But things might not be as simple as they thought.What happens when duty and love collide? Wyatt Norris fears the answer. Marked by a tragic past, he lives alone, honoring his duties as Sheriff, yet denying himself the chance to love again. When he is called on to the Alcot’s farm to investigate a mysterious disappearance, he finds a second chance at love waiting for him this Christman. A kind woman, Ruby, who deserves so much more than she has been offered will soften his heart. The guilt that hunts Wyatt, however, is not so easily beaten and he will have to go above and beyond to save Ruby from a perilous game of life and death.Ruby Alcot knows she has made the wrong choice to marry Mathew. He drinks and gambles, making her life a living hell. The only good thing out of this union is her son, her pride and joy. When Mathew disappears one day, the disturbing news brings the Sheriff knocking on Ruby’s door and suddenly, her desire for her family’s reunion is countered by her desire for a better life at the side of that man who is trying everything to help her.Yet, both Ruby and Wyatt bear internal scars that prevent them from succumbing to love’s call. What’s more, a dangerous gambler is after Ruby and her land, and her husband’s recklessness puts everyone at risk. Will Wyatt be able to save Ruby and her son before it’s too late?

    She longed to be free. Pressured by forces beyond their control, will they give in to forbidden desire?England, 1823. After establishing a successful practice in America, Dr. Harry Radcliffe swore he wouldn’t set foot on British soil again. But when he’s named the Duke of Ashton after his callous brother’s sudden death, he begrudgingly returns to the pretentious world he detests. And his pledge to his dying mother to find a wife is thrown into chaos when he meets his stunning sister-in-law.Margaret Radcliffe finally escaped her abusive marriage. Yet her late husband’s final cruel act left her penniless, with her only option to remarry... the one thing she vowed she’d never do again. But the new duke’s startlingly familiar features awaken yearnings she thought long-forgotten, dangling the heartbreaking whisper of a passion impossible to fulfill.Although convinced the accusations that she murdered her husband are only salacious gossip, Harry's real torment comes when he wishes for a union that would make them outcasts. But even when they finally submit to their simmering attraction, Margaret’s dream of happily-ever-after may be derailed by society’s schemes.Can a scandalous affair turn into a lifetime of love?The Reluctant Duke's Dilemma is the suspenseful first book in The Hope Clinic Regency romance series. If you like swoon-worthy heroes, uplifting humor, and heroines beating the odds, then you’ll adore Trisha Messmer’s tale of tortured hearts.

     FORTUNE’S FLOWER - To claim his family estate, James Huntington embarks on an expedition to find his grandfather’s missing journals. He’s at odds with his fellow traveler, the wellborn Miss Lily Strathmore - but even as they succumb to temptation, danger awaits. THE VISCOUNT’S SECRET - Anthony Blake, Lord Percival, is renowned throughout the ton for his handsome face and foppish ways. Only a select few know that beneath his foolish exterior is a keen intelligence in service to the Queen. Nobody suspects his secret until he meets a quiet young woman who sees far more than she should. THE PIANO TUTOR - Widowed Lady Diana Waverly finds love and passion in the most unlikely of places when a new piano tutor arrives at her door. MISTRESS OF MELODY - With her future in jeopardy, a young woman must turn to Morgan Trevethwick, the Earl of Silverton, for help. He cannot refuse a lady in distress, though she threatens to overturn his entire carefully-planned future. A DUKE FOR MIDWINTER - After a gentleman rescues her from a winter storm, Miss Selene Banning finds herself snowbound with Sir Jared Kendrick, a baronet who is not precisely who he claims to be.

    After their first meeting, Edith “Edie” Carmichael would have been content to never lay eyes on Lucas Brown again.She thinks he’s no more than the grumpy owner of Pine Creek’s lumber company, and he thinks she’s a know-it-all lady doctor intent on putting folks in their place.The two must quickly form a truce when suspicious accidents and theft at the sawmill threaten both his livelihood and the lives of his men, but can Lucas ever learn to trust a woman after a lifetime of being abandoned by them? Can Edie be content running the clinic in the hometown she thinks she’s outgrown, or will her dreams prove more powerful than her growing feelings? And when the world around them goes up in flames, will Edie and Lucas make it out alive?