Blackthorne, Inc. Series

**Note: This is an updated cover, but aside from making a few corrections to the text, this is the same book originally published here Set against a Montana mountain backdrop, When Danger Calls is a story filled with action, adventure, and romance, where the stakes keep getting higher and higher. If someone asks single mother Frankie Castor to clear a room, she'll smile and find a vacuum cleaner. Ryan Harper, on the other hand, uses a gun. Is it possible they can work together when their lives depend on it? Frankie's returned to her childhood home in Montana to help care for her mother. Her biggest worries are balancing the budget and the upkeep of an aging home. When she offers a man a ride home from the hospital, she never imagines she'll end up having to choose between her daughter's life and matters of national security that could cost the lives of millions. Ryan returns to his family home to find a way to prove he didn't leak vital information on a covert ops mission gone south. As he searches for the meaning of a file he's kept hidden from the mission, he has no idea that international mercenaries have been searching for it—and him. When the mercenaries come after Ryan, he's torn. Fighting for his country wars with fighting to rescue people he loves. When Danger Calls was first published in hard cover by Five Star Cengage Gale

Note: The cover was updated in July of 2018, but the book is the same. HOLT Medallion Best Romantic Suspense, 2012 Behind the public façade of a private investigation firm–Blackthorne, Incorporated–lies a band of elite covert operatives. Dalton (just Dalton—nobody dares call him Ambrose), is one of Blackthorne's best. A charming Texan, he prides himself on blending in, and there's no one he can't scam. But his obsession with putting a Colombian drug lord out of the picture threatens to endanger his life and the lives of his team. When Dalton nearly blows a simple undercover assignment at a fundraising gala, it convinces his boss to tether him to a dog-and-pony-show case at a halfway house. Instead, Dalton finds death, drugs, and danger. Street-smart Miri Chambers wants nothing more than to help everyone at the Galloway House shelter lead new and productive lives, but residents are disappearing without a trace. An unexpected meeting with Dalton at a gala turns into an assignment for him, but Miri doesn't think he's taking the job seriously. Trust doesn't come easy to Miri. When the situation escalates into a combat zone, can she trust Dalton with her life … and her heart?

Note: The cover was updated in July of 2018, but the book contents are the same. Behind the public façade of Blackthorne, Inc., a high-end private investigation company, lies a band of elite covert operatives, and they're back doing what they do best. Foster (Fozzie) Mayhew, Blackthorne's Intel Specialist, is cocky and arrogant, befitting his Aussie heritage. Put him in a helicopter with his surveillance instruments and he can spot the fleas on a squirrel's balls from five hundred feet. He's happiest when he's rescuing hostages, getting them to safety while Uncle Sam is still negotiating. But Fozzie's boss pulls him from the work he loves and sends him to locate Victoria Hamilton, estranged daughter of a rich client. Torie Stoker, born Victoria Hamilton, is hiding from her father who needs her at home and married. There's no love lost between Torie and her family. They shipped her off to a Swiss boarding school when she was thirteen, and at twenty-nine, she's never looked back. When her best friend, Kathy, dies, Torie settles in Oregon, determined to give meaning to Kathy's death by continuing the botanist's quest for rare plants with potential medical applications. When a man shows up with a gun, Torie realizes how badly her father must want her back. Fozzie wants nothing more than to locate his target, report to his boss, and get back to his real job. When he finds Torie being dragged away at gunpoint, his protective instincts kick in. Soon, they're racing to discover why her father sent armed men after her. Or could it have something to do with Kathy's pharmaceutical research to cure orphan diseases? The answers threaten to change Torie's life forever. Rooted in Danger, the third in the Blackthorne, Inc. series, starts on a tropical island, and things heat up from there. Rooted in Danger will keep readers turning pages as the stakes—and romance–escalate. Rooted in Danger was first published in hard cover by Five Star/Gale in 2012. It is a Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence Finalist, Romantic Suspense.

Note: The cover was updated in July of 2018. However, aside from minor changes, it's the same book. What do you do when your life turns upside down? Whatever it takes. When Elizabeth Parker arrives in Deer Ridge with her eight-year-old son, she's constantly looking over her shoulder, afraid her husband won't believe she's dead, despite the new identity provided by the high-end firm of Blackthorne, Inc. Within hours of her arrival, a man shows up claiming he's there to hook up her gas line. When he keeps turning up, she's wary as to his motives. For Elizabeth, trust doesn't come easy. She'll never let her husband lay a hand on her son, no matter what, and if this man is working for her husband, she wants no part of him. Mark Grinciewicz, Grinch to everyone who knows him, was Blackthorne, Incorporated's top pilot. When his ex-wife dies, he is left with custody of a five-year-old son he hardly knows, and everything changes. Determined to do what it takes to help his son adjust to a new life, Grinch finds himself tethered to the ground, unable to do what he loves—fly. Certainly, there's no room in his life for romance. When he gets a call from Blackthorne, requesting that he take a simple assignment—teach a woman how to fit into the community under her new identity—he reluctantly accepts the task. Bad enough he's not supposed to let on he's aware of her identity, or that he's on her side. But what he doesn't know is that she has something her husband needs, and the man will do just about anything to get it back. Suddenly, everyone is a potential threat. Can Grinch break through her defenses and earn her trust in time to save her without endangering her son or his? Danger in Deer Ridge is the fourth book in the Blackthorne, Inc. romantic suspense series. Although it follows When Danger Calls and Where Danger Hides chronologically, it was written to stand alone.