But when she returns to her hometown and runs into a boy from her past, the terrible secret she’s tucked away for eighteen years returns to haunt her. The grown-up Ian McCarthy is irresistible, and the closer he and Brooke become, the harder it is to keep the truth from him. Brooke has no choice but to end the deception, but revealing what she knows might mean losing Ian forever.

     In the wake of her husband's tragic death, Lee is pregnant and one million dollars in debt to a dangerous loan shark willing to do anything to collect. Out of money and options, Lee seeks refuge in the small Oregon town where her mother's dilapidated home sits vacant, as desperate for a fresh start as Lee herself.With a baby on the way and a living to make, Lee opens a restaurant and begins to rebuild her life. But just as she catches her breath, and the eye of a local musician offering a second chance at love, she finds herself right back in the clutches of the debt collector with more to lose than ever.

    To celebrate their accomplishments, bestselling authors have honored the winners by writing short stories inspired by their lives and work.This special eBook is yours at no charge because Harlequin is committed to celebrating women's efforts and supporting the causes that are meaningful to them. By sharing Rhonda Clemons' story, we hope to turn awareness into action and mobilize others to make a difference.To find out more or to nominate a woman you know, please visit HarlequinMoreThanWords.com.

    Restaurant reviewer Lina Holland learned that lesson by watching her beloved mentor self-destruct, and she’s not about to make a similar mistake, even if the chef and owner of the restaurant she’s secretly reviewing is the most sexalicious hunk who ever seared a T-bone. It’s not enough to be scrupulously impartial, she must avoid even the merest whiff of favoritism. Date a restaurateur? She can’t allow herself to even think about it. Okay, she thinks about it, but that’s all. Really! Chef Eric Reid is a widower struggling to raise twin boys and keep his fledgling restaurant afloat long enough for word of mouth to lift it out of the red. Little does he suspect that the intriguing new customer groaning in ecstasy over his bourbon pecan tart is none other than the legendary Lina Holland, the reviewer whose thumbs-up could spell the difference between colossal success and the extermination of his lifelong dream. No one in the industry knows what Lina looks like, but he’s convinced she’s a brash, zaftig shrew who applies her makeup with a putty knife. When he finds out how wrong he is, the fun really starts! Throw in a buttinsky roommate, a lecherous ex-husband, bribery by chocolate, and the fishing excursion from hell, and the result is, well, too darn hot! Originally published by Zebra books, a division of Kensington Publishing Corp.

    He digs into the snowman to discover two things: the weapon fits into the body just under the head, and the snowman was supposed to be the back drop for Lexi's next show.From this improbable beginning comes friendship. Can there be more for a woman who is afraid to get close again and a man who has shadows from his childhood?Families join together and hearts are healed as this couple goes walking in a winter wonderland.

    Instead of finishing med school to become a doctor, she chooses a different path and raises money for hospitals – new wings, equipment, whatever they need. Except there is one hospital she would be happy to never set foot in again--her fathers. So of course he hires her to create a gala for his sixty-fifth birthday. Charity can’t say no. Now she is working in the one place she doesn’t want to be. Except she’s attracted to Dr. Elijah Bennet, the handsome playboy chief. Will she ever prove to her father that’s she’s more than a med school dropout? Or will her attraction to Elijah keep her from repairing the one thing she desperately wants to fix? ** This is NOT erotica. It's Romance and a love story. ** * This is a two book series: Part 1 and Part 2 * )

    Joining single father Ben Hanson and his children for the holidays seems an easy enough task until Santa informs her that Ben is the man behind the disturbing new book 'Beyond Bah Humbug: Why Lying to Your Children about Santa Claus is a Bad Idea'.Posing as Miss Kane, the children's new nanny, Carol pulls out all the stops to show Ben how fun Christmas can be, all the while struggling to understand how one man could hate the holidays so much. How could she, Santa's only daughter, be so attracted to a man who refuses to believe her father exists?**Please note - this book was originally titled Carol's Christmas**

