CONTENTS
"A Slender Debt" by Katherine Smith:
When his ship is run aground, Adrian Keitly, Duke of Northallerton, does not expect to be plucked from the sea by an angel disguised as a lovely young woman. Injured and far from home, he discovers that despite his wealth and title, his privileged life might just be a farce and he has much to learn from his heaven sent rescuer...
Widowed and lonely, the last thing Sarah wants is to suddenly find she has to care for a handsome and enigmatic stranger. What is worse, she is attracted to this dark, mysterious man, trading her future for a night in his arms and finding an unexpected paradise...
Together, Adrian and Sarah find that social rank does not matter, but the heart most certainly does...
"Unbounded Love" by Giovanna Lagana:
There's a serial killer on the loose and he has targeted policewoman, Adrienne Wilcox, as his next victim. Regardless of Adrienne's rebuttal, the chief assigns the handsome detective, Justin Murray, to be her stake out. Little does the chief know something happened between Adrienne and Justin at the Christmas party that Adrienne wants to forget.
But after getting a direct order, Adrienne accepts having the handsome detective as her guard. With the sexual tension between her and Justin at an all time high, will they be able to control their emotions long enough to nab the killer, or will the killer use their sexual attraction as an Achilles' heel and strike when they least expect?
"Remember" by Judith Fox:
Penelope Curtis travels back to Salal Island twenty years after she lost her true love. She applies for a job tutoring and caring for a small child. At a majestic mansion on the island, she finds her love for Brent Eden has not changed. But the barriers she must conquer for him involve ghost-like memories and murder in the dark lush forests of the Pacific Northwest.
"A Soldier To Love" by Diane M. Wylie:
Why did Daddy have to die in this hole of a town in Georgia and leave me alone and penniless? Christine Lawson is desperate. With no money and no place to live, that forty dollar enlistment fee to join the Confederate Army is sounding better and better ... too bad she is a girl.
A surprise attack, one cold night in the Alleghany Mountains, lands Private Ryan Bishop flat on the ground and thankful to be alive. But his savior turns out to be someone he never expected and finds he cannot forget.
"Meant To Be" by Crystal Inman:
Lynn would never learn. Left at the altar by a man she didn't love, she jumped into her car and changed her life. The accident scarred her face, but her new reality scarred her heart. It was her fiancé's brother, Max, who Lynn started to care for. But when she went to talk to him, another woman was there in his bathrobe.
It was easy to listen to Jerry and hear him profess his love for her. But it never felt right. And when Max walked up to her on the day of her wedding and told her Jerry wouldn't be there, she felt sorry for Max. It was the woman in Max's bathrobe that left with his brother.
After the accident, Max took Lynn into his home. But did he feel sorry for her? Or did his feelings run deeper?
"Of Eros and Psyche" by Marsha Briscoe:
A Petrarchan sonnet deeply rooted in classical Greek mythology: Just as Marsha's novel, A Family Matter, renders the ancient Greek Phaedra myth encompassing the love triangle of Phaedra, Hippolytus, and King Theseus in a contemporary setting, so too does this sonnet "Of Eros and Psyche" draw upon classical mythology and transport those mythical figures to a modern setting. Marsha's two sonnets included in this Love Anthology are taken from her collection of poems entitled Erato and Euterpe. It is fitting that Erato was one of the nine Muses and the patroness of Love poetry. Euterpe was another of the nine Muses and patroness of lyric poetry. Marsha's title "Of Eros and Psyche" draws upon the archetypal Eros, who was called Amor or Cupid by the Romans, and Psyche, the bride of Eros. To go a bit deeper, Eros was the attendant of Aphrodite and often inflicted the wound of love upon mortals and deities. When Psyche was accused of betraying Aphrodite and of keeping the identity of her lover, Eros, secret, she said something that caused him to flee and not return. In order to gain Aphrodite's forgiveness and to be reunited with Eros, Psyche traveled to the underworld to seek counsel from Persephone. Eventually Eros and Psyche were reunited and dwelt together in heaven.
"Effusion of Dawn" by Marsha Briscoe:
An Elizabethan sonnet rooted in classical mythology that deals with Aurora, the goddess of the dawn and the lover and seizer of handsome young men. Known also as Eos, Aurora presents as a charioteer with two steeds closing off the sky's darkness by heralding in the light of dawn. The sonnet's title word, Effusion, connotes an unrestrained, overflowing expression, an expression of love.
"The Arrangement" by Crystal Inman:
Brendan Wardlow is a writer. That translates into questionable sanity at best. But he really starts to question himself when he finds a beautiful woman who assures him she is sent for him. Mara declares she is a Muse. His Muse. And when she's around, Brendan writes the story he has always dreamed of writing. But then he finds himself falling for Mara in a most unexpected way. She not only touches his writing, she touches his heart. But her term is temporary, and she will move on to another writer. It is the way of her people.
Brendan wants to keep her in his life. But will he give up his most cherished dream?
"From the Hand of Guinevere" by Daniel Wilder:
A contemporary Ballad depicting the early temptation of Lancelot by Queen Guinevere, wife of King Arthur, Lancelot's best friend. The growing love affair between the once chaste and pure Lancelot and his King's wife created pandemonium in Camelot. All the world knows of this forbidden love which eventually leads to Lancelot's banishment from Camelot, Guinevere's fall from grace and her final days spent in a convent, and the ultimate dissolution of King Arthur's Round Table.
"Restoration Of A Broken Heart" by Barbara Baldwin:
Molly Bonner, a middle-aged divorcee, decides to restart her life in the small town of River Bluff, where she buys an Ante Bellum mansion to convert to a Bed and Breakfast inn. Her contractor, Joe Austin, not only has the knowledge to restore the mansion to its former glamour, but he has the heart to help Molly regain her self-esteem and learn to love again.
"Echo Of The Plains" by Kristy McCaffrey:
Ecacusayet. Lightning flash. The renegade stallion known as Echo has eluded capture ever since he escaped the Ryan homestead shortly after birth. Seventeen-year-old Eli Ryan plans to change that. As his search narrows to the location of the horse's hideout, Eli nearly runs down Cassie Callahan in the Texas desert. Although an intriguing diversion, not even her compelling green eyes will deter him from his goal. But her stubborn protection of the legendary stallion just might steer him off course.
"Worthy Hearts" by Janet Mills:
Alicia Cortez lives with three men who watch over her like brothers. If he can safely navigate the gauntlet of questions Ali's friends and family inflict on every potential boyfriend, Trey Whitlock just might have a chance to win her heart.
"Where the Heart Is" by Barri Bryan:
When Angela Murray left Paul's Valley ten years ago in the wake of heartbreak and rejection, she vowed that no matter how uncertain her life became, she would never again return to this place. After all these years of self-imposed exile, the finality of death has done what the uncertainties of life could not--it has brought her home once more, to her sister's funeral and to face her brother-in-law, Dan, who is the only man Angela has ever loved. Can she hope to mend a broken past and heal old wounds or has fate conspired with circumstance to once more snatch happiness from her grasp?
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