The first time it happened, it seemed like an impossible miracle. Bills were piling up, adding up to more money than I could ever make. Mom's hospital bills. My baby brother's tuition. My tuition. Rent. Electricity. All of it on my shoulders. And I had just lost my job. There was no hope, no money in my account, no work to be found. And then, just when I thought all hope was lost, I found an envelope in the mail. No return address. My name on the front, my address. Inside was a check, made out to me, in the amount of ten thousand dollars. Enough to pay the bills and leave me some left over to live on until I found a job. Enough to let me focus on classes. There was no name on the check, just "VRI Inc.," and a post office box address for somewhere in the city. No hint of identity or reason for the check or anything. No mention of repayment, interest, nothing…except a single word, on the notes line: "You." Just those three letters.

If you receive a mysterious check, for enough money to erase all your worries, would you cash it?

I did.

The next month, I received another check, again from VRI Incorporated. It too contained a single word: "belong."

A third check, the next month. This time, two words. Four letters. "To me."

The checks kept coming. The notes stopped. Ten thousand dollars, every month. A girl gets used to that, real quick. It let me pay the bills without going into debt. Let me keep my baby brother in school and Mom's hospice care paid for. How do you turn down what seems like free money, when you're desperate? You don't. I didn't.

And then, after a year, there was a knock on my door. A sleek black limousine sat on the curb in front of my house. A driver stood in front of me, and he spoke six words: "It's time to pay your debt."

Would you have gotten in?

I did.

It turns out $120,000 doesn't come free.

How far would you go to get something you desperately need?

Detective Darcy Lynch licks his wounds as a desk jockey after an undercover case gone bad. He’s handed a hit-and-run that quickly reveals itself as a brazen attempted murder—exactly the kind of case he was trying to avoid. Why would anyone want Saffron Meadows dead? An unexpected desire to protect her forces Lynch to stick with the case.

Meanwhile, seasoned Detective Erik Sorensen and his intern work a string of bizarre suicides with too much in common to be a mere coincidence. What could drive these people to carve their own flesh out?

As mysterious murders and suspicious suicides stack up in Silicon Valley, Lynch and his colleagues must connect the dots between the cases before more people die and panic spreads. Could all this be part of a cover-up? Is this just a hit man crossing names off of a list, or has one Valley startup gone too far?

Could there ever be a justification for murder?

B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree

Love hurts like a thorn when red lips give a last kiss on a rainy day on the island of bliss.

Life, Love and Death is a collection of short stories of Romance, Crime, Horror and Comedy.

A very real, very raw and very intimate personal journal kept over the first 90 day period to record my personal experiences after making a spontaneous contact with a sexual spirit; which is known by many as a “Succubus,” or sex demon. This journal reflects on how my initial thoughts about and reaction to this contact from a being from another dimension changed from that of shock, fright and confusion. To finally move to a place of acceptance and understanding; which has spurred on spiritual growth within me. This book documents the bond and the relationship that was formed with this sexual spirit in the months following that first spontaneous contact. I have also included some helpful advice, links and a few of the rituals that I used to bond and develop a closer connection with this sexual spirit. This journal and my story may be of help for those that are experiencing something similar in their own lives. It may also be of help for others that may be curious about, or entertaining the idea of having a relationship of their own with one of these sexual spirits. The inspiration for writing this book was given to me by this sexual spirit and she has had a guiding hand in the entire process from the beginning to the end.

***Please consider yourself forewarned that by merely entertaining the idea of these sexual spirits existence and by the very act of reading the words contained within the pages of this powerful book, may lead to your own spontaneous and possibly unwanted contact with one of these sexual spirits.***

I hope that you enjoy this very real account and story of one regular man’s experience with a sexual spirit from the other side.

"This is just a Dom taking care of his submissive in the way he sees fit."

Young college graduate Cynthia Storm wants to continue her studies to obtain a Master's degree, but has no way of paying for it. Unmotivated and unprepared, she finds herself interviewing for a job she doesn't want with handsome billionaire Nathan Jones.

His Dominant nature and enticing looks make it hard for her to say 'No' when he comes up with an attractive proposal: He offers to support her studies financially - but wants to own her as his submissive in return.

