The Heart of Brody McQuade (2008)

Mallory Kane's 2008 romantic suspense novel pairs the Texas Ranger Brody McQuade with Victoria Kirkland, the attorney who defended a suspect in the death of his sister Kimberly. Guarded in his temporary quarters, Victoria picks up the watch he always wears. (Open Library)

Watches

TAG Heuer Carrera: Victoria finds Brody's watch left on a side table, recognizes a TAG Heuer Carrera worth at least three thousand dollars and wonders how a Ranger affords it. Trying the heavy steel watch on, she feels an engraving: a birthday inscription from his sister Kimmie dated six years earlier, when Kimberly was nineteen, which sets her asking where a teenager found that kind of money.

Source text: As soon as she looked at it she knew what it was. It was a Tag Heuer Carrera. At least three grand retail. She was surprised. (Mallory Kane, The Heart of Brody McQuade, scan cataloged as Harlequin (larger print), 2008, p. 236; the scene begins on p. 235; Internet Archive scan OCR)