Proceed With Caution Books in Order

The Proceed With Caution books grow out of Betsy Brannon Green's Duty world, but they form a tighter two-book arc around Brooke Clayton and Hunter 'Owl' Ezell. If the earlier Duty books are centered on Savannah McLaughlin, Major Christopher Dane, and his special-operations team, these books shift the spotlight to the next crisis in that same circle.

Brooke is in serious trouble from the start.

In Proceed with Caution, she disappears after stumbling into information that puts her in danger. Her mother, Neely, turns to her brother Major Dane, because Dane and his team are the kind of people you call when a problem has moved beyond local police work. Hunter Ezell, known as Owl, is sent to find and protect Brooke. He is disciplined, watchful, and not exactly built for emotional small talk.

Brooke, naturally, complicates that.

A large part of the first book puts Brooke and Hunter undercover, posing as a married couple while hiding at a Civil War reenactment site. That setup gives the story some of Green's familiar humor and romantic tension, but the reason they are hiding is not light. Brooke has seen enough to attract dangerous attention, and the people behind the threat are willing to chase her hard.

Danger Ahead continues the story rather than starting fresh. Brooke has not been fully honest about everything, and Hunter has to decide what trust means when the person he is protecting has used lies to survive. The danger also widens through Joined Forces, an environmental group that turns out to be tied to something more menacing than public activism.

These books are best read in order. Proceed with Caution sets up the relationship, the secrets, and the immediate threat. Danger Ahead follows through on the emotional and physical fallout.

The tone is clean romantic suspense with military teamwork, family loyalty, and a good amount of running from people who do not want the truth exposed. Readers who liked Dane's team in Hazardous Duty, Above and Beyond, and Code of Honor will feel at home here, but Brooke and Hunter bring their own push-pull energy to the series.