Past experiences cause the 2 main characters to conceal their feelings and hold back from acting on their physical attraction. Forced to work with Ryder, both by her job responsibilities and by her father's concerns about sabotage at a missile history museum where he works, Hope's anger at his abandoning her years earlier finally surfaces. And then there is the complication of military rules about fraternization.
Ryder is portrayed as a super-sensitive, introspective man--when he's not being an action figure rescuing her from captors.
This book has a certain level of morality: the sensuous aspects are kept to a minimum, and the trajectory of the relationship is aimed towards matrimony. ( )