Though a shrewd businesswoman, Honor Donovan has been effectively shut out of the dangerous family enterprise by the Donovan males -- until her favorite brother, Kyle, mysteriously vanishes along with a fortune in stolen amber.Now, linking up with "fishing guide" Jake Mallory -- whose previous association with the Donovans has bred mistrust and suspicion -- Honor sets out for the Pacific Northwest in search of answers. But old wars and new politics have lured ruthless, high-stakes players from around the globe into a deadly game. And suddenly, elusive trust can be the only salvation -- and death the penalty for deceit -- if Honor and Jake hope to survive the perilous intrigues surrounding a breathtaking lost Czarist treasure known as the Amber Room ...

    Not knowing whom they can trust, and with war hanging in the balance, the survivors must go dark and scatter around the globe.Marine ecologist Annie Henderson joins her new boyfriend on a trip to the Western Isles of Scotland to protest a hazardous offshore drilling venture. When she realizes that she may be swept up in something far more dangerous than she'd intended, there is only one man she can turn to. . . . She and the mysterious but sexy dive boat captain haven't exactly gotten off to the best start, but something about his quiet confidence makes her think that he's the kind of man she can depend on. Because he's gruff and guarded, she can tell Dan Warren has secrets. But she could never imagine how high the stakes are for him to keep his cover, even as he risks everything to protect her. . . .

    Hot on the trail of another two-timing spouse, Holly goes into stealth mode to find out if the owner of Books on the Beach, Wes Brockman, is slipping between the covers with her client’s adulterous wife. Joining the book club, she soon realizes that Wes isn’t her philandering Casanova, nor is he a mild-mannered book store owner. He’s way too dark, hunky and mysterious, pinging Holly’s interest… and lust. Holly’s heart is on ice, but her body is all for a little beach romance as long as it doesn’t interfere with the job. That works great until Wes becomes her job, her lover and maybe her destruction.An Incriminating Murder…Wes’s bookstore is a new chapter in his life, and he’s closed the book on his old one. When Holly shows up in his club breathing snarky attitude and raw sexiness he can’t keep his hands off her. The woman ignites more than his lust, she makes him feel alive—which is saying something since he’s been technically dead for years. It’s not until a book club member is murdered in his store that Wes learns Holly’s an uncover P.I. But now he needs her more than ever and hires her to find the killer… and because he can’t bear to let her go. Wes is falling hard for the sexy sleuth while guarding his dangerous secret that could get people he loves—including Holly—killed.The Lethal Consequences…Secrets and betrayals explode, and Holly discovers that falling in love with a bookstore owner can be devastating…and deadly.** This title is a reissue of a 2007 release.

    When one of her co-workers is found raped and murdered, April does what she knows she shouldn’t—she defies the neighborhood code by giving the police a hardcore gang member’s name. Clean-cut cop Noah Young wants a shot at breaking this case more than anything in the world—that is, until he meets the unforgettable April Ortiz. When April gives Noah the tip, a spark ignites. As the fire between them threatens to blaze out of control, the two are dragged down further into the dark mysteries of the graffiti-lined streets, taunted by a crazed killer who could strike again at any time. From the Paperback edition.

    "Too hard, and it won’t bust when it hits the floor. Too thin, and it explodes on impact with the window, splashing you with the fuel mix and burning you to hell."Someone is setting fires in the Houston barrio, and Dr. Jack Montoya is the first intended victim. Is there some connection between the torching of his apartment and the gorgeous blonde from his past who appears at his clinic that same day? For sure, Reagan Hurley turns up the flames of his libido, but these days the beautiful firefighter is more interested in putting out conflagrations than fanning old sparks. Yet when a hotly contested mayoral race turns ugly, when Reagan’s life is threatened and Jack’s career almost destroyed, when desire sizzles uncontrollably between them, it seems that no one will be able to… Fade the Heat.

