Thayne’s second Hope’s Crossing contemporary (after Blackberry Summer) is sweet without being cloying, and refreshingly free of the sex-manual minutiae that too frequently clog the genre. Tanked-up joyriding teens crash their vehicle, leaving one dead and another badly hurt. Brain-damaged Taryn Thorne is so surly she gets ejected from her rehab facility, so her father, gorgeous mogul Brodie Thorne, inveigles former physical therapist Eveline Blanchard into setting up Taryn’s home therapy. Evie accepts for “just a few weeks”; after the tragic death of her adopted daughter, she’d much rather be beading at the String Fever bead shop or exploring Hope’s Crossing’s stunning Colorado mountain scenery than returning to her old career. From the start, Brodie feels unsuitable lust and indefatigable longing for Evie, while she gradually abandons her initial resistance to his real estate development plans and yummy piratical looks. Plenty of tenderness and Colorado sunshine flavor this pleasant escape. Agent: Karen Solem, Spencerhill Associates. (Apr.)