Edge of Ruin

April 21, 2025

One step ahead of mayhem…

Ever since my foster mom Lucia’s senseless murder, my sisters and I are scrambling to solve this deadly mystery before it kills us. But Lucia’s killer is still after us, and with both my sisters now blissfully paired up with their protective new boyfriends, I’m the obvious soft target.

So they’re sending me off to hide on a flower farm in a primeval Oregon forest. I’ve been instructed to lay low, take it easy, work on my sculptures while I am babysat by an old army buddy of my sister Nell’s new lover. Some guy named Jack who has a large barn/studio to rent, and who is evidently not going to bug me, or interfere with me at all, but is also a real badass who can protect me from a killer. Right. Jack is an Army guy, and I famously don’t take orders well. What could possibly go wrong?

They should have warned me that Jack was also tall, hot, hard-bodied, and judgmental as hell. He thinks I’m frivolous, helpless fluff, but to my intense shame, that doesn’t stop my heart from racing, or my toes from tightening.

She’s more trouble than I bargained for…

I like to keep things simple and solitary in my mountain hideaway, but I owe my long-time buddy Duncan my life. I couldn’t say no when he told me that his fiancée’s little sister needed looking after. I’m down for some body-guarding, as long as the woman collaborates. But this woman has ideas of her own, and she’s not shy about sharing them.

I didn’t sign up getting embroiled in an international ring of cutthroat art thieves, either. And getting knocked on my ass by the gorgeous, strong-willed, free-spirited Vivi D’Onofrio doesn’t help.

Keeping that woman safe quickly becomes my top priority, but as the heat kicks up between us, the danger stalking her is quickly gaining ground…

Note:
Edge of Whispers, Book One is the first book in the Edge Trilogy. Edge of Secrets, Book Two, is Nell’s story, and Edge of Ruin, Book three, Vivi’s story, concludes the trilogy. The three stories form a single overarching action-adventure story, but each couple gets their own HEA at the end of each book!

Parts of these stories have already appeared in a previously published book, Tasting Fear.

Edge of Whispers

April 21, 2025

My world was shattered…

My foster mother Lucia’s brutal murder almost broke me, but I have to pull myself together and be strong for my sisters, Nell and Vivi.

Lucia saved us from an ugly fate. We’d have been lost without her, but now we were lost again; this time in secrets, lies and clues, but no answers. When Lucia’s killer attacks me, Liam, the brawny building contractor Lucia had hired for her house renovation, swoops in and saves my ass. It’s the worst possible moment to notice how rock-solid that guy is, not to mention brave. And gorgeous. But my enemies could hurt him. He should keep his distance.

But he won’t. And I’m not gonna lie… I’m not sorry.

She was trouble from the start…

I’ve been working hard and keeping my head down, but as soon as I saw Nancy D’Onofrio’s big gray eyes, full of mysterious shadows, I knew she would mess me up. The woman was terrified, traumatized, grief-stricken, and the timing was beyond bad, but Lucia was my friend. She would have wanted me to look out for her girl. God knows, after one tantalizing taste of her, it wasn’t like I had any kind of choice.

But her enemies are focused as hell. It will take everything we’ve got to stay ahead of them…

Parts of these stories have already appeared in a previously published book, Tasting Fear.

Edge of Secrets

April 21, 2025

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men…

I’m barely holding it together since I lost my foster mother, Lucia, in a brutal home invasion. The killer is still on the loose, convinced that my sisters and I know something crucial about Lucia’s mysterious past.

On top of that, I’m barely making ends meet as a grad student in New York City, waiting tables and looking over my shoulder. The only bright spot in my day is when I serve lunch to Duncan Burke, a big, grim-faced guy in a suit. He barely notices me—until he does. And after one passionate encounter, suddenly he’s making me a shocking proposition…

It’s outrageous. But I’d rather dream about it than worry about the disasters in my life…

It’s a no-brainer…

Protect the luscious Nell D’Onofrio from the killer stalking her. Check. Pleasure her beyond her wildest dreams in the safety of my luxury condo, all night, every night. Check. Damn, what’s not to like about that scenario?

