The Virgin and the Outlaw Book

Rafe gets caught up in a DEA bust when his company is being used to cart drugs across the Mexican border. But the whole deal ends up getting his step-brother killed and himself into the middle of a gang war. After the prologue, we see Rafe in Mexico with a US Marshall about to take him back to the US. Gillie is the lovely, resourceful and quite virginal pilot who plans to fly them across the border. But their plane is sabotaged and Gillie has to crash land them in the mountains. Only she and Rafe survive, so they have to go into survival mode in the woods, but also be aware that someone might be after them. There’s chemistry and attraction between them and Rafe wants Gillie, and especially her virginity, more than his next breath, but he’s not about to commit to her for anything. He spends most of their jaunt trying to seduce her and she’s pretty susceptible, except for when she remembers that she’s going to get her heart broken and hand over her V-card to someone who couldn’t care less about sticking around. But she still manages to fall in love with him, putting her trust in a guy who swears he won’t stay and doesn’t believe in love.

This was well written enough, but not really to my tastes. Plenty of suspense and action, but this story loses major stars for a morally reprehensible hero. Rafe is established as a tough guy who ran with a bad crowd, who got a bad rap and maybe has a softer side to him, but he keeps it hidden and well away to avoid becoming vulnerable. Only he doesn’t really have a softer side. Sure he takes care of Gillie, but he figures he owes her his life. He’s not evil, but he’s got no moral compass. No matter how many times Gillie says she doesn’t want to get hurt, she doesn’t want to have sex with him, she doesn’t want to be loved and left - this man keeps thinking how he’s gonna take her virginity and walk away. Not for noble purposes but because he doesn’t want to be bogged down with love and relationships. So he continues to push Gillie towards a sexual relationship even though she’s uncomfortable. Then he decides, okay, it’s got to be her decision. But all the while he’s thinking, yeah, right. I’ll push her for it, then she’ll come to me. What a butthead. So she finally does come to him, because inexplicably she’s in love with him, and he takes her virginity...and walks out on her the next morning, despite knowing that she’s already told him how important promises are to her...and how important love and commitment are. She honestly thought he’d stick around. Does she say, fuck him? No. She runs after him, tells him she loves him and gets nothing in return. She knows he’s going to leave her again and she still sleeps with him...repeatedly. (and to make matters worse the sex is unprotected and he talks about a baby as a problem he'll just throw money at, since he doesn't have anything else- he won't even stick around for that!). I hate women who throw away their dignity thinking if they just give their endless amounts of love, they’ll change. Bah. It’s played up as selfless, and I'm supposed to feel sorry for this poor guy with a tough past alongside the heroine. Meanwhile he’s being as selfish as he can possibly be, because he knows the score and doesn’t care how much it’ll hurt her in the end. If he’d monologued about confusing feelings or maybe not wanting to give her up or even just once considered how he might end up hurting her, I could have seen him as redeemable. And maybe I could have believed his sudden switch to wanting to keep Gillie with him for always. As it was, he wasn’t and I didn’t. As for the heroine, I can’t deal with such foolishness. Not when it’s just so tragically stupid.