Arnell Rayford's mother, Esther, is where she's always wanted to be. Ensconced in the mansion where her own mother once worked as a housekeeper, she runs a thriving business that's surely making the previous owner turn in her grave. For Esther, money is everything, and no one will stand in the way of her making it--not even her only child.While some may call Esther's live-in employees prostitutes, she prefers to call them ladies of charm--or tenants. There are no laws against renting out rooms, after all. Of course, there are laws against prostituting one's own underage daughter. It's a devastating secret Arnell and Esther have kept for years. Esther calls the jobs "favors," but Arnell recognizes them for what they are: demands couched in blackmail.Now that Arnell is engaged to a pillar of the community, Esther's latest request may well send her over the edge--but she won't be going alone. Because while Esther is holding Arnell's past overhead, her...

For thirty-seven year old Tandi Crawford, the past is a double-edged sword. On one side is the agonizing mystery of her mother's early death and her father's brutal indifference. On the other is the all-too-vivid recollection of one unforgettable summer and the teenage romance that won't let Tandi rest. The fantasy of getting together with a boy she hasn't seen in more than twenty years has pulled Tandi through many a bitterly lonely night with a husband who's too busy to notice that he's lost her.After vowing never to live in her father's house again, Tandi finds that her failed marriage has brought her and her young son back to that very same dusty doorstep. And when her daydreams of reuniting with her long-ago lover unexpectedly become an exciting and passionate reality, Tandi discovers that little in her world is what it appears to be.As all of Tandi's relationships intensify, so does her need for answers to the questions that have haunted her for so long, from the...