Shelby Foxworth lost her husband. Then she lost her illusions...The man who took her from Tennessee to an exclusive Philadelphia suburb left her in crippling debt. He was an adulterer and a liar, and when Shelby tracks down his safe-deposit box, she finds multiple IDs. The man she loved wasn't just dead. He never really existed. Shelby takes her three-year-old daughter and heads south to seek comfort in her hometown, where she meets someone new: Griff...

Phoebe MacNamara, who is Savannah's top hostage negotiator, is deeply shaken when a man throws a hood over her head and brutally assaults her, ; with Duncan Swift backing her, she must establish contact with her faceless tormentor.

Local Hero: Single mother Hester Wallace hardly has time for the holidays. Between settling in to her new apartment and chasing after her nine-year-old son, Radley, she's beginning to feel the pressure of trying to have it all together. So when her neighbor, comic book writer Mitch Dempsey, offers to look after Radley in the afternoons, Hester reluctantly accepts. Mitch is a stranger, after all, even if he is generous and has a connection with her...

Two classic tales, centering around the Calhoun family, feature "Suzanna's Surrender," in which an ex-cop falls for a beautiful single mother, and "Megan's Mate," in which Megan O'Riley finds herself falling for ship captain Nate Fury.

Gabriel's angel: "All Gabriel Bradley wants is solitude. But when a very pregnant--and very beautiful--woman ends up at his remote cabin during a blizzard, desperate, alone, and on the run, the modern-day Scrooge can't bring himself to turn her away. Despite her intrusion, Laura brings Gabriel the gifts of passion, hope, and life--he just needs to find the courage to reach for them"--Page [4] of cover. Home for Christmas: "After years spent abroad,...