Mentalist. Trickster. I think in triangles. You think in straight lines.I show you a table and make you believe it’s a chair.Smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, misdirection. I trick and deceive.But most of all, I put on a good show.The world thinks I killed a man, but I didn't. Bear with me. It’s all a part of the plan.Revenge is what I want. I want it for me and I want it for her.I want it for all six of us.She doesn't remember me, but she’s the reason for everything. She’ll be my prize at the end of all this–if I can hold onto my willpower, that is. Maybe I’ll slip up a little, have a taste, just a small one.So go ahead and pick a card. Come inside and see the show. Look at my hands, look so closely that you can’t see what’s happening while you’re so focused on looking. I’ll be destroying your world from right here in the spotlight.You’ll never see me coming until it’s too late.I've only got one heart, and after I've pulled off my grand deception I’ll hand it right to her.So, sit back, relax, and let my girl tell you our story. You’re in for one hell of a ride.

    --Romantic Times"While following a story in distant Santa Estella, hardheaded journalist Kendra Jenner finds herself in the middle of a vicious hurricane. . .and unexpectedly in the arms of a stranger who speaks virtually no English. Fear leads to passion leads to their making a baby, a baby which Kendra fully expects to raise on her own, since her search for Matthew's father - who she only knows as Paulo Ayudor - is a fruitless one. Then, three years later, her "Paulo" shows up out of the blue at her home in Wyoming, speaking the perfect English of an American, and identifying himself as Daniel Delligati. He announces he's come for his son. . .and for her." -- (From an Amazon review by Karen Templeton)

    She knows the cold and puritanical man who claims to be her husband is not the man she'd married. But she suspects the warm and tender man she does love is buried somewhere deep inside. And she's determined to find him...

    Okay, so maybe she's a little neurotic too. She just can't afford to be distracted these days, especially not by the immature boys that keep asking her out. At the end of her third year at Harvard Law, all Skylar wants is to figure out her next steps: ones that will hopefully include a job, an apartment, and enough money to help her father stop getting into trouble. She simply has no room for romance, especially the kind that might break your heart. But on a dark, snowy night, when she's stranded in the living room of the notorious CEO of Sterling Ventures and one of the best attorneys in Boston, all of those boundaries are about to be knocked down.Brandon Sterling never believed in fate. A man of his own making, he firmly credits his successes to hard work. How else could you explain his rise from the poorest of backgrounds in South Boston to becoming one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Boston? Living in the lap of luxury, it never mattered to him that increasing success meant increased isolation in his big house on Beacon Street. After all, when you have everything, everyone else always wants something. That he walks in to find a gorgeous redhead sitting on his windowsill. Suddenly, the idea of love at first sight seems like the most plausible thing in the world...if only the one person he wants to give his heart to would actually take it.Together, Skylar and Brandon have the kind of passion few hope to find, but things keep getting in their way. Between school, business, her father's gambling troubles and Brandon's history of personal struggle, will their complicated lives prevent them from making it work together? Or, as they both suspect somewhere deep down, have they finally met their match in each other's hearts?

    But when she threatens to blow the whistle on some shady business practices at her Chicago marketing firm, she gets fired fast as all get out. Licking her wounds, she heads back below the Mason-Dixon for a little home-grown Southern comfort.Just a small town boy.With his iron-clad Mississippi roots, Councilman Cam Crawford is a man who values tradition, preservation, and the love of a good dog. When a big box warehouse store tries to capitalize on his hometown's economic downturn, it seriously burns his biscuit. He's not about to let anyone's ambition destroy what he holds dear.A David vs. Goliath story with a side of grits.This unlikely pair just might be the perfect allies--in war and out. But as the battle to stop GrandGoods heats up and sparks of attraction turn to something more, will Norah's bigger-picture perspective go with Cam's "keep it as it is" attitude? Are they meant to be like biscuits and gravy? Or are they just as wrong as unsweetened tea?

    She prides herself on her decision-making skills. It’s the one asset that has never let her down. But even the best thinkers have weaknesses. Hers is a delicious business mogul with a quick tongue.Unfortunately for her, that tongue is good for more than just talking. Holt Mason doesn’t need to justify anything to anyone. He wants Blaire. He pursues Blaire. And he gets Blaire because that’s how his life works. Until it doesn’t. What begins as a single night in a hotel room spirals into an unusual agreement. As late nights provide the space to trade secrets and walls come tumbling down, more is shared than just pillow talk. They both should’ve known better. They should’ve shown restraint. Because when guards are dropped, hearts get shattered.A one-night stand turns into something more in this heart-filled, steamy romance from USA Today bestselling author Adriana Locke.