    It was all encompassing. I thought our love could withstand time and anything thrown our way. I was wrong. So wrong.I used to be happy. I used to be Juliette Weston when Dylan Somers filled my life with promises of love and a happy ever after. But when he took my heart and broke it into a million pieces, I became someone else entirely. In one afternoon, I lost my soul mate. I lost everything I knew myself to be. Three years later, the man who destroyed me is back. To assuage his guilt? To finish the job? It doesn’t matter… I won’t let him this time. I’m stronger. I’ve moved on. He won’t affect me. This is a story of love and betrayal. Pain and loss. Happiness and fate. It’s about finding your true destiny.This is our story.And it’s not for the faint of heart.

    But has an ill-advised fling with a handsome co-star resulted in a seriously unplanned consequence?Jess feels increasingly left out as the only non-mum amongst her friends. Terrified she might lose them altogether, she embarks on becoming a mother too. But is she really ready?Nina has come to Lakeview to live with her estranged father, Patrick after a bad break-up. But will she ever dare tell him about the secret she is concealing?One thing's for sure: someone knows more than they're telling. And the truth won't stay hidden forever...

    When he threatens to not promote her because she refuses to get in ‘compromising’ positions, she quits.If a day can go from bad to worse, it does for Abbey. She runs into Bruce Harrington on her way home—literally. Bruce Harrington was on his way to a very important meeting. That was until a raving lunatic with brown, bouncy hair spiraled towards him in her car and then on foot. Maybe he should count it a blessing that when she sent him cascading over the side of the embankment—he wasn’t in his car. To make amends for causing Bruce to break a leg, Abbey becomes his chauffeur and helpmate until he recovers.When his cast is about to come off he has to face losing Abbey. There has to be some way he can keep her from walking out of his life forever. If a job offer won’t do it then perhaps it’s time for a proposal.

    When she returns home to mid-coast Maine for his funeral, she faces all that she left behind when she left seven years earlier. The pain of her own mother’s death, the fractured relationships with her father, and her first love. The life she had built for herself in New York - the art world, her boyfriend, her roommate who is also her best friend - allowed her to forget the grief and hurt she had left behind in Maine. But when her uncle leaves her a surprising inheritance, if forces her to face them, and the parts of her self she’s buried. As she searches for answers about herself, and where she belongs, she discovers how people and places shape us, and how understanding, forgiveness and grace have the power to transform us and the people we love.

    A neighbor, however, is secretly hatching a sinister plot which will find Jenny and her unborn baby fighting for their lives.

    But her roommate soon takes pity on her and offers to help her get a job working with him for an escort service. Larissa's first client is Senator Chase Underwood: gorgeous, married, and the current presidential candidate. Will his penchant for sexual domination destroy his prospects of world domination?This is the first short story in the Power Players Series.

    But when her brother’s police detective partner is injured in the line of duty and needs help during recovery, she makes an exception. Violet lost her father to the job seven years ago, and worries for her brother’s safety every day. The last thing she wants is to get up-close with her brother’s career-cop partner…again.For Noah Blackwell, being a detective isn’t just a lifestyle, it’s a legacy. So when he’s forced to take mandatory leave and deal with the trauma amnesia keeping him from identifying his shooter, it’s a literal case of adding insult to injury— and now he’s got to deal with an unwanted culinary caregiver on top of it. Never mind that he and Violet shared a steamy, secret kiss last New Year’s Eve. She rejects everything related to the job, and Noah’s not about to be distracted from recovering his memory and getting back to what he does best. No matter how pretty Violet is.Despite their differences, Violet and Noah share a surprising bond in the kitchen that grows into something neither of them expect. But as Noah heals and their feelings for each other extend from the kitchen to the bedroom, Violet knows she must make an impossible choice. She may wear her heart on her sleeve when it comes to food, but can she risk it all to put love on the line?