Elle is so not having a good day.  She is hit on again by the little slime of a boss, and when she refuses him, he fires her. But as someone who always buys a lottery ticket, she pauses to see the winning numbers on a TV display while leaving the mall.  Holy crap, she won the lottery!  But as she is leaving the mall, some low life steals her purse. Her day goes to crap again.  But a homeless blind man helps to save her purse and she is so thankful she offers to split the winnings with him, is insistent, in fact.  Even after finding out he is not blind, nor is he homeless.

Nick is supposed to be on a forced vacation.  He is determined that, whether he is on duty or on vacation, he is going to find the “Houston Marauder”, a psychopath who has abducted, raped and killed a number of Houston women, including his sister.  The difference is that his sister was not murdered, though she is in an almost non-responsive state.  No matter what he won’t let crime happen before his face and has to stop the purse snatcher, even if it will muck up his undercover operation.

When he comes face to face with the women he saved the purse for, he knows instantly she will be someone he will be seeing a lot of, and soon.  So he plays along with her offer for dinner.  But will he tell her everything about himself in time, or will she feel yet another man has deceived her?  Especially when it appears she is to be the  “Houston Marauders” next intended victim.

What a hoot!  I love the fact that in Pay Dirt what is possibly the worse day of Elle’s life might turn out to be the best.  But, at the same time, Ms. Reed has done a wonderful job in keeping Elle grounded in her beliefs and what getting the monies will do to her.  While I did find Nick to be a bit of a jerk, and a little too secretive for his own good, I didn’t feel that it detracted too much from the story.  I overall enjoyed Pay Dirt, finding the suspense and erotic scenes well written.