Louise Watkins has her hands full. Her mother had been the town midwife, but after her daughter Alice died under her care, she refused to assist in another childbirth. So Louise has assumed the work. She also takes care of Alice's six-year old, Charlotte, because the child's father was lost in World War I. But Louise's principal job is running the boardinghouse that is the family's main source of income. One day, Charlotte befriends a stranger, a man who has taken refuge in an old cabin in the woods nearby....

New York City. The hustle and bustle. The people and the excitement. It's all Lily Denton dreams about. But ever since her mother died, her overprotective father won't ease up on her. So she spends her days working at the library and her nights hoping life doesn't pass her by...until the Fall Festival. As tourists fill the streets, the crisp autumn air sneaks in - as does the thrill of a far more dangerous kind.

Gwendolyn Foster's life seems like a dream come true. A bright future in front of her, the successful, traditional man her parents wanted at her side. What more could a girl ask for? But Gwen has a different dream altogether - to be a writer - and she won't rest until it comes true. Strong arms to support her, not own her...that's what she needs. And she finds them in the most unexpected of places.

Tillison County, Oklahoma, 1938. Kathleen Dolan has high hopes for her investment in the Rawlings, Oklahoma, Gazette. But the feisty newspaper woman hasn't even reached the city limits when trouble strikes: Hijackers try to steal her old Nash. Although handsome rancher Johnny Henry comes to her rescue, the attack is only a taste of the perils to come. For Rawlings is a town steeped in dirty secrets, and soon, Kathleen will find herself pitted against men who will go to any length to silence her and the man she loves.

Olivia Marsten never imagined she'd be a war bride. But when her childhood best friend surprises her with a marriage proposal, she reluctantly accepts. She can't bear to send him off to serve in the Navy with a broken heart...even though her heart belongs to someone else. Sparks fly the moment mysterious stranger Peter Becker lays eyes on Olivia. He never hesitated to pull her out of harm's way-risking his own life to save hers. Yet as kind as he is handsome, Peter harbors a dark secret.

Lee Reston has a fulfilling life imbued with the love of her three wonderful children. Then a shattering event - the loss of her oldest son, Greg - tears her world apart. In her anguish, she turns to police officer Christopher Lallek, Greg's best friend. Their shared mourning develops into friendship, and then something deeper. But life is never simple. The family that was once the core of her existence becomes a mixed blessing, as Lee explores where family ties end - and her needs as a woman begin.

A captivating woman with blue eyes and big dreams, Emily was engaged to a man whose touch left her aching for something more. Tom, the handsome new man in town, was her father's rival in business, and challenged her heart's destiny with a single, stolen kiss. Whenever they met, sparks flew. Until she showed him how tender she could be, and he showed her how true passion could feel. Until they both realized the importance of taking vows with someone you really, truly love.

Five long years ago, Laura Dalton stood on the bleak Nantucket shore waiting for her beloved husband Rye to return—until the day she learned his ship was lost at sea. Now, Laura's lonely heart has found solace in Dan, Rye's closest friend. Dan has been a beacon of light in her time of darkness, becoming a father to the child that Rye never knew and giving her a reason to live again. But who could foretell that a wind-roughened sailor with sun-bleached hair would come back into their lives? That Laura's heart could betray her soul? That Rye would come home again . . .

High school principal Tom Gardner feels a sense of shock when he sees Kent Arens, a new transfer student. With one glance, Tom can see that this teenager is the son he never knew he had - the result of a one-night stand on the eve of his wedding years before, now grown into an intelligent, athletic, and polite young man. But the boy's presence has a devastating effect on Tom's family.

The Windy City isn't quite ready for Phoebe Somerville - the outrageous, curvaceous New York knockout who has just inherited the Chicago Stars football team. And Phoebe is definitely not prepared for the Stars' head coach Dan Celebow, a sexist jock taskmaster with a one-track mind. Celebow is everything Phoebe abhors. And the sexy new boss is everything Dan despises - a meddling bimbo who doesn't know a pigskin from a pitcher's mound.

When Luke McCutcheon finds Faith Brown about to give birth in her rickety wagon, his first instincts are to ride for help. Instead, he stays and delivers a beautiful baby girl. Unable to leave the pretty young widow and her little son and newborn unprotected in the Montana wilderness, he brings them along on his family's cattle drive, to the absolute delight of the other friendly cowboys.

Told in a smart, assured, and compelling voice, this is the story of Caroline, the young wife and childhood sweetheart of Jacob, who together live on a farm raising their daughter, Rachel, just outside of Gettysburg. When Jacob joins the Northern army to do his duty and help save the Union, no one anticipates he will not return. Caroline gets news that he is wounded and has been taken to Washington, DC, with his regiment, and so she must find her way there and navigate the thousands of other wounded soldiers to find him.

There was trouble in Haven, Arizona, and Ranger Sam O'Ballivan was determined to sort it all out. He arrived posing as the new schoolteacher, and his first order of business was to bring the rough ranchers' children under control. To that end, he called on Maddie Chancelor, the local postmistress, whose younger brother was in firm need of discipline. Sam wasn't sure what to expect - but it was definitely not this graceful woman whose prim, proper stance was so at odds with the fire in her eyes.

Raised in the hills of Tennessee, Emma Simms dreams of the day she’ll escape her life of poverty to start over in the excitement of Knoxville. But when her mother dies and she’s left with no one but her stepfather, Luke Simms, her dream abruptly becomes a nightmare. Luke plans to send Emma to Knoxville all right - straight to a notorious brothel. River Joe, the mysterious Cherokee-raised frontiersman, knew from the first time he set eyes on the beautiful Emma that he had to have her as his own.

In the still shadows of the confessional, a madman tauntingly reveals his plan for a murder he is going to commit, pulling Father Thomas Madden into a twisted game by disclosing his next intended victim: Tom's sister, Laurant. In a frantic race to protect her, Tom calls upon his best friend, elite FBI agent Nick Buchanan, to track the predator who is closing in on Laurant. Now, as an electrifying attraction grows between Laurant and Nick, so does the danger - and one false move will cost both of them everything that matters.