Love made him vulnerable…onceFormer covert operative, Braxton Valentine, is on a train to Los Angeles with his fiancée to meet her parents for the first time. He’s given up his dangerous job to start a new life with the woman he loves, but on a scheduled stop in El Paso, two shady men board the train. Brax fears the suspicious men have targeted him for revenge from a past mission and his primal … his primal instincts kick in. With his fiancée and other innocents onboard, he’s forced into a terrible choice.
Head of the Phoenix Agency’s fledgling Psi division, Mia Romeo wants recognition for her team’s psychic abilities to combat crime. After a frightening vision, she doesn’t question her telepathic instincts to board a train in San Antonio alone, not knowing where she’s going until she reaches El Paso. Her gift spirals her into a sinister premonition centered on two men boarding her train, assassins from a cartel Phoenix has in its crosshairs. She uses her newfound telepathic gift to warn their target and head off the carnage, but the man they’re after has a powerful mind barrier she can’t penetrate.
Valentine averts a massacre with his quick action, but after his fiancée is killed, the police can’t find the mystery shooter who took her life and the cartel is bent on revenge. Operating in the shadows, Mia and the Phoenix Agency ruthlessly use Brax as unwitting bait to lure a deadly cartel boss from hiding, but grief-stricken Valentine becomes their worst nightmare—a rogue operative with a death wish.
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Valentine: Steel Heart is one of the new additions to Desiree Holt’s Phoenix Agency series world and it will take your breath away. It is loaded with pulse pounding action and suspense that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last word. Ms. Dane does a wonderful job of world building and weaving the Phoenix Agencies characters into Braxton Valentine’s story as if they already belonged there. The complexity of his emotional turmoil can be felt through the pages as you read and kept me misty eyed the first half of the book. You cannot help but feel his heartbreak and guilt over the loss of his fiancée and understand his inner ridicule and need for vengeance. Raine was his everything…his reason for being and without her he now has nothing to lose. She was his anchor, the solid presence of warmth and love amidst the chaos of his past. Without her he is now lost in despair, a loose cannon and unpredictable. He will do whatever it takes to exact his revenge and kill the man responsible for ripping her out of his life. Nothing and no one will stand in his way…not even Mia and the Phoenix Agency.
Mia boards a train alone in San Antonio because of an ominous vision and she has no clue what to expect. Having recently formed the Psi division of the agency, she has expanded her gifts to include telepathy and keeps in contact with Faith. She has a feeling deep in her gut that her scary premonition is about to come true as she scans the oncoming borders, taking in every detail, trying to understand the threat. When her eyes lock on Braxton Valentine she feels a kindred stirring of a psychic gift. Unable to penetrate his mind, she is watchful and intrigued by the man. Her premonition comes to fruition when a pair of threatening men board the train with their sights set on him. Unable to do anything but relay the information to Faith she watches as the situation unfolds and Valentine eliminates the threat only to lose his fiancée during the chaos. Mia is heartbroken for the man as the devastation of his loss rolls off of him in waves and she knows deep within that he will be an integral part of eliminating the dangerous cartel Phoenix has set its sights on and needs to keep track of him. Bringing the team up to speed, she forms a plan to use him as bait to draw out the cartel and its elusive leader. With the help of her husband and the rest of the team, they stay in the shadows following Valentine to back him up when he needs it the most.
There are just not enough words to say how wonderful this story is. Ms. Dane has truly outdone herself and I cannot wait to see what she has in store for Valentine in the conclusion of his story. Hopefully he will find some peace. You need this book…you do not want to miss out on this exciting addition to the Phoenix Agency. You will not be disappointed.