Climax
Jenny Miller sells cars. She is one of the best in a tough profession where her gender is the sharpest of two-edged swords. Driven by the kind of internal engine that serves any breakout salesman in the sexist seventies and eighties, she dominates the showroom floor until one day she decides to move with her children to coastal North Carolina for a new start. Dr. David Sandler is a prominent psychiatrist specializing in hypnotism. When his personal life takes an unexpected turn, he devises a way to use his patients to help him out. The fact that they don’t know how helpful they are being makes it easier for him to control things, even their deaths. He falls in love with Jenny and is determined to make her his bride. After all, she is already the mother of his child, though she doesn’t know it. Colin Gregory Scott, a recently retired police detective looking for a new direction for his life following an unwanted divorce, takes a private investigating job referred by a friend. With the case finally behind him, he takes his son to the North Carolina coast to establish a bond, to renew his spirit and think about his next career. Little does he know that this will ultimately connect all the avenues of his life.
The Secret of the Kindred Spirit
Cassie Andrews has come to Brunswick County to build the controversial high-rise bridge to the idyllic barrier island of Sunset Beach. She gets more than she bargained for when she stumbles onto a murder and meets Michael Troy, the cop who will light a passion in her that she doesn’t know she has. As she struggles to prove herself and fit into the community, Michael tries to solve the murder of one of the island’s most disdained citizens. Had he hated the idea of the new bridge so much that it had cost him his life? Just whom had he upset this time? Michael wanted a southern bride, a gently-bred woman of the south so why was this little imp, who liked to play in the dirt with her Tonka toys, turning him inside out?
What Dreams Are Made Of
This book is for women who like to read romantic stories of love that include the sensual aspects of a man and a woman as they fall in love. Each story is meant to be read in one night as a substitute date. When a woman finds herself alone when she’d really rather be with somebody special, all she has to do is run her finger down the list and select her “date” for the evening. She can choose the man of her dreams from the occupations listed: State Trooper, Airline Pilot, Myrtle Beach Biker, Country Singer and Charity Date. They are all the ultimate in fantasy. Once she’s made her choice, she can settle in for an evening of romance and love with the very essence of what dreams are made of–fantasy and desire. Each story follows a particular hero and heroine as they meet, discover their attraction for each other and ultimately fall in love. The heroes are strong, sensuous and commanding while still vulnerable enough to fall in love. They are the men women dream about. The women who read the stories are the heroines. They are everyday working women, always believing that they are on the verge of meeting their perfect love. They are women who love to dream. In each scenario the sexual tension is allowed to build before circumstances finally permit the hero and heroine to express their passions and the curtain does not close for the reader, who is permitted to fully find out What Dreams Are Made Of.
Imagine being saved by a state trooper just seconds before being raped, then never wanting to be saved from him. Imagine being swept off your feet by a dashing pilot when you’re engaged to be married, and having the best night of your life before having to tell him good-bye. Imagine being somewhat of a prude and suddenly finding yourself on the back of a Harley holding on to a man who makes your toes curl. Imagine finally meeting the famous country singer that you’ve idolized for years and not even knowing that he’s spending a fortune trying to find you again. Imagine being a man, auctioned off to a woman who hadn’t meant to win you at all. A woman too beautiful for words who has an ache in her heart that threatens to melt yours. Imagine being the center of every fantasy–the fantasies that dreams are made of.
I hope this will be a book that finds its way into a woman’s nightstand drawer; its pages soft from use as the stories are read over and over. These fantasy men are willing and available to any woman who wants to get to know them, if only on paper.
Barefoot Beaches
One day, sweet, young and strikingly beautiful, Madison Grantham is living on campus, finishing her master’s degree and working at the college library, and the next, she’s an heiress. She goes from owning a papasan chair, two laptops, a trunk full of textbooks and a vintage Karman Ghia, to owning a mansion, several large companies, a Mercedes limousine, a Beechcraft plane, and a pilot. Kent Markham, rugged outdoorsman and veteran lady-killer, worked for Madison’s father. Now, Jake Grantham is dead and his braniac daughter is his new boss. There are four months left on the lease for the plane and four months left on his contract to fly it. Along with a hotel, a department store, and several high-tech companies, Madison also inherits a development project on Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina that is just in the beginning stages. Sur La Mer is to be a grand Disney World-styled resort and the residents of the secluded barrier island are not at all happy about it. Someone, it seems, is so unhappy, that they’re trying to get rid of Madison all together.
