Kayla Shaw is a private banker in Arizona—smart and capable but underpaid and underappreciated. Rand McCree is a haunted man who paints landscapes in the Pacific Northwest, burning with a need for answers about the terrible event that shattered his world. They are two strangers with nothing in common . . . until their lives entwine—and explode.On what at first appears to be an ordinary day, everything changes for Kayla, as she barely escapes a kidnapping attempt and finds herself accused of a shocking crime: the illegal laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars. Damned by lies and false "evidence," she is trapped with no place to run.After five agonizing years, Rand has finally been offered what he desires the most: the name of his twin brother's murderer. Hungry for vengeance, he accepts a job with St. Kilda Consulting that will place him in the killer's orbit . . . and tantalizingly close to Kayla Shaw. The cold-blooded international criminal responsible for Rand's brother's death has targeted Kayla as his next victim. Since she can't turn to the police, who believe she's guilty as sin, she must place her life in the hands of the shadowy, secretive man who has come out of nowhere to protect her.Suspicious of each other, needing each other, they are two against the world—with unknown enemies on all sides and even the government itself suspect—as the violence of the past erupts in the present. And now innocence alone will not be enough to keep Kayla Shaw alive. . . .
Individually and with co-author/husband Evan, Ann Maxwell has written seventy novels and one non-fiction book. There are 30 million copies of these books in print, as well as reprints in 30 foreign languages. The novels range from science fiction to historical fiction, from romance to mystery to suspense.
Writing as Ann Maxwell, she began her career in 1975 with a science fiction novel, CHANGE. Since then, seven of her nine science fiction novels have been recommended for the Science Fiction Writers of America Nebula Award; A DEAD GOD DANCING was nominated for what was then called TABA (The American Book Award).
In 1976 Ann and Evan (as A. E. Maxwell) collaborated with a Norwegian hunter and photographer, Ivar Ruud, on THE YEAR-LONG DAY, a nonfiction work that was condensed in Reader’s Digest and published in four foreign editions and three book club editions. In 1985, the first A. E. Maxwell crime novel featuring a couple called Fiddler and Fiora was published by Doubleday. The second in the series, THE FROG AND THE SCORPION, received a creative writing award from the University of California. The fourth book in the series, JUST ENOUGH LIGHT TO KILL, was named by Time Magazine as one of the best crime novels of 1988.
Ann and Evan (writing as Ann Maxwell) have published four suspense novels, the most recent of which is SHADOW AND SILK. These novels appeared on nation-wide bestseller lists.
In 1982, Ann began publishing romances as Elizabeth Lowell. Under that name she has received numerous professional awards in the romance field, including a Lifetime Achievement award from the Romance Writers of America (1994). Since July of 1992, she has had more than thirty novels on the New York Times list, as well as other national and international best seller lists. Her most recent romantic suspense is BEAUTIFUL SACRIFICE.