It started with feelings of jealousy and like a mental virus it spread. Soon, Jonathan's mind became attacked by thoughts and images he had no control over. Even though there was no basis in fact, Jonathan couldn't help himself from an increasing paranoia that his wife was cheating on him. When he begins to test his wife's loyalty he not only alienates her from his life but puts her in harm's way. Struggling to come to terms with a buried trauma from his past, Jonathan has to solve the mystery of his own mind or risk losing his wife to the dangerous clutches of a madman.

Not only is this a novel about a troubled man whose obstinate obsessions spiral fatally out of control in spectacular, edge-of-your-seat suspense but Fatal Eclipse is also a fictional account of how deep-seated and forgotten childhood traumas can shape a life — for good, for bad, forever.

At twenty-two, Keira Carver needs to find a husband, but the prospects in her small medieval village are not pretty slim. So when Aaron Drake, a handsome stranger, takes up residence at Storbrook Castle, set deep in the surrounding mountains, Keira takes notice. Just as interesting is the fact that a fire-breathing dragon has also moved into the neighborhood, and is rumored to live in caves beneath the mountain fortress. What exactly is the connection between Aaron Drake and the dragon? And when the dragon rescues her from the unwanted attentions of some village boys, who will set out to rescue her from the huge, scaly, fire-breathing monster?

A Montana River Bend Series- Book 2

Tully Morgan hasn’t been back to Marietta for more than a few brief visits since the night of the 1996 senior prom eighteen years ago, when the chance exposure of a long-held family secret sent her running to her uncle in California in shock. She stood up her date Ren Fletcher that night, and she hasn’t seen him since.

Now she’s here for an extended stay, to help take care of her seriously ill mother. It’s an edgy reconciliation, the first time that Tully, Patty and Sugar Morgan have been together since that long ago prom night. Tully has had so much anger toward Sugar… can she ever forgive her?

And Sugar still has one more secret that needs to be dealt with, one that needs Ren Fletcher’s help. Has he forgiven Tully for leaving him in the lurch on prom night? And is there any chance that he and Tully can rekindle what they might once have had, when he’s still tied to someone else?

THEY WAKE TO THE UNKNOWN

On October 15, a handful of people wake in a post-apocalyptic landscape to find that most of the world’s population has vanished in a mysterious event.

STRANGERS UNITE
A journalist wanders an empty New York in search of his wife and son.
A serial killer finds that he’s no longer top of the food chain.
A mother shields her young daughter from danger, but how can you fight an enemy you can’t see?
A bullied teen is thrilled to find everyone gone … until a knock at the door.
A special agent turned enemy of the state survives a fiery plane crash. He desperately needs to reach his daughter, but fate has something else in store.
An eight-year-old boy sets out on a journey to find his missing family, but finds an old man who might just be the key to understanding everything.

DARKNESS IS COMING
The survivors are not alone.
Something is watching.
Waiting.
And hunting them down.
And one group of people has been preparing for this moment for years.

FATE CANNOT BE STOPPED
Where has everyone gone?
Who can you trust when anyone can be an enemy?
Can humanity survive the darkness that threatens to overwhelm them all?

THE ONLY CERTAINTY IS THAT YESTERDAY’S GONE

A young lonely young artist with a dangerous sideline
A wanna be lawman and his shotgun toting grampa
A priceless antique race car and an unfortunate Emu

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"Stephanie Plum step aside," by Alana Woods blogger
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"When I see a book come up on my reading lists by RP Dahlke, I dive for them. I love her wit in her story telling. She develops great, believable characters that are easy to get to know ..." Pamela S, Amazon
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"This was a WONDERFUL READ from start to finish! I started it at bedtime and figured it would help me fall asleep, but instead I stayed up all night finishing the book & didn't get any sleep at all. The characters descriptions & aspects of their personalities are sprinkled throughout the book, yet I have a perfect full picture of each one in my mind (I just love Pearlie & her spunk)! The plot/mysteries had me guessing & sometimes clueless. It's definitely NOT one of those books where 50 pages in you know "whodunnit" & then spend the next 200 trudging through what you already knew." By Karmela C Lyman, Amazon

Penny Beck is a girl who says yes when she means no. She keeps to herself, follows the rules, and does what she’s told. After a disastrous experience with her boyfriend, she's determined to change from the spineless person she’s always been into the strong woman she wants to become. All she needs is a little practice.

On a cross-country trip to check on her grandpa, she strives to become bolder and more outspoken with the strangers she meets. Penny's plan is to practice saying and doing what she wants without worrying about what anyone else thinks.