As an ex-NSA agent and a cybersecurity expert, I deal in stone cold facts. I don’t get why Nell is getting all wound up about what is clearly a win/win situation for everyone. She has problems? I’ll solve them. I’ll put every part of myself, body and soul, to the task.

But nothing is ever clear or simple with Nell. She who won’t take orders. She drives me wild, makes me lose my cool. The killer thinks Nell has info he needs, and he’ll kill for it.

Not on my watch. No one touches her…

Parts of these stories have already appeared in a previously published book, Tasting Fear.

A Trio of Short Stories from the world of The Unredeemables

July 11, 2024

Trust Me Tonight (Follow-up to Master of Lies)

Jed and Freya are struggling to find a new normal together at their romantic mountain hideaway, after going through unspeakable danger together. They are wildly in love, but Jed can’t let his guard down after everything that’s happened…not with danger still on the loose.

So Freya just has to persuade him to let it down, by any means necessary…

No Loose Ends (Follow-up to Master of Secrets)

Ethan and Kat have gone through the fire together, and their love has been forged into something beautiful and unbreakable—but lingering threats from Kat’s troubled past continue to haunt her.

Ethan cannot rest until he has put those threats exactly where they belong…

Shining Through (Follow-up to Master of Chaos)

After languishing in a psychopath’s dungeon for over a year, Shane Masters is finally free. He’d been sprung by the stunning, fiery Cass, and together, they ended their tormenter, and won true freedom.

But the world is knocking on their door. They have to find a way to face whatever comes next for them, but this time, they face it together…

Two Short Tales from the World of the McClouds & Friends

July 11, 2024

Spreading Her Wings (A Follow-up to Behind Closed Doors)

Raine Lazar has been through hell and survived. Now Fate demands that she be the one to manage her deceased uncle’s ill-gotten gains and use the money to redress all the wrongs that he did. At the same time, she’s learning to wrangle her new husband, the complicated, fascinating, scorchingly sexy Seth Mackey.

It’s a tall order, but she’s determined to rise to the occasion…

Pushing Their Luck (A Follow-up to Fatal Strike)

Miles and Lara still can’t believe they got through their wild, near-lethal adventures intact and amazingly, together. They’re retreated to rest and heal at a remote luxury resort in Bali, with a tree-house and a private beach. They’re alive, they’re in love, and they’re going to relax and enjoy each other properly if it’s the last thing they do.

But damned if relaxing doesn’t end up a trickier proposition than they ever dreamed …

Master of Chaos

January 8, 2024

She’s as beautiful as a fallen angel…

I don’t know how long I’ve been locked in Halliwell’s dungeon. That psycho billionaire is still trying pry my brother Ethan’s all-powerful algorithm, SmokeScreen, out of me. The only escape is death. I’m ready. More than ready.

Then the redhead sneaks in. Smart, sexy, smoking hot, even through a six-inch wall of reinforced glass. She’s doing me no favors. Making me feel again when I’m better off numb. Maybe she’s acting, maybe I’m hallucinating, but now Halliwell has decided to put me down … and just when I start wanting to live again.

The redhead might be my way out—but only at a price I can’t afford to pay …

He’s as deadly as a caged tiger …

I shouldn’t be poking around in the secret depths of Owen Halliwell’s headquarters. The guy might be my biological father, but I’d known that he was a monster even before I saw Shane Masters, the prisoner down in Level Eight. Before my knees started to quake, and my heart to gallop like a herd of wild horses.

I’m stuck in this hellhole for my own reasons. My little sister has a rare disease, and Halliwell has strong-armed me into writing malware for him in exchange for a cure. It’s keeping her alive, yes, but this place is next-level toxic.

Even multiple layers of security and the obscene shock collar can’t diminish the power emanating from that man. Then I discover that the algorithm Shane refuses to reveal could save my sister…and that Halliwell has scheduled his execution.

