Welcome to Sunset Harbor, Washington, nestled on beautiful and remote Madrona Island, where the main entertainment on Friday nights is a high school football game, everyone knows everyone's business, the pace is slow, and the residents wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Meet a wounded warrior suffering from paralyzing guilt and a woman pining for her dead husband—both damaged souls craving comfort for a moment or a lifetime. Mandy Walters' husband died a hero in the Middle East while saving another man. Three years later, Mandy is struggling to move on and make a viable business of her partially remodeled bed and breakfast on Madrona Island. When a mysterious, handsome stranger shows up and offers to finish her remodel in exchange for room and board, Mandy reluctantly accepts, needing his assistance more than she'll admit. Brody Jenson has come to the island to pay a debt, even though it's taken him three long years. Reluctant to tell Mandy he's the one her husband died saving, he sets himself up to help her, but she helps him just as much. When the time comes to leave, Brody is torn between this loving woman and his driving desire to conquer the next challenge. Can the laid-back island life heal a damaged, adrenaline junkie like Brody or must he walk away to save them both?

This short story was originally published in 2012. Four years ago on Christmas Eve, NHL hockey player Blake Daniels lost his entire family in a float plane crash. Every Christmas Eve he mourns his losses by returning to the family vacation home in Sunset Harbor, Washington, his family's destination that fateful night. Only this year he's also mourning the loss of his hockey career and wondering what's left to live for. When he finds a kitten starving and half frozen in a foot of snow, he rushes the tiny thing to the local animal hospital. Still reeling from the unexpected loss of her father on Christmas Eve two years ago, Dr. Sarah Whitney opens the door to her clinic and finds a rough and tough professional athlete holding a minuscule kitten in his big hands. Only a miracle can save the frozen creature and only a miracle can heal the devastating losses suffered by both Sarah and Blake. But Christmas is the time for healing and miracles if only you believe and give love a chance.

This novella was originally published in the USA Today Bestselling "12 Christmas Romances to Melt Your Heart" anthology. Hearts on Ice is the continuation of Blake and Sarah's story as begun in "Love at First Snow." Drawn together by tragedy and broken apart by practicality, can two lost souls find each other again during a magical holiday season?

Alexander “Rush” Markov has been given an ultimatum by his team—shape up or ship out. Alex is celebrating his biggest season in professional hockey, and he’s enjoying every minute of it—perhaps a little too much. He’s been non-stop partying like a rockstar since his team won it all, and management isn’t pleased. Next thing Alex knows, he’s been exiled to a remote island with orders to lay low, stay out of trouble, and avoid one-night stands. Rosalind Newcomb is the quintessential good girl, and she’s fine with her role. Sure, she gets lonely and wishes for a special someone, but the choices on Madrona island are slim to none. When a panty-melting mystery man disrupts the peace and quiet in her bookstore, it’s dislike at first sight. The infuriating man turns her ordered life upside down and inside out and has her thinking about hot summer nights and tangled sheets. Only Alex isn’t who she thinks he is, and love isn’t all hearts and roses. As Alex battles who he pretends to be and who he really is, he also resists falling in love for the first time in his life. His intense feelings have him ready to bolt, and only he can decide if love is worth fighting for.