Showing results by author "Cindy M. Amos" in All Categories

~Where staying above sea level requires careful alignment~ Indigo Ownley hesitates to aid a motorist in distress along the Great Dismal Swamp, and then cringes when she sees the NBA Tidewater Titans’ star center, Shae Swain. Reprimanded for his ejection from a game, Shae receives a penalty of two hundred community service hours and frantically needs to get started before another December day passes—so he selects Indigo’s nonprofit that mentors promising athletes. A chance encounter with a poster in the mop closet reveals that Indigo is really IOU, a lithe player he shared the court ...

~A new destiny floats ashore on an island swept by love~ Visionary Remi Fontaine arrives for his summer job as distinguished visiting professor at a coastal university in North Carolina, hiding his faltering allegiance to his family’s legacy as pioneering oceanographers. As his faculty contact, graduate coordinator Nia Parnell introduces him to little-known natural gems along the coastline as they co-teach a summer session course. Remi’s growing affection for all things terrestrial mingles with his attraction for Nia, until a diving malady strikes and forces him to contemplate a major ...

Invincible as island naturalist, Ciera Journey completes her nocturnal patrol for sea turtles nesting on Cape Fear and happens upon Ryne Faulkner rowing to the private resort island at the helm of a rowdy group of marginalized campers. With the turtle work by night and nature appreciation outings by day, Ciera begins to feel the sting of burnout, though the campers rise to the challenge of hands-on interaction. Shared adventures at the settler’s hidey-hole and legendary hermit’s shack spark a bond between her and the camp’s enigmatic counselor, but dare she contemplate a life beyond ...

On sabbatical, rodeo entertainer Lyndie Leigh Sessoms strikes out on her quest to find a real life, riding the coattails of a wildfire into Kansas where she rescues trampled rancher Burk Crosby from the ashes. Drawn together in a cascade of heart-wrenching events, they work selflessly to counter damage from the wildfire and resurrect the rural community around Ashland. Small-town kindness combines with widespread generosity in the wake of the fire, but a greedy siphon infiltrates the distribution site, casting a dark shadow of suspicion over the recovery efforts. To salvage their blossoming...

~ A little artistic persuasion thaws even the most rough-hewn heart~ Set on collecting rocks to stack her next waterfall, artsy entrepreneur Bibi Harrison doesn’t see the bobcat lurking in the meadow until too late. Young rancher Lodge Reddeck fires a shot in the nick of time, and soon ends up with a beautiful woman in his arms. Reclusive due to an unresolved brush with the law, Lodge hesitates to offer her a load of fieldstones to make amends. As they work side by side on the planning committee for a business expo in Council Grove, Kansas, an unlikely attraction begins to kindle. Driven ...

When Happy Lehman rolls her VW bug over right in front of Kirk Anders’ house, she lands on a novel way to get the building pro’s attention. Quick on her feet to recover, she pitches a partnership plan to match up a construction fundraising idea for her nonprofit clothes closet, The Prosper Portal, with some masculine hammer power. Kirk has a few hesitations of his own—including being scorched by his last goodwill partnership. And those fancy she sheds Happy has in mind for her Flirty Half Dozen aren’t exactly his specialty. Happy’s quest for the ultimate chandelier-topped pink ...

Sparks fly when Chastain Landers submits a demo video to promote the baseball team’s charity raffle and gains a job for season two at Riverfront Stadium. Working alongside the handsome Promo Team leader Reynolds Newby seems dreamy until a series of odd happenstances occur around the ballpark. Down on the field, hard-working groundskeeper Clint Ryder has trouble keeping his crew in line, but a substitute assignment brings pretty sports trainer Tanya Whiting out of the dugout and into his arms. Both Reynolds and Clint struggle to keep day-to-day operations intact as the home team quests for...

Journalism student Harper Townsend covers an election rally on assignment which turns electric when a rowdy activist group attacks, forcing a rescue by charismatic campaign manager Wink Dunn. The deeper she delves into surfacing rumors, the more compelling her new friend becomes. Though the Fed-up Brigade has an agenda that won’t let the campaign transpire peaceably, Harper’s intuitive drive to expose the truth helps muffle their vocal protests. As November approaches, candidates begin to drop from the ballot at every disclosure, which might leave a crook to run unopposed. Good thing ...

Amid the record heat of August 1955, artist Kathleen Litton comes to Mesa Verde to restore the pictographs left in cliff dwellings by the ancient Anasazi people. Plagued by a contaminated seep at beloved Balcony House, geologist Miles McShane has to match wits with an unknown threat to protect the nation’s antiquities. Kat’s colorful charm softens his heart, yet her commitment to excellence leaves her vulnerable to the danger of deception. The unyielding heat of late summer places the entire park on a crumbling edge as recurring trouble strikes Miles’ last nerve. Ropes and ladders ...

~Where the town’s Christmas tree becomes a special to-from messenger~ Hospital administrator Rondi Kaye begins her first Kansas Christmas with a giant Douglas fir tree wedged into her front lobby. Having citizens mark gift tags to request acts of kindness, Rondi inserts a little extra heart into Wellington’s traditional celebration. New ambulance driver Layne Pearce lends a different kind of interest to her holiday hubbub, and when he tosses a candy-invitation to her during the parade, a romantic adventure launches. When trouble rides in on the wings of a Christmas Eve ice storm and ...