    The events that followed changed her life forever. Twelve years later, the woman known as Abigail Lowery lives on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance programmer, she designs sophisticated security systems -- and supplements her own security with a fierce dog and an assortment of firearms. She keeps to herself, saying little, revealing nothing. But Abigail's reserve only intrigues police chief Brooks Gleason. Her logical mind, her secretive nature, and her unromantic viewpoints leave him fascinated but frustrated. He suspects that Abigail needs protection from something -- and that her elaborate defenses hide a story that must be revealed.With a quirky, unforgettable heroine and a pulse-pounding plotline, Nora Roberts presents a riveting new read that cements her place as today's most reliably entertaining thriller -- and will leave people hungering for more.

    Max’s mentor and friend, Jason Curzon, has left five priceless paintings on the coast and from his deathbed has sent Max to retrieve them along with anything else he might discover. What Max does find is a woman who sends shock waves to his core.Cleopatra Robbins has her hands full managing her small coastal inn. When Max arrives she recognizes her dream man…and he’s not at all dreamy! But when danger threatens from Cleo’s past, Max is the one man she can trust.

    But the elusive beauty is more suspicious—and in far more danger—than he expected. And the last thing Logan needs is to start caring for her….Pepper has spent years dodging the corrupt club owner who will stop at nothing to keep her silenced. She can trust no one, not even the handsome new "construction worker" who's moved in next door. The heat between them is undeniable. But will surrendering to passion bring her the safety she so desires—or will her feelings for Logan draw them both into a killer's crosshairs?

    The perfect opportunity arises when Senator John O’Connor is found brutally murdered in his bed, and Sam is assigned to the case. Things get complicated when Sam has to team up with Nick Cappuano, O’Connor’s friend and chief of staff…and the man Sam had a memorable one-night stand with years earlier. Their sexual chemistry still sizzles, and Sam has to fight to stay focused on the case. Sleeping with a material witness is another mistake she can’t afford—especially when the bodies keep piling up.

    But it also makes her the crucial player in a drama of violent passions and deadly desires. After plastic surgery transforms her face, Avery is mistaken for the glamorous, selfish wife of Tate Rutledge, the famous senatorial candidate and member of a powerful Texas dynasty. As she lays helpless in the hospital, Avery makes a shattering discovery: someone close to Tate planned to assassinate him. Now, to save him, she must live another woman's life -- and risk her own.

    Deceit. Backstabbing friends… Welcome to the jungle known as advertising… Kat Owens can tell you all about the snake-infested world of big-time advertising. Thanks to an ex-best friend co-worker and a gone-wrong love affair with a client, she’s forced to leave her large Charlotte agency for a small-town coastal one. It’s do-or-die time to prove she can be a success to the aging grandfather she adores. Which means she can’t afford to be distracted by a client who’s a walking, talking definition of sex… Even if he is the man who stole her heart thirteen months before in a one-night stand she can’t forget. Erik Monteague is a handsome, charismatic, highly respected businessman who has it all. Or so it seems. Only his closest friends know the truth about the guilt and emotional scars he carries, or why, following his fiancée’s death, he invoked the twenty-four/two rule. He never spends more than twenty-four hours with a woman, he rarely dates them twice, and he never thinks about them afterward. But Kat Owens is different. She cheated him out of twelve hours, and now he can’t forget her. At least that’s what he tells himself, because admitting the truth is too dangerous. When she suddenly appears in his hometown, he sets out to finish what they started thirteen months earlier. But while his perfectly executed seduction gets Kat back in his bed, the emotional fallout is more than he counted on. Will he face his tragic past once and for all… or spend the rest of his life running?

    Disgraced and disillusioned, she's on leave from her job when she gets an urgent call from her younger brother. She'd prefer to ignore his latest plea for cash, but this time instinct tells her something is very wrong. Andrea's search for answers takes her to a dusty Texas border town where danger lurks in plain sight and nothing is quite what it seems. FBI agent Jon North is working undercover in west Texas investigating an unsolved murder that may be linked to a broader plot. But when the evidence points to Andrea's brother, Jon finds that persuading the stubborn cop to help will be harder than cracking his toughest case. Andrea must find a way to do what's right while protecting her only sibling. As the clock ticks down on a deadly plot, Andrea and Jon race to confront a heartless killer who will stop at nothing to deliver a final, terrifying message.

