Sweet tea, corn bread, and soup beans; everyday fare for eight-year-old Alix French, the precocious darling of a respected southern family. But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both of their lives forever. Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick's abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer.

Suddenly, Nick is gone, leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick's abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friends. But finally, she's starting to get her life back together. Her divorce is almost final, her business is booming, and she's content if not happy-until the day she looks up and sees Nick standing across the counter. He's back--and he's not alone. Once again Alix is plunged into turmoil and pain as Nick tries to win her love, something she resists with all her strength. Only one thing might break the protective wall she's built around her emotions-the truth about Frank Anderson's death. But when that truth comes out and those walls crumble, neither Alix nor Nick is prepared for the emotional explosion that could destroy as well as heal.

Five years ago Quinn McAllister's life was almost destroyed. While he lay in a coma from injuries sustained during an auto accident, the woman he loved divorced him. Or so his father told him. Now he's discovered his divorce was bogus and his whole world spins out of control. He's tempted to give his wife the quick divorce she wants-until he finds out about the son he didn't know existed. Now he's going back to Wyoming to claim what's his, and nothing can stop him�not his father, and certainly not his wife's fiance.

It's taken Lanie McAllister five years to get over losing the man she loved with every fiber of her being. Now she's ready to move on with her life, and has even agreed to marry the local veterinarian-until Quinn gives her an ultimatum. She can either give them three months to try and mend the marriage his father tore apart, or he'll fight her tooth and nail for custody of their son. And with his wealth and prestige, he stands a very good chance of winning. Torn between the man her heart has never quite forgotten and the man she's engaged to, Lanie makes the only choice available if she wants to keep her child. Quinn will get his three months, but Lanie knows his controlling father is still in Chicago, doing everything in his power to pull Quinn back. All she can do is pray that love will truly be better the second time around.

All his life Tate McCullom was taught to be responsible, and he learned his lesson too well. He was the very model of what a respectable man should be. Until the night he gets drunk and sleeps with a woman he barely knows. Now, six weeks later, she's pregnant, alone, and broke. Once again, he must take responsibility for his own actions, and makes plans to marry his child's mother. There's only one problem--how does he tell his fiancee?

Abby Grayson hasn't had an easy life. As the daughter of the town whore, people either avoid her, or think she's like her mother. For Abby, it's a struggle just to fill her belly and keep a roof over her head. Loneliness, and a secret yearning for the man she thought she'd never have, led her to spend the night with Tate. But the last thing she needs is a baby when she can barely take care of herself. Desperate, but too proud to ask for help, she finally agrees to accept a job from Tate--the job of being his wife. Now she has everything she's ever dreamed of; a family, a nice home, friends, food on the table.unfortunately, only one thing will gain her Tate's love-his realization that the night he spend with her was no drunken accident. It was a last ditch attempt to win the woman he really wanted.

It's been ten years since Cole Jordan was run out of Canyon Bend, ten years he spent accumulating a vast fortune. Now he's back with only one goal in mind. To win the woman he left behind, the woman he never forgot. This time, not even her wealthy, overprotective uncle will stop him. Because everything he's done, he's done for love of Charley.

After Cole made passionate love to her one night, he vanished without a word, so Charley doesn't trust him worth a damn when he reappears. Especially when she discovers it's his company that bought half of her business, the Red Dog Saloon. But Cole has big plans for the town that once shunned him, and as Charley finds herself working with him daily, the love she's tried so hard to suppress blooms again. Only one thing stands in their way; Cole's refusal to tell her why he left so abruptly.

While they fight their way back to each other, outside influences work to keep them apart at any cost.even death.

Former fat girl Jessie James has returned to her small hometown to open her own dance studio, something she's always dreamed of. Driving the local sheriff and former high school football star, who used to ignore her, crazy with lust is a side benefit she hadn't counted on. But revenge is sweet when all the sheriff can think about is frisking the delectable Ms. James.

After the hell his ex-wife put him and their daughter through, getting involved with another woman is the last thing Chase Martin wants. His body has different ideas, though. And after all, when an outlaw like Jesse James moves into the house behind his, the sheriff has an obligation to keep his eye on her. Right? To his surprise, this outlaw steals more than his body. She captures his heart, too.

For Kate Carson, body guard to the rich and famous, love is a four letter word, and no man will ever make her curse. That's why she refuses a job to go undercover as the mistress of a reclusive author--until she finds out the body she'll be guarding belongs to Angus McLeod, the Scottish hunk whose poster has been fueling her sexual fantasies for two years.

There's only one catch. Angus can't know why she's really there. Chin up and gun loaded, Kate gleefully makes the ultimate sacrifice--her body for the safety of her client--unaware that the fulfillment of her wildest desires will lead to the thing she fears most--love.