Showing results by author "Cindy M. Amos" in All Categories

Amid the record heat of August 1955, artist Kathleen Litton comes to Mesa Verde to restore the pictographs left in cliff dwellings by the ancient Anasazi people. Plagued by a contaminated seep at beloved Balcony House, geologist Miles McShane has to match wits with an unknown threat to protect the nation’s antiquities. Kat’s colorful charm softens his heart, yet her commitment to excellence leaves her vulnerable to the danger of deception. The unyielding heat of late summer places the entire park on a crumbling edge as recurring trouble strikes Miles’ last nerve. Ropes and ladders ...

Marine researcher Jaima Delarie’s world tilts out of predictable routine when Perry Manning shipwrecks off Cape Hatteras, forcing her into rescue mode. Attracted to the handsome fisherman, more than a hull repair ensues while an upstart boat towing company scours the shore looking for undisclosed salvage. Unexplainable complications follow, putting the tranquil coastal community on edge. Sabotage at her aquarium facility wraps Jaima too deep in involvement, lending Perry the perfect reason to come around more often. When the wrecked hull produces a hidden surprise, Perry’s reluctant ...

Outfitter Tinsley Graham is hiding something remarkable in the vast expanse where Shark Slough drains the southern tip of Florida to form the Everglades. Videographer Rand Melton shows up to film the annual eradication of the evasive predator bent on demolishing the park’s native fauna. Paired to capture the python challenge as it unfolds, Tinsley has two weeks to trust him with her secret—and her heart. Together they’ll bring a winged gift back to the American public, but is their entanglement the kind that lasts? Everglades National Park, where the balance of water and land can make...

~Where staying above sea level requires careful alignment~ Indigo Ownley hesitates to aid a motorist in distress along the Great Dismal Swamp, and then cringes when she sees the NBA Tidewater Titans’ star center, Shae Swain. Reprimanded for his ejection from a game, Shae receives a penalty of two hundred community service hours and frantically needs to get started before another December day passes—so he selects Indigo’s nonprofit that mentors promising athletes. A chance encounter with a poster in the mop closet reveals that Indigo is really IOU, a lithe player he shared the court ...

Riding the popularity of Florida’s expanding rail line in 1904, Mattie Jo Pike has to administer first aid after two hobos squabble at her water tower stopover in Favoretta. The kindly victim, Mo Rudyard, doesn’t seem like the train-jumping type, but her stern Florida cracker father won’t let the man hang around long enough to learn more about him. Undercover, Morrison can’t seem to please his entrepreneurial father, and to aggravate matters, his priceless secret token has been stolen. He traces the token’s path to a hobo village where anarchy rules the cutthroat roost. With the ...

Denton Stephens plies his trade as a hauler until he drops through a rain-slicked bridge and falls into the Marias Des Cygnes River, where he’s rescued by pretty Haven Christiansen from the nearby ranch. Even with her father in a wheelchair, Haven manages to keep the Kansas ranch running, but when the construction crew lines up equipment to build the replacement bridge, realignment of the pasture’s fence puts her on overload. Needing a new hauling base, Denton trades off ranch work for room and board. When a troublesome project boss makes unwanted appearances, Denton infuses his ...

Journalism student Harper Townsend covers an election rally on assignment which turns electric when a rowdy activist group attacks, forcing a rescue by charismatic campaign manager Wink Dunn. The deeper she delves into surfacing rumors, the more compelling her new friend becomes. Though the Fed-up Brigade has an agenda that won’t let the campaign transpire peaceably, Harper’s intuitive drive to expose the truth helps muffle their vocal protests. As November approaches, candidates begin to drop from the ballot at every disclosure, which might leave a crook to run unopposed. Good thing ...

Lacey Woodhouse arrives at River Ranch to deliver the bank’s notice of default for unmade mortgage payments, but plunges into a horse trough and meets the struggling owner, rancher Wray Benson, up close and personal. When a bouquet of field daisies finds its way to her car windshield weeks later, she decides to throw caution — and conflict of interest — to the wind. Time in the country charms Lacey and when she learns of Wray’s support of an ailing family member, it softens her heart, leading to sweet romance.

Deep within Montana Territory, in 1885, miner Chance Mullan checks the rail spur for his expected shipment but picks up two famished siblings, instead - the adult offspring of his recently deceased work partner. Relegated to sleeping on the rear porch, Serafina Redmann never imagined such a bleak existence at the edge of civilization, but the fervor of the villagers to grow the settlement into a permanent town makes her want to stay and contribute.

Bree Borden is so busy orchestrating Sourwood’s farm-to-table movement, she scarcely has time to pull off the town’s harvest festival until she runs into Kyler Jennings. A successful book author temporarily running the local bed and breakfast for his uncle, Kyler determines to help the workaholic farmer slow down and smell the roses. After showing up at the farmer’s market, he lends some masculine attention to prove to Bree she’s really a dirt-encrusted diamond in the rough.

