Taryn Malone is stranded, broke, and desperate for help. But even if the sexy bartender she's been eyeing offers her a job for the evening...even if he seduces her with his impossibly intense blue eyes...even if every fiber of her heart tells her to stay with him, she can't. Because Taryn Malone doesn't exist. Jake Callaghan has been running the family's Irish pub for years now. When he sees Taryn standing out alone in the rain, he does what he's been trained to do as a SEAL - he rescues her.

From the majestic mountains of Albania, through the rural idyll of the English countryside, to the shady glamour of contemporary London, The Missus is a spellbinding journey of love, longing, acceptance, and redemption.

DI Amy Winter is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her highly respected police officer father. But when a letter arrives from the prison cell of Lillian Grimes, one half of a notorious husband-and-wife serial-killer team, it contains a revelation that will tear her life apart. Responsible for a string of heinous killings decades ago, Lillian is pure evil. A psychopathic murderer. And Amy’s biological mother. Now, she is ready to reveal the location of three of her victims - but only if Amy plays along with her twisted game.

Eleven years ago, the Co-ed Slayer murdered nine female students on the Oregon State University campus. Lacey Campbell barely escaped his attack, but lost her best friend whose remains were never found. As the sole surviving victim, Lacey helped send the sadistic serial killer to prison for life. Now a forensic odontologist examining teeth and bones for the state Medical Examiner, Lacey is devastated when she arrives at a crime scene and identifies the skeletal remains as her college friend’s.

Marine biologist Susie Cooper traded her life in America for a dream job on the rugged Scottish coast. Now all she lacks is the right man to start a family with. After their first meeting, she knows sexy Detective Inspector Nick Archer isn't what she's looking for. He's the type of guy whose idea of commitment is staying the whole night. Nick has returned to St. Andrews for one reason only - to fulfill his vow to find his wife's killer.

It's been seven years since the Seattle Strangler terrorized the city. His victims were all young, pretty, their lifeless bodies found wrapped in a home-sewn white dress. But there was one who miraculously escaped death, just before the Strangler disappeared. Lara Church has only hazy memories of her long-ago attack. What she does have is a home in Austin, a job, and a chance at a normal life at last. Then Texas Ranger James Beck arrives on her doorstep with shattering news: The Strangler is back....

When Lyle Cummings is left standing at the altar on his wedding day, all of his carefully composed plans for the future come crashing down around him. The pragmatic surgeon is left questioning his well-ordered existence and wondering if there might be more to life than the achievements of wealth and career. When he meets fiery lounge singer Katrina Giordano, his mundane life is turned upside down. He will learn that what he thought was love really wasn't at all. But will Katrina's dark past and ties to organized crime threaten the happiness they have found?

The facts are public knowledge: five people have been murdered. Each has died from a blow to the head. And the media-dubbed Prince Charming killer has left a “calling card” with each victim. A single thornless rose. But there’s another fact...one that the police haven’t made public. Something no one, except the killer and the police, should know. But Gabriel Donner does - and he can’t figure out why. All he knows is that he’s begun hearing voices, sleepwalking and dreaming vividly of the murders...as they happen.

Detective Matthew Bennett doesn't believe in ghosts. So when the spirit of a murdered child leads him to her body, he's shaken to the core - and taken off the case. Unable to explain his vision, or to let go of the investigation, Matthew turns to renowned medium Kiernan Fitzpatrick. Though he has doubts about Kiernan's claims to communicate with the dead, Matt is nevertheless drawn to the handsome psychic, who awakens feelings he thought were long-buried.

As a teenager, Jill Shannon fell victim to her stepfather's cruel abuse. Now, as an adult, Jill's made it - she has a successful career and a solid, if not static, marriage to Detective Alex Shannon. Together they live out what seems to be a perfect life in Seattle. The vow she made as a teenager to never again be a victim lies dormant - until one day a reporter lures her to his hotel room under the pretense of an interview - and suddenly it all comes rushing back.

Hidden Falls is exactly as Samantha Parker left it - small, insular, and prone to gossip. Eighteen years have passed since she witnessed her brother's murder, but she's still the talk of the town. Until a handsome child psychologist with haunting memories of his own arrives. Dr. Ethan McClane isn't exactly a newcomer. If it weren't for his latest case, he'd never set foot back in Hidden Falls. Thankfully, no one seems to recognize him as the troubled teen from years past.

Forensic psychiatrist Kate Myers believes the killer of two teenage girls in Bigler County, California, is the same man who savagely murdered her twin sister over fifteen years ago. Working on sheer tenacity, she sets out to prove it. Deputy Sheriff Ben Slater hides his personal pain behind the job, but Kate's arrival knocks his world on its axis. He wants to believe her wild theory, but the idea of a serial killer with this pathology is bizarre. Together, they work to find a killer whose roots began in a small town in Bigler County, but whose violence spread across the nation.

Twenty-three years ago, Anna North survived a living nightmare. A madman kidnapped her, cut off her pinkie, then vanished. Today Anna lives in New Orleans, writing dark thrillers under another name. She finally feels safe. Suddenly Anna’s quiet life takes a frightening turn. Letters start to arrive from a disturbed fan. Anna is followed, her apartment broken into. Then a close friend disappears. Anna turns to homicide detective Quentin Malone, but Malone’s more concerned with the recent murders of two women in the French Quarter.

Ballet dancer Tommie Purnell has finally left her troubles behind her. After a devastating scandal derails her dancing career in New York, she flees to Houston for a fresh start. Once her new dance studio takes off, the rest of Tommie's life follows suit. But when a local woman connected to Tommie turns up dead, Tommie is petrified. . .and doesn't know where to turn. When veteran homicide detective Paulo Sanchez walks through her door, Tommie wonders if her troubles have just doubled.

