But she isn't laughing when he shows up on her doorstep six years later with a proposal. So what's a girl to do? Step 1: Move in With Him Jane makes herself at home and demands an engagement ring, to boot. But Will just welcomes her with open arms - into his house and his bed - and buys her a three-carat rock, too! Step 2: Make Liver for Dinner The dog won't eat the dinners Jane prepares, yet Will chokes them back, and still wants Jane for dessert! Step 3: Redecorate in Pink Even pink towels, throw pillows and curtains don't faze Will. So how can Jane prove marriage is all wrong, when everything Will does is so right? Especially what he does to her...

    Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, and The Best American Short Stories of 2000 (selected by E.L.Doctorow.) These are provocative, often shocking, tales of obsession, love, racism, addiction, betrayal, even murder, but told in such sensuous, richly-textured prose each story is rendered magical and timeless. A young girl obsessed with her tattooed, Yakuza uncle wit-nesses his horrific ending. A woman is condemned to death for loving a man outside her culture. Two cousins learn the terrible toll of drug addiction. A boy with amputated legs is introduced to love by an older woman. A girl of mixed-race heritage discovers her white father's racist background, and spends her life trying to 'run her genes off, like fat.' Two beautiful sisters, professional taxi-dancers, abandon their daughters, leaving them with no clues or codes on how to survive. A house of dysfunctional and wounded people are finally redeemed by the strength of love.The stories are set in islands across the Pacific where the author has lived and traveled extensively - Hawaii, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Fiji, Vanuatu - parts of of the world only barely ex-plored in contemporary literature. Davenport offers her readers not just mesmerizing writing, but also brings them bulletins from an ancient, yet seemingly brave, new world. *****Of Davenport's writing, ALICE WALKER has said, "She ex-hibits the character great writers must have, passionate love of people, dedication to the memory of people who have suffered. You can't read Kiana Davenport without being transformed." ISABEL ALLENDE has said, "Reading Davenport is an over-whelming experience. Her prose is sharp and shining as a sword, yet her sense of poetry and love of nature permeate each line."A Sampling of Reviews of Stories in this Collection:"The story, HOUSE OF SKIN, transcends the very good and achieves the beautiful. It describes what is essentially a love story between the uncle, aunt and niece. After the tattooed uncle finally dies comes an ending as appropriate and mortifying as any I have ever read." - W.P. Osborn, Manoa, Journal of International Writing"THE LIPSTICK TREE had a magical effect on me. The pro-tagonist's dream of a better life, and her determination to go to the furthest extremes to achieve it, is heroic. The price of freedom is mitigated with grievous loss and bittersweet victory." - Thom Jones, author of Pugilist at Rest"DRAGON SEED is a spooky tale of addiction and self-destruction." - Jeff Yang, Reviewer, The Village Voice"The haunting, junkie ecstasy of Davenport's DRAGON SEEDis both abhorrent and beautiful." - Jessica Hagedorn, author of Dog Eaters"Hypnotic and amazing tales. Her writing is astonishing. Along the way, we learn about important and under-represented cultures. BONES OF THE INNER EAR still haunts me, and I believe some of these stories will stand as long as there is written language." - Tillie Olsen, author of Silences, Tell Me a Riddle *****

    But more shocking than the hit-and-run is the news that a crime cartel has infiltrated his factory. There's a fortune to be made by tampering with the factory's products…but only if Blake is out of the way. Undercover FBI agent Heidi Zimmerman has two goals—catch the criminals in the act, and keep Blake alive. Falling for the single dad and his adorable daughter isn't in the plan. But everything changes when an abduction leaves Heidi face-to-face with a killer, revealing the danger that's been hiding in plain sight all along…

    Places where the infirm, the crazy, and the certifiable go for treatment... Or what passes for ‘treatment’.This is a collection of stories of bedlam taking place within the padded walls of an institution. Stories of experiments gone wrong, patients revolting against the staff, or even the deranged doings of those charged with giving care. They are sick, depraved, and atrocious - the type of stories that rarely reach the light of day.Are you brave enough to crawl inside the minds of the thirteen authors who wrote these tales... Or are you afraid you’ll be locked up for peeking?Featuring the talents of:Delphine Boswell, Alex Chase, Sean Conway, Megan Dorei, A.A. Garrison, Tom Howard, Russell Linton, Suzie Lockhart and Bruce Lockhart 2nd, Jennifer Loring, Sergio Palumbo, Joseph A. Pinto, and D.M. Smith

    Though absolutely out of his depth, he's amazed when he finally gets the little girl to stop crying!Then beautiful single mom Ellie arrives, distraught that the babysitter left her precious child on Dalton's doorstep!Can this chaotic pair make him realize that too much of his life has been stored in fiction? With Ellie he could start a whole new chapter....

    And before she could change her mind, sexy forest ranger Michael Walker agreed to play the part of her ardent admirer!Laurel never expected Michael's acting abilities to be quite so convincing. Whenever her sister was watching, Laurel found herself wrapped in a heady embrace with a passionate kiss on the way. Her captivating cohort promised a performance that would win her the wager, but when the curtain closed, would she lose the only man she would ever love?This is the first of Donna Clayton's backlist titles to be made available. Look for more Donna Clayton romances soon!

    As an avid traveller and then travel journalist, she's spent most of her working life on a plane somewhere, and over 10 years writing about the places she's ended up. In Departures she brings all of that knowledge together with the signature warmth and wit of her journalism. Anna is here to show that even the experts get it wrong, and how to get it right . . .

    

    Republished titles.

    When he follows the beautiful stranger, he saves her from a deadly fire and gunmen out for blood. But who exactly is Hilly? Is she connected to the Delaney family’s biggest rivals? And how is the former marine going to keep her from breaking down his carefully constructed barriers?Carsons & Delaneys: Battle Tested

    But that doesn't stop Jess from noticing good-lookin', sweet-talkin' cowboy Johnny Jameson swagger into town. He's as wild and untamed as the stallions he trains....is where the girl who's stolen his heart is!The attraction between them is as fiery as a Texan summer and Johnny finds himself questioning whether he could finally put down roots - in Larkville, a place where two very special people have taken hold of his heart.

    Now with help from police constable Layke Jackson, she must keep the child safe. But can they rescue the other abducted children and bring down the gang…all while protecting a little boy and keeping themselves alive?From Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

    However, she discovers too late that etiquette is the last thing on devilishly handsome Will's mind....

    Paul was a sweetheart--and very sexy. But he lived for the moment. Bette wasn't sure she should get involved; she couldn't expect commitment from this man. And Paul--well, he had issues of his own about a woman who was so organized. Contemporary romance by Patricia McLinn; originally published as a Silhouette Special Edition