Book picks similar to
Her Secret, His Duty by Carla Cassidy


romance
romantic-suspense
fiction
harlequin

Wife for Hire


Christine Bell - 2012
    His mission? To expose the man who stole his sister’s money and dignity. All he needs is a “wife” who can play along. Too bad his last best hope is an actress who tries to mace him with perfume when he offers her the role of a lifetime.Lindy Knight is a real sap. She loves too hard, feels too deep, and often finds herself saying yes when she should be saying “Let me think about it.” She can’t believe her good fortune when Owen offers her more than enough money to hold off foreclosure until she can find a job. Three weeks at a resort, money she desperately needs, and she gets to help bring a criminal to justice? Score.It seems easy enough until the first time a couples bonding game turns intimate, and they realize how dangerous their mutual attraction could be. Can they keep their hands to themselves long enough to find the evidence Owen needs? Or are the close quarters more temptation than they can handle?

Driven to Distraction


Lori Foster - 2018
    But this particular obstacle—huge, hard-muscled, unashamedly masculine—is impossible to ignore. Stuck in a cramped car with Brodie Crews for hours en route to their new assignment, Mary feels her carefully crafted persona—and her trademark self-control—is slipping, and she won’t allow it.Brodie can’t imagine what secret in Mary’s past has left her so buttoned-up, though he’d dearly love to find out. Maybe then she’d trust him enough to explore their explosive chemistry. But he needs this job, so he’ll play by her rules and bide his time…until an enemy determined to outwit them strikes and he needs to get close—in every way—to protect her. Otherwise they could lose much more than a precious collectible. They could lose it all.

Winter Hawk's Legend


Aimée Thurlo - 2011
    The fearless Navajo security expert has sworn to protect her from a relentless would-be killer. But Daniel himself, a scintillating package of Native American tradition and all-American sexiness, presents an even greater danger to Holly. She's quickly falling for him and can only foresee heartbreak.Daniel, Holly knows, remains true to his Navajo upbringing. Unlike her, he craves no home or family--just the same freedom as the great hawk. As they run for their lives, Holly's courage and spirit spark in Daniel irresistible passion. Her heart may not be broken after all, if he can save her one last time....

Fatal Destiny


Marie Force - 2011
    In the aftermath of a tragic loss, they struggle to reconnect as the big day draws near and their work keeps pulling them apart. When a new clue in a cold case surfaces, Nick asks Sam not to take any foolish chances before the wedding and to leave it alone for the time being. Sam agrees, but she can’t let it go entirely and winds up trapped in an explosive situation. Then an unwelcome visitor from her past threatens her future happiness. With trouble at every turn, will Sam survive long enough to walk down the aisle?

A Kiss Remembered


Erin St. Claire - 1983
    Ten years ago, when she was Grant Chapman's student, they shared a single, scorching, unplanned kiss that still haunts Shelley's dreams. Now, as irresistible as ever, Grant has just returned to teaching after a stint as a congressional aide in Washington . . . and sees no impropriety in asking Shelley out. Isn't this what she secretly longs for? Still, Shelly isn't sure what she really wants. But a stunning accusation is about to change all that -- and she must choose to take some dangerous risks or spend the rest of her life filled with regret.

Cover Your Eyes


Mary Burton - 2014
    Then a torrent of blows rains down upon their bodies until their eyes cloud over in final agony. The killer shows no remorse--just a twisted need to witness each victim's last terrified moments.Don't SpeakPublic defender Rachel Wainwright is struggling to reopen a decades-old case, convinced that the wrong man is in prison. Homicide detective Deke Morgan doesn't want to agree. But if Rachel's hunch is correct, whoever fatally bludgeoned young, beautiful Annie Dawson thirty years ago could be the source of a new string of brutal slayings.Just Prepare To DieRachel's investigation is about to reveal answers--but at a price she never thought to pay. Now she's become the target of a rage honed by years of jealousy and madness. And a murderer is ready to show her just how vicious the truth can be. . .

A Harmless Little Game


Meli Raine - 2016
    Of course it would. A Senator’s daughter on camera? Wouldn’t you click “share”? Besides, that’s what three of the four guys in the video did.Share.They shared me.But that fourth guy? The nondescript one in the background in the upper left corner of the screen, just sitting on the couch? The only one who did nothing?Not one single thing.That was my boyfriend, Drew.And that was the last time I saw him.Until today, when my father—now on a path to the White House—hired him as head of security for my new team as I return home after four years of “recovering” in an undisclosed location that involved white lab coats, needles, pills and damage control.You see, the other three guys never went to jail. Never had charges pressed.Never faced consequences.Until today.Game on.* * *A Harmless Little Game is the first in this political thriller/romantic suspense trilogy by USA Today bestselling author Meli Raine.

Illusion


J.S. Cooper - 2014
    Cooper introduces the Swept Away series—three new, dark and sexy romances about a woman marooned on a desert island with a mysterious stranger—but is he friend or foe?The day started like every other day... Bianca London finds herself kidnapped and locked up in a van with a strange man. Ten hours later, they’re dumped on a deserted island. Bianca has no idea what’s going on and her attraction to this stranger is the only thing keeping her fear at bay. Jakob Bradley wants only to figure out why they’ve been left on the island and how they can get off. But as the days go by, he can’t ignore his growing fascination with Bianca. In order to survive, Bianca and Jakob must figure out how they’re connected, but as they grow closer, secrets are revealed that may destroy everything they thought they knew about each other.

