A two-in-one from Mills & Boon.
The first story is Christmas Delivery by Patricia Rosemoor - Lexie loved Simon and they were going to run away together but Simon died, so when he turns up again Lexie is surprised, he was kidnapped and his life was changed. He became a mercenary and had to kill people. Now he's back and he's determined to find out who was responsible and bring them to justice. He's not sure if he can go back to an ordinary life and love with Lexie, and the child he never knew he had with her.

The dedication in this one is to the task force to found out who murdered Patricia's Father using DNA evidence and you can see the relentless need for justice inherent in the story. I'm not too sure that Lexie was all that well fleshed out and I didn't really see a relationship build all that well. It also felt like it wasn't sure where it was going to go and the combination of story didn't quite gell.

Captive of the Beast by Lisa Renee Jones is the story of Rinehart, the Demon warrior and Laura, a doctor investigating paranormal abilities. One of the secrets she has is that she also has paranormal abilities, little does she know that she's surrounded by evil Demon warriors. Rinehart has to fight his demons and work out a way to save not only the woman he loves but also his, and her, companions.

Not a bad story, though the concept of either being good or evil with no gray rankles with me a little bit The romance with Laura and Rinehart is complex and I can see issues arising from lack of choice but it's not a bad read. ( )