For The Love of AmandaMichele’s daughter Amanda is dying, and the only chance Michele has to save her, is to have a baby. Precious stem cells harvested from a sibling’s umbilical cord are Amanda’s only hope. Michele is a widow, so conceiving a baby is no little matter. She turns to Michael, the only man who can’t refuse her. As Michele’s body blossoms with new life, Michele and Michael soon discover something else is growing–a tender, yet passionate love. Together, as they deal with Michele’s pregnancy and awaken to desire that is undeniable, they find they must face and accept their painful past.
Shipwrecked at SunsetShipwrecked is a story of love so strong it survives time and treachery. It is a story of forensic discovery rich with southern history. A Confederate soldier’s body is discovered under the remains of a buried Civil War ship. The wreck, uncovered in the aftermath of a hurricane on the North Carolina coast, holds secrets that will change lives. A reluctant pathologist, Dr. Ben Kenyon, is sent to identify the body and tie up the loose ends for the state. One of those “loose ends” turns out to be Shelby Laine, an inspector for the Division of Coastal Area Management. She is a willful woman, passionate in more ways than one in her dedication to preserving the history and coastal environment of the South. Ben and Shelby work together to unravel the poignant story of a plantation owner’s son and the slave woman he loved. They also find a deep attraction to each other. The history of a beautiful southern plantation is changed forever by their discovery of passion, desire, and love.
Worth Any Price
There’s a serial killer in Wilmington and he calls himself The Voyeur. He forces women to do unspeakable, deviant acts that must be videotaped so he can watch. His lewd demands are the ransom he requires for the safe return of their kidnapped children. When The Voyeur takes a child, he leaves a list of things the mother must do to have her child safely returned. If the instructions are not followed, the child will die—he has proven that. Laura, a gently-bred southern socialite, must approach a stranger in a bar, lead him to a motel room and have sex with him knowing there’s a camera concealed in the television recording everything. Paige, a devout Christian, must service a man she’s just met while a webcam focuses on them. The man she arranges to meet is her pastor. Meggie, a dedicated operating room nurse, has to be caught flagrante delicto by her extremely jealous ex-husband. The man she has to be discovered with is his best friend and tennis partner, the new resident surgeon at her hospital. The women The Voyeur targets are single mothers devoted to their children, with nowhere to turn when they discover that their child is missing and that he has them. Three single men, in either the right place or the wrong place, are alerted to their plight and come to their rescue. By doing so, their lives are altered forever. Kel, Caison and Rand, strong men of good character, get much more than they bargained for when they step in to help three desperate women. This is a novel focusing on the deviant mind of a sexual predator as well as on the romance of three couples dealing with the most unusual circumstances of their meeting. The man who comes to Laura’s rescue is Kel Vain, a tormented detective who is trying frantically to catch the kidnapper terrorizing his community. He is obsessed with capturing the vile monster who holds the power of love in his hands. For it is well known that this evil man won’t hesitate to kill the child of a woman who won’t do his bidding. And Detective Vain knows he can’t bear the sight of another young body being pulled from the river. Detective Kel Vain comes to Laura Wyndham’s rescue when her daughter is snatched. He becomes the stranger this single mom must proposition and be videotaped with. It is a sexual episode unlike anything either could ever have imagined. As Kel spends his days trying to capture the demented killer, his nights are tortured by thoughts of the proper society woman that he made the most incredible love to. This was a challenging book to write. I wanted to convey the fear these women felt in an almost hopeless situation, their obvious hesitation to do the kidnapper’s bidding, yet their steely determination to do whatever it took to get their children back. The men, while not quite so traumatized, have their own emotions to deal with as they first take charge and fulfill the ransom demands, then strive to protect the women they are coming to think of as theirs.
Father Steve’s Dilemma
Father Steve became a priest because he had to. Now, years later those reasons no longer apply and he is having serious doubts about spending the rest of his life in the priesthood. Although he loves teaching at a Catholic university, he is not sure this is the life meant for him. The uncertainties that weigh heavily on his mind escalate after he discovers that one of his favorite students has been masquerading as a boy. An innocent brush during a pickup basketball game jolts his senses and he instantly realizes that Micky, who has been posing as a young man, is really Michelle.
When Micky becomes the housekeeper and is moved into the rectory, he is sorely tempted to turn the innocent waif into an indoctrinated woman. Late one night, in the rectory kitchen, when he discovers her hand-me-down nightgown is more than twice her size (as well as transparent when backlit), he decides to buy her one of her own. He knows he’s in trouble when, sans collar for this venture, he is not able to touch the smooth satins and cool silks without imagining her petite curves underneath.
