Courageous by Diana Palmer

Courageous:
The life of a paid mercenary makes sense to Special Forces Officer Winslow Grange. The jungles of South America may make his former job as a ranch manager for his friend Jay Pendleton look like a cakewalk, but it’s nothing that the former Green Beret can’t handle.

A woman’s heart, however—that’s dangerous territory.  Back in Texas, Grange’s biggest problem was avoiding Peg Larson and all the complications being attracted to the daughter of his foreman would entail. Now Grange will need all his training to help General Emilio Machado gain control of the tiny South American nation of Barrera; when Peg arrives unannounced, she’s a distraction he can’t avoid. She’s determined to show Grange she can be useful on and off the battlefield. Once she breaks through his armor, traversing the wilds of the Amazon will prove an easier task than defending himself against her winning charms…

This book plays along the usual lines that Diana Palmer loves to write: roamnce and danger. The characters were written with her typical style: young innocent girl falls for rough handsome man. But I just cannot stop reading her stories. No matter what. I can't even tell you exactly what keeps me coming back for more, I just love the simplicity and happy endings of her books. This book brought back many characters that we have seen in her previous works, and it was nice to see them again.

The romance was a little rushed in my opinion though, Grange went from noticing Peg as a woman to suddenly madly in love with her. He pushed her away so many times and then one intimate encounter changes their relationship right before he has to leave for a dangerous military mission.

Peg finds herself tricked into following Grange into a foreign country and makes friends in the most unlikely of places. Surounded by danger and unfamiliar surroundings, Peg and Grange have just found eachother, but there is the mission to be completed; and Peg must stay behind while Grange and the others fight to free a war torn country from a sadistic ruler.