Confused and angry, Dr. Sarah Wainwright returned to the Georgia island of St. James in search of answers to her husband's mysterious death—in an apparent lovers' tryst with the wife of wealthy industrialist Trent Donner. Anger seemed to be the only edge Sarah had—Trent's control of the island and his protectiveness for his young daughter were enough to drive even this scandal back into the shadows. A man whose life depended on keeping his secrets; a woman whose future depended on learning the truth—could her quest set them free, or would it destroy them all?

Finally meeting the wealthy family she'd never known should have given Corrie Grant the information about her father she'd craved all her life. But the Mannings of Savannah were a secretive and hostile bunch. All except Lucas Santee, her grandfather's sophisticated right-hand man, who stood between Corrie and her relatives' unrelenting barbs and slights. The family's suspicion of her seemed frivolous at first, but when a mysterious series of accidents occurred, Corrie was forced to take it seriously. How far would the Mannings go to keep their secrets buried forever?

As a teenager, Dinah Westlake had witnessed the murder of her pregnant cousin, but a concussion blocked her memories of that night. Now, ten years later, her cousin's widower, Marc Devlin, had returned to Charleston to give his young son a true Southern Christmas. It was a chance to make amends in a family torn apart by the tragedy—and the suspicion that Marc was responsible for his wife's demise. But when several dangerous "accidents" occurred amid the colorful holiday celebrations, Dinah's recollections of that past dark night began to resurface. Would she discover a killer inside the man she'd grown to love?