Heart Throbs #8

Tess Waring, stuck in the desolate mining town of Adobe Flat with her geologist father, dreams of escape and the wealth that could buy her freedom—so when two charming prospectors, Jim Crane and Bill Fay, arrive with plans to search Bald Mountain for gold, she impulsively joins their expedition. As the three toil under the harsh mountain sun and gold begins to accumulate, Tess discovers she wields a dangerous power over the men around her, and she's willing to use it to ensure their fortune grows. With greed and passion colliding on the windswept peak, Tess must navigate the treacherous terrain between the two men and her own ambitions.

When Del Chambers reconnects with Kitty in San Francisco, he's full of talk about the island of Valera and the plantation he's running there—and before long, Kitty finds herself drawn to follow him back across the Pacific. But as the languid tropical life unfolds, Kitty realizes the island isn't quite the paradise Del believes it to be, and the presence of a local girl named Tina only deepens her doubts about where she truly belongs. When a violent typhoon bears down on Valera, Kitty discovers that island life holds more peril—and more meaning—than she ever imagined.

Della Walters returns to her hometown of White Bay to manage the family fishing fleet she now owns, planning to sell it and return to her glamorous life in New York—but when an old flame, skipper Denny Thatcher, convinces her to give the struggling business one more chance, she finds herself torn between two worlds and two very different suitors. As secrets unravel and danger strikes at sea, Della must confront what her heart has known all along about where she truly belongs.

In "Out of the Depths," a young woman with a sharp eye for truth, Jean Farrel, ventures into prison to interview Nick Chambers, a man condemned for a violent act on a construction site. As she listens to his story, she uncovers a web of suspicious accidents and hidden motives, with the man who now leads the new construction company eerily tied to Chambers’ defense. The truth behind the bridge’s foundation runs deeper than anyone expected.

When Sherry Lyons turns down Rod Baker's heartfelt proposal at the Archaeological Institute, she's secretly drawn to the glamorous and celebrated Egyptologist Clark Stacy—unaware of truths that might change everything. When Stacy selects her as his cataloguer for an expedition to Egypt, Sherry leaps at the chance, leaving Rod behind with his unrequited feelings. But an ancient artifact and a five-thousand-year-old queen's wisdom may yet teach her what her heart truly needs.