On break from her vendor booth selling bittersweet swags at a craft fair, Lolo Henley accidentally witnesses illegal activity down along Atchison’s waterfront and runs for her life. Ever short of his dream for ordination at St. Benedicts Abbey, gardener Karch Riley rescues Lolo from an unholy search party. As trouble mounts, Karch discovers veiled threats on the adjoining college campus and teams with law enforcement to protect the innocent. Evidence of illegal gun purchases becomes linked with the abbey’s Vicar Copley, Karch’s harsh boss. Trouble deepens when human trafficking ...

A breach of the safety net throws rising baseball star Brody Breeson a curve ball as beautiful Melee Hendricks takes a hit for the home team right on the cheekbone. Indebted and more than a little attracted, Brody makes a pledge to join the stadium staffer for community service during the postseason. Attraction leads to mid-summer romance, but his dream to play major league ball takes a requisite turn in a boost to Triple-A ball right when he least wants to leave Riverfront Stadium. Legal trouble soon clouds his future, but quick-witted Melee tosses him a hope-filled lifeline. With ...

Denton Stephens plies his trade as a hauler until he drops through a rain-slicked bridge and falls into the Marias Des Cygnes River, where he’s rescued by pretty Haven Christiansen from the nearby ranch. Even with her father in a wheelchair, Haven manages to keep the Kansas ranch running, but when the construction crew lines up equipment to build the replacement bridge, realignment of the pasture’s fence puts her on overload. Needing a new hauling base, Denton trades off ranch work for room and board. When a troublesome project boss makes unwanted appearances, Denton infuses his ...

Greer Trousdale finds her new job at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital off to a rocky start in the spring of 1937 when her special skills as medical transcriptionist collide with the handsome x-ray doctor, Thane Keaton, during a crisis. A Geiger counter becomes an intermediary of sorts until a date at the lush Garfield Park Conservatory sets their hindered mutual attraction into better alignment. When a careless orderly poses an internal threat, Greer must learn more about the x-ray machine, using her typewriter keyboard’s QWERTY as a secret code. On a hunch, she’ll employ a low-dose of ...

Fed up with the good-old-boy treatment at her current job in Emporia, conservation officer Aley Halstead plans a lateral move for more equitable treatment in nearby Council Grove, Kansas. A real hitch in her departure plan, she meets enigmatic Hake Warren, a young lawyer attempting to ranch on a newly-purchased acreage. As her final project, Aley commits to helping the rookie weekend rancher design the best plan for restoring the overworked operation, but when their interests turn more personal, his outlying ranch becomes a romantic midpoint to ease her transition. Living in the new town ...

~Embracing progress becomes a matter of the heart~ The Lure of Modernization Busy with her downtown beautification work, Elina Marshall witnesses near calamity as Lathe Dailey, Flora’s new town manager, rescues a widow and her children from a downburst when the old railroad water tower fails. The Marshall family soon attends the world-famous 1904 St. Louis Exposition, and Lathe is invited along to contract the new waterworks that will modernize their town with running water. Romance leads the way through exotic gardens and a gondola ride, until drama unfolds down The Pike’s rowdy midway...

New in town, Willow Stevens arrives at The Master’s Toolbox hardware store, hoping to get some assistance with a detailed home improvement project. Caught soldering a seam for his latest metal-craft project, Evan Masterson soon becomes interested in another type of bond—right in time for Valentine’s Day. When Willow offers to help with his Etsy page and shares an idea to improve the store’s garden section, how can Mr. Fix-it refuse? Find out why Evan’s toolbox might need a trinket to guard it from here on out. When romance flutters down on Sweetwater, Kansas, the hardware store ...

Lacey Woodhouse arrives at River Ranch to deliver the bank’s notice of default for unmade mortgage payments, but plunges into a horse trough and meets the struggling owner, rancher Wray Benson, up close and personal. When a bouquet of field daisies finds its way to her car windshield weeks later, she decides to throw caution — and conflict of interest — to the wind. Time in the country charms Lacey and when she learns of Wray’s support of an ailing family member, it softens her heart, leading to sweet romance.

Deep within Montana Territory, in 1885, miner Chance Mullan checks the rail spur for his expected shipment but picks up two famished siblings, instead - the adult offspring of his recently deceased work partner. Relegated to sleeping on the rear porch, Serafina Redmann never imagined such a bleak existence at the edge of civilization, but the fervor of the villagers to grow the settlement into a permanent town makes her want to stay and contribute.

A daunting task, Shaina Gillespie endures the solitude on Cape Lookout to prepare the vintage lighthouse keeper’s house for relocation to the mainland. When ebbing currents force a mishap on her paddleboard, she crosses the inlet to Shackleford Banks where the rescue fills with a herd of wild ponies and one reclusive veterinarian, Judd Pearce. An oceanfront dinner-for-two sparks romantic interest, but Shaina determines to remain unbiased since Judd favors his hometown as a prime relocation site. A dark secret enshrouds his wild pony research and cuts a swath of betrayal between them while...