Divorced and Desperate

Ever since photographer Lacy Maguire caught her ex playing Pin the Secretary to the Elevator Wall, she's been content with her dog Fabio, her three cats, and a vow of chastity. But all of that changes when the reindeer-antlered Fabio drags in a very desperate, on-the-run detective named Chase Kelly, and he decides to take refuge in Lacy's house-a house filled with twinkling lights and a decorated tree. (Okay, so it's February, but she has a broken heart to mend, a Christmas-card shoot to do, and a six-times divorced, matchmaking mother to appease.) For the first time in a long time, Lacy reconsiders her vow - because Chase, wounded soul that he may be, would be an oh-so-delicious way of breaking it. But, if she's going to do that, she'll have to keep them both alive and him out of jail...

Sue Finley murdered people . . . on paper. As a mystery writer, she knew all the angles, who did what and why. The only thing she couldn't explain was . . . well, men. Dating was like diving into a box of chocolates: sometimes the sweetest-looking specimens were candy-coated poison. After a breakup with a bank robber and a divorce from a cross-dresser, she gave it up for good. Then came Detective Jason Dodd. Raised in foster homes, Jason swore never to need anyone as much as the parents who'd abandoned him. That was why he failed to follow up after experiencing the best kiss of his life: real passion was addictive. But when Sue Finley started getting death threats, all bets were off. The blonde spitfire was everything he'd ever wanted-and she needed him. And though this novel situation had a quirky cast of characters and an unquestionable bad guy, he was going to make sure it had a happy ending.

Of the Divorced, Desperate and Delicious club, Kathy Callahan is the last surviving member. Oh, her two friends haven't died or anything. They just gave up their vows of chastity. They went for hot sex with hot cops and got happy second marriages-something Kathy can never consider, given her past. Yet there's always her plumber, Stan Bradley. He seems honest, hardworking, and skilled with a tool. But Kathy's best-laid plans have hit a clog. The guy snaking her drain isn't what he seems. He's handier with a pistol than a pipe wrench, and she's about to see more action than Jason Statham. The next forty-eight hours promise hot pursuit, hotter passion and a super perky pug, and at the end of this wild escapade, Kathy and her very own undercover lawman will be flush with happiness-assuming they both survive.

Reese Morris has run away from home. She's left behind her adoring but overbearing grandmother, her broken heart . . . and most importantly, the no-good Texan jerk who broke it. She told him her secrets. He told her lies. He was nothing more than an undercover cop wanting one thing-it wasn't her-and he was out to bust her brother and his thug boss. How could she let him con her into feeling so damn much? For two months, Detective Turner Calder hasn't been able to forget the betrayed look in Reese's eyes when she found out he'd deceived her. Now two witnesses from that case have been murdered, and he's traveling halfway across the country to protect her. If that means taking on her seventy-year-old grandma who has a black belt in karate, a hired assassin-who scares him less than Granny-and the whole bat-shit crazy town of Hung, Georgia, he's up for the challenge. Because the biggest danger of all would be losing her.

After a disastrous marriage and divorce, Detective Cary Stevens vowed he'd never let another woman into his heart. But when his latest investigation puts him in the way of a bullet, his bachelor days-and one-night stands-may be numbered. On the brink of death, he finds himself in Room Six, a waiting room in the hereafter where in-betweeners' fates are truly decided. He resigns himself to dying of boredom, if nothing else, in the lineup of senior citizens with their AARP magazines, when in walks the one woman who could make him want a second chance at life . . . and love. Chloe Sanders learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished when she pushes a little girl out of the way of a moving car and wakes up in some type of purgatory. Or maybe it's heaven, because she couldn't have asked for a hotter guy with whom to await her final judgment. The sweeping glances of his bedroom eyes and sharp-tongued flirtatiousness tell her Cary's certainly no angel, but is he real? When she finally wakes up, Chloe's determined to find out if he's truly a man of magnificent flesh and blood or just a figment of her imagination. But before she can track him down, will the murderer that first put them both in Room Six come back to finish the job?

Smart and sassy . . . Sheri Thompson knew better. She could spot a horn dog from a mile away, especially when she'd been warned about him countless times by her best friend. Still, when Danny started smooth-talking Sheri at that same friend's wedding, she couldn't resist. It was the best one-night stand of her life. Heck, the best night of her life. And then she woke up alone. Divorced and determined to stay that way . . . Detective Danny Henderson didn't like fear, but he'd felt a lot of it that morning he'd woken up feeling all warm and cozy next to the one woman that might just make an honest man of him. Six months later, fear has punched him in the gut again, but worse this time. He's investigating a murder plot . . . a planned hit. The target: Sheri Thompson. This time his fear won't get the best of him. He'll kick ass to keep her safe and make sure he gets a second chance at countless more nights with the woman of his dreams.