Jayne Bauling

How to handle a heartbreaker... "What sends bachelors running for their lives? Weddings and babies! Starting to look at furniture, develop an interest in expensive rings, muse aloud about the names you're going to give your children." Blythe looked everything she was not -- sophisticated, experienced and a woman who had many men in her past. Christian Ballantine, on the other hand, was a heartbreaker of the first order, and his woman-of-the-moment was Blythe. He intended to sleep with her and she was determined he would not. But how was she to divert him? She would ask him to marry her -- that would frighten him off!

Having fled to India to escape the painful disillusionment of one relationship, Bridget had no intention of embarking on another - especially not with someone as complex and dangerously attractive as Nicholas Stirling! While he was ruthless and sophisticated, Bridget was shy and gentle. To let down her guard to such a man would be pure folly. His talent was for seduction, not commitment. Nicholas might just break her heart again!

Had he married her on impulse? Nick Rosney, celebrated television reporter, had acted as if his marriage to eighteen-year-old Belle Tyler were some sort of joke, a stunt to shock his friends. Belle's feelings for Nick had always been more than infatuation. For her his casual indifference had been no laughing matter, and she had left him after six months. Now, five years later in bustling Taipei, they'd met again on business. Belle, a free-lance radio reporter, was older and wiser. She could see Nick had lost none of his charm--and he was just as impulsive as ever !

Tessa couldn't reveal to famous film director Sandro Lambert that she had a burning desire to become a journalist. He was a very private person who jealously guarded the secret of his past. What would he make of the fact that Tessa, who he thought was his new assistant, was at that very moment working on an article on Sandro himself? What would he feel for her once he discovered she had been deceiving him all along ...?

Her rival was a mountain. When Renata Armstrong met Grant Fowler in Nepal, she was overwhelmed by his honest approach. "We both know what's happening here—we're going to be lovers and probably get married." Still numb from the loss of her father, brother and boyfriend in a mountaineering accident, Renata was finally ready to love again—until she discovered that Grant was in Nepal to climb Everest. She had vowed never to let another climber in her life. But it was too late. And once again the mountains threatened to keep Renata from a man she loved....

She had three weeks to find out An all-expenses-paid trip to Rio might be dream come true, but a meeting with the arrogant, cynical Chris Hunter certainly wasn't. Kirsten had learned from bitter experience not to trust men like him, and she was determined she wouldn't be fooled. It would be interesting, she thought, to play him at his own game and teach him a lesson .... The only problem was that the more she got to know Chris, the better she liked him--and that definitely wasn't part of her plan!

Didn't it occur to him that he might be wrong? Shyness and years in Africa's Karoo desert had bred in Carla Duminy a deep reserve that she wore like invisible armor to shield herself from harsh realities. The cold hauteur some people thought she exhibited was just an illusion Foreign-affairs-correspondent Revel Braden was renowned for his dogged pursuit of truth, no matter what the danger. Yet he displayed a particularly biased view when it came to Carla and her friendship with Vivienne Franck's husband. He claimed he knew Carla for what she was -- a married man's mistress who deserved to learn the meaning of heartache.

What her father called her "missionary streak" had once again led her into trouble! Responding to a young lady's plea for help, Nicola Prenn found herself in a most compromising situation. It earned her the deep contempt of Barak Sorensen, the young lady's arrogant fiance. Nicola thanked her lucky stars she'd never have to see him again. And then her father accepted a commission on her behalf, to paint the portrait of a man called Sorensen.... Unable to correct the first impression she'd created, Nicola dreaded the coming encounter!

Was then no quarrelling with Fate? Before journeying to beautiful Rajasthan in India to meet her fiancé’s best friend, Jon Steele, Cadence had blithely believed she controlled her destiny. She'd no idea that a vast consuming passion would redefine her feelings about love and friendship and make her engagement impossible. Jon, on the other hand, read the danger signs immediately—knew exactly what he and Cadence would have to do to shield the man who was like a brother to him. They'd have to deny love. But what would happen was out of their control—no matter how Jon and Cadence tried to resist.

She loved them both -- in entirely different ways Romney wanted to bridge the gulf between Kit and Justin Faulkner before it was too late. The bitter hostility of the two brothers' reunion in Thailand was threatening to destroy them all. To Kit, she was the guardian angel who made his life bearable. While to Justin, she was a torment-infinitely desirable, except in her devotion to his brother's petulant whims. In fact, Romney was only human .... She belonged to Justin. Yet she couldn't break her promise to Kit--not even to free herself from a brutal passion born of anger and mistrust.

The past... Six years ago, Maria had been devastated by the brutal way in which she had been sacked from her first job -- and all because of Luke Scott. The present... Now Luke was back in her life...and this time his demands were far greater -- he wanted her! The future... Maria was determined to fight the powerful attraction that existed between them -- but Luke was so tempting, it seemed he would get what he wanted in the very near future....