Maggie Shayne

Her name is Puabi-and she's an Immortal High Witch whose past is littered with dark secrets. Convinced she has eluded death for the last time, she is shocked to find herself being rescued by a mysterious stranger who fills her with a desire she thought was lost forever. His name is Matthew Fairchild-and he is a millionaire tormented by guilt over the tragic death of his wife. The last thing he expected to encounter was a beautiful woman who possessed an uncanny resemblance to the woman he loved and lost. But Puabi is like no one he's ever met before. Is it possible this enigmatic beauty can heal the bitter wounds that have nearly cost him his heart?

Attacked in her classroom, widowed teacher Ariel Martin's only thought is for her unborn child. When her student's brother, rookie K-9 officer Tristan McKeller, and his faithful dog save her life, she can't thank him enough. She knows Tristan won't rest until she's safe, but she doesn't want him or his police colleagues digging into her dangerous past. After all, the only person who would want to hurt her is dead…or is he? With her and her child's life on the line, she'll have to trust Tristan with her secrets if she wants to finally get the fresh start she's been desperately seeking.

Only love would change her mind Kendra loved Goldfield, a mining community in northern Queensland, but not its daydreaming prospectors. And now her brother had brought one home to help her in the store! Rogan Faulkner, however, was undeniably hardworking--and attractive!--but Kendra stuck to her conviction:;. Gold miners lived in a fantasy, and no levelheaded woman would marry one. But Rogan disturbed her equilibrium. He had plans for Goldfield--and especially for Kendra.

WIFE WANTED -- Love not required or even desired. Or so Chicago cop Jimmy Corona thought when he returned to his Oklahoma hometown and ran smack into Kara Brand. All Jimmy wanted was to find a mother for his son, someone to keep little Tyler safe while he took down his latest perp. Instead, he found that the shy, awkward Kara he'd known from high school had blossomed into a genuine beauty with a big heart and courage to spare -- qualities he learned to value when danger followed him to town and only Kara stood between his son and certain death. Suddenly love didn't seem like such a scary prospect after all.

DANCERS IN THE DARK by Charlaine HarrisDancer Layla Rue Le May's childhood prepared her to handle just about anything, including her aloof partner, Sean McClendon, a three-hundred-year-old vampire. But when she acquires a stalker, Layla Rue is surprised to find that Sean is the only one she can trust.HER BEST ENEMY by Maggie ShayneKiley Brigham refuses to believe there's a ghost in her house, but when an unseen hand leaves a bloody message on her mirror, she's forced to turn to local psychic Jack McCain. As the two work to uncover a long-buried secret, Kiley finds that she's haunted not by spirits, but by thoughts of Jack....SOMEONE ELSE'S SHADOW by Barbara HamblyMaddie Laveau worries about her young roommate, Tessa, when she stays late to practice ballet in the old Glendower Building...and when Tessa goes missing, Maddie enlists mysterious tenant Phil Anderson to help. But is Phil the white knight she needs, or the predator she fears?

In these five stories, Gaines returns to the cane fields, sharecroppers' shacks, and decaying plantation houses of Louisiana, the terrain of his great novels A Gathering of Old Men and A Lesson Before Dying. As rendered by Gaines, this country becomes as familiar, and as haunted by cruelty, suffering, and courage, as Ralph Ellison's Harlem or Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County. STORIES INCLUDE: A Long Day in November The Sky Is Gray Three Men Bloodline Just Like a Tree

BACK FROM THE DEAD? Ben Brand had thought nothing could hurt more than losing Penny, his cherished wife. He was wrong. When Penny mysteriously turned up on his ranch, dazed but alive, Ben faced a new kind of anguish. His beloved had no memory of her past--or of him. Ben set out to discover what had happened to his wife. Penny had to remember everything: who she was, where she'd been--the love they'd shared--because he couldn't stand to lose the only woman he'd ever loved--again. This family was born, bred--and bound to be wed--in Texas

It was called a haven for runaway teens. In truth, it was a nightmare, one that ended in fiery violence sixteen years ago. Or so its survivors believed...Syracuse news anchor Julie Jones is afraid. Her long-dead past was resurrected when a blackmailer threatened to expose secrets that could destroy her. Then the man was found dead-his throat cut with a knife from Julie's own kitchen. Now a new, faceless enemy wants more than money. This time Julie stands to lose the most precious thing of all-her teenage daughter, Dawn.Julie finds herself with one unlikely ally, Sean MacKenzie. A journalist with a flair for the sensational, Sean covers the worst humanity has to offer. Julie Jones is hiding something that terrifies her, and he's determined to find out what. He just can't decide whether his goal is to expose her or save her.Julie will do anything to protect her daughter. But someone else is watching, willing to do whatever it takes to avenge a past that cannot be forgotten.

Rachel de Luca has found incredible success writing self-help books. But her own blindness and the fact that her troubled brother has gone missing have convinced her that positive thinking is nothing but bull. Her cynicism wavers when a cornea transplant restores her sight. The new eyes seem to give her new life, until they prove too good to be true and she starts seeing terrifying visions of brutal murders--crimes she soon learns are all too real. Detective Mason Brown's own brother recently died, leaving behind a horrific secret. In atonement, Mason donated his brother's organs, though he's kept the fact quiet. Now he wants to help Rachel find her brother, but when he discovers the shocking connection between her visions and his own brother, he suddenly has to do everything in his power to save her from a predator who is somehow still hunting from beyond the grave.