The small town of Florence, Arizona, is known for one thing–its prison. Gabrielle Hadley is in Florence for personal reasons, though; she's seeking the mother who abandoned her more than two decades ago.In order to support herself and her two-year-old daughter, Gabrielle is working as a prison guard–just about the only job available in this bleak desert town.Randall Tucker is a prisoner at Florence, convicted of murdering his wife. He has one goal: to survive until he can prove his innocence–and reclaim his seven-year-old son, Landon, now living in foster care.In the prison's atmosphere of tension and corruption, Gabrielle discovers that Randall Tucker is far from the murderer he's said to be.When he escapes during a prison transfer, she follows him into the unforgiving desert. To protect her job, her own integrity–or him? But the guard becomes the prisoner's captive…and more. It's a relationship that's not supposed to exist, and yet it might save them both.
"Passion blinded me once, but not again!"When the Colton investigation led to Keyhole, Wyoming, Annie Summers realized the safe life she'd built had just been blown apart by the reappearance of one man–Wyatt Russell! Once, she'd loved him with every fiber of her being.But when Wyatt had left to pursue his ambitions, she'd been brokenhearted. Now, widowed with twins, the struggling single mom refused to believe in Wyatt's passion-filled promises and let the hotshot D.C. lawyer back into her life. But had the time finally come to act on the dream she'd long suppressed?
They couldn't be any more differentPoppy Thompson: The self-proclaimed homeliest woman in town, she deals with animals for a living rather than people.Bren Price: The ever-proper minister's wife, she does everything her husband tells her, but lately her best just isn't good enough.They'd never even spoken to one another until a surprise inheritance brings them together. A fortune in sparkling jewelry could give them what each desires most–Poppy's surgical transformation, Bren's escape from her husband. Yet the real treasure just might be the friendship these two total opposites form once they discover all that glitters isn't gold.
Lila Delaney never claimed to be entirely psychic…just slightly psychic. But any ability she might have had disappeared the minute Lila's visions led her and the police to a missing heiress…healthy, happy and tied to the bed of Lila's fiancé. Broadcast live on national television, the incident was enough to make Lila hightail it out of town.Lila's journey brought her and her best friend Pepper to a small Virginia town. All too soon the woman who just wanted to be left alone was indulging in mint juleps and moonlit celebrations, becoming attracted to a too-secretive man and getting involved in an unsolved murder. If only her psychic abilities would return, Lila might just figure out what she was getting into next….
Sam Montford left Shelter Valley ten years ago. He's a direct descendant of the town's founder, the first Samuel Montford, and for him, Shelter Valley's expectations had become oppressive. Home had become smothering instead of sheltering.Sam returns to the town–and to his ex-wife, Cassie Tate–with a seven-year-old child. This is a complete shock to Cassie. When Sam left, he hadn't known she was pregnant. Or that she had lost their baby.Sam's back in Shelter Valley now, back to stay. But he refuses to become the man people expected him to be ten years ago. Can he be the man Cassie needs now?
When FBI special agent Rory Sinclair saw the woman who ran the guest house where he was staying, she wasn't the apron-clad lady with graying hair tucked in a prim bun he'd envisioned. Not even close.Peggy Honeywell was a young single mom whose seductive gaze nearly froze him in his tracks. Going undercover to expose the danger looming at the Colton-endowed Hopechest Ranch wasn't nearly so hard as pretending he didn't ache to take this wary widow in his arms and make every room in her house theirs–exclusively. And for the first time in his life, this hardened lawman felt like more than his job was at stake…because protecting Peggy would be a lifetime commitment!
"This marriage has strings attached, Chance…"Yeah, and it's all based on my, um, performance. When Lana Ramirez came to him with an offer of marriage, Chance Reilly knew it was too good to be true. He needed a wife to claim his rightful inheritance, but what did the sweetly sensual private-duty nurse want from the marriage bed? Little did the rugged rancher guess, the Colton housekeeper's eldest daughter had been hopelessly in love with him forever…and she wanted a baby–his baby. Their torrid nights would no doubt leave her pregnant in Prosperino, but would Chance still be by her side?
"Do I look like one of your smooth-faced golden boys? I don't think so."Hard-boiled, cynical police detective Thaddeus Law had a mission: nab the sorry son-of-a-gun out to kill famous billionaire Joe Colton. This assignment would have been open and shut if he hadn't been so damned distracted. Used to chasing criminals and taking on corruption, Thaddeus found investigating the Colton case oddly like a country club golf outing–complete with Joe's eager-to-please niece-cum-personal-assistant fumbling his strokes. Young, smart and beautiful, heiress Heather McGrath was wasting her suggestive glances on him, big time. He'd been down that road before…. The only princess in Thad's life would be his two-year-old daughter. So why was his lawman's gut telling him otherwise?
Jessica Holmes had come to Minneapolis looking for a miracle. Her sweet little girl's life was in jeopardy, and only a blood relative could help–only a Fortune.Amid all the skeptics who said she was after the Fortunes' money, just one man believed Jessica's story. Dr. Stephen Hunter vowed he would fight to save her precious daughter. But he hadn't counted on fighting his own feelings for this remarkable woman, whose beauty and spirit tempted his hardened heart….
With eyes as dark as night and a gaze that laid all secrets bare, Nick Valkov was the kind of man any smart woman would avoid. But dire circumstances forced levelheaded Caroline Fortune to proposition this compelling stranger…with marriage. Her family's fate rested in Nick's capable hands–and brilliant mind. Yet her proper upbringing hadn't prepared this reluctant bride for her husband's soul-stirring embrace. And neither expected that their practical union would lead them to dark hours of danger…and the ultimate surrender.