But a boy from the wrong side of the tracks has little in common with the homecoming queen, so they never acted on their mutual feelings. After a stint in the Marines, Cade has returned to his hometown older and wiser, and now works for the sheriff’s department. When he responds to a break-in call at the Delos Home School Foundation, the last person he expects to see there is Kara. All of his feelings and protective instincts go into overdrive when he learns she has been attacked. Kara never expected to see Cade Patterson again, and especially not while she is nursing a broken nose after a break in at the school where she works. Kara has never forgotten the boy she grew up with, and she is impressed with the man he has become. When Kara’s house is ransacked, Cade takes her home with him until they find out who is responsible. As the danger around them escalates, Cade fears he may have waited too late to let Kara know she has always had his heart.

    After nosing around, Luke claims that the business is being sabotaged from within. Meanwhile some of the Gilchrists suspect that he'll destroy the company to gain revenge: his father was disinherited by Justine when he left at the altar the bride she had handpicked (the woman who became Katy's mother). In fact, Luke plots only to win Katy, which is not easy, given that the young woman wants out of her job and away from everyone named Gilchrist. In her own saucy, upbeat style, Krentz (Sweet Fortune) turns this eccentric family and pair of mismatched lovers (so everyone tells them) into an entertaining story. Krentz is even confident enough to question the genre rules she plays by so well, as when Katy walks out on Luke during a passionate love scene, saying, There's no call to get surly. You started this. Her fans will eat it up.

    Everyone knows everyone and secrets are impossible to keep. Or so it seems...Dr. Ryan Harper's brutal slaying stuns the picturesque river town. High school football star, Prom King, and on his way to finishing his residency, Ryan was their golden child. After a two-year struggle to care for their young son alone, his widow, Nicole, reluctantly returns to Jefferson Point. Her homecoming reopens old wounds, as Ryan's family and friends struggle to adapt to life without his dynamic presence.The last person Nicole expects to reconnect with is Aaron Foster, Ryan’s best man and reluctant keeper of his secrets.With opinions circulating on Nicole’s post-Ryan existence, she must maneuver the rapids of past loves, new expectations, and haunting dreams of her fallen husband.The Perpetual Quest for the Perfect Life is a frank story of questionable decisions, small town politics, and love after loss.

    The responsible thing to do is keep his hands off.Jaxi may have once considered him a big brother, but now she has plans for Blake’s hands. She’s all grown up and ready to convince him that she’s just what he’s been waiting for. Except he can’t seem to see past the big “don’t touch” sign that’s apparently still hanging around her neck.When the heat between them reaches volcanic levels, Blake must decide if Jaxi’s brand of trouble is worth fighting for.Rocky Mountain HavenHaving buried her abusive husband, Beth takes her boys away for a fresh start in Alberta. She definitely doesn’t want another man in her life—until one look at a sex-in-boots cowboy in a Calgary bar blows the dust off her sorely neglected sexuality.Sensing an edge of desperation, even fear, beneath Beth’s come-on, Daniel gives in to the powerful urge to let his normally controlled desires run wild. The lady wants anything-goes sex? She’s got it.Too late Beth realizes Daniel is burning away the protective fortress around her heart…and the guilty secret she dare not reveal.Rocky Mountain DesireSince Matt’s cheating ex split for the big city, no way is he giving anyone else the chance to drop-kick his heart. Physical pleasure? He’ll take—and give—with gusto, but nothing more.Hope is scrambling to keep her quilt shop afloat after her sister/business partner ran off. Sex? Like she’s got the time. Besides, Matt would never knock boots with the younger sister of the woman who dumped him.Yet there’s something combustible going on between them, and though it grows into more, it may not survive the arrival of the last person they ever wanted to see.

    Except for Paige St. John, his once-loyal childhood friend. As teenagers, they had planned to leave their small town behind together. But a falling-out with his father drove him from Roundup and Paige—and she has not forgiven Wyatt for striking out on his own. Now Wyatt is back, hoping to reconcile with his family—and with Paige. She's turned into the kind of woman he's always wanted. But she's been burned by handsome cowboys before, including the one that left her to raise her son alone. Can Wyatt convince Paige, and the rest of Roundup, that he's a man she can count on? Harts of the Rodeo prequel novella.