    He put her in jail for harboring a teen offender and never looked back. Eleven years later, she’s a thorn in his side as an anti-gang specialist trying to get kids out of gangs. While Clay wants to put them in jail, Bailey is determined to help these troubled teenagers make good lives for themselves. But when Bailey and Clay are thrown together on the mayor’s task force, the impossible happens—they’re attracted to each other. Their passion erupts early on, and only grows stronger the further they get into a relationship. When they fall deeply in love, their conflicting views drive a wedge between them. Both the Street Angel and the Senator must find a way to deal with their differences in order to make a life together.

    She hopes to earn it by working as a chef on a cruise to Antarctica. But she’s slept with her boss, which throws her off-balance even more than the rough seas and warnings of pirates in the area. And he’s determined to have a repeat performance… Bad boy former snowboarder Marcus Devlin is running from his reputation, sent to learn the family business after decking a senator’s son and making the papers. So maybe he indulged in a last-minute fling before boarding his family’s cruise ship to Antarctica. Perhaps Fate is showing him that wasn’t so bad—the gorgeous redhead who snuck out of his bed is on the cruise. She’ll be a lovely distraction during his exile. But when modern-day pirates take over the ship, his instinct is to protect her and the other passengers. But what does a spoiled rich boy know about saving people’s lives?

    But what he got was a woman who shook his lonely bitter world upside down, and touched him in a way no other woman could. Emily Nelson, a courageous young mother, ends a loveless, bitter marriage and strikes out on her own. She answers an ad as a cook and live-in caregiver to a three-year-old boy on a local ranch. Ranch owner Brad Friessen hires and moves in Emily and her daughter. But Emily soon discovers something's seriously wrong with the boy, and the reclusive, difficult man who hired her can't see the behavior and how delayed his son is. So Emily researches until she stumbles across what she suspects are the soft signs of autism. Now she must tell him, give him hope, and help him come to terms with this neurological disorder-to take the necessary steps to get his child the help he needs. As their lives become intertwined, their attraction is unavoidable-a connection sparks between them. But just as they're getting close, Brad's estranged wife, Crystal, returns after abandoning the family two years earlier. Among the shock and confusion is one disturbing question Brad can't shake: How does Crystal know so much of his personal business, the inner working of the ranch, and Emily's relationship with his son? Crystal must've had a plan, as she somehow gains the upper hand, driving a wedge in the emotional bond forged between Brad, Emily, and the children. The primary focus for care and therapy of three-year-old Trevor is diverted. The lengths to which Crystal will go, the lies, the greed, just to keep what's hers, are nothing short of cold and calculating. Emily's forced out of the house. Brad fights to save his boy, to protect what's his, and struggles over his greatest sacrifice-Emily, and the haunting question: Has he lost her forever?THE OUTSIDER SERIES: The Forgotten Child (Brad & Emily) A Baby And A Wedding (An Outsider Series Short) Fallen Hero (Andy, Jed & Diana) The Search (An Outsider Series Short) The Awakening (Andy & Laura) Secrets (Jed & Diana) Runaway(Andy & Laura) Overdue (An Outsider Series Short) The Unexpected Storm (Neil & Candy) The Wedding (Neil & Candy) Or grab The Outsider Series: The Complete Omnibus Collection which includes all the books and short stories in this in this romantic saga. THE FRIESSENS: A NEW BEGINNING: The Deadline (Andy & Laura) The Price to Love (Neil & Candy) A Different Kind of Love (Brad & Emily) A Vow of Love, A Friessen Christmas

      Life isn’t about tomorrow ~ Life is about todayAfter losing her husband to a sudden heart attack, Tess Mathews escapes to Bora Bora to lay her husband and sorrow to rest. What she doesn’t expect is a new beginning.Tom Clemmins is an A-list actor whose life revolves around work and an onslaught of women. He travels to Bora Bora for a much-needed break. Tom has a few ideas of how he’ll enjoy his vacation, but love isn’t one of them. Until he sees Tess.Reserving a private shark-feeding excursion to scatter her husband’s ashes into the lagoon, Tess is furious when Mr. Hollywood bribes his way onto the boat, leaving her no other choice but to share the boat ride.Tess is torn between tremendous guilt and zealous lust when their boat ride turns into a week full of romance and desire neither thought imaginable. Utterly smitten with a woman for the first time in his life, Tom casts his commitment phobia aside and whisks Tess off to Malibu where he introduces her as his “girlfriend” on the red carpet. As the paparazzi besiege, can Tess survive the media blitz that ensues in order to find her second chance at love?