During the semester he and Micky share many confidences, and soon they are sharing more than just their thoughts. His body, denied satiation for so long, burns for hers. However, it is not just his body that can’t be denied, it is also his heart.
But all is not what it seems in this college town. With so many parish priests, what are the odds that he’d be the one to hear the confession of the serial rapist who murdered his mother and sister so many years ago? How can he keep the sanctity of his vows while every fiber in his being is calling for him to kill the man who had destroyed his life?
As he retreats to Assisi to deal with conflicting emotions about leaving the priesthood and the intense feelings he has for the woman he is coming to love, a chance encounter with Micky makes her the murderer’s next target. When Father Steve discovers she is in danger, the sacredness of his vocation no longer concerns him; all he cares about is her.
In the first book of the RV series, we meet Carrie Roberts who has just run away from her abusive husband. She has figured out how she can finally get away and slip into a new, anonymous life. Deciding to become a full time RVer to evade the man who will surely stop at nothing to find her, she takes off in her new motorhome. As she travels the country familiarizing herself with her new home, the campgrounds she visits become her world. During Carrie’s travels she meets Daniel and Angelina, a father and his five-year old daughter. Carrie is stunned when days later she discovers Angelina’s picture on a Missing Children’s Network bulletin board at a local Wal-Mart. Her curiosity gets the best of her and even as she enlists the help of a rugged, virile federal agent, she is drawn to discover Daniel’s secret. It’s a chase across the country as an angry federal agent named Brick Tyler rues the day he met the petite stunner named Carrie Roberts.
The whimsical, day-to-day life of a full time RVer is highlighted as Carrie makes her way west trying to stay one step ahead of the exasperated and highly capable Brick Tyler, who is determined to catch up to her and throw her in jail for her double-crossing actions.
Running Up The Score
Talk about an identity crisis! I have changed my name from Debbie, to Carrie, to Jenny, all in an effort to keep my husband from finding me. But I keep running, and lately all I’m doing is running into trouble. In Oregon I discover that my neighbors are doing something despicable inside their mega-yacht RV, and then I meet a soldier returning from Iraq who’s trying to find the girl he fell in love with, yet all he has to go on is a picture of her with a snowman. In California, my neighbors have a very unique family arrangement—one wife, two husbands. Later, I manage to get myself and my new pet lizard stranded in Death Valley. I’m baking in my RV, which has become an oven, when I’m rescued by a cowboy in a limousine and am whisked away to his luxury resort. Meanwhile, Brick, my boy toy (even though we have never really “toyed”), continuously turns up at the wrong time when things are not as they seem. I say boy toy, because I am definitely not ready to have a “boyfriend” yet. Especially as no matter what I do, I cannot seem to keep my jealous husband from finding me. Stupidly, I walk right into his trap and the nightmares I’ve been having become my reality. Brick’s a federal agent, and busy trying to catch predators and child molesters, including the one who took his sister four years earlier, but I know without a doubt that he’ll rescue me. I may drive him crazy, but I know that he loves me, and that he’ll find me before it’s too late.
Running Into A Brick Wall
For Jenny, our intrepid RVer, the excitement never ends. Staying one step ahead of her abusive husband, who is more determined than ever to find her, she now faces more danger reuniting a missing child with her rightful parents. Her efforts lead to a break in a four-year-old case that is close to Brick’s heart, and take her to the largest RV rally in the country where her mission is to rescue her sexy cop’s little sister from the man who kidnapped her. Jenny, afraid to involve Brick in another false lead, is determined to handle this without him knowing.
Being courageous in the face of danger is what Brick gets paid for, but he’s not so brave in his personal life. Once he discovers his passionate feelings for Jenny, it’s not his job that has him chasing after her—it’s the fear of losing her. Having been afraid to express his love for Jenny, he’s now ready to commit to a relationship. But with Jenny getting into one mishap after another, it’s hard to find the time to show her what she means to him. Jenny, realizing this is the kind of love she’s always dreamed of, is ready to do anything to get Brick’s family back together.
Valiant, daring, and full of life, Jenny is becoming the woman she was born to be as she adapts to the RVing life she was meant to live. As anyone who’s been camping knows, it’s the people you meet along the way who color the tale—so enjoy the journey!
The Widows of Sea Trail
Named for the island off the California coast, Catalina, or Cat as her friends call her, is a widow. She has grieved for four long years and now her mother is trying to get her to put herself back together and to perhaps find love again.
