by Wylie Snow

CHAPTER 1CLARA BLEW HER NOSE INTO a dampened, shredded tissue, her twelfth since taking off from Heathrow. She knew this because it was the last one in the travel-sized pack. Bugger. How could a mere dozen single-ply squares ...

by Rachel Cartwright

CHAPTER 1October 18, 1862Darkening clouds hung low in the west over Cooke County, making the flames a few miles away in Gainesville appear brighter.Bitter autumn wind hissed through the shattered windows of the McGowan family fa...

by Bonnie Dee

Chapter OneHer house. Hers. She’d always known she would end up owning it someday.Yeah, okay, a recurring dream wasn’t the same as holding a deed, but still. Most of Arnesdale knew that as soon as she had the mone...

by Debbi Rawlins

1YOU HIT THAT YET?Trace McAllister didn’t wait to watch the six ball sink into the corner pocket. He stepped back from the pool table, and with a bad feeling he knew who Sam meant, turned to follow his gaze.Of course ...

by Alison Chaffin Higson

Chapter 1~~ Rona ~~Chicago’s O’Hare transit lounge is a place that, three days ago, I was looking forward to visiting. It was to be our honeymoon and part of our own personal transit into married life together. As...

by Deborah Cox

PrologueNew Orleans, Louisiana, March 1885Dear Jason,I am pleased to inform you that I have located a suitable candidate to fulfill the position of wife and companion. Her name is Caroline Marshall. I am well acquainted with th...

by Pamela Ann

PrologueIf someone would have told me a year ago that my life would be irrevocably wrecked, I would’ve laughed in their face. You see, I was once a good-natured person. A fun-loving, devil-may-care woman, who laughed a l...

by Jasmine Barber

Chapter 1I'll always love you but I can't stand being with you. - BrielleDear Murder,It took me a long time to write this letter because I didn’t know if I really wanted this. After going back and forth, I'v...

by Jodie Griffin

Chapter OneNice job out there tonight. We made some solid arrests.Delia rolled her eyes at her temporary partner. Good thing too. I’d hate to think I dressed like this for nothing. Next time, you get to be the bait.In ...

by Janice Kay Johnson

CHAPTER ONEO + O DOES NOT = B. So why was she even nervous?Oblivious to the salt-scented breeze and the familiar whoosh of the broken surf, Lynn Chanak stared at the envelope in her hand. Open it, she told herself. Then yo...

by Brenda Jackson

Chapter 1Sir, the plane is about ready to take off. Please shut down your laptop and fasten your seat belt.Quade Westmoreland followed the flight attendant’s instructions while thinking just how many times he’d heard ...

by AJ Harmon

PROLOGUEPeter and Maureen Lathem were married in the spring of 1960. Their life together certainly hadn’t been perfect, but they were happy and still very much in love. Peter sold life insurance and had made a comfortable...

by Krista Lakes

Chapter 1The dry grass crackled in the evening breeze. Pale green streaks at the base of the stems were all that showed it was alive, struggling against the heat of the summer sun and a rainless afternoon. Thunder rumbled in...

by Karen M. Cox

Part 1PrologueJames Marshall bent over the tackle box, picking through the various lures from Mr. Pendleton’s collection, a bucket of bait on the dock beside him. He was so engrossed in his task that he nearly jumped out...

by Nicole Andrews Moore

It was just after 9am on a Saturday morning when Adam Davenport woke up in the guest room of his brother’s house. He had been there for a month now and he was in no rush to return to his posh, modern apartment over...

by

Chapter OneShe should have been safely ensconced in the apartment above her family’s restaurant, scarfing down leftover pasta and catching up on the reality show glut bursting her DVR. Instead, Lili DeLuca was considering a...

by Gail Barrett

Chapter 1Cold case detective Parker McCall tightened his grip on the newspaper, his gaze riveted on the photo of the woman splashed across the Baltimore Sun’s front page. She could have been any affluent shopper strolling...

by Chelsea M. Cameron

Chapter OneKatieI told myself that I wasn’t attracted to Stryker Grant the first time I saw him. Between the pierced lip and eyebrow, his torn (not on purpose) jeans, and his bleached hair, he was the opposite of every...

by Lauren Abrams

Chapter 1HALLIEI rush down the sidewalk, clutching my bag and tucking away a few loose strands of hair that won’t stay in place. I’m late, mostly because I spent the last hour deciding whether I would even be able...

by Christina Carlisle

chapter OneExcuse me.Jack Lucas grunted at the sound of a far off voice as he again twisted the stubborn bolt with his wrench.Hey, you. Excuse me.The woman’s voice was closer this time and he jerked his head, swearing a...