    Buckle up for a wild ride. Like any Southern girls worth their salt, the sweet-talking, sharp-tongued Montgomery sisters can take men to their knees with one seductive glance or a single sugarcoated sentence.A second chance at their first love…Leaving New York City and returning to her hometown to teach a screenplay writing class seems like just the break Grace Montgomery needs. Until her sisters wake her at four thirty in the morning to watch the hottest guys in town train wild horses and she realizes that escaping her sisters’ drama-filled lives was a lot easier from hundreds of miles away. To make matters worse, she spots the one man she never wanted to see again—ruggedly handsome Reed Cross.Reed was one of Michigan’s leading historical preservation experts, but on the heels of catching his girlfriend in bed with his business partner, his uncle suffers a heart attack. Reed cuts all ties and returns home to Oak Falls to run his uncle’s business. A chance encounter with Grace, his first love, brings back memories he’s spent years trying to escape. Grace is bound and determined not to fall under Reed’s spell again—and Reed wants more than another taste of the woman he’s never forgotten. When a midnight party brings them together, passion ignites and old wounds are opened. Grace sets down the ground rules for the next three weeks. No touching, no kissing, and if she has it her way, no breathing, because every breath he takes steals her ability to think. But Reed has other ideas…~The Bradens & Montgomerys are part of Melissa's Love in Bloom big-family romance collection. All Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone and may also be enjoyed as part of the larger series, so dive right into this fun, sexy romance.THE BRADENS & MONTGOMERYS (Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls). Order of future books is subject to change Embracing Her HeartAnything For LoveTrails of LoveWild Crazy HeartsMaking You MineSearching for LoveHot for LoveSweet Sexy HeartOur Wicked HeartsClaiming Her HeartRocked by Love**Please note that future books in the original Montgomery series are crossing over to the Bradens at Pleasant Hill, and for this reason I have combined the series into THE BRADENS & MONTGOMERYS (Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls).~Love in Bloom features alpha male heroes and sexy, empowered women. They're flawed, funny, passionate, and relatable to readers who enjoy contemporary romance and women's fiction. Characters from each sub-series appear in future books. All Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone without any unresolved issues or cliffhangers.

    Why?Her sister is marrying Bobby's brother.She's trussed up in a bridesmaid dress that must have been designed originally as a Victorian Torture Chamber.To teach them a lesson, she and Bobby have been assigned to the Kiddie Table.And that's only the beginning...

    If she doesn't find work soon, she'll need to return to her native Maine, where the job situation is even more bleak. And where her abusive parents lie in wait.But when an unorthodox arrangement is proposed, Jennifer decides to take it. She agrees to be the "girlfriend" of Alexander Wenn, the reluctant, billionaire CEO of Wenn Enterprises, who is so devastatingly good looking, he needs a beautiful woman like Jennifer on his arm to "keep the wolves at bay." In this case, the wolves are other women, all of whom vie for his attention so aggressively, they keep him from focusing on business at the exclusive events he must attend. It's there that deals are cut. What they want is his money and his power. Damaged by a past event, the only thing Alex wants to do is focus on work. And to forget the past.But can Jennifer deny their white-hot chemistry? As she's swept into this glittering otherworld of society and big business, she finds herself struggling to keep from falling for Alex, an almost impossible feat she nevertheless must meet.Armed with her MBA, Jennifer Kent knows about business. But what she doesn't know is what could destroy her--the business of protecting her own heart. And maybe her own life.This story unfolds over multiple volumes approximately 50,000 words each.

    . .If Charlotte Brooks thinks she and her TV makeover show can turn Reno Wilder’s hometown upside down, he’ll be happy to prove her wrong. The x-Marine has seen too much turmoil and he likes Sweet, Texas, just the way it is. Traditional. Familiar. A little dull. Everything Charli isn’t. But instead of backing off from his scowls like everyone else, Charli digs in her skyscraper heels.SHE’S TENACIOUS AND WICKEDLY TEMPTING . . .Reno Wilder is a one-man unwelcoming committee, but Charli isn’t budging. It’s clear the gorgeous cowboy needs an overhaul just as much as Sweet. Someone needs to break him out of that gruff shell and show him how fun and rewarding a little change can be.THEY’RE ABOUT TO FIND THAT LOVE IS ANYTHING BUT PREDICTABLE.

    With Freya just hired to redesign the top adult website company in the country, her muse couldn't have chosen a worse time to disappear. Determined to get her sexy back, Freya puts an ad online, hoping to find the right man to inspire her. Unfortunately, all roads point back to her upstairs neighbor Greg Cavanaugh. He's everything she doesn't want: a playboy and scumbag lawyer. Except if he's so wrong for her, why does his touch feel like magic? And why does being with him make her believe anything is possible?