Bonds of Friendship Series

Spencer had had enough of boardrooms and stockholders. Idealism had been replaced by corporate reality and he wanted to be able to dream again. He wanted to return to the lab and work with people who'd rather solve problems and cure diseases than line their pockets. What he hadn't bargained on was the personal change the move would bring and it began even before had actually made the move. Tori was mostly content with her life. She liked her work and her boss. What she didn't like was staff beneath her who failed to show up for their shifts forcing her to cover for them. Such was the case when she raced to the airport and found a rather annoyed Spencer Laughton waiting, not for her necessarily, but for his car. He was rude. She retaliated as far as she dared and sent him on his way with a sigh of relief. Only he didn't stay away. Once Spencer made the move south, he was determined to win over the girl he had no business being with. He was also largely successful. Tori quickly saw past the image to the man beneath and she liked that man. But the early bliss didn't last. Spencer wasn't the only one that wanted Tori and the other was obsessed and insane. A fledgling romance soon became a dangerous of game for both of them. Spencer was determined to keep her safe and she was determined to keep him from doing something he would regret. But friends matter and Spencer had his.

Marshall was furious when he left Gerald's office. His father had tried, for a final time, to control his life when he'd drawn up his will. He might dance on his father's grave, but it would be to his own tune, thank you very much. The Adams history was long, complicated, and mostly ugly. Marshall had no intention of continuing its blood. He pulled into a local bar he'd never patronized before for a well-deserved drink to cool his temper.             He recognized the woman who emerged from the office. Like him, she ran on the beach in the mornings. He'd never approached her, though she was certainly worth approaching. Given his views on marriage, none had a chance of a future with him and he wasn't willing to give false hopes. He wasn't quite a monk, but the woman had to be the aggressor. It was the only way he wouldn't feel guilty when he left her.             By the time he left the bar, he'd agreed to a contest with her, the loser to buy the other dinner. It wasn't exactly a date and he hadn't done the approaching. She had by asking him what he wanted to drink. Even so, he had a feeling he shouldn't have agreed.             Especially since he would find out soon enough that he'd just met the woman his father had chosen for his wife.             Cait liked Marshall. She'd liked Nicholas too. At least until she found out about the will and the history she and Marshall shared. Her knowledge came slowly, a bit at a time. When Marshall finally admitted to the sin of omission he'd been carrying, she'd had enough. Oh, she was still willing to proceed, but only one her terms.             It worked until it backfired.             Marshall didn't know what went wrong, only that something had. After Cait spoke to her father, a man she hadn't seen since he abandoned her when she was six years old, she refused to talk to him. She was ending it just when he thought he could do this. He loved Cait and was determined to defeat his genes and be a faithful husband. He thought he'd done everything right once coming clean.             Believing it over, he did something he'd never done before and ran away.             Until Mark found him in his living room. After all, it takes a true friend to make you see yourself clearly.

Cass McLeary wrote about dead people. They couldn't retaliate, being nicely dead, and the criminal mind fascinated her. But Mark Barrington's tale was becoming an obsession, and he wasn't dead. Nor, she was sure, was he a criminal. There was much more here and she wanted the story. Her son was not happy about it.             Mark Barrington wasn't happy about it either. The woman had written to him several times while he'd served his sentence and was after him again now that he was out. There was a very good reason he'd pled guilty and that still stood. At least until his sister decided it didn't. Something had to be done to help her daughter and Mark was the one who needed to do it.             Mark's request didn't sound like much, but Cass knew it was. Ashley was at the center if it all and she could so easily screw up. She agreed, not for selfish reasons, but because if she could help the girl she wanted to. She wouldn't mind helping Mark either. By all reports whatever had happened all those years ago had changed him. His family missed him. His friends missed him and she knew bad men weren't granted the title of friend by the sort of people that considered him one.             So she stepped into the Whirlpool.