Dangerous Beauty

Geissinger (Ache for You) launches a new series with this passable romantic thriller, set primarily in Mexico. Naz Mansouri, familiar to readers of Geissinger’s Bad Habit series, is an ex-bodyguard on his first assignment for a high-powered security firm. All he has to do is observe and report on Evalina Ivanova, the runaway wife of billionaire Dimitri Ivanov. But once he meets and falls for beautiful Eva, he learns she was abused by the sinister Dimitri for seven years, and fled for her life. Naz tells his new boss they need to help Eva, not spy on her, even if that means offending Dimitri’s father, an important client and member of the Russian mafia. As Naz and Eva alternate narration, Geissinger captures the thrill and tenderness of developing romance between two people reluctant to trust. The plot is clichéd and the banter tiresome, and it seems unlikely that someone who was sexually abused for years would heedlessly plunge into a new relationship, but a cliff-hanger ending leaves room for further developments. Geissinger manages to make this simplistic story action-packed and sexy, and her readers will love it. Agent: Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary. (Mar.)