by Anne Conley

Chapter 1Uri managed to quell the rising nausea threatening to overwhelm him, as his eyes roved the club searching out his target. The nearly naked women pranced around, hips swaying to the pulsating beat of the extraordinarily...

by Tijan

CHAPTER ONEIt was a Friday night, two in the morning, and my two best friends were shrieking in drunken laughter behind me. I sighed as I pulled into the gas station. My little Corolla had been chugging near empty for the ...

by Abby Niles

Chapter OneThunderous screams filled the arena as a dark-haired fighter twisted his blond opponent’s arm. The man struggled to free himself but only succeeded in cranking the twist tighter. Unable to watch any more, Caitlyn...

by Lena Diaz

Chapter OneThe door to Darby’s office flew open and banged against the wall. She froze in her chair, blinking in surprise at the man standing there, his dark eyes narrowed, intent, like a predator on the hunt.Darby very...

by Amy Andrews

PROLOGUEEVIE LOCKHEART BELTED hard on the door, uncaring if the whole building heard her. Loud rock music bled out from around the frame so she knew he wasn’t asleep. ‘Open up now, Finn Kennedy,’ she yelled, &...

by Hollie Williams

PrologueThe sun is blazingly hot, every inch of my body feels like its sizzling, the tinkling of ice on glass tells me my second cocktail has arrived, this holiday is just what I needed, I couldn’t be more relaxed righ...

by Sabrina Darby

Chapter 1For the seventeenth time in the last five minutes, I looked at the clock on the upper right corner of the computer screen. 10:15 a.m. I was doing exactly what I’d always said I’d never do, working a desk...

by Ella Frank

Past…I can’t believe you just asked me that, Shelly fumed, hands on hips, mouth open.Why? Come on, Shel. It’s not like you don’t have the money. Three-thousand dollars is nothing, Adam pointed out as he sat o...

by Dan Rix

chapter ONE28 Days, 19 hours, 15 minutesScar tissue, said the doctor, here. She tapped the white lump on the MRI scan.Is that in my brain? said Aaron.Just touching it, actually. Between the grey matter and the skull. Aaron, h...

by Lilly Gayle

A word about the author...Lilly Gayle is the mother of two grown daughters and lives in North Carolina with her husband. When not writing or working as a mammogapher, she spends time with her husband at the beach.Embrace the...

by Priscilla Glenn

Seventeen months earlierThis was going to be weird.There was no getting around it, and there was no one who would be able to convince her otherwise. She knew what her best friend would say if she were there. It’s no b...

by Jessica Sorensen

PrologueEmmy, can you hand me that Allen wrench? My dad sticks his hand out from beneath the Challenger.I push the jar of screws and coins out of the way, grab the wrench out of the toolbox, and skip around the fender lyin...

by Jennifer Crusie

1. KAPITEL„Spring lieber nicht hinunter. Das Blut würde niemals wieder aus deiner Seidenbluse rausgehen.„Ich sehe nur nach, wie das Wetter ist, erwiderte Kate Svenson geduldig und blickte weiterhin aus ihrem Apartmen...

by Carly Carson

Chapter 1"No matter what he says, his thoughts will revolve around stripping you naked and bending you over his desk," Jessie said.Amanda Thompson smiled as she remembered the silly words her roommate had teased her with this ...

by Amy Andrews

ABOUT AMY ANDREWSAmy Andrews has always loved writing, and still can’t quite believe that she gets to do it for a living. Creating wonderful heroines and gorgeous heroes and telling their stories is an amazing way to pas...

by EC Sheedy

Chapter 1Evan North looked toward the restaurant entrance—again. Then she looked at her watch—again. Twelve-forty-five. She had to get back to work, and he wasn't here yet. Maybe he'd changed his mind. Maybe he wasn&#39...

by Christine Bell

About the AuthorChristine Bell is one half of the happiest couple in the world. She and her handsome hubby currently reside in Pennsylvania with a four-pack of teenage boys and their two dogs, Gimli and Pug. If she gets time...

by Christine Bell

Chapter OneCat Thomas eyed the couple playing tonsil hockey across the black lacquer table and snorted with mock disgust. Gross. Get a room, would you?They broke apart, cheeks flushed, and Cat swallowed a grin. She still wasn&r...

by Laura Dunaway

Therefore, ladies and gentleman, I humbly ask you for your donation, any amount you see fit. This is our biggest project and with your help, it can be our most successful. The residents of the Glendale neighborhood need our ...

