Showing results by author "Elaine Fran" in All Categories

My town, Winterland, is my shield. I thought I could hide in the scent of cinnamon and the chaos of my small-town bakery. Since losing my husband, Eric, I’ve worked hard to keep my walls up, focusing only on raising my son, Landon, and locking down my overwhelming grief. Then Jack Reynolds arrives. He’s a devastatingly handsome billionaire CEO who bought the isolated lodge, seeking the same escape I am. He's brooding, intensely guarded, and furious about the media circus he left behind. But when our boys—Theo and Landon—become instant, inseparable allies, Jack and I are constantly ...

Emma Carter’s life is a whirlwind of flour, sugar, and the boundless energy of her six-year-old son, Max. Her bakery, Emma’s Sweet Retreat, is her pride and joy, and landing the coveted Grant Group gala catering contract could secure their future. But one disastrous collision sends her cupcakes flying—and her temper flaring—when she comes face-to-face with Jack Grant. Jack isn’t just any sharply dressed stranger. He’s the billionaire CEO of the Grant Group—and the very man standing between Emma and her dreams. Cool, calculated, and far too grumpy for his own good, Jack thrives...

Isla Flores never expected that chasing her café dream would land her in a Brooklyn brownstone with a brooding “handyman” who isn’t what he seems. Noah Sterling hides behind worn jeans and a toolbelt, but the billionaire in disguise can’t hide from Isla’s warmth. Soon her laughter fills his silent halls, her cooking revives his neglected kitchen, and her fierce determination sparks something in his guarded heart. The closer they grow, the harder it becomes for Noah to keep his secret. Especially when his sharp business advice gives him away more than once. But just as their ...

I came to Montana to save my career—not fall for a brooding billionaire cowboy who thinks my Peloton workouts are a joke. This trek is my last shot at a sponsor, my reputation, and proving my ex wrong. Seven days. One mountain. No filters. Then Cole Harrington shows up. He’s rugged. Controlling. Infuriatingly competent. And very much not the hired help I thought he was. A storm traps us in the wilderness. Supplies go missing. Something dangerous stalks the dark. And suddenly, surviving the mountain means trusting the man who makes my heart race faster than the altitude ever could. He ...

I came to Paris for a once-in-a-lifetime trip, sponsored by some mysterious stranger. I never imagined the man behind it all would be a billionaire hiding in plain sight. He’s shy in public but terrifyingly intense when his blue eyes lock on me. And he’s the last person I should fall for—because he’s also the one pulling the strings behind my so-called “dream.” One mistake changed everything. An anonymous note under my hotel door. A gala invite with my name on it. A kiss under the Paris rain that was never supposed to happen. Now I can’t stop thinking about him. He’s the man...

Some legacies should stay buried. But in Little Italy, secrets have a way of clawing their way back. For generations, the Marietti, Russo, and Vescari families ruled Uptown New York with shadows, silence, and unbreakable bloodlines. But when cryptic notes, haunting photographs, and whispered threats begin to resurface, three lives are torn from the illusion of safety and into a deadly conspiracy rooted in betrayal. A guarded heiress receives a bloodstained message that shatters everything she thought she knew about her family. A dancer's world spins off its axis the night her eyes lock with...

Evelyn Reed wakes to a nightmare—her memory gone, her body carrying twins she doesn’t remember conceiving, and Julian Thorne—the ruthless billionaire once branded her fiercest rival—claiming to be their father. Confined to Julian’s gleaming penthouse, she feels trapped in a gilded cage, her instincts warning that he’s every bit the cold corporate shark her best friend despised. Yet Julian’s quiet acts of tenderness, especially with his withdrawn young son, Leo, begin to crack her defenses. The enemy she swore to distrust suddenly feels like something more: a protector, a ...

I thought I could manage the Midnight Rose Ranch with an algorithm and an exit strategy. After ten years in a Manhattan glass tower, I came back to Copper Creek to fix a failing legacy, not to fall for a woman who looks at me like I’m a virus she needs to eradicate. Maya Smith is a sharp-tongued veterinarian who values soil-deep wisdom over my Silicon Valley data. But when a ruthless lender threatens foreclosure, I’m forced into a desperate "business solution": a fake engagement to prove I’m staying for good. The deal was simple—no lying to children and no physical touch unless the ...

I’m fake-engaged to my billionaire enemy… and secretly carrying his child. How the hell did that happen? I can’t stand Alex Hawthorne. Gorgeous. Arrogant. Rich enough to buy the whole city block—and too used to getting his way. We collided (literally) the day I moved in next door. Since then? Nonstop sparks and constant battles. I should’ve known better. But when a snowstorm trapped us—and our kids—inside his penthouse, the tension exploded into something neither of us could resist. Now I’m pregnant. And he has no clue. Then came his family’s reunion. To survive a weekend ...

I’m falling for my childhood friend… who also happens to be my stepbrother. How the hell did that happen? I came home to relax. Not to lose my heart to Luke O’Connor. We were best friends once. Now he’s a famous basketball star with a smile that could ruin any rational thought. And he’s completely off-limits. I’m the smart, responsible professor. He’s the bold, dominant player who still knows exactly how to push my buttons. One rainstorm changed everything. Trapped in his living room, lingering glances turned into whispered confessions. An accidental touch. A stolen kiss. A ...