That can’t happen. I have to break him out. He’s a commando warrior, furiously angry, completely unpredictable. He could be my salvation. He could be my ruin.

All I can do is roll the dice …

Master of Secrets

April 11, 2023

She’s temptation incarnate…

Worst idea ever. No matter how stunning she was.

I’m keeping my head down, running my cyber security empire. After my younger brother Shane was abducted last year, I’m just concentrating on keeping what’s left of my family alive. I’m also hunting down those bastards who took Shane. I will find them, and I will gut them. That challenging task occupies all of my brain power.

I don’t have extra time and energy to get blindsided at a business meeting by Kat Travis, the seductively beautiful secretary. It’s such a freaking cliché, it embarrasses me. Besides, getting anywhere near me puts her in real danger, and I won’t do that to a helpless, innocent woman.

Thing is, Kat is anything but innocent, or helpless…

That arrogant bastard…

Okay, so maybe flirting with the drop-dead handsome tycoon Ethan Masters was not the smartest move on my first day of a new temp job. It’s the height of slutty irresponsibility to let some unsuspecting guy stumble into contact with the toxic shit-show that was my life, just because he’s tall, dark, mysterious and hot.

Before I know what’s going on, I’m getting yelled at, insulted, and fired. No surprise, the way my life tends to go, but the death squad that jumps me and the tycoon in the elevator afterward? That seems a bit over the top, even for me.

But surprise, surprise…Masters fights like a demon. We click into perfect synch, kicking ass together, which is very exciting, at least until he goes all alpha on me and drags me into his helicopter. He sweeps me off to his luxury lair, against my will. Dick move.

I’ll teach that man that I can’t be bought—I’ve gone through far too much to put up with stupid shit from an overbearing man. But soon we’re facing off against brutal and relentless enemies…not the best time to deal with uncontrollable desire. And other feelings that neither one of us know how to process, or even put into words. Not while Death is stalking us. Hell, even if it wasn’t.

But the stakes are rising by the minute…and Death is gaining ground…

Master of Lies

February 16, 2023

Deadly. Relentless. Cold as ice.

Jed Clearwater is one of the Unredeemables, an elite group of ex-Special Forces warriors who bonded in combat and promised to have each other’s backs forever. Or so he said…until he sold my brother Shane out for money.

He’s never looked at me, but I’ve wanted him since I was a child. I tracked the bastard down, to a maximum security prison. He knows where Shane was taken, and I’ll do anything to get that intel. Even seduce him…insofar as I can seduce a man who’s locked behind bars.

I hate that I still lust after my brother’s killer. I can’t even hide it. I might as well use these emotions I can’t control to get what I want. I’ll be safe enough. That hard, muscular body and those smoldering eyes will be behind bulletproof glass. He’ll be cuffed, shackled…controlled.

What’s the worst he could do?

She’s drawing down the lightning…

What was it about me and crazy bad luck? The gorgeous bombshell’s timing could not have been shittier. The day of my prison break, a sexpot who fixates on felons struts into the visiting chamber, picks up the phone, and blows my freaking mind with her scorching sexual fantasies.

I’m so close to getting the info I need to track down my kidnapped friend and clear my name, but this luminous blonde has just made my enemies sit up and take notice. So on top of everything else, now I have to scramble to pull her gorgeous ass out of the fire, too.

Now we’re on the run together, one step ahead of total mayhem. She’s the most seductive woman I’ve ever come across, but I can’t let down my guard.

Because mayhem is gaining ground fast…

Love After Midnight

August 16, 2022

9 full length paranormal contemporary romances from 9 bestselling authors, including New York Times and USA Today bestsellers!

Vampires, ghosts and witches oh, my! Love After Midnight, Volume I includes NINE paranormal contemporary romances from nine bestselling authors. This set is intended to introduce you to fabulous new authors and exciting new series in one limited-time collection.

