Book Author in Tucson, AZ

Romance with an Edge Series

"I call my stories 'Romances with an Edge' as they are stories of adventure and danger."

~Rain Trueax

Book 1: Moon Dust

Sometimes to save something, one must lose it, or to fix it -- break it.
Susan Connors has faced an unpleasant fact. For her own health, she must end her marriage and free herself. Her demand for a divorce blindsides Dane who, as a busy, inner city high school principal, has become the target of increasingly dangerous attacks because of his stance on education. As she builds a new life, Susan feels freed except she still loves Dane. She searches for why their marriage fell apart and learns the answer lies in a secret which Dane is keeping to himself. As bad as this has all seemed, it’s about to get worse.

Susan not only has to fight for her husband's emotional health and trust but for his very life. Much more than a "romance", a novel of love, reconciliation, the adult ramifications of childhood abuse, of groups determined to assert control, of education in the United States, and most importantly of the cost of standing up for what is right with the view that we can change lives.

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Book 2: Evening Star

The last thing Marla Jamison wants is a risk taking, handsome as sin, younger than her, police officer to love. Sometimes the last thing we want is the one thing we need. Marla, a deputy prosecutor in Portland's DA's office has been a woman without a star but a very satisfactory and sensible career path. When the unexpected lands on that path, it diverts her and challenges all of her expectations, especially about herself. Randy O’ Brian has come to Portland to be part of the thin blue line but carrying a secret with him. Raised on a ranch, he’s as much cowboy as cop. For Randy, when you want something, you go after it, and he wants Marla. Marla must discover if Randy is who she wants to believe he is, her own evening star, or the most dangerous distraction of her life. Their story is one of love between very different people. It is set in Oregon moving between two worlds—the big city to the ranching community.

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Book 3: Second Chance

The last thing Barrett Schaffer needs is a younger man who attracts her way too much. She's too old and way too smart to let that happen until she meets Judd Shipman. He is wrong for her in many ways, not the least of which is his tendency to take on the problems of others.

As a youth, Judd made a horrendous mistake that nearly led to being imprisoned over his actions. He's worked hard to put that behind him and built a life based on contributing and helping others. When he sees the woman of many dreams, he knows he's in trouble.
Someone is out to torture Judd and sabotage his business. There are multiple possibilities and one he hasn't imagined but that is the most dangerous of all. Are there really second chances in life or will Judd find his early mistakes preclude a happy ending?

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Book 4: Desert Inferno

At the end of a long day in a remote stakeout, the last thing Jake Donovan wants to find is a beautiful woman who has just reported a dead body. For what he considers sound reasons, Jake avoids emotional entanglements of any sort especially with a woman like Rachel O' Brian, spoiled, probably, and rich without a doubt.

As soon as she sees this rugged man, Rachel is equally determined that what he wants is not what he needs. A successful landscape painter, who lives on a remote ranch with her father, she has finally found the man for her.

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Book 5: Bannister's Way

Coming to Portland for a murder investigation, David Bannister’s plans include getting his ex back but don’t include modeling for her drawing class. Raven does not want her ex-husband back. Worse, she doesn’t want to want him at all! She has a lovely home on the Tualatin River, is working on her sculpture, and teaching in a small liberal arts college. David recklessly does things his way and can only complicate her comfortable world-- except there was a brutal murder in that world and it's still unsolved. Life has a way of throwing ringers into our plans. For David that includes a game-playing murderer who is not just willing but even eager to kill again. Raven may not want her ex back but she even more doesn't want him to be the next victim.

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Book 6: Hidden Pearl

When a message arrives for S.T. Taggert, it is calling him back to Navajo roots he has tried to deny. Even more reluctantly it calls him to love-- the kind of emotion that can destroy a man. Answering will take him away from his work and all of life as he has known it. It will bring him to a dangerous foe, someone determined to control his very soul. Something ancient pulls S.T. to claim his own power. A talented photographer, Christine has come to Oregon to do a photojournalism series on two dynamic and very different men. One of them proves to be her nemesis, the other her love. Suddenly the career which has been everything to her is now not as important as keeping one man alive and defeating the other. A western style character driven contemporary romance. A story of danger, inconvenient love, spirituality, and finally the dynamics inside a dangerous cult. The hidden pearl is that for which, it is worth living and sometimes dying.

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Book 7: Her Dark Angel

Katy, a widow with two small daughters, has come to Reno, Nevada, help her uncle. She has no idea she is about to meet a man who will challenge all her values. She knew Dill was trouble the moment she saw him. On that they did agree. What neither could fight was their instant attraction. Dill wasn't so much trouble as in trouble. His life had never been easy but for the previous two years, it had been a hell as he had been forced into undercover work. Katy was the last woman he wanted to meet right then.

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Book 8: Luck of the Draw

Sara had no idea what she wanted until a tall cowboy showed her some intriguing possibilities. He was like a wild wind blowing into her calm, ordered world and uprooting everything she thought she knew. Bronc and bull rider Billy Stempleton knew just what he wanted and how to get it. He needed to win his events long enough to buy the ranch of his dreams. He knew that ... until he met the right woman ... at the wrong time. Action, danger, drama, passion, and excitement are ahead when the rodeo comes to town. After this week, some lives will never be the same.

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Book 9: From Here To There

After a fancy Boston wedding she never wanted, Helene tells the groom she regrets going through with it. Great looks and money are not enough.

She needs a "real man" and leaves for her uncle’s Montana ranch to rebuild her self confidence.

Business wunderkind Phillip Drumond fumes at her disrespect on their wedding day. Phillip is invited by her uncle to see ‘her-world’ and what it could offer in business and in life. He resists the idea of being a dude, but he goes to prove she misjudged him and maybe win her love. What they each find is the stuff of dreams.

The West as it was and is, ranching life, and two love stories. One revealed through her aunt's journal and the modern couple, who find that what they thought each wanted, wasn’t necessarily what they needed.

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Book 10: A Montana Christmas

Can the Christmas season bring an estranged family together? Married several years, Helene knows Phillip had a painful childhood. That crucible forged him into the powerful man he has become, but it also made him want to avoid trigger points—Christmas being a big one. Helene has seen what the ranch can do in her own life. She hopes its magic can reach a little further, and bring together a mother, brothers and sisters. She wants this for Phillip but even more for the baby she wants to have. Her own mother will never want to be a grandmother but might Phillip’s-- if she is given a chance?

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Book 11: Diana's Journey

When an unexpected divorce throws her life a curve, retired teacher Diana Ashburn looks for options. Finding a way to soar like a hawk, she shocks her family by selling most of her possessions, buying a small motor-home, and telling them she is leaving Chicago with no destination in mind to see what she's only read about. As winter approaches, Diana needs a place to nest for the season. The little communities of southern Utah, are as different from Chicago as it's possible to be. A retired banker, an artist, and a cowboy become interested in her arrival in Bluff for the holidays. After many years of marriage, Diana is unsure how to handle that or even more the fact that she finds one of them all too attractive. What does he want? For that matter what does she want? Will she find a new meaning for her life in this strange land of red rock, deep canyons, hawks, ravens, prehistoric ruins, and few people? When Christmas is over, what next?

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