A Guarded Heart is the most recent offering in Jennifer Fulton’s Moon Island series and is a recent winner of the Golden Crown Literary Society “Goldie” award in the Romance category.  This is the fourth book set on the women-only Moon Island, owned by Annabel Worth and Cody Stanton.  Packed with thrills, angst, and plenty of romance, the plot twists and turns as an attempt to thwart two madmen, one after actress Lauren Douglas, and one who has killed several child pageant contestants, is made.

Lauren Douglas is a star as Dr. Kate in a soap opera.  Pat Roussel is an FBI agent, burnt out from long days and nights spent focused on finding the Kiddy Pageant Killer.  Pat decides she needs to take a break from her job and Lauren needs protection after being shot by a deranged fan.  These are the circumstances that throw the two women together and the combination proves both volatile and steamy.

Lauren is vulnerable after her brush with death, but struggles against having her freedom hindered.  She finds herself falling in love with the aloof body guard that her father has hired while Pat struggles to remain professional as Lauren’s protector.  However, complications abound when Pat finds Lauren’s beauty irresistible.  Lauren isn’t the petulant, airhead actress that Pat thought she would be.

As the tension builds, these two draw close, and then pull back, over and over again.  While Pat and Lauren struggle with their feelings for one another, Annabel and Cody are struggling with complications of a different nature.

In the midst of these personal struggles, a boat approaches Moon Island carrying a group of men.  When they tell Annabel and Cody that one of the members of their treasure hunting party is ill and needs help, the women fly maritime archeologist, Penny Mercer, to the hospital located on the larger island of Rarotonga.  As they women race against time to save the scientist’s life, they learn about the sunken treasure that the treasure hunters are seeking and are.  Once again, as in previous stories in the series, Annabel and Cody become concerned for the safety and sacredness of the island.

A character from the third Moon Island book is reprised in the fourth.  Chris, the lawyer who had lost her partner has returned to set up a business on the main island and she meets up with Annabel and Cody.  When the women tell Chris of the recent events and of their concerns, the three of them hatch a plot to protect the island and help get Penny back as a member of the recovery team.

The fourth Moon Island offering is another wonderful story by a terrific author.  Each new character is fully developed while recurring characters stay true to form and never get stale.  New plots involving the people and the island and surrounding area continue to be both interesting and intriguing.  Start at the beginning of the series for the full history and effect.  If you’ve already read the first three, you won’t be disappointed in this, the fourth in the series.