Volunteering at a mall gift wrapping station should lend Larelle Larson some clarity for celebrating Christmas. But a stubborn door latch puts her into the warming arms of Norde Howell, the tall MBA student posing as mall janitor while he works his way through college. Norde willingly steps into the role of fake date for Larelle, but every nuance seems to be more genuine as a string of Christmas events draws them together as a couple. With outside-the-box ideas to stimulate the mall’s business, Norde slowly wins her heart—until the allure of the opulent east-side mall confuses Larelle ...

On sabbatical, rodeo entertainer Lyndie Leigh Sessoms strikes out on her quest to find a real life, riding the coattails of a wildfire into Kansas where she rescues trampled rancher Burk Crosby from the ashes. Drawn together in a cascade of heart-wrenching events, they work selflessly to counter damage from the wildfire and resurrect the rural community around Ashland. Small-town kindness combines with widespread generosity in the wake of the fire, but a greedy siphon infiltrates the distribution site, casting a dark shadow of suspicion over the recovery efforts. To salvage their blossoming...

Galvanized by a sequence of events, young rancher Jusdyn Linquist awakens to a higher calling beyond the fences of his heritage lands. Already sensitive to the vanishing prairie’s plight, nothing catalyzes his quest more than attraction to Arie Henning, a mysterious woman living in a crumbling rock house. As he gains momentum, friction with the local conservation officer—his black sheep cousin TJ—escalates until a strike of nature deals him the upper hand. Arie claims she’s been sent to help, seeming almost supernatural in her ability to lend aid. But what tragic family secret ...

New in town, Willow Stevens arrives at The Master’s Toolbox hardware store, hoping to get some assistance with a detailed home improvement project. Caught soldering a seam for his latest metal-craft project, Evan Masterson soon becomes interested in another type of bond—right in time for Valentine’s Day. When Willow offers to help with his Etsy page and shares an idea to improve the store’s garden section, how can Mr. Fix-it refuse? Find out why Evan’s toolbox might need a trinket to guard it from here on out. When romance flutters down on Sweetwater, Kansas, the hardware store ...

Nurse Cami Walsh meets an interesting man the hard way when she sideswipes cyclist Holt Ellis on his way down Lookout Mountain. Holt survives the collision with shredded hopes of improving his dire state of unemployment, but Cami’s tender touch revives the man he longs to be. Cami’s son Mitch insists on substituting for Bicycle Man, a local hero who’s mysteriously gone missing, but she questions how Holt happens to know the delivery route for food distribution to the area’s homeless.

~His quest for innovation…Her conquest for endearment~ Materials engineer Mason Porter rescues HR director Glori Dawes when a platform collapses under her at the kickoff presentation for Coleman Company’s “America Goes Camping” campaign. To return the favor, Glori selects Mason as her camping husband, which launches a filming adventure through three national parks. When admiration kindles a deeper spark, Mason will have to force the issue regarding the ring on her finger that represents her vow with the devious Marketing director in charge of the campaign. Is it phony—or matrimony...

~Where the heart’s freedom to take wing starts in a cozy roost~ When event coordinator Season Aldridge takes a position in Red Cloud to promote writing at the famed Willa Cather Foundation, her quest to discover the best of Nebraska brings her into a collision course with handsome wildlife outfitter Rance Foreman as their observation blind collapses on the banks of the Platte River. A disruption in the courtship of the flocking sandhill cranes marks the beginning of another kind of allure, but when his group of rowdy hunters crashes her all-ladies writing retreat weeks later, the lodge ...

When Happy Lehman rolls her VW bug over right in front of Kirk Anders’ house, she lands on a novel way to get the building pro’s attention. Quick on her feet to recover, she pitches a partnership plan to match up a construction fundraising idea for her nonprofit clothes closet, The Prosper Portal, with some masculine hammer power. Kirk has a few hesitations of his own—including being scorched by his last goodwill partnership. And those fancy she sheds Happy has in mind for her Flirty Half Dozen aren’t exactly his specialty. Happy’s quest for the ultimate chandelier-topped pink ...

~Embracing progress becomes a matter of the heart~ The Lure of Modernization Busy with her downtown beautification work, Elina Marshall witnesses near calamity as Lathe Dailey, Flora’s new town manager, rescues a widow and her children from a downburst when the old railroad water tower fails. The Marshall family soon attends the world-famous 1904 St. Louis Exposition, and Lathe is invited along to contract the new waterworks that will modernize their town with running water. Romance leads the way through exotic gardens and a gondola ride, until drama unfolds down The Pike’s rowdy midway...

A daunting task, Shaina Gillespie endures the solitude on Cape Lookout to prepare the vintage lighthouse keeper’s house for relocation to the mainland. When ebbing currents force a mishap on her paddleboard, she crosses the inlet to Shackleford Banks where the rescue fills with a herd of wild ponies and one reclusive veterinarian, Judd Pearce. An oceanfront dinner-for-two sparks romantic interest, but Shaina determines to remain unbiased since Judd favors his hometown as a prime relocation site. A dark secret enshrouds his wild pony research and cuts a swath of betrayal between them while...