As Nona, her sister, Maggie, and long-time family friend,
Mabel, prepare to move to a lakeside camp in Arkansas for
the summer, Nona receives a package from her half-brother.
The instructions he sends her say not to open the package,
but to keep it safe for him. Nona doesn't like her half-
brother and hasn't seen him for several years, so she tucks
it away in her bag and heads to Tall Pine Lake.
Once there, it's obvious to the three gals that the camp
needs a load of TLC, so they roll up their sleeves and
prepare to work. It's a lovely, peaceful setting until Nona
runs into a camp resident who gets under her skin. It seems
to her that he's deliberately trying to make a pest of
himself.
Simon is staying at Tall Pine Lake Camp, but he's no
ordinary camper. He's there on a mission to protect a young
woman who may have information about a very serious crime.
When he sees the attractive redhead who's running the camp,
he's smitten and realizes this is going to be a great
summer. But he must stay on task because danger lurks in
the forest and his little redhead may be the target.
This contemporary romance has mild suspense, some violence
and adult themes.
Nona Conrad has been making it through "by the hardest."
Each day is a struggle-to go on after her parents' sudden
death, to win her rightful inheritance from her
untrustworthy half-brother, and to raise her high-spirited
younger sister. So when Nona is unexpectedly hired to
manage a fishing camp deep in the Arkansas woods, it seems
like a heaven-sent opportunity to settle down at last.
Yet it isn't long before the strong-willed redhead clashes
with two men. One is a mysterious, well-dressed stranger
who grabs her arm and calls her by name before driving off
in a big sedan. The other is the camp's new owner, Simon
Wright. Straightforward, self-assured, and protective, he
seems to know a lot about Nona…and presents a peril she
never imagined.
Simon has his own very good reasons for dogging her steps
and hovering over the sisters to keep them safe. He just
wasn't prepared for Nona's self-reliance and refusal to
trust him-or the instant, irresistible attraction drawing
him all too close.
While Nona decides whether Simon is an ally or a charmer
with his own agenda, someone driven by greed will do
anything to find out what she knows…and an unsuspected
enemy is making sure that Nona and Simon will soon have
nowhere to run.