SLOW BURNKate MacKenna has always been able to turn her challenges into triumphs. But now the fates seem to be lining up against her. While attending a reception at a friend's estate, Kate is nearly killed by an explosion. Once home, Kate is hit with the news that the company she has nurtured from the ground up is in jeopardy: her late mother used the business as collateral for a huge loan, and full payment is due in three weeks. Kate's still reeling from this news when her younger sister's volatile ex-boyfriend threatens her. Then Kate receives a call from her best friend, Jordan Buchanan, who is hospitalized and scheduled for surgery. Though stretched to the limit, Kate immediately rushes to her side. Once she knows that Jordan is going to be fine, Kate abandons her calm facade and allows herself to do something totally uncharacteristic: She has a one-night stand with Jordan's brother Dylan. Kate returns home determined to get back on track and save her business. But the mishaps keep coming. At Jordan's insistence, Dylan checks up on Kate. He's convinced that she's merely having a spell of bad luck--until he discovers how many people want Kate MacKenna dead. SHADOW DANCEJordan Buchanan is thrilled that her brother and best friend are tying the knot. The wedding is a lavish affair--for the marriage is no ordinary occasion. It represents the joining of two family dynasties. The ceremony and reception proceed without a hitch--until a crasher appears. The disheveled and eccentric professor of medieval history warns that there's "bad blood" between the couple's clans, stemming from a feud that originated in Scotland. Jordan has always led a cautious life and has used her intelligence and reason to become a successful businesswoman. So she is intrigued but skeptical of the professor's claims that the feud has been kept alive over the centuries. But when Noah Clayborne, a close family friend and a man who has never let a good time or a pretty girl pass him by, accuses Jordan of being trapped in her comfort zone, she determines to prove him wrong and sets out on a spontaneous adventure to the small, dusty town of Serenity, Texas, to judge the professor's research for herself. Jordan never anticipates the danger and intrigue that lie in her path where, even in familiar surroundings, her life is at risk.