Once, Abrielle was a privileged daughter coveted for her bearing, her breeding, her wit, and her beauty. But when her stepfather is denied his rightful title and the wealth that accompanies it, Abrielle finds herself suddenly disgraced. Only one man would still have her: the oafish and grotesque Desmond de Marlé. To rescue her once-proud family's honor, Abrielle must sacrifice her virtue to this scoundrel she fears and detests . . . even as she yearns...

Carley struggles with being open to love after she suffers a betrayal that forces her to move in with a foster family.

After Caroline Evans and her two children move into her new spouse's apartment on Central Park West, her son's instinctive misgivings become a horrifying reality when a young girl vanishes and Caroline's own daughter begins to waste away.

Nate and his mother are escaping from his emotionally abusive step-father, Gary, but the run-down and abandoned cottage in the woods that his mother takes them to does not seem like much of a refuge; but when his mother goes off to buy provisions and does not come back Nate is left alone (except for his imaginary friend Sam) and afraid--until a mysterious girl trying to solve the clues of a long-ago treasure hunt turns up.