It’s 2,942 pages of exciting, page-turning romance from Shannon McKenna [My Next Breath], Sherrilyn Kenyon [Eve of Destruction], Coreene Callahan [Fury of Persuasion], Colleen Gleason [Sinister Secrets], Maggie Shayne [Eternity], Kat Le Veque [Time to Burn], Anita Clenney [Awaken the Highland Warrior], Eileen Dreyer [Daughter of Lore], and Cynthia St. Aubin [Love Bites].

Please note: All the stories in this limited-time, special collection are previously published, but never before together.

Hot Night

April 4, 2018

She’s a trouble magnet…

Abby Maitland has landed the chance of a lifetime—to work on a dazzling exhibit of priceless shipwrecked Spanish treasure at the Silver Fork Museum, and she isn’t going to fumble it. But when a nightmare date and a lost house-key land her in a tight spot, a sexy locksmith comes to her rescue.

Zan makes her heart pound and her toes curl, but she’s seen his type before. He doesn’t fit her dating profile, not with that battered leather jacket, those tattoos, that wicked, bad boy smolder in his eyes. She’s finished with guys like him. Been there, done that.

Problem is, they can’t seem to keep their hands off each other…

An indecent proposition…

Zan Duncan has gotten into more than his share of trouble in his time, and it shows. Maybe the succulently gorgeous Abby Maitland doesn’t think he’s boyfriend material, but that’s no reason not to give in to the desire that roars between them. So he offers her a scorching, no-holds-barred secret affair. No one had to know, not her neighbors, not her boss. He would just sneak into her house by night, drive her mad with pleasure, and melt away with the dawn, leaving her aching, tingling. Exhausted.

What could possibly go wrong?

Abby can’t resist his seduction—but there is a ruthless monster in Silver Fork who wants that buccaneer’s gold for himself—and Abby and Zan are the perfect scapegoats for his evil plan. But they have no clue they’re in the crosshairs—at least not until people around them start to die…

Now Abby and Zan must race against time to stop a vicious killer…and the only ones they can trust are each other…

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.

In for the Kill

March 21, 2014

Years ago, the McClouds and their friends rescued little Sveti Ardova from ruthless organ traffickers. Now she’s all grown up, and getting into some scorching trouble of her own…

He can’t keep his distance…

Ex-cop Sam Petrie had been warned. He knew that getting involved with the McCloud brothers’ affairs would run his life right over a cliff. But one look at the fearless, beautiful young trouble magnet, Svetlana Ardova, the McCloud clan’s precious protégé, just drove that sage advice right out of his mind. Now, with his police detective career derailed, he finds that Sveti is putting herself in the crosshairs once again, on a potentially deadly trip to Italy. So he offers himself up as her bodyguard. What could possibly go wrong?

She’s afraid to be touched…

Sveti’s trauma runs deep. Rescued by the McClouds and their friends from ruthless organ pirates, her tireless crusade against human trafficking has made her a target for criminal scum around the world, but it doesn’t faze her, since she doesn’t really fear death. The only thing that does faze her is Sam Petrie. The smoldering hunger in his dark gaze makes her feel vulnerable, naked. Incredibly alive.

Then a fresh attack against her sends Sam into hyper-protective mode. In that forced proximity, Sam and Sveti can’t resist the blistering heat that flares between them. But now they’re moving in on an explosive secret—one that could either redeem them or destroy them…and their lethal opponent will not rest until Sveti is silenced forever…

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.

Fatal Strike

July 8, 2013

The McCloud brothers have been coaching their protégé, Miles Davenport, for years. It’s finally time for him to claim his own place in their group—and his own love.

Her eyes haunt him….

All that Miles knows about the beautiful young sculptor Lara Kirk is that she was abducted by a madman, in order to punish her parents for their sins. She’s an orphan now, and everyone else on earth who might have fought to find her is dead, so it’s up to him to help her now. Miles is all out of leads, but he is tormented by dreams of Lara…dreams that are starting to feel shockingly real. So real, he decides to try following them…

She can’t separate dreams from reality…

Lara Kirk’s been locked in a cell for months. The only thing that has kept her clinging to sanity by a thread is the stunning, avenging savior in her dreams…the one who can’t possibly be anything but a fantasy. So she tells herself, until the brawny young warrior bursts into her prison and sweeps her away, against all odds.

