The Tiger's Spring — S.K. Epperson

Cosmetics heiress Terra Donlevy has opted to shun the trappings of wealth and live in the country with only a modest security system and a few dogs to keep her safe. Junius Redwine is newly released from prison and though the rapist-murderer claims to have been born again, he becomes increasingly insistent that Terra place a value on the life his son saved the summer before when Leon prevented Terra's murder at the hands of deadly Joshua Bern, also known as Brother Lowdown. For protection Terra relies heavily on Simon Brith, the troubled homicide detective who has made a habit of rescuing her, but things are changing between them and she senses that Simon on his road to wellness is going to need more from her than she can comfortably give. Simon does want more and he'd like it to be from Terra but she stalls at every turn, frustrating him almost as much as the latest case he and his partner Dan Cox have pulled. Someone is killing middle-aged men and dumping their bodies in a windbreak. Dan worries when known misogynist Simon appears to zero in on tall, exotic Ivory Pandeen, who shows up and claims to be an unwilling accomplice to the murders. Ivory is exquisite with her black hair, dark eyes and long legs and if Terra Donlevy attracts one kind of man, Ivory attracts another. All of them want something they shouldn't from these two women and a few are going to be surprised to find out just what they receive.