by Margaret McPhee

Chapter OneTheatre Royal, Covent Garden, LondonNovember 1810The applause within the Theatre Royal at Covent Garden was deafening, even after the heavy red curtain had descended on Shakespeare’s As You Like It, to shield Lond...

by Megan Duncan

Chapter 1Flames licked our tear-stained faces as we gathered around the funeral pyre. Massive bodies tangled in grotesque heaps turned to ash in the powerful heat. It was doing more than penetrating the flesh of our enemies it...

by Beverly Jenkins

About the AuthorBEVERLY JENKINS has received numerous awards, including three Waldenbooks Best Sellers Awards, two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times magazine, and a Golden Pen Award from the Black Writer’s Guild. ...

by Lisa M. Harley

About the AuthorLisa M. HarleyI grew up in a small town in Missouri. Very similar to the fictional town I wrote about in Destined to Change. I moved to the big city right after I graduated. I work full-time and I am mom ...

by Lesia Reid

Chapter 1He took the corner faster than intended but made a deft correction and accelerated even faster into the next turn. He was just out of the turn when he saw the car. Even as he moved to correct the path of his veh...

by Paula Altenburg

Chapter OneEvangeline Doucette tipped back in her office chair, closed her eyes, and plotted the mayor’s assassination.While she’d never actually act on it—she felt certain—plotting it was her personal form of therapy....

by Ryann Kerekes

Chapter 1There is no need to fear the mindscan procedure. In a few painless seconds, the data terminal will read your intentions and impulses and diagnose your future.- What to Expect During Your Mindscan Pamphlet: Page OneAll...

by Virna Depaul

PrologueLinda Delaney woke feeling optimistic about life and love. Even so, the comforting haze of sleep beckoned to her. She pushed it aside, longing for her lover’s embrace. Nothing felt as good as being in his arms.She...

by Stephanie Rowe

Chapter OneNaked on a public beach at midnight under an eerily full moon was not where Alice Shaw wanted to be.At all.But she knew she had no other choice, not with the way the deep red glow of the night sky was streaking...

by Grace Burrowes

chapter OneIf one knows precisely where to inquire, one hears you provide favors to a select few ladies in exchange for the next thing to coin.William Longstreet—the Fourth Viscount Longstreet, no less—delivered this observation...

by Elizabeth Lowell

chapter OneThere was no doubt about it. He was dead.Shaye Townsend swallowed hard, breathed carefully through her clenched teeth, and swallowed again. The sick feeling subsided. The grief didn’t. Although it wasn’t the...

by Hayden Braeburn

chapter ONEKaterina Nemecek buckled her heel before stepping in front of the studio's mirrored wall. Dance was her passion, her joy, and if she didn't get a break soon, she would have to give it up. She danced with a...

by Christopher Scott

PrologueMother’s DayDelaney didn’t know what to expect after Jack told her there was someone he wanted her to meet. Sure, she had told him it was time for him to move on and find love again, but now as they made...

by H.M. Ward

CHAPTER 1Nerves shoot through my veins, filling my body with this spastic idea that it wants to run. Working hard to keep from fidgeting, I walk into the swank restaurant alone. Millie, my best friend, gave me some sob story...

by Crystal Green

Chapter OneAre you sure you’re ready for this?Connall Flannigan didn’t answer his brother at first. He just kept staring at the three-story, gray-wooded St. Valentine Hotel with its lacy curtains peeking through the wi...

by Carla Cassidy

Chapter 1Sheriff Cameron Evans was tired of finding women dead in their beds. He stood in the doorway of Dorothy Blake’s small bedroom and took in the tragic scene before him. It was definitely a bad start to a new we...

by Allyson Lindt

Chapter 1Kenzie’s sneakers echoed on the pavement, slapping hard with each angry step as she stormed away from her condo. The early morning sun struck her back as it crested the mountains, but it couldn’t chase away...

by Marilyn Pappano

Chapter 1Going home alone? Are you crazy?With her brother’s words echoing in her ears, Macy Howard pulled into the driveway of the house she’d left a year and a half ago and stopped. The garage door slid up at th...

by Sara Craven

CHAPTER ONEIT WAS QUIET in the lamplit room, the only sound the occasional rustle of paper as the man seated on one side of the vast antique desk went through the contents of the file in front of him. He was unhurried, hi...

by Catherine Mann

Chapter 1It was a cold day in hell for Tech Sergeant Wade Rocha—standard ops for a mission in Alaska.He slammed the side of the icy crevasse on Mount McKinley. A seemingly bottomless crevasse. That made it all the more pres...

by Ann Lister

CHAPTER ONELacey left the billiards room at O’Sullivan’s Pub and the boisterous cheering of her band mates celebrating another win at the pool tables. This was their way of blowing off steam after recording new track...

