Veterinarian Joel Taylor has loved his wife, Angela Wright, a family physician, since they met in college. At a conference, he has a drunken one-night fling with an old girlfriend—the biggest mistake of his life.Ridden with guilt, he is desperate to preserve their marriage, begs forgiveness and insists Angela can trust him to remain faithful. But months later, she wrestles with doubts. To make matters worse, she's pregnant again—at age 45!Will Joel be tempted again, perhaps...

Gillian Griffiths is flummoxed about what to do after she is unexpectedly fired from her job of more than twenty years. While trying to repair her professional life, she steps way out of her comfort zone and signs onto an online dating service as one way to accomplish a do-over. To her amazement, she encounters more men than she'd ever expected. But she insists that any mid-life romantic encounter must include world class sparks, and thus far—even with Mo, a local doctor who is smitten wit...

Dannilynn Kelly may have been date-raped, but she sets aside how badly her first year at college ended, eager to work at Joel Taylor's veterinary clinic on Cedar Island. There she meets Ben Edwards, a veterinary extern. His friendship becomes her key support when she discovers she's pregnant.Determined to keep her pregnancy a secret, she returns to college, but her worst fears are realized when her father pays her a surprise visit at private Buckley College. He demands that Danni g...

When Alexis McCord's abusive boyfriend is arrested, she seizes the opportunity to escape with her young son. Now she and 5-year-old Chance are building a life in the tiny, remote beach town of Sandy Reach, Washington. Lexi is even acting on her dream of becoming a baker with her own shop—if only Hugh never finds her.Fletcher Lambert, distraught after the death of his wife and baby daughter, Sandy Reach is a handy place to escape his memories, away from his law office and his large,...

Nicole Vance is a tough, smart businesswoman with a successful real estate brokerage. When a national franchise threatens to snap up her life's work, Nicole is more than ready to fight them off. If only Realty World's representative, green-eyed Peter Dalton, weren't so attractive.Peter is certain that Nicole's management style will work well within the franchise, and he has charmed his way through tougher jobs than convincing Lakeview's realtors into joining Realty World. On the pe...

Decades after the boating accident that Trish Barton believed took the life of her unborn son's father, she learns Denis is alive. His grown son, Chet, is just as thrilled as she is. Not so much her wealthy, controlling husband, Richard, who persists in making her life miserable, even as she sues him for divorce. Life becomes even more complicated when Eddie, her stepson, finally decides to come out of the closet, a disclosure Richard is unlikely to accept with grace. It's almost more than...

Change is scary, and Suzanna Wallace knows she has to take the plunge after her husband's sudden death. Her grown daughter promises to take care of her, "just like Dad did," without realizing how chilling those words sound to her mother.Small changes—buying a dog, and getting a jeep in military camouflage colors—lead to Suzanna's escape on a road trip away from home and her adult children. Her goal? Discover who she is and what she wants to do with the rest of her life.She ...

A bundle of four single-title contemporary women's fiction stories with strong romantic elements.

A short story that explores what happens when Anita Rayburn, preparing to retire, is introduced to Brian Skolnick, who not at all interested in making a new female friend. But she is lonely and he still grieves the death of his spouse.Brian inadvertently offends Anita and she feels guilty that she went along with Brian's sister's clumsy matchmaking efforts. He calls her to apologize and she attempts to make amends by inviting him to use the gift certificate for dinner at the Space ...

Single father Owen Haskins is worried about his emotionally troubled 7-year-old son, Ian. The brilliant little boy is placed in Faith Russell's second-grade class after they move to East Shore on Cedar Island. Although Owen is attracted to her, he isn't sure Faith is the right teacher for his son.Faith's lack of trust in men slowly recedes when, against her better judgment, she begins to date Owen. Over the coming weeks, their relationship deepens, although they agree that it can't...

At Jane Collins' five-year high school reunion party in small town Evergreen, Washington, bad boy and law school wanna-be Chet Barton surprises Jane by rescuing her from a would-be rapist. Although she is intrigued by Chet, her guardian Bert doesn't trust the young man with the bad reputation.In spite of their differing upbringings—she from a working-class family and he from one of the wealthiest families in town—Jane and Chet become friends.Jane's life becomes even more ch...

Life experiences mark a person. The death of Sally Hughes' mother from breast cancer leaves Sally with a painful emotional scar and the discovery of a lump in her own breast frightens her to her core.When Sally meets Paul, the brother of her best friend's new husband, she learns that the former Marine is recovering from injuries sustained during his last combat tour in Afghanistan. Reacting to the demons that continue to assault him in the night, Paul insists he doesn't need more m...