A rash promise Cat makes to her mother has her taking a hard look at herself; it’s time for a makeover—well, past time if truth were told. And why, oh why, had she let her screwball friends talk her into casting that Affecting Spell on an old oak tree? For her mom, she promises to go on six dates before her mother’s upcoming birthday. For her zany friends, she chants to a tree on the golf course behind her house.
As Cat brutally assesses the changes that need to be made if she’s to fulfill her promise, she is shocked to realize that she is ready to find someone new, to see if there could possibly be a man who can make her happy again. Three months isn’t a lot of time to get back in shape and to get out and circulate, but without exception, Cat has always kept her promises to her mother. And maybe, just maybe, finding true love can start with believing in a little magic.
Catalina of Live Oaks is the first in The Widows of Sea Trail trilogy, it’s a spicy romance set on the North Carolina Coast at Sea Trail Plantation in Sunset Beach.
The Widows of Sea Trail—Tessa of Crooked Gulley
Tessa, short for Contessa, along with her best friends, conjure the magic of Merlin on an old oak tree in hopes that it will bring her true love. Four years of grieving has taken its toll though and she isn’t sure she can believe in H.E.A. (Happily Ever After) anymore.
Shortly thereafter, she treats herself to a Caribbean cruise as a reward for surviving breast cancer. Early one morning she chances to see a harbor pilot jump onto her ship, climb up a ladder, and disappear. Minutes later, her ship is guided into port and she is standing on her balcony, fresh from her shower, wrapped only in a towel. She looks down and sees the incredibly handsome harbor pilot talking to the captain of her ship. He looks up and their eyes meet. Nothing is ever going to be the same for either of them when later that day, they encounter each other on the island of St. Thomas.
As shipboard romances go, hers is a dilly, but when it’s time to go home to Sea Trail Plantation and settle back into her idyllic life, things are anything but routine. Her neighbor and friend, Amy, has been acting strange and has now disappeared. Tessa suspects Amy’s goldbricking husband is up to no good but no one will believe her. Then Roman, her sexy harbor pilot, coaxes her into meeting him in Charleston where legends of slaves and their masters provide fodder for a romance unlike any other.
The Widows of Sea Trail—Vivienne of Sugar Sands
Vivienne, named after an enchanting sorceress, is ready for that “old black magic” again. It’s been four years since her husband died. Along with her friends, Cat and Tessa, she has decided it’s time to find a man, get wrapped up in a steamy romance, and possibly even remarry. First a makeover is called for, because grief makes us all a little sloppy and neglectful in the keeping-up-appearances department.
Unbeknownst to Vivienne, Cat and Tessa have found the ideal man, a multi-millionaire from Charlotte who’s just hired a professional matchmaker to help him find a wife. Cat and Tessa go online and fill out the application in Vivienne’s name, and soon she is one of the select few to win a date with Philip Camden.
To get her ready for the big date, Cat and Tessa whip Vivienne into shape, walking with her on the beach and supporting her very odd eleven-day diet. Neither bothers to tell her what they wrote on the application that intrigued Philip enough to put her name at the top of his list.
Phillip alludes to an evil secret and a grievous sin, then one night he tells her a story and she learns about his wicked past. Just how does one approach the idea of having sex with a former porn star—even if it was thirty years ago? She’s only been with one man. How is she ever going to keep a man with his experience satisfied?
From the moment Philip meets Vivienne, he is smitten and sure she’s the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Convincing her they can live Happily Ever After however, turns out to be one of his greatest challenges.
Sunset Beach: A HistoryThis book is not a chronicle of everyday town government minutiae. If you seek a record of town council battles and meetings you will have to seek it elsewhere.
Politics cannot be totally avoided in an honest history of the town so the authors have tried to present the opinions of the towns’ citizens in their own words. They are not necessarily the opinions of the authors.
There is little debate that the number one issue that has fueled conflict among town factions for years has been “The Bridge.” As this is being written, the war that has raged for decades and has cost the state and federal treasuries millions of dollars is at last over. The court has spoken—a new high-rise bridge will now serve the town.
Over the years, there have been many issues that have caused division between the townsfolk, and almost all the interviewees mentioned being involved in a passionate debate or two.
At the end of the day, after all is said and done…we are all blessed to be here, in this paradise by the sea. The people in this book have contributed to this endeavor by telling their stories. Without them, this book would not have been written. And so…we give you a journey through the past.
