Betty Waldrep

'Tis the season for ex-Navy SEAL Clayton East to come home for the holidays - even if the mood at home is anything but festive. His father is ill. The East Ranch is in financial trouble. And now it's on Clayton, the prodigal son, to make sure his family doesn't lose everything. Headstrong Abby Harper is like a mother to her younger brothers, who she's helped raise since she was a teenager. Keeping them in line is no small task while she's also working toward her college degree.

Young Billie Ames naively fell for the exciting pilot Moss Coleman at the Philadelphia Navy Yard during World War II. Within a few months, she was pregnant, married, and traveling across the country to Austin...to the 250,000-acre spread known as Sunbridge and into the tantalizing world of the Texas rich. In a vast land dominated by the industrious Colemans, Billie fights to maintain control of her life and her marriage.

When mechanic Josh Tarkington meets gorgeous New Yorker Caitlin Timberlake on a quick trip to Telluride, he is head over heels in lust from the word hello. But that's all he wants - after his troubled childhood, relationships have always fallen into the don't column. When Josh's chance to hook up with Caitlin is interrupted, he's actually relieved...which is why he's shocked to find Caitlin has moved to Eternity Springs a few weeks later - right next door.