by Joanne Kennedy

Chapter 1Win or lose, a bull rider always ends up in the dirt. Sometimes he jumps off and sometimes he’s tossed, but either way he winds up scrambling around on all fours trying to save his own life.For some reason, L...

by Pamela Browning

PrologueNear the California-Nevada-Arizona border, 1910The dry desert air has preserved the scroll well, though the ink has faded to brown.What is it? asks the young rancher, who cannot read a word of Spanish.Ah, answers the eld...

by Anna Kristell

PROLOGUEIt had begun to rain. A slow, gentle drizzle, just enough to annoy the man behind the wheel. When are you planning to tell him? the man asked quietly, looking at the beautiful, blonde woman seated contentedly in the ...

by Danika Stone

Chapter 1: An ‘A’ for EffortJude was standing up at the bar with the rest of the Tech Department when she walked through the foggy glass doors of O’Reilly’s. He’d remember that afterward. How Marq L...

by RaeAnne Thayne

CHAPTER ONEALEXANDRA MCKNIGHT opened the door to her dream-come-true restaurant and held her breath.She loved this place already and she wanted her dearest friends to see beyond the sawhorses and scaffolding and unfinished surface...

by V.K. Sykes

“HE’S SO NOT ready, Dave,” Taylor Page said as she watched the new kid take his cuts in the batting cage at Clearwater’s Cal Torrance Field. Nathan Corbin was the team’s prized young prospect, and he looked more than lost as he swatted futilely at batting practice pitches. “We’ll shatter the poor guy’s confidence if we keep putting him through this nightmare.”

by Carol Ericson

Chapter OneThe red plastic tray clattered to the floor, and Noelle Dupree jumped as if she’d heard a gunshot. Just like the one that had killed her husband.She crouched and snatched up the tray with a shaky hand. She w...

by Carrie Macon

Chapter OneThis is really nice, Kemah said as she ran her hand over the floral printed micro fibered sofa. It was soft to the touch and when she sat on it, Ooh this is too comfortable. I think I could sit here for a wee...

by Dara Nelson

Chapter 1He stared at her as she emerged from the tree line. How the hell had she survived the night? He had heard the wolves on the hunt last night and heard a woman scream. Could this possibly be that same woman? Did t...

by L. M. Augustine

Chapter 1Half of the guys in my grade get girls with one flash of a smile. The other 49.999 percent either get straight A’s, college scholarships, or a million dollars from their so-rich-they-need-a-personal-chef-even-though-...

by Aurelia B Rowl

Chapter OneYou have got to be kidding me? muttered Tilly, out of breath, her eyes glued to the departures screen. There must be some mistake. She read the screen for the third time, willing the word to change, but it contin...

by Carly Syms

CHAPTER ONENovemberSnow hits me in the face before I've even taken a step off the airplane.Wind -- fierce, biting, unrelenting wind -- swirls the flakes so ferociously around me that I can't see more than a few inches...

by Carol Grace

PrologueThe sun was merciless in the Central Valley of California in July. Even Catherine Logan, who had spent every summer of her twenty-six years there, felt the dry heat sear through her cotton shirt and shorts. She walked...

by Teresa Morgan

Chapter OneThe happiness of one woman was a small sacrifice compared to the fate of a country.Sheikh Rasyn ibn Bakr ibn Rahman al Jabar watched her tuck a stray strand of auburn hair behind her ear. Even from across the cro...

by Tracey Devlyn

chapter OneAugust 6, 1804London, Somerton HousePlease, my lord, Catherine Ashcroft said. If you would only read my husband’s letters. She indicated the small packet she’d placed on the Earl of Somerton’s clutter-fr...

by Jodi Redford

Chapter OneI’ve been a very naughty girl, Santa. Think you better spank me with your big candy cane.Choking on his swallow of beer, Kevin Monahan jerked his gaze upward just as Jana Colton draped her arm around his neck...

by Skittle Booth

Chapter 1The Thursday evening in June had begun well enough, Bill thought, but now it seemed to deteriorate.Get out, Linda yelled at him.They were standing inside her large, three-story house. Immediately, she rudely cleared the...

by Barbara Mack

PrologueSt. LouisMissouriFebruary 1849You have been a very bad girl, he said softly, almost lovingly, caressing her back with his soft, pudgy hand. He seemed to be nearly mesmerized by the tears in her dress that he had just ...

by Christina Moore

chapter OneVampires are not dead.I smiled as I read the first line of Vivian Drake’s most recent article in Vampire, the #1 best-selling magazine that catered to vampire enthusiasts (hence the name). I couldn’t help ...

