and the power of belief to hold the plane up and the h starts to think he is rather nice after all. Then the turbulence worsens and the h starts to panic, so the H does the only thing he can think of and he kisses her. It is a good kiss too, but the h is totally outraged and tells him off.
Finally the plane lands without wrecking and the h has a connecting flight to the remote lodge where the modeling shoot she is supposed to be herding models for is at. Except nobody has ever heard of the airline she is flying on, the h starts to get a bit worried. Plus her luggage is a bit balky and when she finally finds out where her gate is, she has a very long trek ahead of her with no porter in sight. The h sets out for the designated departure area, but her wheels fall off her ancient suitcase and she has a lot of heavy things in it. Mainly camera's because she really wants to be a photographer and she works at the ad agency because it pays well but also because she gets to work around srsly professional photographers and watch and learn from them.
The h finally makes it to her takeoff point and finds herself looking at a lot of teeny tiny planes. She figures she missed her connecting flight cause there is no jet, but it turns out that she has to actually fly in one the teeny tiny planes (it is an amphibious plane and they are usually very small two seaters). Not only does she has to force herself into a toy to get to the location, (because this lodge is really remote-there are no roads for access, you either hike or fly in) her pilot turns out to be the Marlborough Man from the plane. Well the h isn't delighted, but she has a job to do and the H is really nice and reassuring, so swallowing her fear the h gets on board and starts praying.
Takeoff goes okay and the H is really being reassuring by hold her hand. Then a big storm hits and the H winds up landing the plane in a little lake when it gets struck by lightening and the engine dies. The plane starts to sink, but the h and H make it to shore with the H's capacious backpack and her bag with some clothes and one little camera with some film. SM puts little paragraphs of the H's POV in the story, so while he tells the h very little, we know that things are looking pretty bad. They aren't even close to the shoot in the Grand Tetons, they are in the Wind River Valley and it is really remote and hard to get in and out of. The h thinks they are just going to do an bit of overnight camping and then find a road in the morning. The H knows better, but he orders the h around and won't explain and they have some words about that. They get to a good camping spot and more words are exchanged. The h thinks the H is wild roping cowboy on the make who can fly a plane and the H thinks the h is modern city slicker who hangs out in fern bars in NYC. They find out they are both wrong.
The H is actually a wildlife biologist who has taken the job of flying things in and out on the location shoot because the h's bosses wanted someone familiar with the local flora and fauna as well as a pilot's license. The h is really from Canton, Ohio and was a Girl Scout so she knows a little bit about camping and things, she isn't just a city slicker clothes horse - tho she does have the stock lecture "Fashion is Not Frivolous" to smite unbelievers with. The two of them go back and forth in a believable fashion about their initial impressions of each other. The h tries to explain about Central Park in Manhattan and the H thinks she is mocking him. He knows NYC fairly well, he teaches in between field missions at Hunter's College and he does wolf studies at the Bronx Zoo - the H's specialty is wild wolves, but he likes to compare them with wolves in captivity. They both wind up apologizing to each other again and settle in for the night.
The h dreams that night that the H was all cozied up with her when she was cold and when she wakes up and the H gallantly provides a fresh twig toothbrush,( he had some bits of foods and things in his big back pack,) she finds out that it wasn't a dream. The H is anxious to get moving, he thinks he knows where shelter is, but it is a fair hike away and winter snow storms are moving in. They start hiking and the h has a hard time keeping up, but she does. There is a bit more arguing about how people dress and work out to keep physically fit, but they agree to disagree and the h manages to hurt her ankle. The H manages to guide them to a ghost town and they decide to hole up and hope for rescue. Neither of them has the gear for a hike out of the Valley, it could be six or seven days and the temperature is very cold, the h doesn't even have a coat - she wears a lot of the H's extra clothes. The H does some reconnoitering and finds a stash of beans and canned goods that are still edible in some of the other derelict cabins. The h and the H settle in for the duration and get to know each other better.
The h is attracted to the H, he saved her life, but she is hesitant to commit to any physical relationship. The H really wants the h, but he understands that she is a bit old fashioned at heart and respects her boundaries. Then the H goes out to fish and a snow covered tree limb dumps snow down the chimney of the cabin they are in and puts the fire out. It is bitterly cold and the matches the h has become soaked. She goes out to look for the H, he has extra matches and she gets hypothermia and the H finds her a few hours later wandering around and completely confused.
The H is scared silly she is going to die and he does't have anything like a hot tub or an electric blanket to help her. So he strips her and himself and they cuddle up for heat. The h gradually recovers and then she wakes up and they are both really close and naked. The h realizes that she is in love with the H and he has been in love almost since he first saw her. They have a nice passionate moment and then they spend the next several days hanging out and being in love and figuring out how to survive the winter if they have to.
The H talks about his future plans which seem to include a lot of traveling to remote and distant locations, the h had been planning on telling the H that she would quit her job and travel with him, only she hears that he intends to go off on his field trips and those trips don't have any room for her. She tells him that she understands that they have no future, they couldn't live in each other's worlds and just as the H is going to respond, a helicopter lands and they are rescued. They get back to civilization and the H has to go talk to the FAA investigators about the plane.
