Landscapes of Mercy Series
~Because when you're on the ledge of desperation... the only lifeline is love~
Redeeming River Rancher
~Where only the bond of love can make redemption possible~
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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 she learns of Wray’s support of an ailing niece which softens her heart. Soon deconstruction of his perimeter fence during the foreclosure countdown hints of trouble within her REO unit at the bank. An investigation launches with Lacey at the helm, but she has problems navigating the sole condition mandated by the bank president—she can’t see Wray until the foreclosure process concludes. Committed to staying the course, she pins the guilty conspirators and offers a secret deal on the foreclosure in the nick of time.
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But will Lacey be able to reach out to downtrodden Wray and reconnect heart-to-heart?
SAVING BICYCLE MAN
~Where healing love can lend the power to save~
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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. When a once-in-a-lifetime job opening emerges for Holt, Cami slips a newspaper clipping into his resume package that links his marketing genius to his anonymous community service. With her dark paternity secret finally disclosed for justice, Cami finds herself plunged into a battle to regain Mitch after he’s abducted by his birth father.
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Will saving Bicycle Man be enough of a back-up plan to restore her little family?
Only a bridge of community support can break the threat of the brooding mountains that hem her in—and only love can conquer fear.
JUSTIFYING SOUND STRIDER
~Where honest advocacy justifies an investment of the heart~
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Marin Evans finagles her way into a rowboat with a temperamental sound-side resident who’s about to have his salty heritage crumble beneath him on the Outer Banks. Tyde Fearing lowers his guard to give the insistent land use planner her interview, but doesn’t expect to enjoy her company as the threat of condemnation for the historic Fearing cottage makes his future seem bleak. Marin goes into advocacy mode when the historical society and recreation department clash for use of the Fearing land donation. An outbuilding with a shadowy past stands to further condemn the Fearing family—or will the shed become a plank of justification when the truth is revealed? All hope falls to ashes when the Fearing cottage is taken by an act of nature, plunging Tyde into despair. Marin’s land use plan is the only life raft that will save him—and she employs a flotilla of creative reinforcements to pull it off at the grand opening of Fearing Landing.
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Will the shifting sands of the Graveyard of the Atlantic sink its last authentic waterman?
Not when he has an advocate determined to cross the waters of the sound
with a heart that bridges an impossible task with the surety of love.
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EVERGLADES ENTANGLEMENT
~Never count love as the limiting factor~
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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?
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Everglades National Park, where the balance of water and landcan make the difference between endangered or entangled.
SANCTIFYING ACE AERIALIST
~Where taking the higher road can sanctify the journey~
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Paisley St. James discovers Brace Cordan, the charismatic leader of the Re-Occupy movement, has been left behind to fend for himself at the wildlife park where she works in Pawnee Rock, Kansas. Sympathetic to include him in the community, she gives him a job tending the lorikeets, where he devises a gymnastics act that covers him with avian attention. When Brace lends his marketing expertise to increase daily attendance and passes romantic glances her way, small town living starts looking up. Betrayal strikes the park, leaving a tag-team staff shored up by nomadic Re-Occupy members to run the Shakespeare event. An unbelievable offer emerges from the show when the post of a wacky performance goes viral on social media, but Brace allows his financial burden to overshadow any hope for her inclusion.
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Paisley will have to utter the words no woman should have to say,
but will that sacrifice be enough to convince Brace?
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The path ahead becomes the higher road when it starts on a towering rock.
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Secondhand Flower Stand
~In Mount Hope, Kansas, the power to heal grows
in a bedraggled flower garden~
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Rellie Lassiter arrives in Mount Hope for her Aunt Mo’s knee surgery and discovers an unkempt flower garden out back, perfect for healing her big-city woes. Rancher Trevor Garner shares the driveway to Mo’s farm, but sure doesn’t welcome any feminine company—pretty or otherwise. When he tries to bush hog the floral evidence of love-turned-tragic, Rellie turns a bruised back to his advancing tractor and takes a stand to spare the bloom-tousled garden. In this battle of bruised versus bitter, it will take hail-fire and brimstone to help them see eye to eye. Count on the tempestuous Kansas weather to avail the perfect opportunity, and cap it with a touch of divine resolution from Rellie’s roadside flower stand.
Journey to Mount Hope, Kansas, where secondhand doesn’t mean second best.
