When an unexpected inheritance comes her way, high-powered defense attorney, Layla Evans, gives up everything she's known and seizes the opportunity to start over. The mountain ranch is the perfect escape from a life she can no longer stand. In the solitude of her mountain escape, she can wrestle her demons and never hurt anyone with her job again.
She never counted on her past following her there.
Ben Marshall knows a thing or two about running away…
After a decorated military career ended in the worst way possible, Ben leaves his Special Forces unit and seeks sanctuary high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He needs the solitude. It's enough, until a beautiful brunette, who has no business running a ranch, literally falls into his life. When Layla’s past catches up to her, Ben's old instincts kick in. His need to keep Layla safe becomes stronger than his desire to protect himself from her.
Can he protect Layla without risking his battered heart or will love truly conquer all?
Tell us about your main character. Layla was a highly successful defense attorney who experienced a change of heart about her career after she won the wrong case. Ben is a former special forces airman that spent a month as a POW and has a great deal of physical disfigurement and emotional baggage from his time in captivity.
Which is your favorite minor character and why? Casey, Layla’s unofficial big brother. He lost a limb in an IED explosion and it doesn’t bring him down. He sees life as a gift and treats it as such.
What is your favorite personality trait of your main character? Layla believes all of life’s problems can be solved with an online video by someone who knows more than her about any topic.
What is your favorite personality trait of your bad guy/girl? My bad guy is out to get Layla, and he has a very creative way of making himself known.
Your character is at a bookstore. Which section is he/she shopping in? What book is in his/her hand right now? Layla would be in the how to be a farmer/self-help section. Ben would definitely be buying a book on how to talk to women!
Your character has the music blasting. What’s playing, and what is he/she doing while listening? Layla is going to have that classic 70’s and 80’s rock blaring while she works in the barn and makes her best attempts at ranching. Ben will turn that station to country, telling her she can’t run a ranch unless she knows the lingo…and the music.
I’m inviting your main character to dinner. What should I make? Ben is a total steak and potatoes guy. I’m guessing Layla would prefer sushi in her old life, but in her new one is going to have plenty of steak and potatoes.
How long did it take you to write this book? This book was a work in progress for several years. It finally found a home as a Marshall Brothers book and I’m glad it did.
It pained him to hear the roughness of her voice. A solid reminder that he'd almost lost her. The battle that had waged inside him since meeting her had amped back up to full scale.
When the nurse was gone, Ben tried again to explain himself. "I was engaged once, you know."
"Nope. I had no idea," Layla answered without looking up from her drink. Her apparent indifference hit him right in the heart. "You haven't said much about yourself."
"Her name was Lauren. According to her, I'm not fit for a serious adult relationship."
"Just because it didn't work out with her you consider yourself unable to care about anyone else?"
Man, she isn’t making this easy on me. "It goes much deeper than that, Layla. I've seen things, done things."
"We all have regrets, believe me." She sounded sad and a little wistful. Like she had some serious secrets of her own.
"I was in the Air Force. Special forces. My job… well, things happened. Things I could never get over. Lauren knew it, and now, after messing things up with her so badly, so do I."
Layla set her cup down on the bedside table. "So, because things didn't work out with one relationship, you left your home, your family, and a job I think you loved to come live on a mountain, sentencing yourself to a lifetime of loneliness and self-pity?"
He exhaled slowly. "You don't know what it's like to live in my head. Besides, didn't you basically do the same thing?"
"This isn't about me!"
He leaned forward, looking her in the eyes. "Are you saying you don't have any secrets of your own? Secrets that sent you to the same isolated mountain as me? Secrets that seem to want to see you suffer, maybe even die?"
A steadfast believer in "never again," the only relationship parole officer Alayna Baron wants is with her job. When her roommate surprises her with a long weekend in the mountains, she reluctantly agrees—completely unaware it’s a singles matchmaking event.
Widowed at a young age, Detective Evan Marshall thought he'd had his one chance at love. When his brothers send him away for the weekend, the thought of romance never crosses his mind. At least, not until he finds the intriguing Alayna stranded on the side of the road.
When an intense snowstorm closes the roads and bodies start piling up at the inn where they are staying, Evan and Alayna join forces in an attempt to keep the other guests safe. But even with a murderer hidden amongst them, Evan and Alayna find a spark neither are looking for. If only they can stay alive long enough to explore it.
A complete stand-alone romantic mystery.
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