The most beautiful hotel in New Orleans, and someone's out to destroy it. The party at the Hotel Marchand is in full swing when all the lights suddenly go out. What does head of security Mac Jensen do first? He's torn between two jobs—protecting the guests at Hotel Marchand and keeping Julie Sullivan safe. Mac knows Julie has no idea that he took the job at the hotel in order to act as her bodyguard. But now he feels a loyalty to both the hotel and the Marchand women who run it. As for Julie, she's being harassed by someone from her past...and what Mac feels for her is anything but professional. A woman to protect. A hotel to secure. And no idea who's determined to harm them.

"A bohemian artist is everything Jefferson Lambert never knew he wanted in a woman." The minute he meets his date for the night, Jefferson Lambert knows someone tampered with his matchmaking profile. How else would a conservative lawyer end up with a gorgeous, spirited woman like Sylvie Marchand? At first it looks as if the match will never work. But an unexpected blackout changes everything. With Sylvie at his side, life is suddenly one big adventure. Two paintings go missing from the Marchand family gallery, and it's up to Sylvie and Jefferson to find them. Life might be falling apart for Sylvie, but Jefferson feels as if it's just beginning. Perhaps the matchmaker knew exactly what she was doing....

There's a dead woman in Matt Anderson's hotel room and he has no idea how she got there. When Kerry Johnston appears from next door to help, both she and Matt recognize the woman as a local waitress and practitioner of voodoo. That's all anyone seems to know about her, but it's not enough for Matt and Kerry. While alive, this woman had sensed a hidden sadness in the two strangers and directed each of them to a special healing ceremony. As Matt and Kerry investigate her death, something strange starts to happen: the sadness lifts, replaced by a growing certainty that the two of them are meant to be together.

When Hollywood director Pete Traynor walked out on the movie Renee Marchand was producing, his departure ended up costing her the job she loved. Now he's checked into her family's New Orleans hotel and Renee is finding it hard to maintain her cool. His arrival triggers a lot of memories and just as many questions. Why did he disappear with no explanation? And why hasn't Renee been able to forget the night they spent together? It doesn't take long before she has at least one answer. Pete Traynor is still the most appealing man she's ever met. Now she has to decide what to do about it.

When coffee executive Parker James storms into the hotel bar after a frustrating business meeting, he spots the beautiful woman who sang at his wedding ten years ago. Holly Carlyle has never forgotten that booking. Hours before the vows, she'd walked in on the bride-to-be having sex with someone other than Parker. The marriage is long over, and Parker is ready to move on—with Holly. The jazz they both love draws them together, but Parker's ex-wife threatens Holly with blackmail to keep them apart. Holly knows she's been silent too long. There's a risk in telling the truth, but it's one she has to take.

The kitchen at the Hotel Marchand is hot and steamy, but it's not the simmering gumbo that's kicking up the heat. Head chef Robert LeSoeur and sous-chef Melanie Marchand have been battling each other since their first day together. Taking orders and curbing her creative instincts is tough for an ambitious professional like Melanie, and the attraction she feels for her boss makes it even harder. There's only one get rid of the guy. But when she finds a way to do just that, the doubts begin. She'd have the kitchen to herself, but Melanie also knows she'd be giving up the one man she can't afford to lose.

Anne Marchand is a successful, independent businesswoman who loved her late husband, Remy, with all her heart, and no one could ever take his place. William Armstrong knows that, but he'll do anything in his power to make Anne see that it's okay to love again. William's a patient man. It was discipline and a willingness to take risks that helped him build his hotel chain. And when he sees Anne's beloved Hotel Marchand being threatened by a takeover bid, he can't sit back and do nothing, so he counters with a secret offer himself. The only mistake he makes is not telling Anne.

It's the craziest time of year in New Orleans, but Charlotte Marchand has never experienced a Mardi Gras quite like this. Someone on her staff is out to destroy her family's hotel, and as general manager, she can't let that happen. Even the unexpected return of her high school sweetheart, Jackson Bailey, can't completely distract her. But it's only when the two of them are kidnapped and their lives are at risk that Charlotte reaches the stunning Jackson is the only man she's ever loved.

Life may be complicated now, but one thing is clear: their teenage romance was more than a summer fling...Sophie Clarkson loved visiting her godmother in Louisiana's bayou country, and her most cherished memory is the enchanted summer she fell in love with Alain Boudreaux. Those hot days and steamy nights are nowhere in evidence when she returns for her godmother's funeral, yet the magic of Alain is definitely still alive. Alain, who is now chief of police and a divorced father of two, had once convinced Sophie there could be no future for a big-city girl and a Cajun boy. But as Sophie starts to fall in love all over again with both Alain and the little town of Indigo, she realizes this is her chance to prove just how wrong he was all those years ago.

As far as Joan Bateman is concerned, life as she's known it is over. For years she's lived with a dual identity. The people of Indigo know her simply as their neighbor, but to crime-mystery readers, she's the bestselling author Jules Burrell. But once her secret is leaked, the media, her fans and Anthony Verdun, her New York agent, all descend on the sleepy little town. Anthony is bent on using the publicity to promote Joan's latest book, but it's when the plot turns out to be more fact than fiction and the murderer sets his sights on Joan that the relationship between author and agent becomes much more personal.