In "Against the Law", handbag designer Lark Delaney gets more than she bargained for when she seeks out Devlin Raines to help her find her sister's child, who was put up for adoption at birth. At first, the idea is to find the child and make sure she is in a loving home. However, Lark and Dev arrive just as the adoptive parents and nanny are killed. Further adventures occur after the child is kidnapped from Lark's home and taken to Mexico and when one of the drug lord's underlings comes seeking revenge.

It's hard to believe a handbag designer could be so cool going on an op in Mexico or even that the seasoned men would allow her to accompany them, though I do understand her desperation to retrieve the child unharmed.

I didn't like that Lark and Dev became "friends with benefits". Even though I don't like the idea, I could see the two of them giving in to lust once but at some point, both made a conscious choice to continue in that relationship. I'm not sure Dev's history fully explained his reluctance to consider a future with Lark for so long. I'm on the fence about that one.

I didn't quite understand the title--yes, many things they did were against the law, but they weren't really fighting law enforcement so ...

In the bonus story "Twelve-Gauge Guardian", Pepper Winchester wants her family to return to the family ranch to try to figure out who killed her son Trace. She's convinced it was a family member because her grandkids never said what they saw from the third floor room that day. That part of the story is not solved in this book. Pepper's grandson Cyrus is involved in a hit and run accident that leaves him in a coma. His twin brother teams up with Raine (the woman Cyrus was trying to save) to solve who's behind it.

Again, I didn't get the title. How is a twelve-gauge a guardian? Yes, Cordell did use a shotgun in the very end to save them, but it wasn't a big part of the story.

The story is similar in that Cordell has been hurt by his ex-wife and is wary of entering into a relationship with another woman, though he doesn't fight it as much as Dev does in the first story.

I like that Raine is willing to relive difficult times to protect others from the same fate that she suffered as a child despite it being difficult for her. I also liked that Cordell was willing to support her in doing this without interfering with her--but while still being there to assist her and support her when she needed it. But again, they decide to satisfy their desires with each other before defining their relationship with each other. ( )