    Not easy to do when he's been thrust into the darkest, most violent investigation of his career. A psychopath calling himself the Reaper is auctioning off murder at a deviant cyber club called Satan's Playground, and Dean and his team are forced to helplessly witness the killer's brutal crimes online. Stacey Rhodes is happy in her quiet, sleepy little town of Hope Valley, Virginia, where she has taken over as Sheriff because of her father's ill health. Nothing much seems to happen here, except for the mysterious disappearance of the town bad girl a year ago. So she is shocked when a sexy, brooding FBI agent intrudes on her world, bringing evidence that the missing local girl was the victim of a serial killer. Even more shocking, that serial killer might be someone she knows. Maybe even someone she loves....'

    And he needs it now, before another woman falls victim. But Abbie Phillips isn't what he bargained for. Sent from an exclusive group of the best criminologists in the country, she's smart, fierce...and distracting. She may be a brilliant forensic profiler, but Ryne needs answers, not psychobabble and head games.However, Abbie convinces him that head games are exactly what this elusive suspect is all about. The seemingly random acts of torture are actually calculated to match each victim's darkest fears. And the stakes are rising. While they study the devious psychopath, he's watching them -- the next objects of his horrifying obsession.

    The deceased is prominent businessman, Andrew Langan, and suicide is swiftly ruled out after Nick pursues the killers down twenty-seven flights--and loses them.To his superiors' frustrations, Nick doesn't believe Langan's soon-to-be ex-wife, Augusta, is guilty, even though she has motive, opportunity, no alibi and a shady past. The only reasons Nick has for going against logical dictates are the feeling in his gut and the constriction in his chest.Augusta is thrust back into an unwanted spotlight and her quiet life shattered. Then things go downhill. In between dodging the media, she confronts muggers, kidnappers and goons better dressed than she. With Nick Markov, who dredges up a past she'd rather forget and feelings she'd rather not acknowledge, Augusta must race to unravel her late husband's secrets before she finds herself skydiving without a parachute.This book was previously published in an altered form entitled Fall Dead by Cerridwen Press/Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc. in 2005 and is revised.EXCERPT"Damn it, Ethan," Nick Markov muttered, trying to steady his drunken partner and keep him from falling flat on his face and doing permanent damage to it. "Your wife's going to have my ass for this."Ethan Murtagh's scowl bordered on a pout more suited to a two-year-old. "I can walk on my own two feet," he said, his words only slightly slurred. He stumbled, nearly taking them both down.Nick grunted and muttered, "Right."It was several frustrating moments before Nick managed to strap his partner into the passenger seat of the black SUV parked in front of the bar. Ethan had been, once again, trying to drink himself into a stupor. He didn't handle disagreements with his significant other well. The current dispute was over the photographer who had shot his wife's swimsuit spread the previous week in the Bahamas."You'd better hope Torie's asleep when I get you home," Nick said, getting behind the wheel.A disgruntled sound came from the sprawled figure beside him. Nick answered with a grunt of his own as he pulled out. At almost one in the morning on a Wednesday night, it was relatively quiet in the Sixties on the Upper East Side, so it was a few short minutes before he was turning onto Fifth Avenue. Deciding it wouldn't take long to get Ethan upstairs and into his nineteenth-floor condo, Nick stopped the SUV in front of the building, killed the engine and flipped down his visor to display his credentials. He released his seat belt buckle, then reached over for his partner's. Ethan mumbled a protest, swatted at Nick's helping hand and fumbled with the door handle. Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Nick grabbed a fistful of his partner's jacket."Stay put," Nick said. "You open that door, you'll land on your pretty face and Torie will never forgive me."Ethan fell back in his seat, head tilted back, eyes closed. Satisfied, Nick opened his door, got out and made his way to the passenger side door. Ethan didn't move when he pulled the door open. Nick silently groaned at the possibility of having to carry his less-than-petite partner upstairs.