The site fixed upon at the representation of the insurance companies, and as being as central a spot as any other on the globe, was one of the broadest prairies of the West, where no human habitation would be endangered by the flames, and where a vast assemblage of spectators might commodiously admire the show. Having a taste for sights of this kind, and imagining, likewise, that the illumination of the bonfire might reveal some profundity of moral truth heretofore hidden in mist or darkness, I made it convenient to journey thither and be present. At my arrival, although the heap of condemned rubbish was as yet comparatively small, the torch had already been applied. Amid that boundless plain, in the dusk of the evening, like a far off star alone in the firmament, there was merely visible one tremulous gleam, whence none could have anticipated so fierce a blaze as was destined to ensue.

    This short story is taken from one of Steinbeck's early works, "The Pastures of Heaven."

    

    Set largely in the small Newfoundland mining town of Black Rock, but straying as far west as Vancouver and as far east as China, these stories are subtle, stark portrayals of people alternately looking for or trying desperately to escape their place in the world.A young boy confuses love and allegiance, then stumbles into the complexities of adulthood; a brother and sister fall in love with the same woman; a frustrated wife protests her husband’s neglect by going on strike with the miners’ union; a lover’s drug habit reunites a woman with the sister she has lost.Anchor Books is proud to publish an expanded edition of Michael Crummey’s brilliant collection Flesh and Blood, which includes three original stories written just for this edition. Graceful, affecting, and generous of spirit, these stories are unforgettable.

    That's what Natalie Alexander needs to get her head—and heart—together. But her solo trip south turns into a disaster when gorgeous Jett Sutter turns up with another challenge.Gail's Gone Wild by Susan DonovanSingle mom Gail Chapman insists on chaperoning her teenage daughter's spring-break trip to Key West. But she never expects to face temptation—in the hunky form of Jesse Batista, the mysterious man in the cottage next door.Just One Taste by Victoria DahlAll-work-and-no-play businessman Eric Donovan won't be distracted by a "businesswoman" who's all wrong for him. Beth Cantrell owns a women's erotica shop! And she has a juicy little secret. Can she tempt him to put pleasure before business for once?

    Years later, he's still haunted by Kayla, holding every woman to her standard. And Brandon's secretary, Amberlin Evans, knows she can’t measure up.Amberlin would do anything to make her boss notice her. But when one phone call from Kayla sends Brandon running after her, she knows it's time to stop waiting for him to see her and move on. Funny how her resignation gets Brandon's attention in a way short skirts didn't.When Brandon confronts Amberlin, he realizes that he's been blind to his feelings for her—and that the way she always calls him Sir and says "please" has his thoughts turning wicked…

    Or it changes your life forever. He called me "wife." This man standing naked in front of me. Tall. Dark. Sexy as sin... He's my husband? Disjointed images from the night before, the night I can’t entirely remember, float into my mind. Meeting him in the bar. Sharing tidbits of our lives. I own a company that plans bachelor parties. He’s a pediatric heart surgeon. We both live in Las Vegas, but we come from very different worlds. And then I remember that kiss. The way his lips brushed against mine, gentle at first, then harder, deeper, with more urgency. Sex in the elevator. Hot, forbidden, delicious. I remember the way he made me feel. The way our bodies fit perfectly together. But I don’t remember marrying him. And now, he won’t let me go. Dr. Sexy who saves children for a living. He wants the summer to prove we are meant to be. I can give him a summer. But can I give him a lifetime? *This is a contemporary romance novel with a happily ever after. It does NOT have a cliff-hanger ending. WARNING: This book contains a lot of sex and a lot of swearing.

    It was subsequently included in The Son of the Wolf, a story collection published in 1900.The White Silence is set in the unforgiving winter landscape of Yukon Territory, Canada. The story chronicles the travels of three people across the Northland Trail on the Yukon, as they try to reach civilization before spring. The story deals with the fragile relationship between man and nature, and also between man and animal. Its title is a phrase that London used frequently in his descriptions of the frozen northern landscapes in his stories.