Little Bird of Heaven


Joyce Carol Oates - 2007
     Set in the mythical small city of Sparta, New York, this searing, vividly rendered exploration of the mysterious conjunction of erotic romance and tragic violence in late-twentieth-century America returns to the emotional and geographical terrain of acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates's previous bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys and The Gravedigger's Daughter. When a young wife and mother named Zoe Kruller is found brutally murdered, the Sparta police target two primary suspects, her estranged husband, Delray Kruller, and her longtime lover, Eddy Diehl. In turn, the Krullers' son, Aaron, and Eddy Diehl's daughter, Krista, become obsessed with each other, each believing the other's father is guilty. Told in halves in the very different voices of Krista and Aaron, Little Bird of Heaven is a classic Oates novel in which the lyricism of intense sexual love is intertwined with the anguish of loss, and tenderness is barely distinguishable from cruelty. By the novel's end, the fated lovers, meeting again as adults, are at last ready to exorcise the ghosts of the past and come to terms with their legacy of guilt, misplaced love, and redemptive yearning.

Her Sanctuary


Toni Anderson - 2009
    Her undercover work brought down a mobster’s empire. Her reward? A bullseye on her back, betrayal burning like battery acid in her veins, and a life on the run.A remote Montana ranch was supposed to be a safe haven to begin reclaiming her life. Which doesn’t include a man as solid as a mountain, with sapphire eyes and a slow, sexy drawl that curls inside her in a way she hasn’t felt in far too long.Nat Sullivan smells trouble coming in the Triple H’s cold mountain air. And this time it’s not the repo men sneaking in to take his prized horses. It’s a beautiful woman with wide eyes, dark hair, and skin pale as snow.Together, the damaged agent and struggling rancher find common ground…and a healing passion neither expected. But when a killer with a lust for revenge tracks Elizabeth down, the secrets she must unleash to survive could destroy everything they both love…REVISED AND UPDATED, NOVEMBER 2021.

The Banker


Penelope Sky - 2019
    They'll take me next unless I comply with their demands. Taking down the most powerful man in Italy. Cato Marino. The man is accompanied by his security team everywhere he goes. His fortress in Tuscany is impenetrable. He's the most paranoid man in the country. And there's no possibility I'll be able to take him down alone. If I want to save my father, I only have one option. To get into Cato's bed...and stay there. **This story is not about the Barsettis, but it takes place in the same universe. There are guest appearances by Crow Barsetti and Bones Jr.**

Taming Him


Kennedy Fox - 2018
    Working on the ranch helped build his solid eight-pack and smoking body. He's every girl's wet fantasy, and he knows it too. Alex doesn't follow the rules of your typical playboy bachelor. After wining and dining his dates and giving them the best night of their lives, he always sends flowers and calls the next day—even if it's to say, let's just be friends. His mama taught him manners after all, and his Southern blood knows how to be a gentleman. Still, that isn’t enough to tame the wildest of the Bishop brothers. River Lancaster has finally met the man of her dreams. Too bad after six months of romantic bliss, she finds out he's married. With a broken heart and blind rage, she books herself a ticket to Key West, Florida. Tired of cheaters and liars, she’s set on escaping to forget he ever existed. Who needs a man when there's an all-you-can-drink margarita bar, anyway? That's what she tells herself until she bumps into the right guy who can make all those bad memories disappear.Even if it's only temporarily. Two weeks on the beach is what they both need. No strings attached, no expectations, no broken hearts. Too bad the universe has other plans—one that'll change the entire course of their lives in just nine short months.This is book 1 in the Bishop Brothers series. Each book features a different brother and can be read as a complete standalone. HEA guaranteed!**Not suitable for readers under 18 due to adult language and sexual content.**

Kill Without Mercy


Alexandra Ivy - 2015
    Individually they're intimidating. Together they're invincible. They're the men of ARES Security.Rafe Vargas is only in Newton, Iowa, to clear out his late grandfather's small house. As the covert ops specialist for ARES Security, he's eager to get back to his new life in Texas. But when he crosses paths with Annie White, a haunted beauty with skeletons in her closet, he can't just walk away--not when she's clearly in danger. . .There's a mysterious serial killer on the loose with a link to Annie's dark past. And the closer he gets, the deeper Rafe's instinct to protect kicks in. But even with his considerable skill, Annie's courage, and his ARES buddies behind him, the slaying won't stop. Now it's only a matter of time before Annie's next--unless they can unravel a history of deadly lies that won't be buried.

The Lighthouse Keeper


Cynthia Ellingsen - 2017
    Thanks to a mud-slinging exposé, Dawn’s late great-grandfather is assumed guilty of stealing silver from a century-old shipwreck. Hoping to clear his name, Dawn returns to Starlight Cove, her idyllic hometown on Lake Michigan, where the doomed vessel sleeps beneath the beam of a ramshackle lighthouse.Her plan: remodel and sell the lighthouse while untangling the perplexing family mystery. Neither task is easy, especially once her well-meaning parents and the quirky locals—including nautical researcher and Starlight Cove’s most eligible bachelor, Kip Whittaker—get involved. Despite their attraction, Dawn is reluctant to trust Kip, or any of the close-knit townsfolk. But as she pieces together the truth, Dawn’s once-shuttered heart opens up. And if she’s willing, the lighthouse might guide her to a place she never expected to find, where the past entwines with a bright new beginning.

Breaking Free


Teresa J. Reasor - 2011
    Someone in the team attacked Cutter and left him for dead. But who? ZOE WEAVER races to her brother Brett’s bedside. He stood by her while she fought her way back from a devastating injury, and she’s determined to do the same for him. Though drawn to Hawk’s good looks and steady strength, she’s reluctant to get involved with a man in uniform. But with Brett lying in a coma, Hawk may prove the key to what happened to her brother. Hawk is torn between loyalty to his men and his need to see justice done. When he tries to save a troubled teammate’s career, he unwittingly puts Zoe’s life in danger. Can he lead the rest of the team in a rescue operation to save her? Or will one of Hawk's brothers in arms destroy the woman he loves?