A chambermaid in the house of Tremeshton, Faris Shayhan well knew torment, despair, and trepidation. To Faris it seemed the future stretched long and desolate before her—as bleak and dark as a lonesome midnight path. Still, the moon oft casts hopeful luminosity to light one’s way. So it was that Lady Maranda Rockrimmon cast hope upon Faris—set Faris upon a different path—a path of happiness, serenity, and love.Thus Faris abandoned the tainted air at Tremeshton in favor of the amethyst sunsets of Loch Loland Castle and her new mistress, Lady Rockrimmon. Further, it was on the very night of her emancipation that Faris first met the man of her dreams—the man of every woman’s dreams—the rogue Highwayman of Tanglewood.Dressed in black and astride his mighty steed, the brave, heroic, and dashing rogue Highwayman of Tanglewood stole Faris’s heart as easily as he stole her kiss. Yet the Highwayman of Tanglewood was encircled in mystery—mystery as thick and as secretive as time itself. Could Faris truly own the heart of a man so thoroughly enveloped in twilight shadows and mysterious secrets?

The foundling (desert fire): "She opened her eyes and beheld, for the first time, the face of Jackson McCall. Ruggedly handsome and her noble rescuer, she knew in that moment, he would forever hold captive her heart, as he then held her life in his protective arms. Yet, she was a nameless beauty, haunted by wisps of visions form the past. How could she ever hope he would return the passionate, devotional love she secreted for him -- when her very existence was a riddle?"--

Life went along simply, if not rather monotonously, for Breck McCall. Her job was satisfying, and she had true friends. But she felt empty-as if part of her soul were detached and lost to her. She longed for something-something that seemed to be missing. Yet there were moments when Breck felt she might almost touch something wonderful. And most of those moments came while in the presence of her handsome yet seemingly haunted boss-Reese Thatcher.

As her family abandoned the excitement of the city for the uneventful lifestyle of a small, western town, Brynn Clarkston's worst fears were realized. Stripped of her heart's hopes and dreams, Brynn knew true loneliness. Until an ordinary day revealed a heavenly oasis in the desert...Michael McCall. Handsome and irresistibly charming, Michael McCall (the son of legendary horse breeder Jackson McCall) seemed to offer wild distraction and sincere friendship to Brynn. But could Brynn be content with mere friendship when her dreams of Michael involved so much more?

Young Fallon Ashby -- abused, neglected, and disheartened -- marries the mysterious Trader Donavon, a wealthy landowner and respected denizen of the town who conceals his face within the shadows of a black cowl. Then Fallon's malicious uncle, intent on avenging his own losses at Trader Donavon's hand, sets out to destroy Trader. Will Fallon's wicked uncle succeed and perhaps annihilate the man that his niece secretly loves above all else?

Youthful beauty, naive innocence, a romantic imagination thirsting for adventure-an apt description of Vaden Valmont, who would soon find the adventure and mystery she had always longed to experience-in the form of a man. A somber recluse, Ransom Lake descended from his solitary concealment in the mountains, wholly uninterested in people and their trivial affairs. And somehow, young Vaden managed to be ever in his way, either by accident or because of her own unique ability to stumble into a quandary. Yet the enigmatic Ransom Lake would involuntarily become Vaden's unwitting tutor. Through him, she would experience joy and passion the like even Vaden had never imagined. Yes, Vaden Valmont stepped innocently, yet irrevocably, into love with the secretive, seemingly calloused manRansom Lake. But there were other life lessons Ransom Lake would inadvertently teach her as well-the darker side of life-despair, guilt, heartache. Would Ransom Lake be the means of Vaden's dreams come true? Or the cause of her complete desolation?

Genieva Bankmans had willfully agreed to the arrangement. She had given her word, and she would not dishonor it. Yet when she saw for the first time the man whose advertisement she'd answered, she was desperately intimidated. The handsome and powerful Brevan McLean was not what she had expected-he was not the sort of man she had reconciled herself to marrying. This man-the stranger whose name Genieva now bore-was strong-willed, quick-tempered, and expectant of much from his new wife. Brevan McLean did not deny that he had married Genieva for practical reasons only. He merely wanted any woman whose hard work would provide him assistance with the brutal demands of farm life. Still, Genieva would learn there were far darker things, grave secrets held unspoken by Brevan McLean concerning his family and his land. Genieva Bankmans McLean would find herself in the midst of treachery, violence, and villainy-and her estranged husband deeply entangled in it.