Naked Heart

Merris Randall doesn’t believe in love at first sight. Then she meets Olivia Pearce. The attraction between them is inescapable, but Olivia is deeply scarred from a damaging relationship and has vowed never to love again. Merris can relate. Until her divorce, her life had also looked perfect on the surface.

Dismayed when Olivia leaves town for a long vacation on Moon Island, Merris decides to travel there, too, as if by coincidence. Not cool. But playing by the rules has not panned out, either.

She is not the only guest conflicted over ethics. Anthropologist Dr. Glenn Howick must decide how far she’ll go, exploiting the spirituality of another culture for her career ends. Then there’s Riley Mason, a postgrad student whose love threatens both Glenn’s reputation and her most secret self.

With preparations under way for the secret rituals that celebrate the guardian goddess of the island, the island’s owners, Cody and Annabel, find themselves at odds over a tough decision. Annabel’s cousin Melanie has come to them with a young baby and a desperate problem. 

Originally published 2004; first Bold Strokes Books edition.

New Zealander Cody Stanton loses her lover of five years, and then her job. But there’s a silver lining. Someone in admin made a mistake and her severance check is $100,000 instead of $10,000. She rashly decides to take the money and run, and Moon Island seems like the perfect hideaway.

Annabel Worth has just inherited the island, a tiny women-only resort, from an eccentric aunt. She travels there determined to uncover secrets long hidden by her very proper Bostonian family, but soon finds herself distracted by an attractive guest.

Both women are burdened with secrets that could destroy the passion that ignites between them. When Hurricane Mary strikes, each must make a choice that will change her life forever. 

Originally published 1992; first Bold Strokes Books edition.

As wholesome Dr. Kate in the hottest soap on daytime television, Lauren Douglas is promoted to her audience as a role model for young women. The strict morality clause in her contract is not the only reason she stays closeted. Her dad is a powerful right-wing politician, and a gay daughter won’t help his political aspirations.

Just as she is about to renew her contract, Lauren is publicly outed by an unfaithful former lover with a grudge. The story is all over the media, embarrassing her father and enraging a fan who loses his mind and shoots her.

All of which sounds like spoiled-people problems to FBI Special Agent Pat Roussel, whose hunt for the Kiddy Pageant Killer has consumed every waking moment for three years. Suffering from burnout, Pat is taking a few months’ break, working in private security. The last thing she expects is to find herself babysitting a celebrity who has been banished to a desert island by her father, while the cops hunt down the guy who wants to kill her. It’s a dirty job. 

Originally published 2005; first Bold Strokes Books edition.

Scientist Grace Ramsay takes one look at the young woman limping into the villa next door and decides Dawn is just what she needs: a distraction. Tasked with evaluating Moon Island for a chemicals giant looking for a waste dump far from civilization, Grace feels increasingly uneasy about her job. She usually responds to stress by having good sex, and it sure looks like Dawn could use a confidence booster, given the scars she’s so sensitive about.

After surviving a hurricane on Moon Island a year earlier, champion swimmer Dawn Beaumont vowed she would never return. But here she is, taking refuge after a car crash that claimed the life of a teammate. Haunted by guilt and bitter over the injuries that have ended her Olympic dream, she is in no mood to be hit on by a player like Grace, who acts like she’s doing her some kind of favor.

As sparks fly between the two women, Annabel Worth, the owner of the island, refuses to sell her home to the chemicals conglomerate, but then her plane goes down in the Pacific under suspicious circumstances. 

Originally published 1993; first Bold Strokes Books edition.