Jane Peart

"Sara! You must come out! You're wanted downstairs right away," Lucie hissed through the keyhole on the locked bedroom door. "Stepmama is furious and Father has sent word that he's coming home early from the Exchange. She says he's in a rage over what you've done!" "I haven't done anything! It's...

Free-spirited journalist Independence McClaren follows her heart to a Colorado silver-town -- and a test of her fierce commitment to the truth. Mindy's birth name is Independence McClaren -- a fitting match for her tenacity and determination. Leaving behind a secure but colorless future in the...

Even while Randall was speaking, it was Pietro I saw, the tenderness in his dark eyes looking at me, the caress in his soft voice. In Randall's voice there was not a shred of emotion; nor was there any in his expression. How should I respond? What should I say? I knew this was the hardest...

With the death of her father, Jo-Beth, her brother, and their mother, Johanna, move in with relatives in town. There, Johanna makes a living sewing her exquisite quilts and Jo-Beth discovers a special friend. Kind, thoughtful, and deep, Wesley Rutherford draws Jo-Beth like a magnet. . .and their...

Johanna Shelby could never have anticipated where that "fateful encounter" would lead her. She could not have known then how love for the young, rough-hewn, mountain doctor would cause her to turn her back on her privileged lifestyle, threaten to estrange her from her family, and bring her to...

Following the death of their parents, twenty-four-year-old Sunniva Lyndall and her younger brother, Tracy, leave the comforts and safety of their Ohio Valley home to travel west to California, With excitement, determination, and the money they received from the sale of the family farm, they head...

When Joy Montrose received her commission to paint a mural depicting the healing miracles of Jesus at Good Samaritan Hospital, she never anticipated forming a close friendship with Evan Marshall. But the bond between the talented young artist and the gifted surgeon has grown, even though their...

When Southern-born Adelaide Pride follows her Yankee employer to California, she faces a private civil war and re-examines her values of love and honor. Twenty-six-year-old Adelaide Pride stepped out of the horse-drawn buggy to gaze one last time at the charred remains of her childhood home...

"End of the line!" The stagecoach driver's shout sent a chill down Holly Lambeth's spine. What an ominous sound! Was Riverbend, Oregon, to be the end of the line for her? She had come West to escape the swirling gossip about her broken engagement. She had come to escape the humiliation of being...

For some reason at just that moment, Garnet glanced up at the house and thought she saw a shadowy figure standing at the window of the downstairs master bedroom in the wing Malcolm shared with Rose. With a little clutching sensations, Garnet wondered if Rose had seen her talking with Malcolm and...

She was of American blood, born in the islands. He was a native islander. Their love bridged two worlds that would one day threaten to tear them apart. As a child, Jana Rutherford played barefoot on the sparkling Hawaiian beaches with her friend, Akela, and Akela's handsome cousin, Kimo. But...

For Rod it was a moment out of a thousand dreams. Yet the reality was more than he could have imagined. "Blythe!" He said her name and in his voice was all the hope he'd thought was lost. The woman he saw was even lovelier than the girl he remembered. She was still as beautiful -- tall, slender...

Noramary came out of the parlor into the hall. Stunned by what she had just heard, she felt slightly light-headed and leaned against the closed door for a moment to steady herself. The shock of Winnie's elopement during the night had been followed by a second -- the staggering request of her...

Craig Cavanaugh opened his briefcase and drew out the folder containing the manuscript. It was getting dark when he finished reading. No question, he thought, Kitty Traherne can write. Her face came back into his mind. He saw the pain in her eyes, heard the urgency in her voice, as he recalled...

"Why, Cara, why did you do it?" "Maybe no one wants to see me as I really am. Maybe in this family it isn't all right to be different. And I am different, Kitty, whether anyone wants to admit it or not." "But, Cara,--it just seems like tonight you set out deliberately to cause trouble." "Even...

"Niki's heart was thrumming as the taxi stopped with a jerk in front of the gray, stone building behind tall, black iron gates. On a metal plaque was engraved Les Soeurs de Merci. Niki thrust several franc notes staring through the rungs of the gate. Years ago another young woman-perhaps her...

Slowly she turned to face the door just as Graham came through at full stride. At the sight of him a wild kind of joy seized her. Graham halted on the threshold. He drew in his breath sharply, and in spite of himself, his pulse thundered at the sight of the tall, willowy figure. The last time he...

Blythe gazed into his eyes. It seemed as if she were looking into his very soul. Could she read genuine repentance there . . . or just regret that he had brought shame to himself, disgraced his family? Suddenly, she knew. This was the real Malcolm -- before the War, before Rose died, before his...

The lake held special memories of her times with Jeff. Here they had spent hours talking, feeding the swans, and skipping pebbles across the smooth surface, creating circles within circles. One afternoon in particular Faith remembered. Jeff had kissed her. It was their first real kiss. In it...

"Have you any plans for the rest of the day?" he asked. "Plans?" she echoed. "Whatever they were, cancel them." He grinned. Crystal nodded, dazed, knowing somehow that if he had proposed a trip to Mars she would have been helpless to refuse. She had come to Virginia to work, not to fall in love...