Desert Fire, Mountain Rain

Andi always heard, You can’t go home again…

Andi Nelson’s dream was to go to the Naval Academy and serve her country. As an intelligence commander with SEAL Team Three, her life is what she always imagined until a lapse in intelligence leads to the death of her team and the man she loves. Plagued with survivor’s guilt, Andi returns to her hometown in the Arkansas Ozarks only to discover that Buffalo Springs is as depressed and broken as she is.

Wade Montgomery, a mover and shaker in New York City’s world of finance, has closed his heart to the possibility of love. When he returns to Buffalo Springs to care for his ailing mother, Wade accepts the position of mayor and the task of helping the town to die gracefully. Succumbing to the pitfalls of pride, he closes his eyes to the illegal dealings within the town’s government, plunging the town and Wade into a pit of lies and deceit that may destroy them both.

Will restoring the town provide the purpose Andi needs to continue living? Will Andi’s determination to save the town open Wade’s eyes and his heart?

Excerpt

Wade watched from his office window. What was she doing? Part of him wanted to go down and find out, and part of him wanted to turn away and forget he ever met her. But he couldn’t. She was trouble, and he knew it. Andrea Nelson was a know-it-all who embodied everything Wade had ever heard about Naval officers—opinionated, self-inflated, and self-righteous.

Only, she hadn’t seemed that way when they met on the street and certainly not when she fled from him at the park.

Wade hit the button on the intercom and asked Trudy to come into the office. Trudy entered, closed the door behind her, and took a seat in front of the desk. “Yes, boss?”

“Knock it off. You’ve been bossing me around since we were kids.”

“I know. That’s why I say it. I have to remind myself that you’re in charge here.”

He smiled in spite of himself. “What do you know about Andi Nelson?”

“Other than she’s older than me, an ex-Navy officer, darn beautiful with the most intense blue eyes, and really gets under your skin?”

Wade rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t get under my skin.”

“Then how would you put it?” Trudy leaned forward, giving him her full attention.

“She’s exasperating. Sweet and funny one minute, moody the next, and downright spitting nails the next.”

“But she doesn’t get under your skin at all, I see.”