    Back in high school she was the one girl he couldn’t have, and the one girl who haunted his dreams. When he sees her again for the first time in ten years, he knows he’ll do anything to make her his—even if it’s just for one week.There’s only one flaw in his plan. With a woman like Sarah, one week will never be enough.By His Desire is a steamy romance novella of 20,000 words.EXCERPTKeith shook his head. “Whatever good opinion you might have about me, I’m about to destroy it.”Sarah stared at him. “What are you talking about? How?”“With the offer I’m about to make you.”“What offer?”He leaned forward across the table. “The museum has the portrait for one more week. When the week is up, I’ll have the painting delivered to you. It will be yours.”“No, Keith. I told you I don’t want your charity.”“This isn’t charity. Don’t you want to hear my price?”She sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “Fine.”“In exchange, for one week, you’ll live with me in my house. During the day, you can do whatever you want. There’s a gym, an indoor pool, a library, a home theater. There’s a study where you can write, and I have a chef who’ll cook you anything you want to eat. But at night...” he paused for a moment. “At night, you have to do whatever I want.”

    Now on her own and with bills to pay, she works at the Butterball Turkey Emergency Squad, fielding phone calls from folks in desperate need of turkey-prep advice. As she faces another Thanksgiving, estranged from her family and pining after her married best friend, she receives a series of calls that force her to confront the reality of her deepening loneliness.With turns both humorous and heartbreaking, Butterball explores one woman’s hopeful attempts to connect during the holidays.

    However, he’s so sexy. And it’s just one night… What harm can there be in giving in to the desire to lose herself in his touch? She’s never going to see him again, even though he has given her the most intensely pleasurable night of her life.Landon prefers his women beautiful and sophisticated, with no desire for commitment, so when his brother ignores his protests and sends him a hooker on his birthday, he’s surprised at how willing he is to continue paying for her services. It should be easy, except she’s no hooker, and she has no intention of letting him into her life.However, as the billionaire owner of the Swanson Court hotels, Landon is used to getting what he wants, and Rachel is not going to be an exception.

    Movie mogul and club owner Parker Maguire is bored with the party scene. That is, until he meets Cyn. Shes everything hes been looking for in a woman and more. However, not everyone is happy for them. And theyll do anything to turn Parker and Cyns once upon a time into a happily never after. Unless Cyns Fairy Drag Queen can pull something out of her sleeve Mistress to the Beast - Lilas fathers shop is more than just a family business to her. When a powerful property developer stoops to barely legal tactics to force them to sell, Lilas outrage sends her straight to the source. A split from Hunters latest lover has left the former playboy without faith in the female sex. If shell be his mistress for three months, hell allow her father to keep the shop. A simple agreement? Hardly. Its a battle of wills that flares into much more than either of them bargained for

     Unfortunately, he just sees her as his friend's little sister. Desperate and infatuated, Emily resorts to lies and deception. She only needs one night with Paul, to finally get over this obsessive crush. But Fate has other ideas. . .

    Summer Killian falls fast and hard when Charlie arrives in Paradise Village. But the heat turns all the way up when she learns Charlie is also with Hatch - the man she loved three years before. While she's not sure she's cut out for a triad, neither man is going to give her up.Take a ROCKY RIDE with New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Vivian Arend as she leads you back to the Six Pack Ranch. Anna Coleman might be the law around Rocky Mountain House, but bad boy Mitch Thompson knows that under the stiff RCMP uniform is a woman with a passion for speed and pleasure that matches his own, and he’s not giving up until she’s his.Kit Rocha returns to Sector Four in BEYOND TEMPTATION. A promise to a dying friend backfires when Noah Lennox finds that the girl he was supposed to rescue is all grown up--and wearing O'Kane ink. He wants to protect her from the secrets of their past, but she wants him. And an O'Kane woman always gets what she wants.

    They are stories about the woods, houses hidden in the gaps between mountains. Behind them, the skeletons of old and powerful machines rust into the slate and leaves. Water red with iron leeches from the empty mines and pools near a stone foundation. The boy there plays in the bones because he is a child and this will be his childhood. He watches while winter comes falling slowly down over the road. Sometimes he remembers a girl, her hair and the perfume she wore. These are stories about her and where she might have gone. He waits for sleep because in the next story he will leave. The boy watches an airplane blink red past his window. From here, you can't hear its violence.