"Alert for danger, Laura Roth stands at the door of her sod house, anxiously watching a lone rider cantering toward her across the prairie. Dismounting, he removes his hat and bows slightly. His eyes-in striking contrast to his dark skin, black hair and beard-are an intense blue. He returns her gaze honestly. She sees nothing to fear.

As she dips a cup of water from the barrel by the door and offers it to the weary traveler, Laura never dreams that she and this man would share a mutual secret to the grave."

Thus begins the saga of John and Laura Roth and their descendents; their hopes and...

Woodland Circle, a cul de sac in the retirement community, Paradise Village, is not Wisteria Lane. However, no household is without its secrets, concerns and agendas. What our friends do not know is that a newcomer-an author who chose the peace and quiet of Paradise Village to write a book-is writing it all down. Cul de Sac is a book about a writer writing a book about life in a retirement village-and it isn't all sweet dreams and roses. As can be expected with this age group, all does not end "happily ever after." Although the book addresses issues concerning aging, the subject is treated...

While on a mid-winter holiday in the Yucatan Peninsula-a graduation gift from her parents-Megan Lockridge finds herself stranded on an idyllic tropical beach. Playa Gloriosa provides everything she dreamed of in a vacation-friends, fun and games-and romance. Two incredibly attractive gentlemen vie for her attentions; Francisco, an amorous Latino who arouses emotions she never dreamed she was capable of and Kevin, a handsome New York advertising agent who, she suspects, might turn out to be the love of her life. Megan, however, finds it difficult to relax and enjoy her holiday because of...

Nursing sunburns and sipping margaritas, we lazed away the afternoon on our private patio overlooking the beach at the Playa Del Rey Hotel. The sun cast shimmering rainbows on the sea and scorching rays on the hot white sand and on sunbathers sprawled on bright colored towels. Young, bikini-clad mothers watched their Norte-Americano children play in the surf while, down the beach, native children, delving for clams, pawed the wet sand like rat terriers digging for prey. Grimy buckets filled, they disappeared back into the slums of the city. Bored with the beach, with margaritas, tired of...

James Caldwell has just graduated from high school. An only child, his parents indulge his every whim; his graduation gift is a red Corvette convertible. Their expectations are that, after college, James will return to Grangerville, a small Illinois town, and work in the printing business which his father has dedicated his life to building, and which is to be his son's heritage. He should be enthusiastic about his good fortune but, more than anything, James, who has never been further from home than a lake, thirty miles distant, where he and his dad sometimes go fishing, wants get out of this...