LIFTING LOCK RUNNER
~Where the right heart connection can lift the heavy spirit~
Stationed at the locks leading to Lake Okeechobee, Florida, Fallon McKenzie admires the heroic rescue of a disabled boater as the lock rises with floodwater. In the right place at the right time, Bait Crate shop owner Court Reynolds offers to take Fallon around to her lake checkpoints after the surplus boat is docked, which leads to a sunset dinner invitation. Court’s lifelong ties in his coastal community of Port Salerno start to fray with one neglect-driven catastrophe after another. Fallon lures Court inland with the suggestion of expanding business to include corporate fishing frolics at her horse ranch in Loxahatchee. Despite promising success, a deep wound cuts at the family’s wellness. Fallon seizes the moment to save Court, but trouble in uniform lurks ahead, right when her guard is down.
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Fallon’s love lifts Court with her lyrical boatman’s renderings,
but can he rally to play the hero’s part one more time?
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A lake lends tranquility only when the heart can be lifted up
above the mounting floodwaters.
MESA VERDE MELTDOWN
~Even among the ruins, love never becomes antiquated~
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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.
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Ropes and ladders lead to their precarious cliff-side rendezvous,
but will the two abandon the romance like the Anasazi left the mesa?
Love tucks into unlikely places, rock solid and always meant to last.
SALVAGING DOCTOR JUNK
~Where love salvages two hearts on the ledge of loneliness~
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Delayne Davidson has a knack for flushing secretive birds from their cover, but when she goes into the Ozark backwoods to buy a puppy, she flushes out a handsome young veterinarian as a bonus. Try as he might, Kemp Junkowski just can’t seem to gain business at his fledgling animal clinic in Harrison, Arkansas, park headquarters for the picturesque Buffalo National River. As they bond over a mutual love of animals and time spent on the river, Delayne suggests inventive ways to strengthen his business ties. When evidence of vehicle tampering unfolds right in the department’s motor pool, trouble starts showing up in unexpected places. Kemp tastes success while subbing for an ailing vet at a non-stop animal clinic, so how can he return to an empty appointment schedule?
Delayne helps Kemp step beyond his fear of ledges,
but can she come up with a strategy to keep his clinic doors open?
Trepidation may toe the ledge, but true love only lands after a leap of faith.
WARMING STONE COLD LODGE
~ A little artistic persuasion thaws even the most rough-hewn heart~
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Set on collecting rocks to stack her next waterfall, artsy entrepreneur Bibi Harrison doesn’t see the bobcat lurking in the meadow until too late. Young rancher Lodge Reddeck fires a shot in the nick of time, and soon ends up with a beautiful woman in his arms. Reclusive due to an unresolved brush with the law, Lodge hesitates to offer her a load of fieldstones to make amends. As they work side by side on the planning committee for a business expo in Council Grove, Kansas, an unlikely attraction begins to kindle. Driven to hunt down a local woman gone missing, Bibi hopes to unshackle Lodge’s cold heart, and her godly determination soon has an unexpected rippling effect in the caring community.
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Bibi’s challenge to leave a mark on the landscape forces Lodge to view his ranching
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heritage in a whole new light, but will his reluctant heart thaw out in time?
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A Novella in the
Taming the Cowboy’s Heart Collection
RUNNING OUT OF CHRISTMASTIME
Three couples meet during the rush of Christmas countdown…
…and prove it’s a holiday of the heart.
WALNUT ISLAND FERRY CHRISTMAS
~Where a boat trip off the mainland builds a bridge to holiday romance~
When assistant pilot Sawyer Newland cancels the final ferry run to Walnut Island, North Carolina, prior to Christmas due to inclement weather, he doesn’t count on Orlene Trask arriving late in the parking lot. Pretty and persuasive, Orlene convinces him to risk the crossing of Albemarle Sound, but emergencies and shoaling sandbars soon stand in the way. Landlocked by the spreading fog with Christmas fast approaching, Sawyer leans on small-town backdrops to charm his guest into staying, including a special offer Orlene can’t readily decline.
OLD HIGHWAY FOUR CHRISTMAS
~Where the comeliness of the lowly adds to the enchantment of Christmas on the prairie ~
Larsen Klein waits out his substitute stint at the Santa hut during a Kansas ice storm and ends up with a stranded guest on his bottom step just two days before Christmas. Nursing student Joelle Wright relishes the warmth and kindness of the strong man in the hut—until she figures out he’s the one person in town she’s trying to avoid! A trip up Old Highway Four in Larsen’s snowplow lends Joelle the chance to reconsider as she meets some of the colorful characters in Nana Dee’s letters and gets a peek inside the rancher’s tender heart. Count on sparks in the snow!