by Christy Reece

PrologueLondon, EnglandHe had been following her for days. She was young, beautiful, and deliciously unaware of anything outside her field of vision or interest. Without a doubt, she had no clue that her life was about to make...

by Marie Ferrarella

PrologueSomething was wrong.He could feel it in his bones, smell it in the air. The minute Esteban stepped out of the run-down tenement apartment building he’d called home these past three years, he’d sensed it.Someth...

by Tessa Berkley

Chapter OneWhoever brought a woman along on a freight run was asking for trouble, Trace Castillo mused as he sat on the porch of the sheriff’s office. Enjoying the shade, he watched the shenanigans going on across the s...

by Barbara Scott

PrologueNicholasMichigan, 1962"Once upon a time," Nicholas whispered, so close his lips brushed the cold alabaster of her ear, "there was a sleeping princess who waited for the kiss of her true love to awaken her from her long...

by B. J. Daniels

Chapter OneJust inside the door, she stopped to take a look around the apartment to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. This place, like all the others she’d lived in, held no special sentimental value for her....

by Maggie Robinson

Chapter 1London, December 1820You cannot go up there, madam! The butler, whose cauliflower nose made him look like he had once fought—and lost regularly—for a living, tried to block the stairs.He didn’t want to grant her...

by Michelle Brewer

PrologueIt was meant to be a romantic weekend for the four of them. One during which all would celebrate their accomplishments and forget, even for just a few days, the real world to which they would soon return.Abby Lewis s...

by Nhys Glover

PrologueAutumn 1770, Prairies of Saskatchewan, CANADAThe ancient man leaned in to draw a burning stick from the fire, to light his pipe. It was not a peace pipe, nor was it any other ceremonial ritual he followed, but simply...

by Natalie Anderson

CHAPTER ONECAN I get away with it?It was harder than you’d think to take a picture of yourself in a small, enclosed space wearing nothing but a bikini. Biting back the giggle, Mya Campbell peered at her latest effort. ...

by Corri Lee

chapter OneI WANTED NOTHING more than a distraction. A diversion, a bolt from the blue— whatever you want to call it, I wanted it. Too much time had passed with no event— endless months of the same routine, days and days...

by Hb Heinzer

Chapter OneThe day I graduated high school was the day I was paroled. After an eighteen year sentence, the princess prison I was born into could no longer hold me. As the only daughter born after three sons, Mom dressed me...

by Karin Shah

PrologueThe corpse on the stainless steel table wasn’t Lily. It couldn’t be.Lily’s skin glowed with a peachy tan, nothing like the icy pallor of this poor soul. Her cousin’s lips were fuller too, the lines...

by C.L. Foster

PrologueEvery one of my senses ignited simultaneously making me stuck between wishing for instant death and or immortality, I could not decide which. It’s sweet that you try to be modest, my love the silhouette said with...

by Donna Young

Bodyguard LockdownChapter OneUnited States Disciplinary Barracks, LeavenworthFront and center, General. The order caught on Sergeant Tom Levi’s tongue. A night of sour beer and stale peanuts left his mouth thick and woolly. I...

by Becca St. John

CHAPTER 1 - THE MEETING1224 Scottish HighlandsThey could all be dead.Their bodies strewn across battlefields, lifeless.Like her twin, like Ian.Maggie MacBede pressed fist to eyes, spun away from her friend and the empty view they...

by Katie Reus

Chapter 1Iris Tarango slipped her hand into the crook of Gene Berr’s arm as they bypassed the extra security outside the already packed house party. She had more than one weapon strapped on her, as did all of the secur...

by Jennifer Lewis

PrologueIt’s your last night of freedom, Joe. Your choice. You get your future foretold or you get a tattoo.Joe Figueroa adjusted his white sailor hat and looked from one Second Avenue storefront to another. A neon hand ...

by Natalie Anderson

Chapter OneChelsea Greene stood at the side of the pool. Despite the sultry air, goose bumps peppered her skin. Cushion covered deckchairs and fairy-light festooned railings evoked a fun, party atmosphere. People from neighboring...

by C.M. Stunich

CHAPTER 1I swear to God, if you don't leave me alone, I'm going to file a restraining order against you, I screamed in the middle of the grocery store. Faces turned to look at me, most of them lined with the tellta...

by Jade C. Jamison

ForewordOnce upon a time, there was a quiet eighteen-year-old college student who was a budding writer. It just so happens that she also loved metal music.Yes, that eighteen-year-old was yours truly.When I was eighteen, I wrote...

by Christie Ridgway

Every lover is a soldier.—OvidA family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another, the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with...