Then she meets Archer, an introspective loner to whom she finds herself drawn. She realizes she does care what he thinks, very much. Will Penny be able to stick to her plan, or will she revert back to her people-pleasing ways?

Seeing the future comes at a price. What price would you be willing to pay to save thousands of lives?

This is a collection of the first four books in the Mark Taylor Series.

Mark Taylor: Genesis:
Mark Taylor's life changes forever when he finds an antique camera in an Afghan bazaar. Back home in Chicago, he discovers that the camera has a strange and unique ability--it produces photographs of tragedies yet to happen. What else can he do but attempt to save lives and thwart catastrophe?

No Good Deed:
Mark Taylor knows his actions scream, guilty--but he was only trying to stop the horrible terrorist attack. Instead, the government labels him an enemy combatant and throws him in the brig with no rights, no trial, and no way to prove his innocence.

When he sees September 11th, his efforts fail when no one listens to his frantic warnings. Then he learns that being an 'enemy combatant' means the government can do anything they want to him. Anything at all.

March Into Hell:
Mark's life takes a dark turn when his heroism becomes the subject of a newspaper article. The media attention and a harrowing encounter while saving a young woman, puts him in the sights of the ruthless cult leader who covets the secret to Mark's power.

Uncomfortable in the public spotlight, Mark suspects he's being tested by the force behind the camera's prophetic magic. Battling his own self-doubt, he must maintain the secret or risk certain death.

Deeds of Mercy:
An unexpected visitor from Mark's past brings him unwanted attention from the authorities. Unable to decide who is friend and who is foe, Mark becomes a fugitive from the law, but with thousands of lives at stake, he is forced to put aside his fear of capture, and instead, seek help from his pursuers.

The Wronged Princess – book i
Finding his mysterious princess by trying her glass slipper on every maiden in Chalmers Kingdom sounded like a brilliant scheme until the silly thing slid quite easily on the foot of the wrong girl. Now how is Prince Charming supposed to find his true love? Unbeknownst to either, his mother, the queen and her feisty twin (Cinderella’s infamous fairy godmother) have a lesson to impart—impulsive decisions, do not a future king make!

 

Two Dead Men

In London’s fashionable Chelsea, a Halloween bash goes terribly wrong. Emmeline Wardle, daughter of a frozen foods baron, throws a party which results in the demise of two university schoolmates. Handsome golden boy Trevor Parsons is dead. So is pasty computer nerd Clive French. Both died on the Wardle estate within minutes of one another, and both died the same way – an axe to the skull. Given the social connections of all involved, New Scotland Yard sends a real baron to investigate: Chief Superintendent Anthony Hetheridge, also known as Lord Hetheridge, ninth baron of Wellegrave.

Two Prime Suspects

This time around, Detective Sergeant Kate Wakefield and her partner, Detective Sergeant Deepal “Paul” Bhar, have their work cut out. Bhar must contend with Emmeline Wardle, a spoiled blonde with a penchant for the finer things, including a certain illegal white powder. Kate must decide if Kyla Sloane, model-pretty and delicate, is being truthful about the events of that fateful night. And if Kyla’s connection to a former lover of Bhar’s means nothing – or everything.

Lord & Lady Hetheridge, Book Two

Return to the world of Ice Blue in Blue Murder, the second of the Lord & Lady Hetheridge series. In addition to solving the double murder in Chelsea, Anthony Hetheridge plans on proposing marriage to Kate for the second time. He has the ring. Now all he needs is the proper moment…

After escaping an abusive relationship, Chesney Ward fights to take back control of her life. She longs to leave behind her troubled past, but she craves more than what her small town has to offer.

Freedom.
Adventure.
Love.

The Air Force provides the escape she needs.

After arriving at her first duty station, Chesney meets Staff Sergeant Zane Thomas, a Special Forces airman. He is used to exercising control in his life, which she doesn’t mind. However, she has no idea she’s getting more than she bargained for.

Zane thinks no woman could ever make him want to settle down. That is until he meets Chesney, a small-town girl with a big heart. Her Southern accent and honey-brown eyes make him forget how to breathe.

Over time, their lives will change, and they will be forced to part ways.

When Zane reappears many years later, Chesney’s life is turned upside-down. Not only is she faced with sharing a life-altering secret with him, but she is also given a second chance to rekindle what they once had years ago.