CAPE LOOKOUT CHRISTMAS
~Where a vestige of Old World traditions helps cast diamonds in the sand~
Shandy Martin escapes during winter break to finish her research out on the sandy spit of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, only to find fisherman Tanner Willis in need of some immediate first aid. A quick rescue launches their survival-based partnership amid bitter cold weather. When his family visits Core Banks on Christmas Eve, Shandy discovers their connection to a long-admired space martyr which opens her heart to romance. With time running out on Christmas, will Shandy discover a way to extend their holiday affections after the Yule log burns down?
CALYPSO REIMAGINED
~A new destiny floats ashore on an island swept by love~
Visionary Remi Fontaine arrives for his summer job as distinguished visiting professor at a coastal university in North Carolina, hiding his faltering allegiance to his family’s legacy as pioneering oceanographers. As his faculty contact, graduate coordinator Nia Parnell introduces him to little-known natural gems along the coastline as they co-teach a summer session course. Remi’s growing affection for all things terrestrial mingles with his attraction for Nia, until a diving malady strikes and forces him to contemplate a major redirection. Launching a new focus for the underwater society at the summer’s end may force Remi to leave Nia high and dry—or can they explore the new horizon together?
When a heritage must be reimagined, the letting go frees a heart to love.
After all, every man must dare to leave his own footprints in the sand.
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RED CLOUD RETREAT
~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 suddenly teems with contrasting characters. Adverse weather blankets the setting and cooperation becomes a must. The writing group’s cleverly turned colliding word pairings offer entertainment during their joint survival effort. Private strategy sessions in a cozy pantry with Rance kindle a spark, leaving Season under a “romantic ransom” of unavoidable proportions.
With a flame lit despite Rance’s no-touch house rule,
more than one captive may hope the firewood doesn’t run out.
Though Season finds her “reckless restraint” melting,
their cooperative survival could be an answer to prayer.
Whether ransom or rescue, the retreat turns bittersweet for two willing hearts.
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TIDEWATER LOWLANDS
~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 with back in his college days at Old Dominion University. As he delves into the fate of a note of affection spurred by his college crush, his one-sided admiration ignites into something more mutual. Will Indigo enforce the stringent Rule of Verticality on which Latchkey Locker is established—or lean in to meet him halfway?
To successfully navigate the Tidewater region of North Carolina,
it pays to respect the swamp.
Canyon Country Courtship
~ Where natural bridges span the sky to evoke romance below~
Stopping by Landscape Arch after delivering her lavender soap supply to the park’s visitor’s center, Kenzie Drummond rescues a fallen hiker and offers to help walk him out. Pressed with a deadline for his photographs to make the next Canyon Country calendar, Ford Wesley can’t afford any delays. When his knee injury threatens to wreck his schedule, his travel plans merge with Kenzie’s soap delivery route and the two strike out to admire some of Utah’s most stunning scenery together. With romance budding under a cascade, their cozy travelogue-for-two crashes at lavender harvest, complete with sharp machetes and a menacing boss. The heady aroma of essential oils masks the scent of danger for Kenzie, leaving Ford to navigate his loneliness back at the ranch. Like the natural bridges featured in his photos, will he span the distance in time?
From wind-bruised fields of lavender to rain-carved palisades,Utah boasts a phenomenal sculpted horizon where love can take root and flourish.
Representing the grand state of Utah in Winged Publications’
50 States Collection
CASCADING WATERWORKS
~Embracing progress becomes a matter of the heart~
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. The untimely mishap drives a wedge between Lathe and the chairman of the town council—Elina’s stern father. July 4th ushers in a lot auction to expand the town and pits Elina dead set against Lathe’s top bid. Orderly-minded, Lathe always has a plan, but can Elina align with it? More than chaos will be “coming down The Pike” as Missouri determines to go modern with a progressive mindset that always allows room for romance.
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A Novella in the
Loving the Town Hero Collection
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OIL FIELD MAVEN
~ His quest for safety… Her conquest for love ~
Safety manager Duncan Reed works to flush out an illicit labor union tapping out the oil company’s insurance benefits in El Dorado, Kansas. When his path crosses newly widowed Lorna Rae Holmes, their friendship lends her courage to pursue a long-held dream. Lo-Rae Cakes becomes a reality after she moves to prosperous Kansas City. But the harrowing Midwest floods in the summer of 1951 pressure Lorna Rae to evacuate, reuniting her with the compassionate safety manager who has a soft spot for both her cake and her daughter. A cresting flood, a fire held in innocent hands, and a fiendish last attempt by the union leader all threaten to damage the fragile connection between Duncan and Lorna Rae.
Safety must return to the oil fields, but what will Duncan place at ultimate risk?
BOOK ONE OF
AMERICA’S FABULOUS FIFTIES
~Rebuilding a mighty nation two hearts at a time~