Lara can’t help but bond with the intense, protective Miles. But their wild passion is a dangerous distraction, and the stakes keep getting higher as Lara and Miles battle with an unimaginable evil that threatens everything they care about…

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.

Behind Closed Doors

June 4, 2013

EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE…

Surveillance expert Seth Mackey knows everything about the women that his millionaire boss toys with–and tosses aside. Raine Cameron is something different. Night after night, Seth watches her on a dozen different video screens. Her vulnerable beauty haunts him and her fresh innocence stirs a white-hot passion that he can barely control. Raine is pure temptation, but Seth has something more important to take care of first. He’s convinced that his boss, Victor Lazar, is responsible for his half-brother’s murder. He cannot put his secret investigation at risk, but he can’t stop wanting her–craving her–and soon he knows he can’t let Victor have her. For Raine may be Victor’s next victim…

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE…

Raine knows she’s being watched–but no one can see the secrets in her heart. She has reasons of her own to seek revenge on Victor Lazar, and she will, despite her fear–and the distracting presence of Seth Mackey. Though Raine has little experience with men, Seth’s fiercely masculine good looks and animal sensuality stir her most erotic fantasies when she’s alone . . . and lead her to a bold plan. Offering her body to him, surrendering totally to his ruthless desire might well push her beyond all emotional limits–and beyond fear itself.

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.

Standing In The Shadows

June 4, 2013

In Behind Closed Doors, you were introduced to Seth’s partners, the sexy and dangerous McCloud brothers…and now it’s Connor McCloud’s turn to face the fire…

She haunts his dreams…

Ex-FBI agent Connor McCloud barely survived being set up to die by a trusted friend and fellow agent, Ed Riggs. That disaster cost him not only his partner Jesse’s life, but his hopes of winning the love of Erin, Ed’s beautiful, studious daughter. She would never be with the man who had put her father in prison.

Forever out of reach…

Erin is hanging on by her fingernails. Her father is disgraced and imprisoned, her mother and sister are falling apart, the scandal has cost her a job she loved as a museum curator, and the man she’s secretly craved for years is responsible for all of it. When an opportunity comes up to appraise a trove of priceless Celtic artifacts for a rich, reclusive, she leaps at the chance. Maybe things are starting to look up.

Then Connor discovers that his old nemesis, Kurt Novak, is back, hungry for payback…and that Erin is his weapon of choice. He has no choice but to leap into action, whether Erin trusts him or not, whether she hates him or not. Nothing matters but protecting the woman he loves from a vengeful, sadistic killer…

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.

Return To Me

June 3, 2013

Still craving his touch…

Ellen Kent never forgot her crush on the town’s sexy bad boy, Simon Riley—but God, has she tried. It’s been years since Simon blasted out of LaRue, leaving the fiery mess he made there far behind—as well as Ellen and her broken heart.

She’s grown up, moved on, gotten engaged to a safe, respectable guy. She works hard running a Bed & Breakfast in her family mansion. She’s completely over Simon—but she certainly wasn’t prepared to have him show up out of nowhere and ask to rent a room from her. Tall, dark, tough, fascinating. As smoldering hot as he ever was. And just as seductive.

But to chase him away would be to admit defeat, right? And she wasn’t afraid of him…

He swore he’d never return…

Simon Riley has spent his adult life as a war-zone photojournalist, and he’s been in plenty of hot spots, but there’s no place so dangerous to him as the small, sleepy town of LaRue. This place didn’t want him then, and it doesn’t want him now, but Simon’s Uncle Gus recently died under mysterious circumstances, and Simon has to know more. And he can’t resist a chance to see Ellen again. She’s the only good memory he has of this hellhole. So sweet. So wild.

He hadn’t bargained on how sweet, or how wild. Enough to make him lose his head and do something really stupid…like start falling in love with her all over again.

But LaRue is full of deadly secrets. As their passion rages out of control, someone lurks in the shadows who will go to any lengths to keep those secrets hidden.

Now Ellen and Simon might pay for the truth with their lives…

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.

Out of Control

June 3, 2013

In Behind Closed Doors and Standing in the Shadows, Shannon McKenna introduced the McCloud Brothers: intense, rugged, super-sexy, and deliciously sensual. Now, Davy McCloud is about to meet a woman he can’t trust–or live without . . .

Don’t get too close…

That’s P.I. Davy McCloud’s unwavering rule when it comes to women. He likes to keep his world strictly under control. But when the seductive and fascinating Margot Vetter starts teaching at the gym next door, his ironclad rules go straight to hell. He can’t control the hunger she awakens in him, or the powerful instinct to protect her…and then claim her as his own.

On the run…

Margot’s been framed for murder. Broke and desperate, she has no choice but to ask Davy McCloud’s help. But the closer she gets to this sexy, enigmatic man, the harder it becomes to hold anything back from him…at all. Or even remember why she’s trying to.

But it’s a bad time to be blindsided by passion, because the monstrous evil lurking in Margot’s past is running her down fast. Soon they’ll be fighting back to back, just to stay alive…

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.

Extreme Danger

June 3, 2013

Nick Ward was one of Connor McCloud’s fellow FBI agents. Now he’s working on an investigation of his own, but Tam Steele and the McClouds always have his back…

Trained assassin…or clueless innocent?

That’s the dilemma facing Nick Ward when he drags the gorgeous, dripping, naked girl out of the swimming pool at midnight on the deserted vacation island. But innocent or not, she’s pure bad luck for Nick. Even if she’s not a merciless honeypot assassin, her presence at this top secret meeting will destroy his long-planned undercover operation, and probably get them both killed. And her luscious beauty just makes it that much worse…

She won’t back down…

Skinny-dipping in a neighbor’s pool is about as naughty as hopeless good girl Becca Cattrall has ever tried to be. But suddenly she’s at the mercy of a grim, dangerous stranger with a foul mouth and smoldering eyes…a man who steals her breath and makes her heart stutter…a man scheduled to meet with a mafiya boss who will never let her live to tell the tale.

Nick impulsively blows his cover to save Becca’s skin, but he can’t keep her hidden forever…and he can’t stay away from her, either. And now, to make matters worse, she wants to save him, too. So when hell comes calling, she’s not running….

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.

Ultimate Weapon

June 3, 2013

Ever since she was introduced as Mara in Behind Closed Doors, the mysterious and prickly Tamara Steele has been working in the background, slowly gaining the McClouds’ trust. Now it’s time for her to step into the spotlight, for her wildest adventure yet…

A life of lies….

Covert operative Val Janos has spent his whole life in the shadows. He’s as handsome as he is lethal, trained to use sex as a tool and a weapon. Which makes him the perfect operative to hunt down the beautiful-but-deadly Tamara Steele.

Too much to lose…

Tam is wanted for her misdeeds worldwide, sought by law enforcement agencies and criminal syndicates alike, but now she has tiny Rachel to worry about, a toddler she’s rescued from organ traffickers. She keeps up her guard even with the McClouds, the only people she dares to call friends, and she has no time for flirtation, whether Janos is just a gigolo lightweight, or something far more ominous.

But the passion that suddenly ignites at Val’s touch takes her utterly by surprise.

Val, too, is blindsided, and not only by ravenous lust. He feels for her, more than he’s ever felt anything, But Tam’s enemies have Val in a vice grip. Daddy Novak has discovered Val’s weak spot—Imre, the old man who befriended Val when he was a street kid, who taught him what mercy felt like. Imre will suffer horribly if Val fails to deliver Tam into Novak’s grasp.

No matter what Val does now, he’s damned…but these two don’t know how to give up the fight—not even with Death himself…

Note: This is a slightly revised and reissued edition.