Will Chesney be able to love him back to her, or is Zane too broken to be saved?

Warning: This book is intended for readers 18+ due to some explicit language and mature themes.

Damien is an assassin, a man with no home and a tortured past. Sold into slavery as a young boy, he is trained to kill with cold calculation, without remorse. As a reward for his ruthless success, he is given a chance to earn his freedom from his cruel master. One last mission. One final person to slay…

Lady Aurora of Acquitaine is the epitome of purity and goodness, beloved by all her people. She lives her life trying to atone for her mother’s cruelty by being a fair and just ruler. Secretly she fears that one day her mother’s murderer will return for her.

When Damien enters Aurora’s life, tempting her with promises of dark passion and forbidden lust, he threatens to tear her peaceful world apart with shadowy secrets of his own.

Can Aurora’s light heal Damien’s dark spirit or will his evil consume her? The eternal battle of good versus evil, love versus hate, dark versus light, all come to a shattering climax in this historical romance set in medieval England.

The battle is won, but the war has just begun. Evil stalks the Island-World as the Marshal of Herimor and his Dragon-slaying hordes put nation after nation to the sword. The haunting cry of the Nurguz summons all Dragonkind to their doom. None can resist.

But Marshal Re’akka and his all-conquering Dragon Assassins are not the only trouble on the horizon. For there is a new Dragoness finding her wings, and she will stop at nothing to protect her loved ones. She is Pip the Pygmy Dragon, jungle-born, survivor of seven years in a zoo. She dreamed of being Human. She is more. Much more.

Now, Dragon wings darken the dawn. Diminutive. Sassy. Full of fire and great heart. As Pip and her friends chart a perilous path in search of the secrets of her heritage, they will find a power of old reborn in the smallest of Dragons.

One will stand against evil. She is Onyx, mighty of paw and deed. She is the laughter of starlight, and she will never allow evil to prevail. Let Dragons thunder! Let the battle commence!

Peace has finally been achieved—and it sucks. At least for Sir Kay.

I mean, nobody really likes the cold and the fear of war, but compared with now? That delicious, dark-roasted heady beverage Merlin brought back from the Middle East, kaffa, is long gone. Arthur expects Kay to run castle and kingdom, just because he’s the only person in 6th century Britain who can do algebra (if a knight rides forth from Camelot at three leagues per hour . . .). Guinevere treats him as her personal gofer. Middle age is fast upon Kay, and the only quest available is to rescue Miffy, a fair-but-empty-headed lady’s imprisoned dog.

Ah, but who knows what adventures lie out there, away from the comforts of Camelot? The Holy Grail, if one were interested in such a bauble? Magic, in the form of an ageless beauty with a treacherous reputation, Morgan le Fay?

Perhaps the ultimate prize, a woman who reads.

Or maybe just a night under the stars with no liveried page, face and fingernails scrubbed clean of any trace of dirt, uttering those detested words, “Sire, the Queen requests your presence.”

Kaffka, the Holy Grail, and a Woman Who Reads: The Quests of Sir Kay is a warm, humorous glimpse of Arthurian times through the eyes of a Knight of the Round Table who also happens to be a little . . . shall we say, geeky? Sir Kay is a keen observer—witty, introspective, and sarcastic at times—driven by a sharp intellect and a deep longing for something more.

Their secret relationship was supposed to be strictly business...

In London's most glittering salons, she is the beautiful Lady Elizabeth Barnes-Finchley. But by night, she rides as highwayman Blackerby Swift, seeking to ruin the man who took from her all she once loved. Then a pistol shot on a moonlit heath brings her face-to-face with a rival highwayman: Marcus Worthington, darkly handsome, lethally dangerous--and determined to stop her.

A fallen-from-grace earl with a nefarious reputation, Marcus wants vengeance against the man responsible for destroying his family. Elizabeth is a clever, daring, enchanting obstacle in his path. The two outlaws reluctantly agree to join forces against their mutual enemy, but their secret partnership puts both their lives in danger...and falling in love was never part of the plan.

An RWA RITA Award Finalist: Best Historical Romance of the Year

Twelve titillating tales for naughtier nights and dreamier days. Get swept away by USA Today, bestselling, and award-winning authors in this set of sweet and spicy romances that will leave you breathless with desire...