Moni seeks the healing touch that only another woman can give, but Paige turns out to be a heartbreaker. Devastated, Moni vows to never get close to a woman again—until she looks into Katherine’s sweet, seductive eyes. Among her varied careers, Marianne K. Martin has been a public school teacher, a photojournalist and collegiate field hockey coach. She currently resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Paige Flemming is on the run. From the police, from her history, and from love itself. After sixteen years looking over her shoulder, she realizes it’s time to run again. But when she pauses in her headlong flight to catch her breath with old friends, she crashes straight into another ghost from her past. And this time, it’s not one she can easily escape. Marissa Langford is a woman living with the wreckage of her dreams. A dancer deprived of the dance by a tragic accident, she is struggling to rebuild her life when Paige’s appearance rekindles bitter memories of what she has lost. For both women, their meeting asks more questions than either can readily answer. As they struggle with the turbulent emotions each provokes in the other, the net is closing on Paige. But cops are human too, and the hunter who has Paige in his sights has his own harsh emotional lessons to learn. As old secrets emerge from the darkness, this finely drawn cast of characters search deep inside themselves for the resources to battle their demons. Desire walks hand in hand with betrayal, love is held hostage by abuse and shadows threaten dreams every step of the way. In this long-awaited sequel to the best-selling lesbian romance Dawn of the Dance, Lambda Literary Award finalist Marianne K. Martin reminds us that there’s no footwork fancy enough to dance out of the shadow of the past.

Two single-minded women, a teacher and a lawyer, are passionate about their work. When feelings other than friendship catch them both by surprise they face great risks to their happiness and dreams - dedication, passion, and commitment may not be enough.

“Marianne Martin is a wonderful storyteller and a graceful writer with a light, witty touch with language and a sensitivity to the emotions of people in love.”—Ann Bannon, author of the Beebo Brinker novels Renee Parker is no stranger to love. At only seventeen, she fought social services for the right to raise her four younger siblings. Fought and won. It’s a challenge to parent kids scarred by a stepdad’s suicide and a mother’s imprisonment, but Renee doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice her own future to give her brothers and sisters the best chance at a normal life. That, she believes, is what love does. Then a different kind of love threatens to destroy everything Renee has built. Her younger brother’s epilepsy brings her into contact with nurse Olivia Dumont, and for the first time in her young life, Renee realizes there is room in her heart for someone who isn’t family. But the watchful eye of social worker Millie Gordon is never far away from the Parker family. And fear of what Millie could do drives a wedge between Olivia and Renee. But the journeys they have to make separately finally bring them back to the same place. This time, have they learned how to stand up and fight for their love and their new kind of family? And will that love be enough to beat the system, even with the help of tenacious attorney Shayna Bradley?