Running Scared

Elizabeth Lowell

5/22/2003

Risa Sheridan is the curator of antiquities for Shane Tannahill. Shane doesn't run a museum, though. He is the owner of the wealthiest casino in Las Vegas. He also has a passion for gold antiquities, especially Celtic gold. Risa also does consultant work for Rarities, a Los Angeles company that handles expensive antiquities. Rarities is the premier company in the world for verifying, buying, and selling jewelry, gold, and priceless antiquities.

Risa has made good in her adult life after a checkered childhood. She and Shane are fighting an attraction for each other that threatens to spill over. He refuses to date an employee of his. Now he is inwardly threatening to fire Risa so he doesn't break his self imposed rule. But in the meantime they are looking for some unique pieces for a show Shane is planning at his casino, The Golden Fleece.

Cherelle had befriended and protected Risa during their childhood in an Arkansas trailer park. But after Cherelle ran away, she continued on with the scamming lifestyle. She and Risa grow apart. While running a psychic scam, she comes into possession of a cache of priceless druid gold. She decides to visit her old friend Risa and sell the gold to the highest bidder in Visa.

This is a sexy, formulaic storyline. Both the mystery/suspense and the romance are predictable from beginning to end. Even so, I liked the book. I found the mixing of Celtic gold antiquities and Las Vegas casinos and the politics involved an unusual twist. I also learned about Celtic gold, provenance of antiquities, and what a golden fleece really is. The only question in my mind was the identity of one of the casino owners involved in one side story.

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Notice: Explicit sexual situations

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