Who doesn't want a little sweet talk? Leif Lively is the hottest thing to happen to Magnolia Bend. But single mother Abigail Orgeron figures he's another heartbreaker and does her best to ignore the steamy glances he tosses her way. When he speaks, though, her resistance crumbles! His sweet words, humor and laid-back ways captivate buttoned-up Abigail. For once, losing control feels so good, and this no-strings arrangement is getting serious. What will she do when Leif solves the family mystery that brought him to town and decides to leave? Because she's learning that the biggest love means taking the biggest risk...

Rumor's beloved animal doctor, Valerie Fairchild, had always taken care of herself. She'd survived cancer and a haunting trauma in her youth--alone. And she didn't need a relationship with the town's fire chief, Reed Kingsley--but somehow she couldn't ignore the flames he set off whenever he was near! Reed was used to getting what he wanted--and he wanted Val, tragic secrets and all. Because the beautiful spitfire had been on his mind for months, in spite of the icy barrier she kept between herself and the world. Could this town hero melt Val's resistance to the healing fire of their passion?

Betina Krahn, the New York Times bestselling author of The Soft Touch and The Perfect Mistress, casts her beguiling spell once more with this warm and witty love story.... She was an independent woman-with only one weakness... an irresistible downtown man... An immovable uptown lady... rich suffragette Beatrice Von Furstenberg was tough enough to trade stocks on Wall Street and smart enough to resist the temptation of passion. Adamant about women being independent-and without a romantic bone in her lovely body-she had sternly refused to give her moonstruck sixteen-year-old ward permission to wed an eighteen-year-old suitor. Now the desperate teens have dreamed up a mock robbery and a daring rescue to change Beatrice's mind. Attorney Connor Barrow, a rogue of an Irishman with a silver tongue, remembers all too well the burning desires of youth. So he agrees to help in a crazy plan that will land him in a world of trouble. Suddenly he is responsible for the most influential lady in the city being locked up in a brothel, furious and threatening his ruin. Neither of them expects that first breathless kiss-a deal that would make the devil himself blush-and, most of all, the ways love can change a man's mind and open a woman's heart....

Includes an excerpt from the author's next book (p. [362]-376).

In New York Times bestselling author Kate Pearce's sweet and sexy Millers of Morgan Valley series, the close-knit folks of Morgantown, California, have long memories--and big hearts to go with them... Everyone in rancher Danny Miller's life wants to know how he feels about his teenage flame returning to Morgan Valley. Danny wishes he knew. After the disastrous ending of their relationship, and Faith's choice to leave town all those years ago, Danny's rebuilt his life without her. But he's about to have a very practical reason for needing her in it again--despite the very impractical desire she inspires once he lays eyes on her... Faith McDonald hadn't planned on returning home, but with her dad retiring, her help is needed at the family veterinary practice. She's hoping that by now, folks have forgotten what happened between her and Danny--even if the two of them never can. With a mystery infection decimating the Miller cattle, she and Danny soon find themselves on the same side for the first time in forever. There was a lot of trouble in their past, but the good parts never really flamed out, including their intense attraction. And their shared determination to cure the cattle might just lead them to a healing of their own--and a whole new all-grown-up future...

Shakespeare Is Missing is a pair of tales with crossing arcs. The first begins in 1605. A man and woman carry on an illicit tryst in the Crown Inn, Oxford, England. The lovers are married; not, of course, to each other. A child is born of their clandestine affair. The man, whose reputation as a playwright and poet is growing throughout his country, is William Shakespeare. The woman is Jane Davenant, the wife of the inns proprietor, who sleeps peacefully one fl oor below. Jane will later be known as The Dark Lady of Shakespearean legend. The second tale, set in 2010, moves eastward across America then on to England. Its antagonist seeks vengeance against the Bard, foreshadowed by poems, which pathetically mimic Shakespeares style. The vengeance begins with thefts and vandalism of the Bards works in San Francisco and Las Vegas, then escalates from an assault in Milwaukee to explosive mayhem and murder at Washington DCs venerated Folger Shakespeare Library. To solve these crimes, Ovid Kent, a former DEA operative, now a rare book dealer, is hired by a billionaire English fi nancier and owner of the worlds largest private collection of Shakespeareana, an expected target of the mayhem. Ovid is aided throughout by the frequently evanescing Will Shakespeare himself. The storylines have their dramatic nexus in Oxford, in the very room of the very inn where the fi rst tale began. There, the stunning climax plays itself out in a breath-holding scene between Ovid, Will Shakespeare and the antagonist

Is there anything sweeter than first love? Don't ask Claire Keyes. The twenty-eight-year-old piano prodigy has never had a regular boyfriend, much less a real romance. Her music career has left little room for friends or family-which is just part of the reason she hasn't seen the family bakery or her two sisters in years. But now Nicole is sick, and Jesse is AWOL. Despite the fact that Claire can't boil water, she's determined to play caretaker. Connecting with her sisters tops her to-do list...along with falling in love, or at least in lust, for the first time. Ruggedly sexy Wyatt just might fit the bill. Although he keeps saying that he and Claire come from entirely different worlds, he lights up hotter than a bakery oven whenever Claire is near. If this keeps up, she just might sweet-talk him into her bed...and her life.