This HaBO comes from Karthika, who is looking for this category romance:
I am trying to find a romance novel I read a while ago. It’s a category romance (most likely Harlequin Intrigue or Silhouette Intimate Moments) published before 2005 (probably late 1990s or early 2000s).
Here are all the specific details I remember about the plot:
The setting was working sanctuary/rehabilitation ranch in Texas for troubled and rebellious teenage boys and girls, run by the hero.
The heroine (a counselor, social worker, or investigator) takes on a case involving a teenage girl who was severely abused. The victim is deeply traumatized, shuts down, and cramps up, refusing to tell anyone who her abuser is.
To figure out what happened and find the culprit, the adult heroine goes undercover at the ranch posing as a rebellious, troubled teenager. She doesn’t wear a complex physical disguise; she just acts and carries herself like a rebellious teen resident to blend in.
The abuser isn’t an outside adult; it’s a long-time resident teenage boy living at the ranch. He has developed an unhealthy, violently possessive attachment to the hero and actively targets/assaults any female who attempts to get close to the hero.
The teenage boy is exposed when he tries to physically assault the heroine. The hero steps in, catches him, and protects her.
Does this sound familiar?