The h waits around for a few hours then goes back to NYC. She is very sad because she loves the H and he never came back, (not that she waited that long.) She gets a promotion at work and she shows her pictures to one of the company's photographers. They were all taken with her little point and shoot camera but the pictures are really good. The photographer sends her excellent pictures of the mountains and the ghost town to the company that made her camera and they want to offer her a job traveling and taking pictures with the camera - it's big selling point is that it is highly portable and takes professional quality shots. They want to use her pictures too, especially the ones with the H. But she needs a signed release from him to use the photos and the camera company is willing to donate money to his research.
The h has to track down the H, which isn't easy to do until she sees an article in a National Geographic type magazine saying the H got his research grant and will be heading off to the remote wilderness. The h calls the magazine and gets the phone number of the H and calls him. He is reluctant to meet at first, but eventually they agree to meet at the Bronx Zoo by the wolf enclosure. The h shows him the pictures and the H seems agreeable until he gets to the last one that was the h's personal picture of him being naked by the firelight and the H gets angry and starts to tell her off.
He yells that he would have gone to work permanently at Hunter College and she yells that she would have quit her job to travel with him and then they both realize what they are saying. The H explains that the investigation took a long time and when he got back, the h was gone. He never meant that the h couldn't travel with him when he was describing his research trips that last day at the cabin, he only heard she did not want to work things out. He also tells her that he got an every other semester graduate seminar teaching job at Harvard so they will be in the wilderness for half the year and in Boston the other half. The h explains that she got a job taking pictures of remote wildernesses with her camera so she can tag along with the H and send back photos for the camera company. They are both really happy and reavow their love for the big HEA.
This one was sweet, with a nice little HEA and some really tender moments between the H and h. The two of them were a good match and SM puts in plenty of little relationship sharing moments to build up the love so that it seems highly believable. There isn't a ton of drama except the big misunderstanding at the end and I thought the h jumped to conclusions a bit too easily, but then she kinda had to cause otherwise there would have been no romantic drama at all. Give this one an airing when you need a calmer but very nice romance and a little break from the wilder crazy train wrecky drama of HPLandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2015
A good little romance story. Jessica worked for an advertising agency and was headed for a location shoot in Wyoming. The small airplane that would take her there was piloted by Chad O'Bryan. They flew into a bad thunderstorm and Chad had to make an emergency landing on a small lake. I enjoyed the easy read.
April 16, 2016
What a lovely book! This is what i love about older books, they are to the point and have wonderful stories to tell.
October 8, 2020
Really nice wilderness romance - Jessica’s a fashion coordinator, Chad is the small pilot/wildlife biologist hired to take her out to a remote shoot. They run into some bad weather and down they go. There are a couple of aggressive kisses from the hero but otherwise everything is super-consensual; he's repeatedly concerned that her interest stems from gratitude rather than attraction. (I am reading the "remastered" Kindle Unlimited version so I don't know if this is true of the original.) It's just really sweet and gentle, over all, with lots of sweeping wilderness scenes.
January 28, 2026
Pretty good read. Two strangers from very different worlds end up stranded in the wilderness and have to lean on each other to survive.
The romance built nicely; the back-and-forth bickering between them, followed by them slowly bonding and falling in love was well done.
The only thing was, the ending was ridiculously abrupt- like there were some legit issues with their lifestyles not being very convergent, and some of those issues had already been on the road to being resolved, but they didn't like talk about any of that, just kissed and boom the book was over. Ah well lol.
The romance built nicely; the back-and-forth bickering between them, followed by them slowly bonding and falling in love was well done.
The only thing was, the ending was ridiculously abrupt- like there were some legit issues with their lifestyles not being very convergent, and some of those issues had already been on the road to being resolved, but they didn't like talk about any of that, just kissed and boom the book was over. Ah well lol.
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January 7, 2023A magnificent wilderness. A small plane goes down. The man and woman in it survive. He's an outdoorsman. She's a city girl. They have nothing in common... but a growing, powerful passion.
doubtful-because-not-v
May 24, 2020A magnificent wilderness. A small plane goes down. The man and woman in it survive. He's an outdoorsman. She's a city girl. They have nothing in common... but a growing, powerful passion.
He looked like just another macho cowboy
Jessica's job as advertising agency fashion coordinator often took her to obscure locations. Yet none was quite as desolate as the predicament she found herself in after her small plane went down in the Tetons.
Chad O'Bryan, the pilot, seemed to hold the keys to their survival, but Jessica was convinced he was more brawn than brains--a mindless stereotype out for just one thing. But Jessica soon discovered that the long, lean stranger wore many guises--and had many talents. And she discovered herself.
He looked like just another macho cowboy
Jessica's job as advertising agency fashion coordinator often took her to obscure locations. Yet none was quite as desolate as the predicament she found herself in after her small plane went down in the Tetons.
Chad O'Bryan, the pilot, seemed to hold the keys to their survival, but Jessica was convinced he was more brawn than brains--a mindless stereotype out for just one thing. But Jessica soon discovered that the long, lean stranger wore many guises--and had many talents. And she discovered herself.
April 29, 2016
I love these old books. These stories have a soul...unlike the modern romances that's all high powered females, extremely rich males, lots of sex and zero communication..
What a nice story. Made me smile :)
What a nice story. Made me smile :)
December 10, 2012
I give it 3.5 stars.
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March 11, 2014iBooks
November 2, 2014
Maybe 3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews