Francis Castro

It has been two years since the death of Merritt Heyward's husband, Cal, when she receives unexpected news - Cal's family home in Beaufort, South Carolina, bequeathed by Cal's reclusive grandmother, now belongs to Merritt. Charting the course of an uncertain life - and feeling guilt from her husband's tragic death - Merritt travels from her home in Maine to Beaufort, where the secrets of Cal's unspoken-of past reside among the pluff mud and jasmine of the ancestral Heyward home on the Bluff.

Between the urban bustle of Denver and the high-stress environment of a career in neurosurgery, Maggie Sullivan has hit a wall. When an emergency high-risk procedure results in the death of a teenager, Maggie finds herself in the middle of a lawsuit - and experiencing levels of anxiety she's never faced before. She knows she needs to slow down before she burns out completely, and the best place she can think to do that is Sullivan's Crossing.

Baltimore homicide detective Stevie Mazzetti has suffered losses no woman should have to endure. And, despite it all, she's still a fighter. When she learns that her ex-partner might have miscarried justice, she's determined to put the past to rights, even when she becomes a target. It's former marine Clay Maynard's job to see the risk in every situation, and he doesn't have to look hard to find the danger surrounding Stevie. Since the minute he first saw her, Clay has wanted toprotect the wounded officer, and he started loving her not long after that.

Paul Reed has been raising children since he was a child himself, but he wouldn't change his life, even if given an opportunity. That is, until one of his brothers says four little words that shake the foundation of his world. "She's not a lesbian," shouldn't be quite so earth shattering, but suddenly the woman he loves is available, and he'll do whatever it takes to win her over. They call her Friday, and she's hiding more than just her name...