I came to the beach to forget my ex. Instead, I fell for my best friend’s billionaire brother—who just happens to be royalty. I was supposed to heal. A quiet seaside cottage, my paints, the sound of the waves—no drama, no men. Then he showed up. Ryan Callahan. Brooding, bossy, unfairly handsome… and completely off-limits. We were both double-booked for the same cottage. One roof. Two bedrooms. A storm is rolling in. Let’s just say—forced proximity has a wicked sense of humor. He’s nothing like I remembered—kind when I’m snappy, patient when I’m falling apart, protective ...

I never thought I’d marry a man like Nicholas Blackwood—controlled, ruthless, untouchable. But when he shows up offering a marriage of convenience to save my struggling clinic and secure my daughter’s future, I say yes. He’s also the man who once almost kissed me… then vanished. Now, I’m living in his world—opulent, cold, and full of secrets. But behind his steel mask, I see glimpses of something more. He’s protective. Fiercely loyal. And the way he watches Brie like she’s already his? It unravels me. But someone’s watching us. An anonymous threat. Betrayals too close to...

I meet Liam Montgomery on the worst day of my life, and of course he’s tall, gorgeous, and here to take the one thing I can’t live without—my bookstore. He annoys me instantly. Too rich, too cold, too convinced he can buy my whole world with a signature. Then we get stuck working together after a financial crisis blindsides me, and suddenly the enemy I can’t stand becomes the man who quietly fixes broken shelves and quotes poetry under his breath like a secret. I start noticing things I shouldn’t. His late-night confessions. The way he softens when he thinks no one’s looking. ...

Some secrets should stay buried. Some enemies want me buried with them. I’ve spent my life hunting monsters that hide in plain sight. I never expected to become the prey. An assignment to expose a hidden conspiracy should have been simple. Infiltrate. Gather evidence to bring them down. But nothing is simple when the man at the center of it all is more dangerous—and more captivating—than I ever imagined. Now I’m caught between duty and something far more dangerous: a connection I can’t deny… and a child whose life depends on me. But someone knows who I am. Someone is pulling the...

I swore I’d never fall for my best friend’s grumpy billionaire brother… so how did I end up fake-dating him to save my bakery? He crashes into my life—literally—ruining a tray of cupcakes and my sanity in one breath. Charlie Grant is the one man I can’t stand. Arrogant. Untouchable. Completely off-limits. And yet, he’s the only one offering to save Sabrina’s Sweet Retreat from going under. His price? Six weeks pretending to be the devoted girlfriend he needs to close his precious business merger. I should say no. But my oven’s dead, bills are piling up, and my son deserves...

I was born with the fire of defiance burning in my veins. He was raised in the shadows of a name soaked in blood. I’ve spent my life trying to outrun the suffocating grip of the Vescari name, a legacy soaked in secrets, silence, and the threat of violence. Dance consumes my days, where each fluid movement is my escape and my rebellion against the past. My nights are shadowed by memories that weigh heavier than any step I’ve ever taken. I’ve built a life far from the shadows of my past, far from the family that once suffocated me. But then, like a storm I never saw coming, Jake Moretti...

Love was never part of the plan--not with the billionaire next door, the grumpy music teacher, or the childhood friend she should’ve never kissed. But fate doesn’t care about plans. First, Mia found herself snowed in with Alex Hawthorne — her arrogant, gorgeous enemy — and walked away, pretending to be engaged… and secretly pregnant. Then came Sophia, who fell hard for Adrian Hale, her son’s brooding music teacher, just as her manipulative ex returned to reclaim what he lost. Now, Lilly faces the most forbidden temptation of all: Luke O’Connor, her childhood best friend, who ...

Second chances. Forbidden love. Forced proximity where love never truly left. I didn’t mean to fall for Alex Hawthorne—a billionaire with a bruised heart, a single dad who built walls no one dared to climb. When he asked me to fake a relationship for the cameras, I thought I could keep my heart out of it. But then came the snowstorm, the cabin, the firelight, and him. One look, and everything I thought I knew about love unraveled. The Hawthorne Trilogy isn’t just about falling in love. It’s about rediscovering the pieces of yourself you thought were lost. In Love in the Shadows, ...

Some legacies should stay buried. Some secrets refuse to die. I was born a Marietti in the 1980s—raised behind the iron gates of Little Italy, where bloodlines rule and betrayals echo through generations. We don’t speak of the past. We don’t question the rules. Until now. When a cryptic photograph and a bloodstained note land at my door, my carefully constructed life begins to unravel. Shadows from decades ago are creeping back—and I’m no longer sure who I can trust. Enter Carl Russo. Rival. Protector. Liar? His piercing gaze says he knows more than he’ll admit. His presence ...

Haunted by war and betrayal, Caleb Winters seeks solace in the wilderness, his heart locked behind walls no one has dared to breach—until Ysabelle Moore arrives, desperate and unannounced. A widow with a young son, she carries secrets as deep as his own, and though Caleb vows to keep his distance, the pull between them is undeniable. Ysabelle is warmth and light, awakening memories of summers long past, of a love that once flickered but never truly died. But danger lurks in the shadows, the ghosts of her late husband’s past creeping closer, threatening everything Caleb swore to protect....