Ten years ago Virginia Catron and Bailey Callihan had to get married, but they loved each other fiercely and adored their son when he came into their lives. Fate dealt them a cruel blow when their infant son was snatched in a grocery store. Their new marriage couldn't withstand the strain and when it became clear their baby would not be found, they divorced, brokenhearted and grief stricken. They haven't seen each other since their divorce was finalized. The story opens when word arrives that their son has been found… alive.

Marine biologist Susie Cooper traded her life in America for a dream job on the rugged Scottish coast. Now all she lacks is the right man to start a family with. After their first meeting, she knows sexy Detective Inspector Nick Archer isn't what she's looking for. He's the type of guy whose idea of commitment is staying the whole night. Nick has returned to St. Andrews for one reason only - to fulfill his vow to find his wife's killer.

Detective Matthew Bennett doesn't believe in ghosts. So when the spirit of a murdered child leads him to her body, he's shaken to the core - and taken off the case. Unable to explain his vision, or to let go of the investigation, Matthew turns to renowned medium Kiernan Fitzpatrick. Though he has doubts about Kiernan's claims to communicate with the dead, Matt is nevertheless drawn to the handsome psychic, who awakens feelings he thought were long-buried.

As a teenager, Jill Shannon fell victim to her stepfather's cruel abuse. Now, as an adult, Jill's made it - she has a successful career and a solid, if not static, marriage to Detective Alex Shannon. Together they live out what seems to be a perfect life in Seattle. The vow she made as a teenager to never again be a victim lies dormant - until one day a reporter lures her to his hotel room under the pretense of an interview - and suddenly it all comes rushing back.

FBI analyst Kassidy Bishop is assigned to the "'For You' Killer" task force after a series of sadistic murders bearing the same signature arise in different parts of the country. The homicides are both calculated and savage, occurring in different states, but bearing the same signature: the words "for you" scribbled at each crime scene. The case chills Kassidy, bringing back memories of her own encounter with a violent criminal five years earlier.

Clay LeGrand's heart shattered the day his wife, Frankie, disappeared. Had she run away? Been kidnapped? Or had she simply left him for another man? Two years later he's still asking the same burning questions when he comes home to find Frankie in his bed, as if nothing had ever happened.

Ballet dancer Tommie Purnell has finally left her troubles behind her. After a devastating scandal derails her dancing career in New York, she flees to Houston for a fresh start. Once her new dance studio takes off, the rest of Tommie's life follows suit. But when a local woman connected to Tommie turns up dead, Tommie is petrified. . .and doesn't know where to turn. When veteran homicide detective Paulo Sanchez walks through her door, Tommie wonders if her troubles have just doubled.

The facts are public knowledge: five people have been murdered. Each has died from a blow to the head. And the media-dubbed Prince Charming killer has left a “calling card” with each victim. A single thornless rose. But there’s another fact...one that the police haven’t made public. Something no one, except the killer and the police, should know. But Gabriel Donner does - and he can’t figure out why. All he knows is that he’s begun hearing voices, sleepwalking and dreaming vividly of the murders...as they happen.

Ten years ago, Lilly Carmichael left town without an explanation, breaking Braden Donnelly's heart. The death of her aunt has brought Lilly home and face-to-face with memories she thought were long buried. Still getting over a traumatic incident from her work as an NSA agent, Lilly initially dismisses the face at her window as a figment of stress-induced paranoia.

Seven years ago, Sarah Mason's five-year-old daughter vanished during an outing at a park in Beaufort, South Carolina. Despite a frantic search, little Lexie was never found, and Sarah was left to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and go on the best she could. Then, one hot August night, Sarah comes home to hear the phone ringing. When she picks it up, a child's terrified voice whispers, "Mommy, help, come and get me . . ." The call is cut off, but not before Sarah's heart goes into overdrive.

After a long absence, FBI agent Althea Pritchard, has returned home to Baltimore, but it already feels like history is repeating itself. A teenage girl has been abducted - just as Althea was eight years before. The ordeal left her determined to capture such criminals, and now she's more prepared than ever. There's just one problem - her gorgeous and irresistibly sexy new partner. A man she knows intimately, yet not at all...

A woman without a past.... After a tragic accident left her with no memory, Kate Alexander struggled to fit in with a husband and world that didn't feel right. She's had no reason to question what friends and family have told her, not until her husband is suddenly killed and she finds a photo of a young girl in his office. A girl who can't be anyone but a daughter Kate didn't know she had.

The biggest story of her life is the one he wants to hide. I’m homeless by choice. I have no intention of returning to my former life after what I’ve done. This - living among the filth and discarded remnants of others - is what I deserve. As atonement for my sins, I give back; I help those who cannot help themselves. But it’s always under the guise of anonymity. Newspaper headlines throughout the city are clamoring to discover my identity. Including the beautiful woman who manages to see through my “armor.” She has the capability to put my entire life at risk.

Being a psychic detective who can channel only negative emotions makes Kent Raef good at catching murderers, but bad at maintaining relationships. Then Lauren Wilcox arrives with a most intriguing case: her twin sister has been murdered and is communing with Lauren's spirit—and sharing her body. Raef's the only one who can track the killer and free the spirit. But soon he begins to wonder just which twin he wants to save…and why.

Sharon Harrison and Tony Morelli were never able to control the powerful chemistry between them. It led first to heart-stopping passion, then to marriage and children. They thought they had it all, but under pressure their happy home became an explosive battleground. Even divorce, however, can't completely separate them. Spending alternate days in their home with their children, they have an unorthodox arrangement that keeps them in close contact. And keeps the desire alive...

From Romance Writers of America comes a never-before-published collection of tales that showcases the breadth and complexity of the world's most popular genre of fiction!